Sponsors (2)
The bill allows a privately funded memorial at Stratton Ridge—creating a local site of remembrance without new federal spending—but shifts all costs, upkeep risk, and approval burden to private parties and subjects the project to potential delays and restrictive conditions.
Visitors to Nantahala National Forest—particularly nearby rural communities—can have a memorial honoring nine Air Force crew members placed at the Stratton Ridge rest area, providing a local site of remembrance.
The requesting individual or entity must cover the memorial’s costs and environmental review, preventing new federal expenditures or increased taxes.
The requesting individual or entity must pay all application, environmental analysis, relocation/installation, and maintenance costs, which could be substantial and deter or burden private sponsors.
A prohibition on federal funding and allowance of restrictive terms (including a ban on expansion) could leave the memorial without long-term public support or ability to improve if private funds lapse, risking deterioration or reduced access for visitors.
Siting the memorial near a Federal-aid highway requires concurrence from FHWA and NCDOT, which can delay approval and may impose additional state or federal conditions.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Permits the Secretary of Agriculture, with landowner consent and required concurrence, to authorize a privately funded memorial at the Stratton Ridge rest area while barring Federal funds and charging the requester all costs.
Introduced May 23, 2025 by Chuck Edwards · Last progress May 23, 2025
Authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture, with the private landowner’s consent and required concurrence from the North Carolina Department of Transportation (and the Federal Highway Administration if adjacent to a Federal-aid highway), to permit by special-use authorization the installation and maintenance of a memorial at the Stratton Ridge rest area on the Cherohala Skyway in Graham County, NC, honoring nine Air Force crew members who died in a 1982 crash. The bill bars use of Federal funds for relocation, installation, or maintenance, requires the requester to pay all costs (including application processing and environmental analysis), and lets the Secretary set terms and conditions, including prohibiting enlargement of the memorial.