Congress this week sent a handful of public lands bills to President Obama's desk, including measures to fund endangered fish recovery programs and allow maintenance of a natural gas line that runs through a portion of Glacier National Park in Montana.

Although the Senate this week approved more than a dozen lands and wildlife bills in total -- including one to designate new wilderness in Michigan -- the rest are unlikely to pass unless the House takes them up in the remaining hours of the 112th Congress, which ends at noon. That means the 112th Congress is set to become only the second since 1964 to designate no new wilderness.

Congress sent to Obama H.R. 6060, a bill by Rep. Rob Bishop (R-Utah) to safeguard endangered fish.

The bipartisan bill, which the House unanimously approved in September and the Senate passed this week, would reauthorize funding for programs recovering four endangered fish species in the Upper Colorado River and San Juan River Basin (E&E Daily, Sept. 20, 2012).

Two programs have been working for more than 20 years to restore populations of the Colorado pikeminnow, razorback sucker, humpback chub and bonytail by 2023. Bishop's bill would reauthorize $6 million, adjusted for inflation, from power revenues for the programs through 2019.

The Senate also gave final approval to H.R. 4606, by Rep. Denny Rehberg (R-Mont.), to clarify the National Park Service's authority to allow maintenance of a natural gas line that runs through a portion of Glacier National Park in Montana. The House approved the bill last month 286-10 (E&E Daily, Dec. 18, 2012).

Another bill headed for Obama's desk, H.R. 3641 by Rep. Sam Farr (D-Calif.), will upgrade California's Pinnacles National Monument to a national park, a move that is expected to draw more tourists to the area (Greenwire, Jan. 2).

Two other measures headed into law are H.R. 3263 by Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.), to authorize the Interior secretary to allow the storage and conveyance of nonproject water at the Norman project in Oklahoma, and H.R. 4073 by Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.), to clarify the legal status of Colorado's popular Manitou Incline hiking trail. The bill addresses a right-of-way issue with the Manitou and Pikes Peak Railway Co., Lamborn said.

Bills passed by the Senate but not the House include measures to designate new wilderness at a national lakeshore in Michigan, expand the boundaries of the San Antonio Missions National Historical Park and clarify federal jurisdiction over an abandoned lead mine in Colorado.

A Democratic House aide said there was no indication that the Republican leadership intends to act on the Senate bills.

A spokeswoman for the House Natural Resources Committee said it is unlikely the House will act but noted that the chamber has passed 16 of the 17 bills the Senate sent the committee by last September.

The Senate bills include S. 140, from Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), which would designate nearly half of the 71,000-acre Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore as wilderness, while maintaining access to county roads and state highways, boat launches and historical structures.

The bill, which is among only a handful of wilderness bills to pass the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee this Congress, is sponsored in the House by Rep. Bill Huizenga (R-Mich.) and co-sponsored by eight others, including Michigan Republican Reps. Fred Upton, Dave Camp and Dan Benishek.

The bill was the only wilderness measure passed by the Senate this Congress. No wilderness bills were passed in the House, where Republican leaders have generally frowned on new restrictions on public lands.

But a spokesman for Levin said the senator remains hopeful the House will take up the bill.

"The Senate's action is a big victory for all those who have worked to protect this precious slice of Michigan's natural and cultural heritage," Levin said in a statement earlier this week. "I'm hopeful that even in the last days of the 112th Congress the House can act and send this bill to the president."

Levin said many of the areas in the bill have been managed as wilderness since 1982. The lakeshore in the northwest corner of Michigan's mainland is a favorite spot for hunters, anglers, hikers and boaters and was ranked "The Most Beautiful Place in America" by ABC's "Good Morning America" last year.

The Senate also passed the following bills, but not the House:

• S. 302, by Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), to permit construction of a natural gas pipeline along the Parks Highway through Denali National Park. The bill offers a "clear legal path" for North Slope natural gas to be transported to market, Murkowski said yesterday.

• S. 3563, by Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.), to amend the Energy Policy Act of 2005 to modify an oil and gas permitting pilot project by the Bureau of Land Management.

• S. 2015, by Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.), to convey about 322 acres of federal lands to the Powell Recreation District in Wyoming for a shooting range.

• S. 264, by Sen. Thad Conchran (R-Miss.), to convey two parcels of Interior Department lands within the Natches Trace Parkway to Mississippi.

• S. 1047, by Sen. Mark Udall (D-Colo.), to clarify federal jurisdiction over an abandoned lead mine in Colorado.

• S. 1421, by Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), to authorize the Peace Corps Commemorative Foundation to establish a commemorative work in Washington, D.C.

• S. 1478, by Sen. Tim Johnson (R-S.D.), to modify the boundary of the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site in South Dakota.

• S. 499, by Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), to authorize the Interior secretary to facilitate the development of hydroelectric power on the Diamond Fork System of the Central Utah Project.

• S. 114, by Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas), to expand the boundaries of the San Antonio Missions National Historical Park.