§460mmm–4 Management

Summary

Manage the Conservation Area to conserve, protect, and improve the natural and cultural resources named elsewhere in the law. The Secretary must follow the Federal Land Policy and Management Act and other laws. Only uses that help the Conservation Area’s purposes are allowed. Federal lands in the Conservation Area, the Wilderness, and any land the United States later buys for them are, except for valid existing rights, withdrawn from public-land entry or disposal, from mining claims, and from mineral, mineral-materials, and geothermal leasing laws. The Secretary can still grant rights-of-way or other authorizations when other laws allow it. Motorized vehicles may only be used on roads and trails that were designated for vehicles in the plan that applied on October 24, 2000, until a new management plan takes effect. After that, vehicles are allowed only on roads and trails the new plan designates. Administrative and emergency vehicle use is allowed when needed. Lands designated as wilderness must be managed under the Wilderness Act, treating October 24, 2000, as the effective date for those areas. Hunting, trapping, and fishing are allowed under federal and Colorado or Utah laws, but state wildlife directors or the Secretary can close places or times for safety, management, or public enjoyment. Grazing is handled the same way the Bureau of Land Management manages grazing elsewhere, and grazing in wilderness follows Wilderness Act rules and specific guidelines. The Secretary must write a comprehensive management plan no later than 3 years after October 24, 2000. The plan must describe allowed uses, consider studies and local input, keep managing the utility corridor, Black Ridge Communications Site, and the FAA site as shown on the map, and include the public lands between the Conservation Area boundary and the edge of the Colorado River, allowing only uses that fit this law. Congress does not intend to create buffer zones; lawful activities on lands next to the Conservation Area may continue up to its boundary. The Secretary may buy, exchange for, or accept donations of private land inside the boundaries only from willing sellers, and such land will be managed as part of the area. Minimal visitor-education sites may be set up in cooperation with others and must protect the resources. Regarding water, nothing in this law creates a water-right reservation, changes Colorado water rights that existed on October 24, 2000, or alters interstate water compacts. The Secretary must follow Colorado law to get any new water rights. After October 24, 2000, the United States may not fund, assist, authorize, or permit new water-resource projects in the wilderness; water facilities existing on that date may continue to be used and maintained. Neither the Conservation Area nor the Wilderness includes any part of the Colorado River up to the 100-year high water mark. Federal lands between the 100-year high water mark on each shore, from the map line labeled “Line A” to the Colorado–Utah state line, are withdrawn, subject to valid existing rights, from public-land entry, mining claims, and mineral and geothermal leasing.