16 U.S.C. § 460mmm–4 — Management

(a) Conservation Area^*: The Secretary^* must manage the Conservation Area to (1) conserve, protect, and enhance its resources listed in section 460mmm(b), and (2) follow the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 and other applicable law, including this subchapter.

(b) Uses: The Secretary may only allow uses that further the purposes for which the Conservation Area was created.

(c) Withdrawals: Subject to existing valid rights, all federal land in the Conservation Area and Wilderness^* — and any land later acquired for them — is withdrawn from (1) the usual public land laws that let people claim or dispose of land, (2) mining-law claims and patents, and (3) mineral leasing, mineral materials, and geothermal leasing laws. This does not limit the Secretary's separate power to grant rights-of-way or other land-use permits consistent with this subchapter.

(d) Off-highway vehicle use: (1) Motor vehicles may only be used on roads and trails designated for that purpose — under the management plan^* in place on October 24, 2000, until a new plan takes effect under subsection (h), and then under that new plan. (2) This does not limit motor-vehicle use needed for administration or emergencies.

(e) Wilderness: Subject to existing valid rights, the Secretary manages designated wilderness land under the Wilderness Act and this subchapter — except that any reference in the Wilderness Act to its own "effective date" instead means October 24, 2000.

(f) Hunting, trapping, and fishing: (1) These activities are allowed in the Conservation Area and Wilderness, under applicable U.S., Colorado, and Utah law. (2) Colorado's or Utah's wildlife agency (for land in their state), or the Secretary after consulting them, may set zones and time periods where hunting, trapping, or fishing is banned, for public safety, administration, or public enjoyment.

(g) Grazing: (1) Except as noted below, the Secretary issues and manages grazing leases and permits in the Conservation Area and Wilderness the same way as on other Bureau of Land Management land. (2) But grazing inside the Wilderness itself follows the Wilderness Act's special grazing rule (section 4(d)(4)), guided by Appendix A of a specific 1990 House committee report.

(h) Management plan: (1) Within 3 years of October 24, 2000, the Secretary must write a full management plan for the Conservation Area, the Wilderness, and the land described in paragraph (2)(E). (2) That plan must (A) describe appropriate uses and management; (B) consider any relevant studies already done; (C) keep managing the utility corridor, the Black Ridge Communications Site, and the FAA site for those same purposes; (D) consider the local community's history with the area and a 1998 joint resource plan; and (E) include all public land between the Conservation Area's boundary and the edge of the Colorado River, where only uses consistent with this subchapter are allowed.

(i) No buffer zones: Congress does not intend creating the Conservation Area or Wilderness to create a protective buffer zone around them. Activities allowed just outside the boundary aren't blocked just because they wouldn't be allowed inside — as long as they follow other applicable laws.

(j) Acquisition of land: (1) The Secretary may only acquire non-federal land inside these boundaries from a willing seller, by exchange, or by donation. (2) Acquired land is managed as part of the Conservation Area or Wilderness under this subchapter.

(k) Interpretive facilities or sites: The Secretary may build minimal interpretive facilities with other public or private partners, designed to protect the resources listed in section 460mmm(b).

(l) Water rights: (1) Congress finds that the wilderness land sits at the headwaters of its streams, with few water facilities upstream and few chances that outside water use would hurt the wilderness; that this land generally isn't suited for new or bigger water facilities; and that its wilderness values can be protected differently than in other wilderness laws. (2) So: (A) nothing here reserves any water right for this land; (B) nothing here affects existing Colorado water rights as of October 24, 2000; (C) this does not set a precedent for future wilderness or conservation-area laws; and (D) nothing here changes any interstate water compact or court decree dividing water between Colorado and other states. (3) To get any new water right for the Conservation Area or Wilderness, the Secretary must follow Colorado's own water law procedures. (4) New water projects: (A) "Water resource facility" means things like irrigation systems, reservoirs, aqueducts, canals, pipelines, wells, and hydropower projects — but not livestock-grazing facilities. (B) Except as allowed under subsection (g) or elsewhere in this subchapter, after October 24, 2000, no federal official may fund, help, authorize, or license a new water resource facility inside the designated wilderness. (C) This does not affect using, maintaining, repairing, or replacing water facilities that already existed on October 24, 2000, inside the Wilderness. (5) Boundaries along the Colorado River: (A) Neither the Conservation Area nor the Wilderness includes any part of the Colorado River up to its 100-year high-water mark. (B) This does not affect whatever authority the Secretary has to manage recreation on the Colorado River, or to manage the public land between the Conservation Area's boundary and the river's edge. (C) Subject to existing valid rights, all federally owned land between the river's 100-year high-water marks — from "Line A" on the Map^* east to the Colorado-Utah border on the west — is withdrawn from the public land laws, mining laws, and mineral/geothermal leasing laws, the same as described in subsection (c).