**STATEMENT OF**

**MELISSA SIMPSON**

**DEPUTY UNDER SECRETARY, NATURAL RESOURCES AND ENVIRONMENT**

**UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE**

**BEFORE THE**

**UNITED STATES SENATE\
SUBCOMMITTEE ON PUBLIC LANDS AND FORESTS\
COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND NATURAL RESOURCES**

**February 27, 2008**

**CONCERNING**

**S. 2601 -- Snoqualmie Pass Land Conveyance Act**

**S. 2508-- Colorado Northern Front Range Mountain Backdrop Protection
Study Act**

Mr. Chairman and members of the Subcommittee, thank you for the
opportunity to testify today on four bills that pertain to the U.S.
Department of Agriculture (USDA), Forest Service.

**H.R. 1285, S. 2601 - Snoqualmie Pass Land Conveyance Act**

This testimony concerns both S. 2601 and H.R. 1285, as passed by the
U.S. House of Representatives. The bills would require the Secretary of
Agriculture to convey, without consideration, approximately 1.5-acres of
land on the Wenatchee National Forest to the King and Kittitas Counties
Fire District #51 for use as a site for a new Snoqualmie Pass fire and
rescue station.

The Fire District currently has a fire station located on National
Forest System lands under a special use permit, several miles away from
the property covered by this legislation. We understand that the Fire
District wants to construct an updated facility situated at an
interchange on Interstate 90 to improve response times to the many
emergency situations that occur in that area. We agree that the proposed
1.5-acre parcel will meet this need. Among other administrative
procedures necessary to facilitate the conveyance, a land survey will be
needed to properly locate and describe the property. As is required
under the Townsite Act and exchange authorities, the Fire District would
normally be expected to pay administrative costs of making the
conveyance, such as the survey.

The Department does not support the bills in their present form. We
appreciate that the acreage has been reduced from the original House
proposal of 3 acres to 1.5 acres. We do not object to conveying the
lands, but we oppose the bills because they do not require market value
compensation for the conveyance, although the bill does require the
District to cover the survey costs associated with the conveyance. It is
long-standing policy that the taxpayers of the United States should
receive market value for the sale, exchange, or use of their National
Forest System lands.

    We also believe that this legislation is unnecessary because the
Forest Service can meet the bill's objectives through current statutes
that allow the Forest Service to convey this parcel to the Fire District
for land or cash value. For example, under the Townsite Act, the
Secretary of Agriculture may convey, for market value, up to 640 acres
of land to established communities located adjacent to National Forests.
Under the General Exchange Act, the Secretary of Agriculture can conduct
a land for land exchange with non-Federal entities, including State and
Local governments. These laws require the Secretary of Agriculture to
obtain market value for exchanges or sales of National Forest lands.

        Although we can not support the bills, we are eager to continue
discussions with the sponsors, the Fire District, and the committee, in
the hopes of assisting the District in achieving its desire to improve
its capacity to provide necessary fire and rescue services.

**H.R. 2110, S. 2508 - Colorado Northern Front Range Mountain Backdrop
Protection Study Act**

This testimony concerns both this bill and H.R. 2110 for which previous
testimony was provided on March 9, 2006, before the House Subcommittee
on Forests and Forest Health.

S. 2508 provides for a study of options for protecting the open space
characteristics of certain lands in and adjacent to the Arapaho and
Roosevelt National Forests in Colorado. In addition, the Secretary of
Agriculture, acting through the Chief of the Forest Service and in
consultation with appropriate State and local agencies, would review the
lands within a study area and report to Congress on the present
ownership of undeveloped lands, identify the undeveloped lands that may
be at risk of development and identify and recommend actions that could
be taken by all parties to preserve the open and undeveloped character
of the lands.

The Department does not oppose the bills. We would like to work with the
Committee and the sponsors on amendments to specify Federal, State, and
local entities cooperating in the study and to provide that
recommendations for actions outside of National Forest boundaries would
be made by state government or the appropriate local land use planning
and zoning authority, rather than the Secretary. The Department is also
concerned the study boundary is not delineated on a geological or
ecological feature but instead on human created boundaries identified in
Section 2(b)(1). Moreover, the Department is particularly concerned with
the cost associated with the bill which, if enacted, could be
significant and would be funded at the expense of other work within the
region or elsewhere within the Forest Service.

