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Adds about 1,000 acres to the Rough Mountain Wilderness in the George Washington National Forest and designates about 4,600 acres as a conditional addition to the Rich Hole Wilderness. The Rich Hole addition becomes official when the Secretary of Agriculture publishes a completion notice or automatically after five years; until then the Forest Service must manage the land under the Wilderness Act with one exception allowing limited motorized and mechanized work to improve water quality under the terms of a prior Forest Service decision.
Amend Section 1 to add the "Rough Mountain Addition": approximately 1,000 acres of land in the George Washington National Forest are incorporated into the Rough Mountain Wilderness Area as depicted on a map dated March 4, 2014.
Designate approximately 4,600 acres in the George Washington National Forest as a potential wilderness area (the "Rich Hole Addition") for incorporation into the Rich Hole Wilderness Area; area depicted on a map dated March 4, 2014.
Require that the potential wilderness area designated for Rich Hole be designated as wilderness and incorporated into the Rich Hole Wilderness Area on the earlier of: (A) the date the Secretary of Agriculture publishes in the Federal Register a notice that the activities permitted under paragraph (4) have been completed; or (B) the date that is 5 years after the date of enactment of this Act.
Until incorporation, the Secretary shall manage the potential Rich Hole wilderness area in accordance with the Wilderness Act, except as provided in the paragraph authorizing certain water-quality activities.
Allow the Secretary to use motorized equipment and mechanized transport in the Rich Hole potential wilderness area to carry out water quality improvement and aquatic passage activities described in the Forest Service document titled 'Decision Notice for the Lower Cowpasture Restoration and Management Project' (dated December 2015). This authority lasts until the date the potential area is incorporated into the Rich Hole Wilderness Area.
Who is affected and how:
U.S. Forest Service / Department of Agriculture: Directly responsible for land management, publishing the completion notice for the Rich Hole addition, and overseeing any authorized motorized/mechanized water-quality work using minimal tools and methods that limit harm to wilderness character.
Local communities and public water systems: Likely beneficiaries of the permitted water-quality projects that can use limited motorized/mechanized methods to protect or restore watershed function and water supplies serving nearby communities.
Recreationists and the general public: Increased protected wilderness acreage will preserve wild character, scenery, and non-motorized recreational opportunities in both the Rough Mountain and (once finalized) Rich Hole areas; interim management means public access and permitted activities will generally follow Wilderness Act rules.
Commercial interests (timber, mining, development): Wilderness designation and interim Wilderness Act management restricts development, motorized use, and most resource extraction activities on the affected lands, limiting those commercial uses.
Environmental and conservation groups: Gain permanent protection for additional federal forestland and a statutory affirmation of wilderness protections, while acknowledging a narrowly circumscribed exception to address water-quality needs.
Overall effect: The measure modestly expands the National Wilderness Preservation System and clarifies short-term management and an explicit, limited process to allow motorized/mechanized work for water-quality purposes on the Rich Hole parcels until they are formally added. It shifts management responsibilities and use restrictions onto the federal land-management agency but does not create new funding streams or broader regulatory changes.
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Read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.
Introduced May 8, 2025 by Timothy Michael Kaine · Last progress May 8, 2025
Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 213.
Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry. Reported by Senator Boozman without amendment. Without written report.
Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry. Ordered to be reported without amendment favorably.
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.