[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 140 (Thursday, October 9, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Page S10780]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          COLORADO BOUNDARY ADJUSTMENT AND LAND CONVEYANCE ACT

  The Senate proceeded to consider the bill (S. 589) to provide for a 
boundary adjustment and land conveyance involving the Raggeds 
Wilderness, White River National Forest, Colorado, to correct the 
effects of earlier erroneous land surveys, which had been reported from 
the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, with an amendment to 
strike all after the enacting clause and inserting in lieu thereof the 
following:

     SECTION 1. BOUNDARY ADJUSTMENT AND LAND CONVEYANCE, RAGGEDS 
                   WILDERNESS, WHITE RIVER NATIONAL FOREST, 
                   COLORADO.

       (a) Findings.--Congress finds that--
       (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; and
       (3) the resurvey indicates 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 et seq.) 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 (94 Stat. 3267; 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.
       (d) Map.--The map described in subsection (c) shall be on 
     file and available for inspection in the appropriate offices 
     of the Forest Service, Department of Agriculture.
       (e) 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 et seq.) 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 the owners of real property in Gunnison 
     County, Colorado, whose real property adjoins the excluded 
     real property and who have occupied the excluded real 
     property in good faith reliance on an erroneous survey.

  The committee amendment was agreed to.
  The bill (S. 589), as amended, was read the third time and passed.

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