Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 112 Part 4.djvu/1050

 112 STAT. 2782 PUBLIC LAW 105-290—OCT. 27, 1998 Public Law 105-290 105th Congress An Act Oct. 27, 1998 To authorize the Secretary of the Interior to provide assistance to the National [H.R. 2186] Historic Trails Interpretive Center in Casper, Wyoming. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 16 USC 1244 the United States of America in Congress assembled, note. SECTION 1, FINDINGS AND PURPOSES. (a) FINDINGS. —The Congress finds and declares the following: (1) The City of Casper, Wyoming, is nationally significant as the only geographic location in the western United States where four congressionally recognized historic trails (the Oregon Trail, the Mormon Trail, the California Trail, and the Pony Express Trail), the Brfdger Trail, the Bozeman Trail, and many Indian routes converged. (2) The historic trails that passed through the Casper area are a distinctive part of the national character and possess important historical and cultural values representing themes of migration, settlement, transportation, and commerce that shaped the landscape of the West. (3) The Bureau of Land Management has not yet established a historic trails interpretive center in Wyoming or in any adjacent State to educate and focus national attention on the history of the mid-19th century immigrant trails that crossed public lands in the Intermountain West. (4) At the invitation of the Bureau of Land Management, the City of Casper and the National Historic Trails Foundation, Inc. (a nonprofit corporation established under the laws of the State of Wyoming) entered into a memorandum of understanding in 1992, and have since signed an assistance agreement in 1993 and a cooperative agreement in 1997, to create, manage, and sustain a National Historic Trails Interpretive Center to be located in Casper, Wyoming, to professionally interpret the historic trails in the Casper area for the benefit of the public. (5) The National Historic Trails Interpretive Center authorized by this Act is consistent with the purposes and objectives of the National Trails' System Act (16 U.S.C. 1241 et seq.), which directs the Secretary of the Interior to protect, interpret, and manage the remnants of historic trails on public lands. (6) The State of Wyoming effectively joined the partnership to establish the National Historic Trails Interpretive Center through a legislative allocation of supporting funds, and the citizens of the City of Casper have increased local taxes to meet their financial obligations under the assistance agreement and the cooperative agreement referred to in paragraph (4).

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