[105th Congress Public Law 76]
[From the U.S. Government Printing Office]


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[DOCID: f:publ76.105]


[[Page 111 STAT. 3]]

Public Law 105-76
105th Congress

                                 An Act


 
 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. <<NOTE: Nov. 12, 
                           1997 -  [S. 589]>> 

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

SECTION 1. <<NOTE: 16 USC 1132 note.>> 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

[[Page 111 STAT. 4]]

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.

    Approved November 12, 1997.

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY--S. 589 (H.R. 1019):
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

HOUSE REPORTS: No. 105-112 accompanying H.R. 1019 (Comm. on Resources).
SENATE REPORTS: No. 105-98 (Comm. on Energy and Natural Resources).
CONGRESSIONAL RECORD, Vol. 143 (1997):
            Oct. 9, considered and passed Senate.
            Nov. 4, considered and passed House.

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