Loss of open space was identified by former Chief Dale Bosworth as one
of the Four Threats to our Nation's forests. Loss of open space poses a
tremendous challenge to effective land management. It causes loss of
biodiversity and contributes to the degradation and loss of wildlife
habitat. Loss of open space has three aspects:

-   Habitat fragmentation -- the division of habitats in forest and
    rangeland ecosystems into small isolated patches;

-   Ownership fragmentation -- the conversion of large acreages into
    smaller parcels; and

-   Use fragmentation -- the transformation of large single tracts used
    for forestry, farming, and ranching converted into multiple-use
    small tracts.

The Forest Service recently completed the "Forests on the Edge" (FOTE)
report which highlights the threat to private forests from housing
development. Based on the FOTE research, some 44.2 million acres (over
11 percent) of private forest across the conterminous United States
could experience [substantial increases in housing density by
2030](http://www.fs.fed.us/projects/fote/keyfindings.shtml#%23). In
September 2007, the Forest Service completed phase two of the FOTE which
assessed housing density projections up to 10 miles from the edge of
each National Forest and Grassland boundary. The report showed that the
Arapaho-Roosevelt National Forest is projected to experience a moderate
increase of residential development on 10% to 24.9% of adjacent private
lands.

In December 2007, the Forest Service also announced the release of an
"Open Space Conservation Strategy." The objective of the Strategy is to
facilitate, encourage, and galvanize voluntary land conservation to help
ensure that forests and grasslands across the landscape can continue to
provide valued services and benefits for society. The Strategy allows
the Forest Service to be a more effective partner in open space
conservation. Open space benefits American citizens by providing clean
air, abundant water, outdoor recreation, connected fish and wildlife
habitat, scenic beauty, improved human health, renewable resource
products, and quality of life. The Forest Service plans to achieve these
benefits through collaboration and partnerships by working with willing
landowners, conservation groups and state and local governments to
promote voluntary land conservation. The study being proposed in this
bill would be a local example of the Forest Service's Open Space
Conservation Strategy.

This concludes my testimony. I would be happy to answer any questions
you may have.

**STATEMENT OF**

**MELISSA SIMPSON**

**DEPUTY UNDER SECRETARY, NATURAL RESOURCES AND ENVIRONMENT**

**UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE**

**BEFORE THE**

**UNITED STATES SENATE\
SUBCOMMITTEE ON PUBLIC LANDS AND FORESTS\
COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND NATURAL RESOURCES**

**February 27, 2008**

**CONCERNING**

**S. 2229 -- Wyoming Range Legacy Act of 2007**

Mr. Chairman and members of the Subcommittee, thank you for the
opportunity to testify today on this bill that pertains to the U.S.
Department of Agriculture (USDA), Forest Service.

S. 2229 would provide for the establishment of the Wyoming Range
Withdrawal Area, consisting of 1.2 million acres of the Bridger-Teton
National Forest withdrawn from all forms of appropriation or disposal
under the public land laws; location, entry, and patent under the United
States mining laws; and disposition under laws relating to mineral and
geothermal leasing or mineral materials. The bill would also allow for
the voluntary retirement and repurchase of existing oil and gas leases
and other mineral leases within the withdrawal area.

The Administration supports this bill, and looks forward to working with
the Congress to address issues such as the potential budgetary impact
and necessary offsets.  The Department of Agriculture does have concerns
with the bill as drafted, and would like to work with the Department of
the Interior and the Committee to address those concerns. I would like
to offer some suggested amendments for the Committee to consider.

Because of the national need for energy, the Department supports the
appropriate development of energy resources on National Forest System
lands, in collaboration with stakeholders, while effectively protecting
the environment. This Administration is committed to cooperative
conservation, as reflected in Executive Order 13352, Facilitation of
Cooperative Conservation. In this case, we recognize the interest of a
wide variety of stakeholders in the goals of this bill. The list of
supporters within Wyoming is long and varied, including local government
officials and the Governor in a state that has been very supportive of
energy development in other areas.

