Senate Comittee Reports Hatch Pioneer Trails, Minersville State Park Bills

SENATE COMMITTEE REPORTS HATCH PIONEER TRAILS, MINERSVILLE STATE PARK BILLS

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee today cleared two Utah land bills sponsored by Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) for Senate consideration. Both bills passed the Senate during the 108th Congress, and Hatch is optimistic they will be addressed quickly this Congress.

Hatch's first bill would recognize Utah's pioneer heritage by giving federal designation to alternate routes used by the Mormon Pioneer, Pony Express, California and Oregon National Historic Trails.

"These trails are the highways of our history," Hatch said. "This legislation will help to preserve the stories of the early pioneers who settled in Utah and throughout the West."

Since the enactment of the National Trails System Act in 1968, public support has grown for broadening the law to include alternate routes branching off the main trails. Hatch's proposal would allow the National Park Service to update the Pony Express, the Oregon, the California, and the Mormon National Historic Trails to include variant routes taken by the early pioneers of the West. Tens of thousands of pioneers embarked on their journey from a number of different locations. These trail variations tell the story of the great ingenuity and adaptability of the pioneers in dealing with inclement weather, lack of water, terrain, and other threats.

Hatch's second bill would transfer Minersville State Park ownership to Beaver County, Utah, helping to alleviate the financial burden the current owner, the State of Utah, faces in maintaining the park.

"This park now features more than $1 million worth of park facilities, and I believe the intensive, day-to-day management of this park can be best accomplished by local officials," Hatch said. "If Beaver County acquires the property, it will continue to make this park an excellent recreational refuge, a superb fishery, and a great place to visit."

For more than 40 years, the State of Utah managed the area known as the Minersville State Park. Faced with closing the park due to budget shortfalls, the State agreed in 2002 to transfer park management to Beaver County. However, the Bureau of Land Management noted that the property itself had not been acquired through the Recreation and Public Purposes Act process, which would restrict Beaver County's park management plan. Hatch's legislation would remove those restrictions by transferring the park ownership to Beaver County.

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