II 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 235 

To direct the Secretary of Agriculture to sell certain parcels of Federal 

land in Carson City and Douglas County, Nevada. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 1, 2005 

Mr. ENSIGN (for himself and Mr. REID) introduced the following bill; which 

was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural 

Resources 

A BILL

To direct the Secretary of Agriculture to sell certain parcels 

of Federal land in Carson City and Douglas County, Nevada.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Nevada National For5 est Land Disposal Act of 2005’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE. 

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

8 (1) The United States owns, and the Forest 

9 Service administers, land in small and large parcels 

10 in Carson City and Douglas County, Nevada. 
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1 (2) Much of this Federal land is interspersed 

2 with or adjacent to private land, which renders the 

3 Federal land difficult, inefficient, and expensive for 

4 the Forest Service to manage and more appropriate 

5 for disposal. 

6 (3) In order to promote responsible and orderly 

7 development in Carson City and Douglas County, 

8 Nevada, appropriate parcels of the Federal land 

9 should be sold by the Federal Government based on 

10 recommendations made by units of local government 

11 and the public. 

12 (b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is to provide 

13 for the sale of certain parcels of Federal land in Carson 

14 City and Douglas County, Nevada. 

15 SEC. 3. DISPOSAL OF NATIONAL FOREST SYSTEM LANDS, 

16 CARSON CITY AND DOUGLAS COUNTY, NE17 VADA. 

18 (a) DISPOSAL REQUIRED.—The Secretary of Agri19 culture (in this section referred to as the ‘‘Secretary’’ shall 

20 sell any right, title, or interest of the United States in 

21 and to the following parcels of National Forest System 

22 lands in Carson City or Douglas County, Nevada: 

23 (1) The parcel of land referred to as the ‘‘Car24 son Parcel’’, consisting of approximately 3 acres, 

25 and more particularly described as being a portion 
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1 of the southeast quarter, section 31, township 15 

2 north, range 20 east, Mount Diablo Base and Merid3 ian. 

4 (2) The parcel of land referred to as the ‘‘Jacks 

5 Valley/Highway 395 Parcel’’, consisting of approxi6 mately 28 acres, and more particularly described as 

7 being a portion of the southeast quarter, section 6, 

8 township 14 north, range 20 east, Mount Diablo 

9 Base and Meridian. 

10 (3) The parcel of land referred to as the ‘‘In11 dian Hills Parcel’’, consisting of approximately 75 

12 acres, and more particularly described as being a 

13 portion of the southwest quarter, section 18, town14 ship 14 north, range 20 east, Mount Diablo Base 

15 and Meridian. 

16 (4) The parcel of land referred to as the 

17 ‘‘Mountain House Area Parcel’’, consisting of ap18 proximately 40 acres, and more particularly de19 scribed as being a portion of the northwest quarter 

20 northeast quarter, section 12, township 10 north, 

21 range 21 east, Mount Diablo Base and Meridian. 

22 (5) The parcel of land referred to as the ‘‘Hol23 brook Junction Area Parcel’’, consisting of approxi24 mately 80 acres, and more particularly described as 

25 being a portion of the west half of the southwest 
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1 quarter, section 7, township 10 north, range 22 east, 

2 Mount Diablo Base and Meridian. 

3 (6) The two parcels of land referred to as the 

4 ‘‘Topaz Lake Parcels’’, consisting of approximately 

5 5 acres (approximately 2.5 acres per parcel), and 

6 more particularly described as being portions of the 

7 northwest quarter, section 29, township 10 north, 

8 range 22 east, Mount Diablo Base and Meridian. 

9 (b) MODIFICATION OF DESCRIPTIONS.—The Sec10 retary may— 

11 (1) correct typographical or clerical errors in 

12 the descriptions of land specified in subsection (a); 

13 and 

14 (2) for the purposes of soliciting offers for the 

15 sale of such land, modify the descriptions based 

16 on— 

17 (A) a survey; or 

18 (B) a determination by the Secretary that 

19 the modification is in the best interest of the 

20 public. 

21 (c) SELECTION AND SALE.— 

22 (1) COORDINATION.—The Secretary shall co23 ordinate the sale of land under this section with the 

24 unit of local government in which the land is located. 
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1 (2) EXISTING RIGHTS.—The sale of land under 

2 this section shall be subject to all valid existing 

3 rights, such as rights-of-way, in effect as of the date 

4 of the sale. 

