Saint Francis Dam Disaster National Memorial and Castaic Wilderness Act

Saint Francis Dam Disaster National Memorial and Castaic Wilderness Act

This bill establishes: (1) the Saint Francis Dam Disaster National Memorial at the Saint Francis Dam site in Los Angeles County, California, to honor the victims of the Saint Francis Dam disaster of March 12, 1928; (2) the Saint Francis Dam Disaster National Monument on specified land administered by the Secretary of Agriculture in Los Angeles County; and (3) the Saint Francis Dam Advisory Commission.

The Commission must: (1) report recommendations for the planning, design, construction, and long-term management of the Memorial; and (2) advise the Department of the Interior on the development of a management plan for the Memorial site.

The Memorial shall be administered as a unit of the National Park System.

The Department of Agriculture shall: (1) manage the Monument in a manner that conserves, protects, and enhances its cultural, historic, and ecological resources; and (2) develop a management plan for the Monument.

This bill designates approximately 620 acres of specified public land in California as a potential wilderness area and requires such land to be designated as the Castaic Wilderness on the earlier of: (1) the date Interior publishes notice that conditions in the area that are incompatible with the Wilderness Act have been removed, or (2) the date that is five years after the date of enactment of this Act.

The Monument and the Castaic Wilderness shall be administered as components of the National Landscape Conservation System.

The bill designates an additional 69,812 acres of land in Los Angeles County as the Castaic Wilderness. The Secretary may: (1) take necessary measures to control fire, insects, and diseases in such Wilderness; (2) conduct management activities necessary to maintain or restore fish and wildlife populations and habitats and to maintain water sources for wildlife in such Wilderness; and (3) authorize the installation and maintenance of hydrologic, meteorological, or climatological collection devices that are essential to flood warning, flood control, or water reservoir operation activities in such Wilderness. The Wilderness area is withdrawn from:

• all forms of entry, appropriation, and disposal under the public land laws;
• location, entry, and patent under the mining laws; and
• disposition under all laws pertaining to mineral and geothermal leasing or mineral materials.