Benton MacKaye National Scenic Trail Feasibility Study Act of 2026

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 2768) to amend the National Trails System Act to direct the Secretary of Agriculture to conduct a study on the feasibility of designating the Benton MacKaye Trail as a national scenic trail, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to add extraneous material on H.R. 2786.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 2768, the Benton MacKaye National Scenic Trail Feasibility Study Act of 2026, sponsored by Representative Fleischmann.

Named after the American forester who envisioned the Appalachian Trail, the Benton MacKaye Trail, or BMT for short, is a roughly 280- mile backcountry trail that extends across Georgia, Tennessee, and North Carolina.

Beginning at Springer Mountain in northern Georgia, the BMT crosses several national forests and ultimately connects with the Appalachian Trail in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Approximately 95 percent of the trail is on land managed by the Forest Service or the National Park Service.

H.R. 2768 authorizes a study to evaluate the feasibility of designating the BMT as a National Scenic Trail. There are currently 11 National Scenic Trails across the country. These routes generally extend 100 miles or more, are primarily nonmotorized, and offer exceptional recreational opportunities. This legislation will evaluate the BMT to ensure that it meets the criteria for designation as a National Scenic Trail before any designation is made. Importantly, this bill will not add any land to the Federal estate, and any designation of the BMT would require a separate act of Congress.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague Representative Fleischmann for his bipartisan work on this effort. I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 2768, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Fleischmann), the lead sponsor of this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I am prepared to close, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, once again, I commend Representative Fleischmann and Representative Cohen for their leadership on behalf of Mr. Fleischmann's constituents. This legislation initiates an important process to evaluate a prominent trail in the South for potential designation as a National Scenic Trail.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support the bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 2768 would authorize the Secretary of Agriculture to study the feasibility of designating the Benton MacKaye Trail as a National Scenic Trail.

This study is the first step toward securing a well-deserved national designation for this historic ``sister trail'' of the Appalachian Trail.

Honoring the legacy of Benton MacKaye, the visionary regional planner who first proposed the Appalachian Trail and cofounded The Wilderness Society, the Benton MacKaye Trail spans nearly 300 miles across Georgia, Tennessee, and North Carolina, running through some of the most treasured national landscapes, including 93 miles within the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

This is exactly the type of trail meant for this official designation under the National Trails System Act, and it is encouraging to see bipartisan enthusiasm for the potential of expanding this system.

I recognize and thank Representative Cohen, who was the former sponsor of this bill, for his leadership and dedication to this issue.

I am strongly supportive of efforts to designate new trails and expand the conservation of our public lands. As we navigate the escalating biodiversity and climate crises, protecting these natural spaces and ensuring public access and recreation is more critical than ever. It is my sincere hope that we will work more frequently together on a bipartisan basis to pass conservation efforts just like this one moving forward.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Cohen).

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this bill. The Benton MacKaye Trail runs approximately 287 miles from Springer Mountain in north Georgia through east Tennessee and western North Carolina into the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, ending in Big Creek in the northeast corner of the park.

The Benton MacKaye Trail provides numerous opportunities for easy, moderate, and challenging day hikes, many routes for multiday backpacking and camping, and of course, for the most serious hikers, end-to-end hikes.

More than 200 volunteers do maintenance work on the trail each year, generating approximately 8,000 hours of volunteer maintenance annually.

It offers quite an alternative to the heavily used section of the Appalachian Trail from north Georgia to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Congress has not designated a new National Scenic Trail since 2009. This trail is long overdue for that recognition.

The feasibility study is the next step. It is a low-cost, low- footprint measure. The trail is already on Federal land for about 95 percent of its length and would be administered by the Forest Service. This is bipartisan legislation that passed committee with unanimous consent.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this great bill.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Ms. Stansbury for yielding, and I appreciate her mentioning me in her remarks.

Mr. Speaker, I was the original sponsor of this bill, and I am happy that Mr. Fleischmann, whose district is much closer to it and probably encompasses part of it, accepted the proud sponsorship that has got it to this point.

The Benton MacKaye Trail is a beautiful and long trail. It is the longest trail in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. It overlaps the Appalachian Trail at six separate points and passes through three national forests. It would be a good idea for the Federal Government to make this a national trail, and this just sets up the study.

It is good work on Mr. Fleischmann's part to get the study considered. Hopefully, the study will come up with the right answer, which is yes to the trail and take care of it.

North Carolina, Georgia, and Tennessee all have parts in the trail, and a lot of residents from Chattanooga, Knoxville, Asheville, and Atlanta visit for camping and adventures. I am pleased to be a cosponsor and appreciate that.