PlainBillCongress, translated.Legislation. Context. Public interest.

Ice Age Floods National Geologic Trail Designation Act

Referred to the Subcommittee on National Parks.

Official summary

Version 35 · Passed Senate amended · Nov 16, 2005

(This measure has not been amended since it was reported to the Senate on October 19, 2005. The summary of that version is repeated here.)

Ice Age Floods National Geologic Trail Designation Act - Designates the Ice Age Floods National Geologic Trail, a trail from Missoula, Montana to the Pacific Ocean, to provide for the public appreciation, understanding, and enjoyment of the nationally significant natural and cultural features of the Ice Age Floods and to promote efforts to interpret and educate along the pathways of the floods.

Requires the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Director of the National Park Service, to administer the Trail in accordance with this Act. Prohibits the Trail, except as provided in this Act, from being considered a unit of the National Park System (NPS). Allows the Secretary, in order to improve management of the Trail and coordinate Trail activities with other public agencies and private entities, to establish and operate a Trail management office at a central location within the vicinity of the Trail.

Showing the opening paragraphs of the official summary.

Read full official summaryShow less

Requires the Secretary to prepare a cooperative management and interpretation plan for the Trail.

Authorizes the Secretary to plan, design, and construct interpretive facilities for sites associated with the Trail if the facilities are constructed in partnership with state, local, tribal, or nonprofit entities and are consistent with the cooperative management and interpretation plan.

Allows the Secretary, in order to facilitate the development of coordinated interpretation, education, resource stewardship, visitor facility development and operation, and scientific research associated with the Trail and to promote more efficient administration of the sites associated with the Trail, to enter into cooperative management agreements with appropriate officials in the states of Montana, Idaho, Washington, and Oregon in accordance with the authority provided for units of the NPS. States that, for purposes of such authority only, the Trail be considered an NPS unit.

Permits the Secretary to enter into cooperative agreements with public or private entities to carry out this Act.

Specifies the effect of this Act on private property rights.

Declares that designation of the Trail does not create any liability for, or affect any liability under any law of, any private property owner with respect to any person injured on the private property.

Authorizes appropriations.

Read the summary on Congress.gov
PlainBill analysis is coming later. This page presents official source data. We have not yet published a PlainBill explanation for this bill.

Who introduced it

Sen. Cantwell, Maria [D-WA] · D–WA

Committees

  • Natural Resources Committee
  • Energy and Natural Resources Committee
5 cosponsorship records, including any withdrawals

Actions

A procedural vote is different from passage. Passage in one chamber does not establish enactment. Explore the glossary.

  1. Referred to the Subcommittee on National Parks.

  2. Referred to the House Committee on Resources.

  3. Message on Senate action sent to the House.

  4. Received in the House.

  5. Passed Senate with an amendment by Unanimous Consent. (consideration: CR S13042-13044; text as passed Senate: CR S13042-13044)

  6. Passed/agreed to in Senate: Passed Senate with an amendment by Unanimous Consent.(consideration: CR S13042-13044; text as passed Senate: CR S13042-13044)

  7. Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 236.

  8. Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. Reported by Senator Domenici with an amendment in the nature of a substitute. With written report No. 109-144.

  9. Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. Reported by Senator Domenici with an amendment in the nature of a substitute. With written report No. 109-144.

  10. Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. Ordered to be reported with an amendment in the nature of a substitute favorably.

  11. Committee on Energy and Natural Resources Subcommittee on National Parks. Hearings held. With printed Hearing: S.Hrg. 109-101.

  12. Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. (text of measure as introduced: CR S653-654)

  13. Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S653)

  14. Introduced in Senate

Bill text & related measures

Text links open the official source. We currently store references to these documents.

Related bills identified by Congress.gov

Source last updated: Sep 8, 2026. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.

Explore the bill from different angles

Choose a perspective, copy a prompt, and paste it into your preferred AI. Each prompt includes the bill version and available official source links, and asks for counterarguments as well as supporting evidence.

Neutral evidence review

Objective

Analyze S.206 as objectively as possible. Explain its main provisions, who would be affected, possible benefits and harms, implementation, exceptions, and uncertainties. Present the strongest arguments for and against it, and identify evidence needed to assess its public impact.

View full prompt & sources
Fairness and public impact

Progressive lens

Examine S.206 through a progressive lens, focusing on fairness, access, economic inequality, and effects on vulnerable communities. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and distinguish stated goals from demonstrated outcomes.

View full prompt & sources
Institutions and government scope

Conservative lens

Examine S.206 through a conservative lens, focusing on fiscal responsibility, institutional stability, federalism, and the scope of government. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and any provisions that challenge this perspective.

View full prompt & sources
Individual rights and government power

Liberty lens

Examine S.206 through a civil-liberties and limited-government lens. Consider individual rights, privacy, voluntary choice, accountability, and government power. Explain tradeoffs, possible safeguards, and the strongest counterarguments without assuming the proposal is beneficial or harmful.

View full prompt & sources