[Senate Report 112-50]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]


                                                       Calendar No. 130
112th Congress  }                                            {   Report
  1st Session   }             SENATE                         {   112-50
=======================================================================
 
               WALLOWA FOREST SERVICE COMPOUND CONVEYANCE 

                                _______
                                

  August 30 (legislative day, August 2), 2011.--Ordered to be printed

  Filed, under authority of the order of the Senate of August 2, 2011

                                _______
                                

        Mr. Bingaman, from the Committee on Energy and Natural 
                   Resources, submitted the following

                              R E P O R T

                         [To accompany S. 271]

    The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, to which was 
referred the bill (S. 271) to require the Secretary of 
Agriculture to enter into a property conveyance with the city 
of Wallowa, Oregon, and for other purposes, having considered 
the same, reports favorably thereon with amendments and 
recommends that the bill, as amended, do pass.
    The amendments are as follows:
    1. On page 3, line 8, strike ``and''.
    2. On page 3, strike line 12 and insert the following:
    Compound; and
          (4) pay the reasonable administrative costs 
        associated with the conveyance.

                                PURPOSE

    The purpose of S. 271 is to provide for the conveyance of a 
Forest Service administrative site to the city of Wallowa, 
Oregon.

                          BACKGROUND AND NEED

    In 1936, the city of Wallowa donated to the Forest Service 
approximately one acre of land in downtown Wallowa where the 
Forest Service sought to construct a ranger station and 
associated buildings. The Civilian Conservation Corps 
subsequently built a ranger station, bunkhouse, warehouse, 
storage building, and gas-house on the site. The Wallowa Ranger 
Station was listed on the National Register of Historic Places 
on October 28, 2009.
    The site was used for many decades by the Forest Service, 
but now sits vacant and has accumulated hundreds of thousands 
of dollars in deferred maintenance needs. The Forest Service 
recently identified the property for sale under the Forest 
Service Facility Realignment and Enhancement Act (16 U.S.C. 
580d note), which requires fair market value for any 
conveyance.
    The Maxville Heritage Interpretive Center has proposed 
using the compound for local historical and cultural 
preservation, interpretation, and education. The Center is a 
nonprofit organization whose mission is to collect, preserve, 
and interpret the rich early-1900's history of the 
multicultural railroad logging community of Maxville, Oregon, 
and similar communities in the Pacific Northwest. However, the 
Forest Service needs legislative authorization to convey the 
property for anything less than its fair market value.

                          LEGISLATIVE HISTORY

    S. 271 was introduced by Senators Wyden and Merkley on 
February 3, 2011. The Subcommittee on Public Lands and Forests 
held a hearing on S. 271 on May 18, 2011 (S. Hrg. 112-39). At 
its business meeting on July 14, 2011, the Committee on Energy 
and Natural Resources ordered S. 271 favorably reported with 
amendments. The Committee reported a similar bill, S. 1139, in 
the 111th Congress (S. Rept. 111-138).

                        COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION

    The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, in open 
business session on July 14, 2011, by a voice vote of a quorum 
present, recommends that the Senate pass S. 271, if amended as 
described herein.

                          COMMITTEE AMENDMENTS

    During its consideration of S. 271, the Committee adopted 
an amendment that requires the city to pay the reasonable costs 
associated with the conveyance, along with a conforming 
amendment.

                      SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS

    Section 1 provides the short title for the bill.
    Section 2(a) provides the definitions for a number of terms 
used in the bill.
    Subsection (b) directs the Forest Service to convey the 
Wallowa Forest Service Compound to the city of Wallowa, if the 
city requests the conveyance within 1 year after the date of 
enactment of the bill.
    Subsection (c) requires the conveyance to be made by 
quitclaim deed for no consideration and to be subject to valid 
existing rights and such terms and conditions as the Secretary 
may require.
    Subsection (d) includes a number of conditions for the use 
of the compound by the city.
    Subsection (e) provides the Secretary with discretion to 
exercise a reversionary interest if the conditions in 
subsections (c) and (d) are not followed.

