article: SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. This Act may be cited as the ``Rocky Mountain Nation Park Wilderness Act of 1997''. SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES. The Congress finds that-- (1) it is in the national interest to include certain lands in Rocky Mountain National Park within the National Wilderness Preservation System so as to protect those lands' enduring scenic and historic wilderness character and unique wildlife and to preserve the lands' scientific, educational, recreational, and inspirational resources and challenges; (2) to fulfill the purposes of the wilderness designation of those lands, as expressed in this Act and the Wilderness Act of 1964 (16 U.S.C. 1131 et seq.), it is necessary for the United States to have rights to water within Rocky Mountain National Park; and (3) the existing rights of the United States to water within Rocky Mountain Park for national park purposes, which are being adjudicated in the courts of the State of Colorado, may be sufficient to fulfill the purposes of the wilderness designation of those lands. SEC. 3. WILDERNESS DESIGNATION AND MAPS. (a) Designation.--(1) In furtherance of the purposes of the Wilderness Act (16 U.S.C. 1131 et seq.), certain lands in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado, which comprise approximately 240,700 acres, as generally depicted on a man entitled ``Rocky Mountain National Park Wilderness--Proposed'' and dated April 1996, are hereby designated as wilderness and, therefore, as components of the National Wilderness Preservation System, and, together with the lands referred to in paragraph (2), shall be known as the Rocky Mountain National Park Wilderness. (2) Those lands within the Indian Peaks Wilderness (as designated by Public Law 94-450 (92 Stat. 1099)) that were transferred to Rocky Mountain National Park by section 111(a) of Public Law 96-580 (94 Stat. 3272), which comprise approximately 2,917 acres, shall be included in, and administered as part of, the Rocky Mountain National Park Wilderness designated by paragraph (1). (b) Map and Description.--As soon as practicable after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of the Interior shall file a map and a boundary description of the area designated as wilderness by this section with the Committee on Natural Resources of the United States House of Representatives and with the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of the United States Senate. That map and description shall have the same force and effect and if included in this Act, except that the Secretary is authorized to correct clerical and typographical errors in such map and description. That map and boundary description shall be on file and available for public inspection in the office of the Director of the National Park Service, Department of the Interior. SEC. 4. ADMINISTRATIVE PROVISIONS. (a) In General.--Subject to valid existing rights, lands designated as wilderness by this Act shall be managed by the Secretary of the Interior in accordance with the Wilderness Act and this Act, except that, with respect to the wilderness area designated by this Act, any reference in the Wilderness Act to the effective date of the Wilderness Act shall be deemed to be a reference to the date of enactment of this Act. (b) Reserved Water Rights.--(1) Within the area designated as wilderness by section 3(a)(1), there is hereby reserved a quantity of water sufficient to fulfill the purposes of that wilderness designation. (2) The priority date of the water rights reserved in paragraph (1) shall be the date of enactment of this Act. (3) The Secretary of the Interior and other appropriate officers of the United States shall take all steps necessary to protect the rights reserved by paragraph (1), including the filing by the Secretary of a claim for the quantification of such right in any present or future appropriate stream adjudication in the courts of the State of Colorado in which the United States has been or is hereafter properly joined in accordance with section 208 of the Act of July 10, 1952 (43 U.S.C. 666), commonly referred to as the ``McCarran Amendment''. (4) The water rights reserved by paragraph (1) shall be in addition to any water rights which may have been previously reserved or appropriated by the United States in the State of Colorado before the date of enactment of this Act. (5) In the case of any lands designated as wilderness by section 3(a)(1) for which the United States has reserved rights for national park purposes to all the water within those lands that was unappropriated at the time those lands were included in Rocky Mountain National Park, those existing rights shall be deemed sufficient to fulfill the purposes of the wilderness designation of those lands made by section 3(a)(1). (c) Colorado-Big Thompson Project.--This Act shall not be construed to prevent or impede activities under the surface of lands designated as wilderness by this Act to operate, maintain, repair, or replace the Alva B. Adams Tunnel of the Colorado-Big Thompson Project. (2) Section 1 of the Act of January 26, 1915 (16 U.S.C. 191; 38 Stat. 798), is amended by striking the last sentence
summary: Rocky Mountain National Park Wilderness Act of 1997 - Designates certain lands in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado, as components of the National Wilderness Preservation System which, together with specified lands within the Indian Peaks Wilderness, shall be known as the Rocky Mountain National Park Wilderness. Reserves water rights in such area sufficient for purposes of the wilderness designation. Provides that this Act shall not be construed to prevent or impede activities under the surface of lands designated as wilderness by this Act to operate, maintain, repair, or replace the Alva B. Adams Tunnel of the Colorado-Big Thompson Project. Repeals provisions authorizing the Bureau of Reclamation to enter and utilize for flowage or other purposes areas within the Park which may be necessary for the development and maintenance of a Government reclamation project.