A bill to designate certain lands in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park as wilderness.
Great Smoky Mountains Wilderness Act - Designates as the Great Smoky Mountains Wilderness certain lands in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina and Tennessee. Excludes a ten-acre enclave from such wilderness area and designates it as potential wilderness area. Excludes trail shelters in use in the Park from specified prohibitions under the Wilderness Act.
Requires the Secretary of the Interior and the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) to negotiate the transfer of legal rights and easements retained by the TVA over lands in the park which are inconsistent with the Wilderness Act or unnecessary for the operation of the Fontana Lake Dam. Designates the land formerly owned by the TVA as wilderness.
Directs the Secretary to acquire the lands within the park.
Authorizes the Secretary to place a historical marker at or near the approach to the Cherokee Qualla Reservation at Soco Gap.
Provides that nothing in this Act shall adversely affect any rights or privileges acquired pursuant to the agreement of July 30, 1943, between the Secretary of the Interior, North Carolina, and the county of Swain, North Carolina, in property within the wilderness designated by this Act.
Introduced in Senate
Read second time and referred to Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
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