                   COST AND BUDGETARY CONSIDERATIONS

    The following estimate of costs of this measure has been 
provided by the Congressional Budget Office:

S. 271--Wallowa Forest Service Compound Conveyance Act

    S. 271 would direct the Forest Service to convey, without 
consideration, about 1 acre of land and improvements in Oregon 
to the city of Wallowa. Based on information provided by the 
Forest Service, CBO estimates that implementing the bill would 
have no significant net effect on the federal budget.
    Enacting S. 271 would affect direct spending; therefore, 
pay-as-you-go procedures apply. Because the affected land (and 
related structures) would probably have been sold under 
existing authority, enacting the bill would reduce offsetting 
receipts. However, because the Forest Service can spend those 
receipts, the loss in receipts would be offset by lower direct 
spending of a similar amount. (CBO estimates that the value of 
the land is less than $500,000.) Enacting the bill would not 
affect revenues.
    S. 271 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector 
mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and 
would impose no costs on state, local, or tribal governments.
    The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Jeff LaFave. The 
estimate was approved by Theresa Gullo, Deputy Assistant 
Director for Budget Analysis.

                      REGULATORY IMPACT EVALUATION

    In compliance with paragraph 11(b) of rule XXVI of the 
Standing Rules of the Senate, the Committee makes the following 
evaluation of the regulatory impact which would be incurred in 
carrying out S. 271.
    The bill is not a regulatory measure in the sense of 
imposing Government-established standards or significant 
economic responsibilities on private individuals and 
businesses.
    No personal information would be collected in administering 
the program. Therefore, there would be no impact on personal 
privacy.
    Little, if any, additional paperwork would result from the 
enactment of S. 271, as ordered reported.

                   CONGRESSIONALLY DIRECTED SPENDING

    S. 271, as ordered reported, does not contain any 
congressionally directed spending items, limited tax benefits, 
or limited tariff benefits as defined in rule XLIV of the 
Standing Rules of the Senate.

                        EXECUTIVE COMMUNICATIONS

    The testimony of the Forest Service at the May 18, 2011, 
hearing on S. 271 follows.
 Statement of Mary Wagner, Associate Chief, Forest Service, Department 
                             of Agriculture

    Mr. Chairman and members of the Subcommittee, I am Mary 
Wagner, Associate Chief of the Forest Service. Thank you for 
the opportunity to appear before you today to provide the 
Department of Agriculture's views on S. 271, which would 
require the Secretary of Agriculture to convey land, the 
Wallowa Ranger Station, to the City of Wallowa, Oregon.
    S. 271 would require the Secretary of Agriculture, to 
convey to the City of Wallowa, Oregon, on the request of the 
City, all right, title, and interest in the Wallowa Forest 
Service Compound, approximately 1.11 acres located within the 
City, subject to valid existing rights and to such terms and 
conditions as the Secretary may require. The bill provides 
that, as conditions of the conveyance, the City shall use the 
compound as a historical and cultural interpretation and 
education center, shall ensure that the compound is managed by 
a nonprofit entity, and shall manage the compound with due 
consideration for its historic values.
    It is long standing policy that the United States receive 
market value for the sale, exchange, or use of NFS land. This 
policy is well established in law, including the Independent 
Offices Appropriation Act (31 U.S.C. 9701), section 102(9) of 
FLPMA, as well as numerous land exchange authorities. The 
parcels have value to the United States for their potential to 
be used to facilitate future land conveyance.
    Our preference would be to convey the compound to the City 
under existing authorities. The Forest Service has identified 
the Wallowa Compound as a site to be sold under the Forest 
Service Facility Realignment and Enhancement Act (FSFREA). 
Disposition under FSFREA would allow the proceeds from the sale 
to be used to address other administrative site needs. In the 
past 3 years, the Forest Service has expended funds to prepare 
the compound for disposal and hopes to derive benefit on behalf 
of the public from the sale by re-investing proceeds from the 
sale in other deteriorating infrastructure on the Wallowa-
Whitman National Forest as provided for under FSFREA.
    However, because of special circumstances, we do not object 
to the conveyance to the City under the bill. Originally the 
parcels were owned by the City. During the Depression, the City 
defaulted on taxes owned on the land and the County assumed 
ownership. The County donated the parcels to the United States 
in 1936.
    We recommend, however, that the bill should provide that 
the City of Wallowa be responsible for bearing all 
administrative costs associated with the conveyance. 
Additionally, the legislation would provide for the reversion 
of the property to the United States, at the election of the 
Secretary, if the conditions under subsections 2(c) or 2(d) are 
violated. We would like to work with the Committee to address 
concerns with S. 271, including the reversionary language.
    This concludes my statement and I would be happy to answer 
any questions you might have.

                        CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW

    In compliance with paragraph 12 of rule XXVI of the 
Standing Rules of the Senate, the Committee notes that no 
changes in existing law are made by the bill S. 271, as ordered 
reported.

                                  
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