§539l Designation of James Peak Protection Area, Colorado

Summary

Designates about 16,000 acres in the Arapaho/Roosevelt National Forest as the James Peak Protection Area and directs the Forest Service to manage it to protect wildlife, clean water, open space, and quiet places while still allowing appropriate recreation (including snowmobile use when there is enough snow). The area must be managed under the 1997 Revised Land and Resources Management Plan for the forest. The Secretary must, as soon as possible after August 21, 2002, file a map and boundary description (map dated September 2001) with Congress; that map will count as part of the law and will be available at Forest Service offices. Federal land in the area is withdrawn from public land entry, mining claims, and mineral and geothermal leasing, subject to valid existing rights. The United States keeps title to lands it owns there. Within two years after August 21, 2002, the Secretary must inventory all roads and trails that were allowed on September 10, 2001. After that, motorized and mechanized travel is allowed only on roads and trails listed in the inventory or on specific new or replacement routes needed for safety, fire or insect control, certain access, a loop trail called for by law, or the Continental Divide Trail (which must be nonmotorized). Roads or trails may be closed or removed if undesirable. Timber cutting is banned except for fuels reduction, fire or insect control, or public safety. A defined part of the Protection Area (bounded by Rollins Pass Road to the north, the Continental Divide to the east, and the 11,300-foot contour to the west) follows the James Peak Special Interest Area rules and bans motor vehicles on the Rogers Pass trail. The Secretary must allow maintenance and access for the natural gas pipeline under master permit 4138.01, including vegetation and road work and motorized access, and must follow Colorado law to get any new water rights; the law does not create or change water rights that existed in Colorado on August 21, 2002.