To authorize the Secretary of the Interior to adjust the boundary of the Stephen Mather Wilderness and the North Cascades National Park in order to allow the rebuilding of a road outside of the floodplain while ensuring that there is no net loss of acreage to the Park or the Wilderness, and for other purposes.

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 2806 is a limited bill that allows for continued public access to the North Cascades National Park from the community of Stehekin, Washington.

Stehekin, located at the western end of Lake Chelan, is the gateway to the North Cascades National Park and is accessible only by boat, floatplane, or a multi-day hike. From the town of Stehekin, the Stehekin Valley Road has long allowed residents and visitors to access some of the most beautiful scenery in the North Cascades in what is now the Park's Stephen Mather Wilderness.

At the July 30, 2009 hearing before the Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands, the Subcommittee heard testimony from local officials on how flood damage to the upper Stehekin Valley Road has limited public recreational access to the North Cascades National Park Complex. This reduced access has been particularly painful for the small, tourist-dependent community of Stehekin which serves as the gateway to the Park.

During legislative consideration of the Park's creation in 1988, Congress determined that Stehekin Road would remain outside of the wilderness boundary to ensure continued public access. Otherwise, no cars, mountain bikes, or other mechanized vehicles would have been allowed to transport area residents or Park visitors into the wilderness areas in the center of the Park north of Stehekin.

As the Stehekin River has shifted and damaged the road, the Park Service has been unable to rebuild the road out of the path of the river because of the narrow road corridor in the original Park designation. H.R. 2806 would simply allow the Secretary limited authority to adjust the road corridor out of the path of the Stehekin River, with no net loss of land to either the Park or the Stephen Mather Wilderness. These changes and road rebuilding would still be subject to review and comment under the National Environmental Policy Act.

This is a limited bill that protects the public access into the Park Complex promised at the Park's creation, and I encourage my colleagues to give their support to H.R. 2806 and the Stehekin community.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 2806) to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to adjust the boundary of the Stephen Mather Wilderness and the North Cascades National Park in order to allow the rebuilding of a road outside of the floodplain while ensuring that there is no net loss of acreage to the Park or the Wilderness, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous material on the bill under consideration.

I yield myself as much time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 2806, sponsored by Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Doc Hastings, would allow the National Park Service to adjust the boundary of the Stephen Mather Wilderness, inside North Cascades National Park, to provide for a new road corridor.

Flooding has repeatedly washed out significant portions of a road in the park. Today, the road is impassable for vehicles above what used to be the halfway point.

The pending measure would authorize the Secretary of the Interior to redraw the boundaries of the wilderness within prescribed parameters to provide a new corridor so that the road could be partially rerouted out of the floodplain and rebuilt to its original end. The bill would require that any boundary changes made to accommodate the road result in no overall loss of acreage to the wilderness area.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I now would like to recognize for 1 minute the author of the bill, the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Inslee).

Mr. Speaker, again, I urge all Members to support this piece of legislation. I commend the author, Mr. Hastings from the State of Washington, for authoring this, and I ask that all Members support this legislation.

I yield back the balance of my time.

I am not the author of the bill, but I have worked with Mr. Hastings. Thank you for that compliment.

Mr. Speaker, I want to speak in favor of this bill, and I thank Mr. Hastings for his working with us to perfect this bill in a couple of ways.

We have made the bill clear that we have constrained the Park Service's definition of where a potential road could be built. Mr. Hastings and I both felt that it was important for Congress to retain some authority over where the wilderness boundaries are so that we would not give unfettered control to the Executive branch. We also make clear in the bill that the passage of this bill is not intended, in any way shape or form, to instruct the Park Service to change their prioritization on what roads to build or not to build in the Park Service.

There are many needs in the Park Service. We know there is a constrained budget situation. We know there are many roads that have been washed out and that there are trails that have been washed out, and we do not intend in this bill to change any priority array as to what could be done to the Park Service.

I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, to ensure that a wilderness designation would not block public access to historic recreation sites, the 1988 law that established the Stephen Mather Wilderness area in the North Cascades National Park provided for a 100-foot-wide, non-wilderness corridor to the upper Stehekin Valley.

Unfortunately, flooding in 1995 and again in 2003 washed away parts of the road, and it remains impassable today.

Representative Doc Hastings' bill, H.R. 2806, restores the intent of Congress by allowing the relocation of the road to a less flood-prone site. This bill does not reduce the amount of wilderness in the park.

It is strongly supported by local officials and by former Senator Dan Evans, who sponsored the 1988 law. When the National Park Service solicited public comments on alternatives for the management of the area, over 90 percent of those comments favored keeping the road open.

I urge my colleagues to join ranking Republican Doc Hastings and Chairman Nick Rahall in supporting this legislation.

I yield back the balance of my time.