Fort Frederica National Monument Boundary Expansion Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 3480) to expand the boundary of Fort Frederica National Monument in the State of Georgia, and for other purposes, as amended.

The Clerk read the title of the bill.

The text of the bill is as follows: H.R. 3480

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ``Fort Frederica National Monument Boundary Expansion Act''. SEC. 2. FORT FREDERICA NATIONAL MONUMENT, GEORGIA.

(a) Maximum Acreage.--The first section of the Act of May 26, 1936 (16 U.S.C. 433g), is amended by striking ``two hundred and fifty acres'' and inserting ``305 acres''.

(b) Boundary Expansion.--

(1) In general.--The boundary of the Fort Frederica National Monument in the State of Georgia is modified to include the land generally depicted as ``Proposed Acquisition Areas'' on the map entitled ``Fort Frederica National Monument Proposed Boundary Expansion'', numbered 369/132,469, and dated April 2016.

(2) Availability of map.--The map described in paragraph (1) shall be on file and available for public inspection in the appropriate offices of the National Park Service.

(3) Acquisition of land.--The Secretary of the Interior may acquire the land and interests in land described in paragraph (1) by donation or purchase with donated or appropriated funds from willing sellers only.

(4) Written consent of owner.--No non-Federal property may be included in the Fort Frederica National Monument without the written consent of the owner.

(5) No use of condemnation or eminent domain.--The Secretary of the Interior may not acquire by condemnation or eminent domain any land or interests in land under this Act or for the purposes of this Act.

(6) No buffer zone created.--Nothing in this Act, the establishment of the Fort Frederica National Monument, or the management plan for the Fort Frederica National Monument shall be construed to create buffer zones outside of the Monument. That activities or uses can be seen, heard, or detected from areas within the Fort Frederica National Monument shall not preclude, limit, control, regulate, or determine the conduct or management of activities or uses outside of the Monument.

The Fort Frederica National Monument, located on St. Simons Island, Georgia, preserves the archaeological remnants of a fort established in 1736 by James Oglethorpe. Oglethorpe constructed the fort to protect the colony of Georgia from attack from the Spanish. The fort successfully fended off a Spanish attack in 1742 and confirmed Georgia as a British territory.

H.R. 3480, introduced by Congressman Buddy Carter of Georgia, expands Fort Frederica by 21 acres. The St. Simons Land Trust currently owns the additional acreage and will steward the land until the National Park Service can acquire the property. This bipartisan bill is cosponsored by the entire Georgia delegation, and Congressman Carter worked closely with Chairman Bishop to modify the bill before markup.

I urge the adoption of the bill.

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