[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 74 (Tuesday, June 3, 1997)]
[House]
[Pages H3232-H3233]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
RAGGEDS WILDERNESS, WHITE RIVER NATIONAL FOREST BOUNDARY ADJUSTMENT
Mrs. CHENOWETH. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the
bill (H.R. 1019) to provide for a boundary adjustment and land
conveyance involving the Raggeds Wilderness, White River National
Forest, CO, to correct the effects of earlier erroneous land surveys.
The Clerk read as follows:
H.R. 1019
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. BOUNDARY ADJUSTMENT AND LAND CONVEYANCE, RAGGEDS
WILDERNESS, WHITE RIVER NATIONAL FOREST,
COLORADO.
(a) Findings.--The Congress finds the following:
(1) Certain landowners in Gunnison County, Colorado, who
own real property adjacent to the portion of the Raggeds
Wilderness in the White River National Forest, Colorado, have
occupied or improved their property in good faith and in
reliance on erroneous surveys of their properties that the
landowners reasonably believed were accurate.
(2) In 1993, a Forest Service resurvey of the Raggeds
Wilderness established accurate boundaries between the
wilderness area and adjacent private lands.
(3) The resurvey indicated that a small portion of the
Raggeds Wilderness is occupied by adjacent landowners on the
basis of the earlier erroneous land surveys.
(b) Purpose.--It is the purpose of this section to remove
from the boundaries of the Raggeds Wilderness certain real
property so as to permit the Secretary of Agriculture to use
the authority of Public Law 97-465 (commonly known as the
Small Tracts Act; 16 U.S.C. 521c-521i) to convey the property
to the landowners who occupied the property on the basis of
erroneous land surveys.
(c) Boundary Adjustment.--The boundary of the Raggeds
Wilderness, Gunnison and White River National Forests,
Colorado, as designated by section 102(a)(16) of Public Law
96-560 (16 U.S.C. 1132 note), is hereby modified to exclude
from the area encompassed by the wilderness a parcel of real
property approximately 0.86-acres in size situated in the
SW\1/4\ of the NE\1/4\ of Section 28, Township 11 South,
Range 88 West of the 6th Principal Meridian, as depicted on
the map entitled ``Encroachment-Raggeds Wilderness'', dated
November 17, 1993. Such map shall be on file and available
for inspection in the appropriate offices of the United
States Forest Service, Department of Agriculture.
(d) Conveyance of Land Removed From Wilderness Area.--The
Secretary of Agriculture shall use the authority provided by
Public Law 97-465 (commonly known as the Small Tracts Act; 16
U.S.C. 521c-521i) to convey all right, title, and interest of
the United States in and to the real property excluded from
the boundaries of the Raggeds Wilderness under subsection (c)
to those owners of real property in Gunnison County,
Colorado, whose real property adjoins the excluded lands and
who have occupied the excluded lands in good faith reliance
on an erroneous survey.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from
Idaho [Mrs. Chenoweth] and the gentleman from American Samoa [Mr.
Faleomavaega] each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from Idaho [Mrs. Chenoweth].
Mrs. CHENOWETH. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
(Mrs. CHENOWETH asked and was given permission to revise and extend
her remarks.)
Mrs. CHENOWETH. Mr. Speaker, H.R. 1019 provides for a boundary
adjustment and land conveyance involving the Raggeds Wilderness, White
River National Forest in Colorado, to correct the effects of earlier
erroneous land surveys. This bill is identical to legislation which
passed within the House of Representatives last year by voice vote.
However, the legislation was not acted upon by the Senate prior to the
conclusion of the 104th Congress.
In 1993, following a boundary survey, the White River National Forest
discovered an encroachment into the
[[Page H3233]]
Raggeds Wilderness area just west of the town of Marble in Colorado.
The encroachment consists of approximately 400 feet of power line and
400 feet of road. In addition, portions of four subdivision lots extend
into this wilderness. The road is a county road and provides the sole
legal access to the four lots. The entire encroachment is less than 1
acre of land.
The Bureau of Land Management/Forest Service surveys found that the
original survey of the Crystal Meadows subdivision was erroneous.
Although less than 1 acre is affected, the Forest Service cannot settle
the matter under the authority of the Small Tracts Act because the
lands in question are within the Raggeds Wilderness. The wilderness
boundary may only be modified by an act of Congress.
H.R. 1019 follows the guidelines established by the Small Tracts Act,
Public Law 97-465. The bill is noncontroversial, Mr. Speaker, and I
urge its passage.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
(Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA asked and was given permission to revise and extend
his remarks.)
Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Mr. Speaker, this is the first of four national
forest bills on the floor today which are sponsored by our Republican
members. Along with other Democratic members of the Committee on
Resources, I am pleased to support this legislation introduced by the
gentleman from Colorado. This bill would correct an erroneous land
survey which has resulted in the encroachment of 1 acre of private land
on the Raggeds Wilderness area in the White River National Forest. The
legislation is without controversy, and it is supported by the
administration. A similar bill passed the House in the last Congress. I
urge my colleagues to support the legislation of the gentleman from
Colorado [Mr. McInnis].
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mrs. CHENOWETH. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from
Colorado [Mr. McInnis].
Mr. McINNIS. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 1019.
I would also like to comment briefly on H.R. 1020, but prior to that I
want to thank the gentleman from Alaska [Mr. Young] and the gentlewoman
from Idaho [Mrs. Chenoweth], subcommittee chairman, for rapidly moving
this legislation forward. I would also like to thank the gentleman from
American Samoa for his courtesies and support in regard to H.R. 1019.
Briefly on H.R. 1020, that is also a noncontroversial issue and ties
into this. It adjusts the boundary of the White River National Forest
to include all the National Forest System Lands within Summit County,
CO, which are currently part of the Arapaho National Forest, being the
Dillon Ranger District. The White River National Forest has
administered these lands for a number of years. Therefore, the
inclusion of the Dillon Ranger District within the White River National
Forest will more accurately depict the administration of these lands.
Furthermore, the inclusion should reduce confusion within the general
public as to who administers the Dillon Ranger District. The
legislation will not alter the current distribution of forest receipts
to the affected county governments. I urge my colleagues to support
this legislation and again H.R. 1019, once again expressing my
appreciation.
{time} 1515
Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman
from Massachusetts [Mr. Delahunt], my good friend, who unfortunately,
because of a traffic jam, was unable to deliver his statements in
support of the previous legislation.
Mr. DELAHUNT. Mr. Speaker, I also rise in support of House Resolution
1019 offered by the gentleman from Colorado [Mr. McInnis], and I
support that and I commend his efforts. I would also like to speak, Mr.
Speaker, to House bill 1420.
Mr. Speaker, when President Theodore Roosevelt established the first
wildlife refuge in Florida 94 years ago, he could have hardly imagined
a national system of 500 refuges covering 93 million acres. Today we
have an opportunity to make a genuine contribution to this remarkable
legacy of wildlife conservation and management.
It is in that spirit that I do support enthusiastically House
Resolution 1420, the National Wildlife Refuge System Improvement Act of
1997. The chairman and ranking member have worked together to craft a
bill for consideration by the full House that fulfills the conservation
objective and ensures the future biological integrity of our refuge.
Mr. Speaker, I am especially pleased to offer my support of this
legislation because of the important role in building that legacy
played by my predecessor in this Chamber, former Congressman Gerry
Studds. As chairman of the Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries,
Mr. Studds fought tenaciously for species large and small, beautiful
and not so beautiful, endangered and common alike. Legacies are not
historical relics. Like the species that inhabit our refuge, they
survive only if they prosper and evolve.
Mr. Speaker, the bill before us explicitly encourages the Fish and
Wildlife Service to pursue partnerships with local communities, States,
private and nonprofit groups. It is precisely such a partnership that
has characterized our progress toward one of the newest additions to
the refuge system in Mashpee on Cape Cod, home to over 180 migratory
fish and bird species.
Like so many others across the country, the Mashpee Refuge has value
even beyond its statutory objectives, in this case in safeguarding the
quality and quantity of the area's fragile water resources. This
imperative has become particularly acute with recent findings that
pollution emanating from a nearby military reservation is seriously
contaminating groundwater and jeopardizing future drinking water
supplies.
For all these reasons, I can think of no better way to honor the work
of Mr. Studds and others who have advanced these objectives than to
fulfill the Federal commitment by completing acquisition of the final
325-acre tract of the Mashpee Refuge, and to enact H.R. 420 into law.
Mr. Speaker, this bill draws on historic bipartisan support for the
basic mission of the refuge system and makes adjustments that keep this
refuge system alive and viable, and I urge my colleagues to join me in
helping the House to pass it.
Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from
Massachusetts [Mr. Delahunt] for his fine statements.
Mr. Speaker, I have no additional speakers at this time, and I yield
back the balance of my time.
Mrs. CHENOWETH. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Miller of Florida). The question is on
the motion offered by the gentlewoman from Idaho [Mrs. Chenoweth] that
the House suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 1019.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds having voted in favor
thereof) the rules were suspended and the bill was passed.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
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