PUBLIC LAW 106–301—OCT. 13, 2000 114 STAT. 1059

Public Law 106–301

106th Congress

An Act

To provide for the exchange of certain lands within the State of Utah.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of

the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Utah West Desert Land Exchange

Act of 2000’’.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.

(a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds the following:

(1) The State of Utah owns approximately 95,095.19 acres

of land, as well as approximately 11,187.60 acres of mineral

interests, located in the West Desert region of Utah and contained wholly or partially within certain wilderness study areas

created pursuant to section 603 of the Federal Lands Policy

and Management Act of 1976, or proposed by the Bureau of

Land Management for wilderness study area status pursuant

to section 202 of that Act. These lands were granted by the

Congress to the State of Utah pursuant to the Utah Enabling

Act of 1894 (chapter 138; 23 Stat. 107), to be held in trust

for the benefit of the State’s public school system and other

public institutions. The lands are largely scattered in checkerboard fashion amidst the Federal lands comprising the

remainder of such existing and proposed wilderness study

areas.

(2) Development of surface and mineral resources on State

trust lands within existing or proposed wilderness study areas,

or the sale of such lands into private ownership, could be

incompatible with management of such lands for nonimpairment of their wilderness characteristics pursuant to section

603(c) of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of

1976 or with future congressional designation of the lands

as wilderness.

(3) The United States owns lands and interests in lands

outside of existing and proposed wilderness study areas that

can be transferred to the State of Utah in exchange for the

West Desert wilderness inholdings without jeopardizing Federal

management objectives or needs.

(4) The large presence of State trust land inholdings in

existing and proposed wilderness study areas in the West

Desert region makes land and resource management in these

areas difficult, costly, and controversial for both the State of

Utah and the United States.

Utah West

Desert Land

Exchange Act of

2000.

Oct. 13, 2000

[H.R. 4579]

114 STAT. 1060 PUBLIC LAW 106–301—OCT. 13, 2000

(5) It is in the public interest to reach agreement on

exchange of such inholdings, on terms fair to both the State

of Utah and the United States. Such an agreement, subject

to ratification by the Congress, would save much time and

delay in meeting the legitimate expectations of the State school

and institutional trusts, in simplifying management of Federal

lands, and in avoiding the significant time and expense associated with administrative land exchanges.

(6) The State of Utah and the United States have reached

an agreement under which the State would exchange certain

State trust lands within specified wilderness study areas and

areas identified as having wilderness characteristics in the

West Desert region for various Federal lands and interests

in lands outside of those areas but in the same region of

Utah. The agreement also provides for the State to convey

to the United States approximately 483 acres of land in Washington County, Utah, that has been designated as critical

habitat for the Desert Tortoise, a threatened species, for inclusion in the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve.

(7) Because the inholdings to be acquired by the Federal

Government include properties within some of the most spectacular wild areas in the western United States, and because

a mission of the Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands

Administration is to produce economic benefits for Utah’s public

schools and other beneficiary institutions, the exchange of lands

called for in this agreement will resolve longstanding environmental conflicts with respect to the existing and proposed

wilderness study areas, place important natural lands into

public ownership, and further the interests of the State trust

lands, the school children of Utah, and these conservation

resources.

(8) Under this agreement taken as a whole, the State

interests to be conveyed to the United States by the State

of Utah, and the Federal interests to be conveyed to the State

of Utah by the United States, will be approximately equal

in value.

(b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is to enact into law

and direct prompt implementation of this agreement, and thereby

to further the public interest by consolidating State and Federal

lands into manageable units while facilitating the protection of

lands with significant scientific, cultural, and natural resources.

SEC. 3. RATIFICATION OF THE AGREED EXCHANGE BETWEEN THE

STATE OF UTAH AND THE DEPARTMENT OF THE

INTERIOR.

(a) AGREEMENT.—The State of Utah and the Department of

the Interior have agreed to exchange certain Federal lands and

mineral interests in the State of Utah for lands and mineral

interests of approximately equal value managed by the Utah School

and Institutional Trust Lands Administration wholly or partially

within certain existing and proposed wilderness study areas in

the West Desert region of Utah.

(b) RATIFICATION.—All terms, conditions, procedures, covenants,

reservations, and other provisions set forth in the document entitled

‘‘Agreement for Exchange of Lands—West Desert State-Federal

Land Consolidation’’, dated May 30, 2000 (in this Act referred

to as ‘‘the Agreement’’), are hereby incorporated in this Act, are

PUBLIC LAW 106–301—OCT. 13, 2000 114 STAT. 1061

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY—H.R. 4579:

SENATE REPORTS: No. 106–463 (Comm. on Energy and Natural Resources).

CONGRESSIONAL RECORD, Vol. 146 (2000):

July 11, considered and passed House.

Oct. 3, considered and passed Senate.

Æ

ratified and confirmed, and set forth the obligations of the United

States, the State of Utah, and the Utah School and Institutional

Trust Lands Administration, as a matter of Federal law.

(c) CONDITION.—Before exchanging any lands under this Act,

the Secretary of the Interior and the State of Utah shall each

document in a statement of value how the determination of approximately equal value was made in accordance with section 206(h)

of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C.

1716(h)), provided that the provisions of paragraph (1)(A) of section

206(h) of such Act shall not apply. In addition, the Secretary and

the State shall select an independent qualified appraiser who shall

review the statements of value as prepared by the Secretary and

the State of Utah and all documentation and determine if the

lands are of approximately equal value. If there is a finding of

a difference in value, then the Secretary and the State shall adjust

the exchange to achieve approximately equal value.

SEC. 4. CONVEYANCES.

(a) CONVEYANCES.—All conveyances under sections 2 and 3

of the Agreement shall be completed within 70 days after the

date on which the condition set forth in section 3(c) is met.

(b) MAPS AND LEGAL DESCRIPTIONS.—

(1) IN GENERAL.—The maps and legal descriptions referred

to in the Agreement depict the lands subject to the conveyances

under the Agreement.

(2) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.—The maps and descriptions

referred to in the Agreement shall be on file and available

for public inspection in the offices of the Secretary of the

Interior and the Utah State Director of the Bureau of Land

Management.

(3) CONFLICT.—In case of any conflict between the maps

and the legal descriptions in the Agreement, the legal descriptions shall control.

SEC. 5. COSTS.

The United States and the State of Utah shall each bear

its own respective costs incurred in the implementation of this

Act.

Approved October 13, 2000.

Deadline.