The Forest Service shares authority with the Bureau of Land Management
(BLM), to varying extents depending upon the minerals in question and
the lands on which they are found, to ensure that management goals and
objectives for mineral exploration and development activities are
achieved, that operations are conducted to minimize effects on natural
resources, and that the land affected by minerals operations is
reclaimed.

All the existing leases in the area covered by this legislation are
consistent with the Bridger-Teton's Land and Resource Management Plan.
However, there are a number of pending oil and gas leases in this area
that have been sold at competitive sales but are awaiting a final
decision on issuance due to an Interior Board of Land Appeals ruling and
the need for supplemental environmental analysis under the National
Environmental Policy Act.

We recommend the following clarifications to the proposed bill language.

Section 2(b) of the bill sets out the purposes of the Act, including the
withdrawal of areas in the Wyoming Range from location, entry, leasing,
and patent under the United States mining laws. However, the language in
Section 3(a), which effects the withdrawal, withdraws those areas from
the laws governing mineral leasing, geothermal resource leasing and
disposition of mineral materials. We recommend that the language in
Sections 2 and 3 be aligned. We would like to work with the Committee to
more accurately determine boundaries and acreage associated with the
withdrawal.

Section 3(a) of the bill also provides that the withdrawal under S. 2229
is subject to "valid rights in existence on the date of enactment," for
the oil and gas leases that have already been issued by BLM. The term
"valid rights" may have been intended to include the oil and gas leases
that have been sold, but not issued, but that would not be consistent
with Interior Board of Land Appeals precedent. Current supplemental
environmental analysis efforts are being conducted by the Bridger-Teton
National Forest to determine if it is appropriate to issue those leases.
The Committee should modify this section to clarify that those leases
which have been sold, but have not been issued, may be issued
notwithstanding the withdrawal, following completion of the ongoing
environmental analysis.

In Section 3(a)(3), we suggest that "mineral materials" be excluded from
the withdrawal. Mineral material supplies are critical to the
maintenance of Forest Service roads and facilities on the forest.
Mineral materials include sand and gravel as well as other materials
utilized in the construction and maintenance of Forest Service roads and
facilities. Maintaining roads and facilities is necessary to ensure
proper conditions and safety for the public and Forest Service
employees. This withdrawal would prohibit the Forest Service from using
locally obtainable mineral materials for public purposes\--including
access to hunting and fishing\--that are consistent with the management
of the national forests. Replacement would be at greatly increased cost.

Section 3(c) of the bill provides that land for which valid existing
rights exist becomes subject to the withdrawal's effect upon the
termination of those rights. This provision is not necessary. The
withdrawal made by the legislation already precludes new dispositions by
the United States.

Section 3(e) would provide that the forest plan applies to areas in the
National Forest that are not withdrawn by the bill or to any leases of
that land. By implication, the forest plan in its entirety would not
apply to areas that are withdrawn. We recommend that subsection (e) be
deleted so that there would be no uncertainty that the forest plan
applies to the withdrawn area. Alternatively, we would like to work with
the Committee to develop technical edits.

Section 4 would allow for retirement and repurchase of mineral leases,
including oil and gas leases, for lands within the Wyoming Range. We
recommend that the language be modified to also permit the retirement
and repurchase of mining claims within the Wyoming Range located
pursuant to the United States mining laws if those mining claims
constitute valid existing rights. There are 26 mining claims in
existence within the proposed withdrawal area. Those claims may
constitute valid existing rights if they were properly located, a
discovery of a valuable locatable mineral deposit was made within the
confines of the claim prior to the date that the claimed lands are
withdrawn from appropriation under the United States mining laws, and
those mining claims are thereafter properly maintained.

By agreement with the Department of the Interior, the Forest Service
prepares mineral examination reports to determine whether a mining claim
embracing National Forest System lands constitutes a valid existing
right following the withdrawal of those lands from the operation of the
United States mining laws. The Department of Agriculture recommends that
the appropriations for the administrative costs of conducting validity
examinations and performing appraisals of any mining claims which
constitute valid existing rights, if those actions are necessary, be
included in Section 4 so as to not create a financial impact on the
Government.

We look forward to working with the bill's sponsor and the committee to
clarify the bill.

This concludes my testimony. I would be happy to answer any questions
you may have.