Colorado Wilderness Act of 2021

Floor Speech

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Mr. GARAMENDI. Mr. Speaker, my amendment (Garamendi No. 6) to the ``Protecting America's Wilderness and Public Lands Act'' (H.R. 803) would adjust the Congressionally designated boundary of the Sacramento- San Joaquin Delta National Heritage Area to include approximately 62 acres of adjacent publicly owned land in unincorporated Solano County.

I thank Rules Chairman McGovern (D-MA) for making my noncontroversial amendment in order and Natural Resources Chairman Grijalva (D-AZ) for including it in the en bloc #1 amendments today, offered by Congressman Neguse (D-CO).

My amendment is identical to H.R. 1230, which I introduced on February 23, 2021, at the request of the City of Rio Vista. It would include the decommissioned United States Army Reserve Center (Rio Vista), U.S. Coast Guard Station Rio Vista, Beach Drive Wastewater Treatment Plant (City of Rio Vista), and Sandy Beach County Park (Solano County) in the National Heritage Area.

Two of these parcels--the decommissioned United States Army Reserve Center and Beach Drive Wastewater Treatment Plant--are owned by the City of Rio Vista but technically outside the city limits. As such, it appears these parcels were omitted inadvertently when the National Park Service prepared the legislative map for the then-proposed Delta National Heritage Area in 2010. Including these parcels within the National Heritage Area's boundary supports the City of Rio Vista's proposed redevelopment of the decommissioned United States Army Reserve Center, now owned by the City.

In March 2019, Congress enacted into law (Public Law 116-9) my legislation with U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) designating the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta as California's first national heritage area. The Delta is a crown jewel of our state and an iconic working landscape, which my family has been fortunate to call home for over 40 years. It is the most productive watershed in the western United States and among the most ecologically important in the Western Hemisphere.

Together, we must safeguard the Delta and the historic communities that make it such a special place, including Rio Vista. Expanding the Delta National Heritage Area will ensure that the proposed redevelopment of the decommissioned Rio Vista Army base and similar projects on the adjacent publicly owned land are eligible to apply for the $10 million in federal grant funding available until 2034.

I urge all Members to support my amendment and the underlying bill, which I will work to enact into law before California's Delta Protection Commission completes the management plan for the National Heritage Area.

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