A task force has been formed within the Interior Department to implement the various aspects of the public lands bill President Trump signed into law earlier this year/NPS

A task force within the Interior Department has been created by acting Interior Secretary David Bernhardt to implement the details of a massive public lands bill the president signed into law earlier this year.

The bill, officially known as the John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act (Dingell Act), contains more than 100 individual bills that were introduced by 50 Senators and several House members. 

Secretarial Order 3374, Implementation of the John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act establishes a task force to ensure the timely and coordinated implementation of the Dingell Act among all offices and bureaus within the Department of the Interior.

“We are taking a concrete step to ensure the department efficiently and fully implements the most comprehensive public lands management legislation in a decade,” said the acting secretary, who had his Senate confirmation hearing Thursday and is expected to be approved by the full Senate to succeed Ryan Zinke. “We will continue to work to strike the proper balance for land and resources management, increase access for hunting, fishing, and recreation, and create economic prosperity while protecting and preserving America’s treasures.”

Jessica Wahl, the executive director of the Outdoor Recreation Roundtable, said the legislation benefits the entire recreation industry, "from boating and fishing, hunting and snowmobiling, paddling and ORVing, skiing and climbing, to camping and biking."

“With today’s Secretarial Order, we look forward to the timely implementation of dozens of important recreation provisions that have been decades in the making, as well as partnering with the task force to ensure the full potential of this groundbreaking legislation is unlocked," she added.

The task force will be chaired by Interior's associate deputy secretary and include the assistant secretary for lands and minerals management, assistant secretary for fish and wildlife and parks, assistant secretary for water and science, assistant secretary for Indian affairs, assistant secretary for policy, management, and budget, assistant secretary for insular and international areas, and the solicitor.

Secretarial Order 3374 lays out timeframes for the task force to identify actionable steps and milestones, create an implementation plan for the Dingell Act, and manage a tracking database to ensure the department meets all timelines laid out the bipartisan public lands bill.

The legislation, among other things, expands the size of both Death Valley and Joshua Tree national parks, creates a national monument honoring civil rights icon Medgar Evers in Mississippi and a Mill Springs Battlefield National Monument in Kentucky, while changing the designations of some other park system units. It also:

* Redesignates Ocmulgee Mounds National Monument in Georgia as a national historical park;

* Redesignates Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site in New Hampshire as national historical park;

* Redesignates Golden Spike National Historic Site in Utah as a national historical park, and;

* Expands Shiloh National Military Park in Tennessee by adding battlefields at Davis Bridge and Fallen Timbers in Tennessee, and Russell House in Tennessee and Mississippi to Shiloh.

Wilderness designations called for in the measure include:

* Emery County wilderness, UT 661,200 acres

* California Desert wilderness, CA 375,500 acres

* Organ Mountain Desert Peaks wilderness, NM 241,500 acres

* Cerros del Norte wilderness, NM 22,000 acres

* San Juan County wilderness, NM 9,400 acres

* Devil’s Staircase wilderness, OR 30,600 acres

More than 620 miles of additions to the Wild and Scenic Rivers System include:

* Green River, UT 63 miles

* Lower Farmington additions, CT 62 miles

* Wood-Pawcatuck, RI 110 miles

* Nashua, MA and NH 53 miles

* Franklin Creek, Wasson Creek, Molalla, Elk Creek, OR 256 miles

* California Desert 77 miles

Additions to the National Trails System include:

* North Country National Scenic Trail extension 1,400 miles

* Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail extension 1,200 miles

National park additions include:

* California (Death Valley, Joshua Tree, Mojave) 39,835 acres

* Georgia (Ocmulgee Mounds, Kennesaw, Fort Frederica) 2,163 acres