S 3715

Introduced

Chiricahua National Park Act

To establish the Chiricahua National Park in the State of Arizona as a unit of the National Park System, and for other purposes.

Introduced Jan 28, 2026

Latest action (Jul 29, 2026) Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. Ordered to be reported with an amendment in the nature of a substitute favorably.

Referred to

Energy and Natural Resources Committee

Policy area

Public Lands and Natural Resources

Legislative subjects (4)

Arizona Federal-Indian relations Monuments and memorials Parks, recreation areas, trails

Summary

Redesignates Chiricahua National Monument in Arizona as "Chiricahua National Park" and makes it a unit of the National Park System.
Maintains the same boundaries as the existing monument and transfers all available funds from the monument to the new national park.
Requires the Secretary of the Interior to administer the park in accordance with the original presidential proclamations and applicable National Park Service laws.
Mandates protection of traditional cultural and religious sites within the park in consultation with Indian Tribes.
Authorizes Indian Tribe members to access traditional cultural and religious sites in the park for customary uses in accordance with the American Indian Religious Freedom Act.
Allows the Secretary to temporarily close specific park areas to the public to protect tribal traditional cultural and customary uses, limited to the smallest practicable area for the minimum necessary period.

AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.

Sponsor (1)

Sen. Kelly, Mark [D-AZ] (D-AZ)

1 cosponsor

Sen. Gallego, Ruben [D-AZ] (D-AZ)

Actions (3)

Jul 29, 2026 Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. Ordered to be reported with an amendment in the nature of a substitute favorably. · senate
Jan 28, 2026 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. · senate
Jan 28, 2026 Introduced in Senate

More bills on these subjects (8)

Other bills that carry the most legislative subjects in common with this one (topical discovery — distinct from the procedural related bills above).

Similar bills (6)

Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.

Text versions (1)

Introduced in Senate · Jan 28, 2026

Only one text version is on file, so there’s no earlier version to compare against yet.

Committee action

What happened to this bill in committee — the meetings where it was considered and every recorded vote taken on it.

Meetings where this bill was on the agenda

Business meeting to consider S.365 and H.R.1729, bills to amend the John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act to allow for additional entities to be eligible to complete the maintenance work on Bolts Ditch and the Bolts Ditch Headgate within the Holy Cross Wilderness, Colorado, S.764, to provide for the designation of certain wilderness areas, recreation management areas, and conservation areas in the State of Colorado, S.791, to establish the Justice Thurgood Marshall National Historic Site in the State of Maryland as an affiliated area of the National Park System, S.888, to designate certain land administered by the Bureau of Land Management and the Forest Service in the State of Oregon as wilderness and national recreation areas, to withdraw certain land located in Curry County and Josephine County, Oregon, from all forms of entry, appropriation, or disposal under the public land laws, location, entry, and patent under the mining laws, and operation under the mineral leasing and geothermal leasing laws, S.945, to amend the Smith River National Recreation Area Act to include certain additions to the Smith River National Recreation Area, to amend the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act to designate certain wild rivers in the State of Oregon, S.1005, to provide for conservation and economic development in the State of Nevada, S.1088, to provide that the memorial to commemorate the sacrifice and service of the women who worked on the home front to support the efforts of the United States military during World War II may be located on the National Mall, S.1195, to promote conservation, improve public land management, and provide for sensible development in Pershing County, Nevada, S.1257, to amend the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to authorize the use of funds for certain additional Carey Act projects, S.1341, to amend the Colorado Wilderness Act of 1993 to add certain land to the Sarvis Creek Wilderness, S.1349, to withdraw the National Forest System land in the Ruby Mountains subdistrict of the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest and the National Wildlife Refuge System land in Ruby Lake National Wildlife Refuge, Elko and White Pine Counties, Nevada, from operation under the mineral leasing laws, S.1476, to amend the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act to designate certain segments of the Gila River system in the State of New Mexico as components of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System, to provide for the transfer of administrative jurisdiction over certain Federal land in the State of New Mexico, S.1737, to designate and expand wilderness areas in Olympic National Forest in the State of Washington, and to designate certain rivers in Olympic National Forest and Olympic National Park as wild and scenic rivers, S.1777, to amend the California Desert Protection Act of 1994 to expand the boundary of Joshua Tree National Park, to redesignate the Cottonwood Visitor Center at Joshua Tree National Park as the "Dianne Feinstein Visitor Center", S.1870, to adjust the boundary of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area to include the Rim of the Valley Corridor, S.2498, to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to extend certain leases within units of the National Park System without opening the lease to bidding, S.2767 and H.R.5254, bills to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to enter into an agreement with the Gateway Arch Park Foundation to host private events in Gateway Arch National Park buildings, S.2801, to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a study to assess the suitability and feasibility of designating the Canterbury Shaker Village National Heritage Area, S.2887, to amend the National Trails System Act to designate the Route 66 National Historic Trail, S.2933, to redesignate a playground in the New River Gorge National Park and Preserve in the State of West Virginia as the "Hearts of Gold Playground: In Honor of West Virginia Children and Families Impacted by Childhood Cancer", S.2968, to ensure access to certain public land, S.3194, to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a study to assess the suitability and feasibility of designating certain land in California as the Monterey Bay National Heritage Area, S.3313 and H.R.6365, bills to require the Secretary of the Interior to issue a right-of-way for an emergency exit on certain National Park Service land in the State of Virginia, S.3409, to reaffirm that the Bureau of Reclamation retains exclusive ownership, operational control, and financial responsibility for the Lower Yellowstone Fish Bypass Channel, ensuring long-term conservation of the endangered pallid sturgeon and other native aquatic species in the Yellowstone River while protecting the Lower Yellowstone Irrigation Project and District from undue financial and operational burdens, S.3635 and H.R. 7250, bills to reauthorize the Fort Peck Reservation Rural Water System Act of 2000, S.3715 and H.R.6380, bills to establish the Chiricahua NEnergy and Natural Resources CommitteeJul 29, 2026Business meeting

