I

104TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 3541

To provide for an exchange of lands with the city of Greeley, Colorado,

and The Water Supply and Storage Company to eliminate private

inholdings in wilderness areas, to cause instream flows to be created

above a Wild and Scenic River, to eliminate potential development on

private inholdings within the Forest boundary, to reduce the need for

future water reservoirs, to reduce the number of Federal land use authorizations, and to improve the security of the water supply of the city

and the company, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MAY 29, 1996

Mr. ALLARD introduced the following bill; which was referred to the

Committee on Resources

A BILL

To provide for an exchange of lands with the city of Greeley,

Colorado, and The Water Supply and Storage Company

to eliminate private inholdings in wilderness areas, to

cause instream flows to be created above a Wild and

Scenic River, to eliminate potential development on private inholdings within the Forest boundary, to reduce

the need for future water reservoirs, to reduce the number of Federal land use authorizations, and to improve

the security of the water supply of the city and the

company, and for other purposes.
2

•HR 3541 IH

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

3 SECTION 1. LAND EXCHANGE WITH CITY OF GREELEY, COL4 ORADO, AND THE WATER SUPPLY AND STOR5 AGE COMPANY.

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—If the city of Greeley, Colorado,

7 and The Water Supply and Storage Company, a Colorado

8 mutual ditch company, offer to transfer all their right,

9 title, and interest in and to the Rockwell Ranch property

10 and Timberline Lake property, and The Water Supply and

11 Storage Company designated lands, all described in sub12 section (b), the Secretary of Agriculture shall, in exchange

13 for such property, transfer to the city and to the company,

14 as they each shall designate, all right, title, and interest

15 of the United States, including the mineral estate, in and

16 to the Federal lands described in subsection (c) within 12

17 months of the date of the city’s and company’s offer.

18 (b) CITY AND COMPANY LANDS.—

19 (1) The city and company lands to be ex20 changed under this section are these lands depicted

21 on maps entitled ‘‘Rockwell Ranch Property Land

22 Exchange’’ and ‘‘Timberline Lake Property’’ and

23 ‘‘Cameron Pass Lands’’ dated lllllll

24 1995.
3

•HR 3541 IH

1 (2) The Rockwell Ranch property is comprised

2 of 4 parcels containing approximately 520 acres of

3 lands.

4 (3) The Timberline Lake Property is a parcel

5 of approximately 10 acres located in the Comanche

6 Peak Wilderness which shall be conveyed by quit

7 claim deed for the purposes of eliminating any fu8 ture title conflict between the city of Greeley and the

9 United States in regard to the property.

10 (4) The Cameron Pass Lands consist of 2 par11 cels totaling approximately 178 acres owned by The

12 Water Supply and Storage Company.

13 (c) FEDERAL LANDS TO BE EXCHANGED.—The

14 Federal lands to be exchanged under this section are those

15 lands depicted on the maps referred to in subsection (b)

16 as ‘‘Federal Exchange Lands’’. The total area of Federal

17 lands to be exchanged is approximately 1,176 acres, in18 cluding approximately 447 acres occupied by the city and

19 the company under perpetual easements of the United

20 States Department of the Interior, Numbers D–028135

21 and D–029149. The Federal lands to be exchanged in22 clude the following:

23 (1) All Federal land within the high water con24 tour lines of the following existing reservoirs: Barnes

25 Meadow, Chambers Lake, Comanche, Hourglass,
4

•HR 3541 IH

1 Long Draw, Milton Seaman, Peterson Lake, and

2 Twin Lakes, together with their dams and struc3 tures. The high water line is defined as the elevation

4 at the dam crest of each reservoir.