5 (3) ZONING LAWS.—The sale of land under this 

6 section shall be in accordance with local land use 

7 planning and zoning laws and regulations. 

8 (4) SOLICITATIONS OF OFFERS.—The Secretary 

9 shall solicit offers for the sale of land under this sec10 tion, subject to any terms or conditions that the Sec11 retary may prescribe. The Secretary may reject any 

12 offer made under this section if the Secretary deter13 mines that the offer is not adequate or not in the 

14 public interest. 

15 (5) METHOD OF SALE.—The Secretary may sell 

16 the land described in subsection (a) at public auc17 tion. 

18 (d) DISPOSITION OF PROCEEDS.— 

19 (1) PAYMENTS AND DEPOSITS.—Of the gross 

20 proceeds from any sale of land under this section, 

21 the Secretary shall— 

22 (A) pay five percent to the State of Ne23 vada for use for the general education program 

24 of the State; 
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1 (B) pay five percent to the Carson Water 

2 Subconservancy District in the State; 

3 (C) deposit 25 percent in the fund estab4 lished under Public Law 90–171 (commonly 

5 known as the ‘‘Sisk Act’’; 16 U.S.C. 484a); and 

6 (D) retain and use, without further appro7 priation, the remaining funds for the purpose of 

8 expanding the Minden Interagency Dispatch 

9 Center in Minden, Nevada, as provided in para10 graph (3). 

11 (2) USE OF SISK ACT FUNDS.—The amounts 

12 deposited under paragraph (1)(C) shall be available 

13 to the Secretary until expended, without further ap14 propriation, for the following purposes: 

15 (A) Reimbursement of costs incurred by 

16 the local offices of the Forest Service in car17 rying out land sales under this section, not to 

18 exceed 10 percent of the total proceeds of the 

19 land sales. 

20 (B) The development and maintenance of 

21 parks, trails, and natural areas in Carson City 

22 or Douglas County, Nevada, in accordance with 

23 a cooperative agreement entered into with the 

24 unit of local government in which the park, 

25 trail, or natural area is located. 
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1 (3) MINDEN INTERAGENCY DISPATCH CEN2 TER.—The Minden Interagency Dispatch Center is 

3 located on land made available by the State of Ne4 vada in Minden, Nevada, and will serve as a joint fa5 cility for the Forest Service and the Nevada Division 

6 of Forestry for the purpose of fighting wildland 

7 fires. The expansion of the center shall include living 

8 quarters and office space for the Blackmountain 

9 Hotshot Crew, a guard station for housing engines 

10 and patrol vehicles, an air traffic control tower, a 

11 training facility, and a warehouse. 

12 (4) LIMITATION.—None of the amounts made 

13 available to the Carson Water Subconservancy Dis14 trict under paragraph (1)(B) shall be used to pay 

15 the costs of litigation. 

16 (e) RELATION TO OTHER PROPERTY MANAGEMENT

17 LAWS.—The land described in subsection (a) shall not be 

18 subject to chapter 5 of title 40, United States Code, as 

19 codified by Public Law 107–217 (116 Stat. 1062). 

20 (f) WITHDRAWAL.—Subject to valid existing rights, 

21 all Federal land described in subsection (a) is withdrawn 

22 from location, entry, and patent under the public land 

23 laws, mining laws, and mineral leasing laws, including geo24 thermal leasing laws. 

25 (g) REVOCATION OF PUBLIC LAND ORDERS.— 
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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—To facilitate the sale of par2 cels of land described in subsection (a), the Sec3 retary shall revoke any public land orders in exist4 ence on the date of the enactment of this Act that 

5 withdraw the parcels from all forms of appropriation 

6 under the public land laws, to the extent that the or7 ders apply to land described in such subsection (a). 

8 (2) EFFECTIVE DATE.—A revocation under 

9 paragraph (1) shall be effective on the date on which 

10 the instrument conveying the parcels of land subject 

11 to the public land order is executed. 

12 (h) REPORT.—The Secretary shall submit to the 

13 Committee on Agriculture and the Committee on Re14 sources of the House of Representatives and the Com15 mittee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry of the Sen16 ate an annual report on all land sales made under this 

17 section.

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