Full text

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

January 28, 2026

Mr. Kelly (for himself and Mr. Gallego) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources

A BILL

To establish the Chiricahua National Park in the State of Arizona as a unit of the National Park System, and for other purposes.

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 “Chiricahua National Park Act”.

SEC. 2. DESIGNATION OF CHIRICAHUA NATIONAL PARK, ARIZONA.

(a) Designation.—

(1) In general.—The Chiricahua National Monument in the State of Arizona established by Presidential Proclamation 1692 (54 U.S.C. 320301 note; 43 Stat. 1946) shall be known and designated as “Chiricahua National Park” (referred to in this Act as the “National Park”).

(2) Boundaries.—The boundaries of the National Park shall be the boundaries of the Chiricahua National Monument as of the date of enactment of this Act, as generally depicted on the map entitled “Chiricahua National Park Proposed Boundary”, numbered 145/156,356, and dated March 2021.

(3) References.—Any reference in a law, map, regulation, document, or other record of the United States to the Chiricahua National Monument shall be considered to be a reference to the “Chiricahua National Park”.

(4) Availability of funds.—Any funds available for the Chiricahua National Monument shall be available for the National Park.

(b) Administration.—The Secretary of the Interior shall administer the National Park in accordance with—

(1) Presidential Proclamation 1692 (54 U.S.C. 320301 note; 43 Stat. 1946);

(2) Presidential Proclamation 2288 (54 U.S.C. 320301 note; 52 Stat. 1551); and

(3) the laws generally applicable to units of the National Park System, including—

(A) section 100101(a), chapter 1003, and sections 100751(a), 100752, 100753, and 102101 of title 54, United States Code; and

(B) chapter 3201 of title 54, United States Code.

SEC. 3. TRADITIONAL CULTURAL AND RELIGIOUS SITES.

(a) Protection of Sites.—

(1) In general.—The Secretary shall ensure the protection of traditional cultural and religious sites in the National Park in accordance with the laws generally applicable to—

(A) the National Park Service; and

(B) units of the National Park System.

(2) Consultation.—In carrying out paragraph (1), the Secretary shall consult with Indian Tribes in accordance with laws applicable to the protection of cultural and religious sites.

(b) Access.—

(1) In general.—The Secretary, in accordance with Public Law 95-341 (42 U.S.C. 1996 et seq.)—

(A) shall provide access to the sites described in subsection (a)(1) by members of Indian Tribes for traditional cultural and customary uses; and

(B) may, on request of an Indian Tribe, temporarily close to general public use one or more specific areas of the National Park to protect traditional cultural and customary uses in the area by members of the Indian Tribe.

(2) Limitation.—In closing a portion of a designated area under paragraph (1)(B), the Secretary shall limit the closure to the smallest practicable area for the minimum period necessary for the traditional cultural and religious activities.

(1) Indian tribe.—The term “Indian Tribe” has the meaning given such term in section 4 of the Indian Self- Determination and Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 5304).

(2) Secretary.—The term “Secretary” means the Secretary of the Interior. <all>

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Summary

Sponsor (1)

Actions (3)

Related bills (1)

More bills on these subjects (8)

Similar bills (6)

Text versions (1)

Committee action

Meetings where this bill was on the agenda

Full text

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