Sponsors (2)
The bill allows a privately funded memorial at Stratton Ridge—providing a local remembrance without costing taxpayers—while shifting financial, regulatory, and long-term maintenance risks onto the private requester and risking delays or limits on future upkeep.
Taxpayers: this authorizes the memorial without creating any new federal expenditures because all costs and environmental reviews must be paid for by the requesting individual or entity.
Visitors to Nantahala National Forest and nearby rural communities: the bill permits placement of a memorial honoring the nine Air Force crew members at the Stratton Ridge rest area, providing a local site for remembrance.
Visitors and local communities: by prohibiting federal funding and allowing restrictive terms (including a ban on expansion), the memorial may lack long-term federal support for upkeep or future improvements if private funds stop, risking deterioration or restricted access over time.
Requesting individual or entity: must bear all costs (application, environmental analysis, relocation/installation/maintenance), which could be substantial and deter smaller groups from proposing memorials.
Requesting parties and state/federal agencies: siting the memorial near a Federal-aid highway requires concurrence from the FHWA and NCDOT, potentially causing delays, additional conditions, or denials.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Allows the Agriculture Secretary to permit a privately funded memorial at the Stratton Ridge rest area in Nantahala National Forest with state and FHWA concurrence, at the requester's expense.
Official title: To authorize the Secretary of Agriculture to relocate a memorial honoring the 9 Air Force crew members who lost their lives in an airplane crash in the Cherokee and Nantahala National Forests during a training mission on August 31, 1982, and for other purposes.
Introduced May 23, 2025 by Chuck Edwards · Last progress May 23, 2025
Allows the Secretary of Agriculture, with the private landowner’s consent, to authorize (by special use permit) a privately funded memorial to nine Air Force crew members at the Stratton Ridge rest area on the Cherohala Skyway in Graham County, North Carolina, within the Nantahala National Forest. The memorial site must be approved in coordination with the North Carolina Department of Transportation and, if next to a Federal‑aid highway, the Federal Highway Administration; no federal funds may be used for installation, relocation, or maintenance, and the requester must pay all costs and comply with terms and conditions set by the Secretary.