Sangre de Cristo National Historical Park Establishment Act
Key claim: This bill would create a new National Park System historical park in Colorado’s Sangre de Cristo–San Luis Valley region, let Interior buy or accept donated water rights, and keep existing agencies in charge of any Old Spanish Trail segments inside the park.
Abstract
(S503 · 113th Congress) Sangre de Cristo National Historical Park Establishment Act - Establishes the Sangre de Cristo National Historical Park in Colorado as a unit of the National Park System. Requires the Park to be composed of cultural and historical sites and byways within the Sangre de Cristo Mountain Range-San Luis Valley region of southern Colorado. Directs the Secretary of the Interior, through the National Park Service (NPS), to study the feasibility of including additional cultural and historical sites in Huerfano and Las Animas Counties in the Park. Allows the Secretary to acquire water rights by donation or purchase from willing sellers. Requires the completion of a general management plan for the Park. Requires the head of the federal agency having jurisdiction over a part of the Old Spanish Trail that is included within the Park to continue to manage that part of the Trail. Latest action (2013-03-07): Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
Why this matters
Proposals to create new National Park System units in the West routinely intersect with water-rights acquisition authority and overlapping federal trail designations, both of which shape local costs, permitting, and land-use control. Tracking bills like this — even those that stall in committee — documents how Congress has repeatedly tested the Sangre de Cristo–San Luis Valley region for federal historical-park status and how water and trail management would be handled if such a unit were ever authorized.