NEW ENGLAND NATIONAL SCENIC TRAIL.

SEC. 5202. NEW ENGLAND NATIONAL SCENIC TRAIL.(a) Authorization and Administration.—Section 5(a) of the National Trails System Act (16 U.S.C. 1244(a)) (as amended by section 5201) is amended by adding at the end the following:“(28) New england national scenic trail.—The New England National Scenic Trail, a continuous trail extending approximately 220 miles from the border of New Hampshire in the town of Royalston, Massachusetts to Long Island Sound in the town of Guilford, Connecticut, as generally depicted on the map titled ‘New England National Scenic Trail Proposed Route’, numbered T06/80,000, and dated October 2007. The map shall be on file and available for public inspection in the appropriate offices of the National Park Service. The Secretary of the Interior, in consultation with appropriate Federal, State, tribal, regional, and local agencies, and other organizations, shall administer the trail after considering the recommendations of the report titled the ‘Metacomet Monadnock Mattabesset Trail System National Scenic Trail Feasibility Study and Environmental Assessment’, prepared by the National Park Service, and dated Spring 2006. The United States shall not acquire for the trail any land or interest in land without the consent of the owner.”.(b) Management.—The Secretary of the Interior (referred to in this section as the “Secretary”) shall consider the actions outlined in the Trail Management Blueprint described in the report titled the “Metacomet Monadnock Mattabesett Trail System National Scenic Trail Feasibility Study and Environmental Assessment”, prepared by the National Park Service, and dated Spring 2006, as the framework for management and administration of the New 123 STAT. 1155 England National Scenic Trail. Additional or more detailed plans for administration, management, protection, access, maintenance, or development of the trail may be developed consistent with the Trail Management Blueprint, and as approved by the Secretary.(c) Cooperative Agreements.—The Secretary is authorized to enter into cooperative agreements with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (and its political subdivisions), the State of Connecticut (and its political subdivisions), and other regional, local, and private organizations deemed necessary and desirable to accomplish cooperative trail administrative, management, and protection objectives consistent with the Trail Management Blueprint. An agreement under this subsection may include provisions for limited financial assistance to encourage participation in the planning, acquisition, protection, operation, development, or maintenance of the trail.(d) Additional Trail Segments.—Pursuant to section 6 of the National Trails System Act (16 U.S.C. 1245), the Secretary is encouraged to work with the State of New Hampshire and appropriate local and private organizations to include that portion of the Metacomet-Monadnock Trail in New Hampshire (which lies between Royalston, Massachusetts and Jaffrey, New Hampshire) as a component of the New England National Scenic Trail. Inclusion of this segment, as well as other potential side or connecting trails, is contingent upon written application to the Secretary by appropriate State and local jurisdictions and a finding by the Secretary that trail management and administration is consistent with the Trail Management Blueprint.