Chiricahua National Park Act
Summary
What This Bill Does
The bill renames Arizona's Chiricahua National Monument as Chiricahua National Park. The park keeps the monument's boundaries as of enactment, federal references to the monument become references to the park, and money already available for the monument remains available for the park. Interior must administer it under the two governing presidential proclamations and laws generally applicable to National Park System units. A separate section requires protection of traditional cultural and religious sites, consultation with Indian Tribes, and tribal-member access for traditional and customary uses. At a Tribe's request, Interior may temporarily close a specific area to general public use, but only the smallest practicable area and for the minimum necessary period.
Who Benefits and How
Affected Indian Tribes and tribal members benefit from required consultation, protected traditional cultural and religious sites, continued customary access, and narrowly tailored temporary closures when needed for traditional activities. Chiricahua-area tourism businesses and park visitors may benefit from the higher-profile national-park designation, while continuity of boundaries and existing funds avoids disruption to current park administration.
Who Bears the Burden and How
National Park Service administrators and cultural-resource staff must update the unit's designation and records, apply National Park System law, consult Tribes, protect sites, and administer access or closure requests. General park visitors may temporarily lose access to a small area during a protected tribal cultural or religious activity, although the bill requires the closure to be as limited in size and time as practicable.
Key Provisions
- Designates the existing Chiricahua National Monument as Chiricahua National Park without expanding its enactment-date boundaries.
- Provides that federal references and existing monument funds carry over to the newly named park.
- Requires protection of traditional cultural and religious sites and consultation with affected Indian Tribes.
- Authorizes narrowly limited temporary public closures requested for tribal traditional cultural or customary uses.
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Redesignate Chiricahua National Monument as Chiricahua National Park while preserving its boundaries and funds and strengthening protection and tribal access for cultural sites.
Key Policy Areas
Public Lands, Tribal Affairs, Historic Preservation
Primary Purpose
Redesignate Chiricahua National Monument as Chiricahua National Park while preserving its boundaries and funds and strengthening protection and tribal access for cultural sites.
Policy Domains
Chiricahua National Park Act
Identified Gains
- Affected Indian Tribes and tribal members
- Chiricahua-area tourism businesses and park visitors
Identified Costs
- National Park Service administrators and cultural-resource staff
- General park visitors
Sponsors
Mark Kelly
D-AZ | Primary Sponsor
Legislative Progress
ReportedCommittee on Energy and Natural Resources. Ordered to be reported …
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and …
Introduced in Senate
Mr. Kelly (for himself and Mr. Gallego) introduced the following …
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
Chiricahua National Park visitors, Federal taxpayers supporting the park
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "the_secretary"
- → Secretary of the Interior
- "park_administrator"
- → National Park Service
- "consulted_governments"
- → Affected Indian Tribes
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
The former Chiricahua National Monument within its boundaries as of enactment, redesignated as Chiricahua National Park.
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology