[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4968 Introduced in House (IH)]







107th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4968

         To provide for the exchange of certain lands in Utah.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 19, 2002

 Mr. Cannon (for himself, Mr. Hansen, and Mr. Matheson) introduced the 
    following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
         To provide for the exchange of certain lands in Utah.

    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 ``Federal-Utah State Trust Lands 
Consolidation Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.

    (a) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
            (1) The San Rafael Swell in Utah is a 900-square mile, wild 
        and beautiful region west of the Green River. The San Rafael 
        Swell is dominated by the jagged, uplifted San Rafael Reef, 
        which has nearly two dozen major canyons and many side draws 
        and box canyons. The San Rafael Swell towers above the desert 
        like a wilderness castle, ringed by 1,000-foot ramparts of 
        Navajo sandstone. Its highlands have been fractured by uplift 
        and scooped hollow by erosion over countless millennia, leaving 
        a tremendous basin punctuated by mesas, buttes, and canyons and 
        traversed by sediment-laden desert streams.
            (2) The San Rafael Swell region was one of the country's 
        last frontiers and possesses important natural, historical, and 
        cultural resources, including exceptional backcountry 
        recreation opportunities, productive habitat for Desert Bighorn 
        Sheep, important historical sites, including sections of the 
        Old Spanish Trail and the Outlaw Trail, significant 
        paleontological resources, and multiple wilderness study areas 
        created pursuant to section 603 of the Federal Lands Policy and 
        Management Act of 1976, or otherwise identified by local 
        government and conservation interests as having significant 
        conservation values. The beautiful rural landscapes, historic 
        and cultural landscapes, and spectacular scenic vistas of the 
        San Rafael Swell region contain significant undeveloped 
        recreational opportunities for people throughout the United 
        States.
            (3) The State of Utah owns approximately 102,871 acres of 
        land located in the San Rafael Swell region and administered by 
        the Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration. 
        These lands were granted by the Congress to the State of Utah 
        pursuant to the Utah Enabling Act of 1894 (chapter 138; 23 
        Stat. 107), to be held in trust for the benefit of the State's 
        public school system and other public institutions. The lands 
        are largely scattered in checkerboard fashion amidst the 
        Federal lands comprising the remainder of the San Rafael Swell 
        area.
            (4) Development of surface and mineral resources on State 
        trust lands within the San Rafael Swell area, or the sale of 
        such lands into private ownership, could be incompatible with 
        management of such lands for nonimpairment of their wilderness 
        characteristics pursuant to section 603(c) of the Federal Land 
        Policy and Management Act of 1976, with future congressional 
        designation of the lands as wilderness, or with future 
        designation of such lands as a national monument, national 
        heritage area, or other conservation designation.
            (5) The State of Utah also owns 3,533 acres of land within 
        or directly adjacent to the Manti-La Sal National Forest in 
        Grand and Emery Counties, Utah, and 6,411 acres of land within 
        the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve, a conservation reserve 
        established in 1995 by the United States and Washington County, 
        Utah, to implement a multiple-species habitat conservation plan 
        approved by the Fish and Wildlife Service under section 10(a) 
        of the Endangered Species Act of 1973. The Reserve contains the 
        highest density of critical habitat for the Mojave desert 
        tortoise, a threatened species, in the United States. These 
        State trust lands are also administered by the Utah School and 
        Institutional Trust Lands Administration, but the use of such 
        lands by the State is limited because of the conservation 
        designations of surrounding Federal lands.
            (6) The United States owns lands and interests in lands 
        elsewhere in Utah that can be transferred to the State of Utah 
        in exchange for the San Rafael Swell inholdings, the Manti-La 
        Sal forest lands, and the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve lands 
        without jeopardizing Federal management objectives or needs.
            (7) The large presence of State trust land inholdings in 
        the San Rafael Swell region, the Manti-La Sal National Forest, 
        and the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve makes land and resource 
        management in these areas difficult, costly, and controversial 
        for both the State of Utah and the United States.
            (8) It is in the public interest to reach agreement on 
        exchange of such inholdings, on terms fair to both the State of 
        Utah and the United States. Such an agreement, subject to 
        ratification by Congress and consent by the Utah legislature, 
        would save much time and delay in meeting the legitimate 
        expectations of the State school and institutional trusts, in 
        simplifying management of Federal lands, and in avoiding the 
        significant time and expense associated with administrative 
        land exchanges.
            (9) The State of Utah and the United States have reached an 
        agreement under which the State would exchange certain State 
        trust lands within the San Rafael Swell region, the Manti-La 
        Sal National Forest, and the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve for 
        various Federal lands outside of those areas but in the same 
        region of Utah.
            (10) The parties agreed at the outset of negotiations to 
        avoid identifying Federal assets for conveyance to the State 
        where any of the following was known to exist or likely to be 
        an issue as a result of foreseeable future uses of the lands:
                    (A) Wilderness study areas.
                    (B) Areas proposed for wilderness designation in 
                pending Federal legislation.
                    (C) Significant endangered species habitat.
                    (D) Significant archaeological resources.
                    (E) Areas of critical environmental concern.
                    (F) Other lands known to raise significant 
                environmental concerns of any kind.
            (11) Because the State trust lands to be acquired by the 
        Federal Government include properties within some of the most 
        spectacular wild areas in the western United States, and 
        because a mission of the Utah School and Institutional Trust 
        Lands Administration is to produce economic benefits for Utah's 
        public schools and other beneficiary institutions, the exchange 
        of lands called for in this agreement will resolve longstanding 
        environmental conflicts with respect to existing and proposed 
        wilderness study areas, place important natural lands into 
        public ownership, and further the interests of the State trust 
        lands, the school children of Utah, and these conservation 
        resources.
            (12) Under this agreement, the State interests to be 
        conveyed to the United States by the State of Utah, and the 
        Federal interests to be conveyed to the State of Utah by the 
        United States, have been examined by licensed independent real 
        estate consultants and, taken as a whole, have been found to be 
        approximately equal in value.
    (b) Purpose.--The purpose of this Act is to enact into law and 
direct prompt implementation of this agreement, and thereby to further 
the public interest by consolidating State and Federal lands into 
manageable units while facilitating the protection of lands with 
significant scientific, cultural, and natural resources.

SEC. 3. RATIFICATION OF THE AGREED EXCHANGE BETWEEN THE STATE OF UTAH 
              AND THE UNITED STATES.

    (a) Agreement.--The State of Utah, the Department of the Interior, 
and the Department of Agriculture have agreed to exchange certain 
Federal lands in the State of Utah for lands of approximately equal 
value managed by the Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands 
Administration in the San Rafael Swell area of Utah, the Manti-La Sal 
National Forest, and the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve.
    (b) Ratification.--All terms, conditions, procedures, covenants, 
reservations, and other provisions set forth in the document entitled 
``Agreement for Exchange of Lands 2002 Federal-Utah State Trust Lands 
Consolidation'', dated June ____, 2002 (in this Act referred to as 
``the Agreement''), are hereby incorporated in this Act, are ratified 
and confirmed, and set forth the obligations of the United States, the 
State of Utah, and the Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands 
Administration, as a matter of Federal law.

SEC. 4. CONVEYANCES.

    (a) Conveyances.--All conveyances under sections 2, 3, and 4 of the 
Agreement shall be completed not later than 70 days after enactment of 
this Act.
    (b) Maps and Legal Descriptions.--
            (1) In general.--The maps and legal descriptions referred 
        to in the Agreement depict the lands subject to the conveyances 
        under the Agreement.
            (2) Public availability.--The maps and legal descriptions 
        referred to in the Agreement shall be on file and available for 
        public inspection in the offices of the Secretary of the 
        Interior, the Secretary of Agriculture, the Intermountain 
        Regional Office of the Forest Service, and the Utah State 
        Director of the Bureau of Land Management.
            (3) Conflict.--In case of any conflict between the maps and 
        the legal descriptions in the Agreement, the legal descriptions 
        shall control.

SEC. 5. MINERAL DEVELOPMENT.

    All payments received by the United States pursuant to section 
13(c) of the Agreement shall be subject to sharing with the State of 
Utah in the same manner the United States shares bonus bids, rentals, 
and royalties with the State of Utah under section 35 of the Mineral 
Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 191).

SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION.

    There are authorized to be appropriated such sums as are necessary 
to carry out this Act, including such sums as may be desired to reduce 
the balance of the interest and principal amounts owed by the United 
States to the Trust Lands Administration pursuant to sections 4 and 5 
of the Agreement.

SEC. 7. COSTS.

    The United States and the State of Utah shall each bear its own 
respective costs incurred in the implementation of this Act.
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