[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 163 (Tuesday, November 11, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Pages S14455-S14456]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. WYDEN (for himself and Mr. Smith):
  S. 1848. A bill to amend the Bend Pine Nursery Land Conveyance Act to 
direct the Secretary of Agriculture to sell the Bend Pine Nursery 
Administration Site in the State of Oregon; to the Committee on Energy 
and Natural Resources.
  Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, today I am introducing a bill, with my 
friend and colleague Senator Smith of Oregon, to amend the Bend Pine 
Nursery Land Conveyance Act, enacted three years ago, authorizing the 
sale of the U.S. Forest Service Bend Pine Nursery to the community of 
Bend, OR, for use as a public park and recreation facility.
  In the original bill, Senator Smith, Congressman Walden and I sought 
to achieve some very basic objectives. We wanted the community of Bend 
to take title to a property which for many years had been a federally 
owned plantation for growing pine seedlings, and which will now make a 
superb park and ball field complex for the use of the community. At the 
same time, the bill authorized the sale of several other properties in 
order to raise an account enabling the Forest Service to acquire a new 
headquarters for the Deschutes National Forest.
  In 1999, we drafted the original legislation in very close 
consultation with the U.S. Forest Service based on the assumption that 
in so doing, the agency would have the necessary tools and direction to 
move swiftly to implement the legislation. The intent of the 
legislation was to have the Forest Service sell the property to the 
Bend Parks District within a year of its enactment at the estimated 
value of the property at that time, $3 million.
  Unfortunately, the goodwill built up throughout the drafting process 
was squandered by the Forest Service. Two years of delays in the 
implementation of the original legislation resulted in an appraised 
price of $5.8 million as opposed to the $3 million this property was 
assumed to be worth when the original Bend Pine Nursery Land Conveyance 
was enacted in 2000. This delay has been inconsistent with the intent

[[Page S14456]]

of the original legislation and runs entirely contrary to the interest 
of Bend taxpayers.
  The community has always been more than willing to pay fair value for 
this property, and their goodwill and their tax dollars should not be 
wasted any longer.
  The bill I introduce today resolves the issues that stand in the way 
of implementation of this simple land sale in a fair manner, directing 
the sale to move forward expeditiously for $3.5 million. That figure is 
arrived at by assuming the $3 million value of the property on the day 
the original Act was passed, allowing for inflation per the Forest 
Service's calculations, and then deducting the value of acreage that 
the Forest Service has decided not to sell and 15 acres the Forest 
Service has the ability to transfer to the local school district at no 
cost.
  I look forward to the expeditious resolution to this issue.
  I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill to be printed in 
the Record.
  There being no objection, the bill was ordered to be printed in the 
Record, as follows:

                                S. 1848

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SALE OF BEND PINE NURSERY ADMINISTRATIVE SITE.

       The Bend Pine Nursery Land Conveyance Act (114 Stat. 2512) 
     is amended--
       (1) in section 3--
       (A) in subsection (a)--
       (i) by striking paragraph (1);
       (ii) by redesignating paragraphs (2) through (7) as 
     subparagraphs (A) through (F), respectively, and adjusting 
     the margins appropriately; and
       (iii) by striking ``(a) In General.--The Secretary may'' 
     and inserting the following:
       ``(a) In General.--The Secretary--
       ``(1) shall offer to sell to the Bend Metro Park and 
     Recreation District in Deschutes County, Oregon, for 
     consideration in the amount of $3,505,676, all right, title, 
     and interest of the United States in and to approximately 170 
     acres of the parcel of land identified as Tract A, Bend Pine 
     Nursery, as depicted on the site plan map entitled `Bend Pine 
     Nursery Administrative Site, May 13, 1999'; and
       ``(2) may'';
       (B) by striking subsection (e)(3); and
       (C) by inserting after subsection (f) the following:
       ``(g) Bend Pine Nursery Administrative Site.--The land 
     conveyed to the Bend Metro Park and Recreation District under 
     section 3(a)(1)--
       ``(1) shall be used only for recreation purposes; and
       ``(2) may be developed for those purposes.''.
       (2) by redesignating section 6 as section 7; and
       (3) by inserting after section 5 the following:

     ``SEC. 6. CONVEYANCE TO BEND-LA PINE SCHOOL DISTRICT.

       ``The Secretary, in accordance with section 202 of the 
     Education Land Grant Act (16 U.S.C. 479a), shall convey to 
     Administrative School District No. 1, Deschutes County, 
     Oregon, for no consideration, 15 acres of land located in the 
     northwest corner of the tract described in section 3(a)(1), 
     to be used for educational purposes.''.

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