5 (2) A surcharge and operational access area

6 around each reservoir consisting of an average 50

7 foot horizontal projection from the high water line

8 and an average 100 foot horizontal projection from

9 the outer perimeter of all dams and appurtenant

10 structures, including but not limited to, outlets,

11 measuring devices, spillways, wasteways, toe drains,

12 canals, abutments, and the Peterson Lake oper13 ations cabin, as generally depicted on such map. The

14 access area to the east of Long Draw Reservoir will

15 be limited to the extent necessary to convey only

16 those lands within the boundary of the National

17 Forest.

18 (3) Those Federal lands which would be occu19 pied by an enlargement of Seaman Reservoir to an

20 approximate capacity of 43,000 acre feet (but not to

21 exceed 50,000 acre feet), including an average 50

22 foot horizontally projected buffer zone around the

23 enlarged water line and structures, and an 80-acre

24 parcel of Federal land south of Seaman Reservoir

25 potentially required for a downstream damsite on
5

•HR 3541 IH

1 the North Fork of the Cache la Poudre River, as

2 generally depicted on such map.

3 SEC. 2. TERMS AND CONDITIONS RELATING TO LAND EX4 CHANGE.

5 The land exchange under section 1 shall be processed

6 in accordance with Forest Service Land Exchange Regula7 tions in part 254 of title 36, Code of Federal Regulations,

8 subpart A subject to the direction in section 1 and the

9 following terms and conditions:

10 (1) The United States shall grant perpetual ac11 cess easements to the city of Greeley and to The

12 Water Supply and Storage Company to the lands

13 conveyed by the United States under section 1 as

14 part of the consideration of this exchange. The Unit15 ed States shall reserve easements for all designated

16 roads and trails crossing any Federal lands to be

17 conveyed that are necessary to assure public access

18 to adjoining National Forest lands.

19 (2) The city of Greeley, Colorado, and The

20 Water Supply and Storage Company shall continue

21 to make the following facilities accessible to visitors

22 to the Roosevelt National Forest: Chambers, Long

23 Draw, Peterson, Barnes Meadow, Comanche, Sea24 man and Twin Lakes Reservoirs, under rules and re-
6

•HR 3541 IH

1 strictions as determined by the city and the com2 pany.

3 (3)(A) All special use permits and/or easements

4 or other instruments authorizing occupancy of the

5 Federal lands identified in section 1(c) are rescinded

6 upon completion of the exchange.

7 (B) The conditions specified in the December

8 28, 1994, and the January 4, 1995, easements for

9 Long Draw, Peterson Lake and Barnes Meadow

10 Reservoirs requiring a joint operations plan provid11 ing instream winter flows to the mainstream of the

12 Cache La Poudre River from Chambers Lake and

13 Barnes Meadow shall continue to be fulfilled regard14 less of land ownership unless mutually agreed other15 wise.

16 (C) No further consultation with the United

17 States Fish and Wildlife Service shall be required

18 for completion of this land exchange.

19 (D) No additional conditions, including

20 instream or bypass flow requirements, shall be re21 quired as a condition of this land exchange.

22 (4) The exchange under section 1 does not in23 clude any water right owned by the city of Greeley,

24 Colorado, or The Water Supply and Storage Com25 pany, except as provided in section 2(5).
7

•HR 3541 IH

1 (5) The city of Greeley’s one-half interest in the

2 following rights associated with the Rockwell Ranch

3 property, to wit: Rockwell Ditches No. 1 in the vol4 ume of 1.2 c.f.s., No. 2 in the volume of 1.7 c.f.s.,

5 No. 3 in the volume of 2.68 c.f.s., No. 4 in the vol6 ume of 1.87 c.f.s., No. 5 in the volume of 1.95 c.f.s.

7 and No. 6 in the volume of 2.5 c.f.s., diverting from

8 the South Fork of the Cache la Poudre River, and

9 its tributaries, Little Beaver Creek and the North

10 Fork of Little Beaver Creek, and all with the appro11 priation date of December 31, 1888, shall be dedi12 cated to the Colorado Water Conservation Board in

13 perpetuity for the instream flow program of the

14 State of Colorado upon completion of the exchange.

15 (6) The Federal Exchange Lands to be ex16 changed under section 1 shall be conveyed to the

17 city of Greeley and to The Water Supply and Stor18 age Company by means of a land exchange deed is19 sued by an authorized officer of the United States

20 Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, and not21 withstanding any other requirements of law, the Sec22 retary of Agriculture is authorized to conduct and

23 approve all cadastral surveys necessary for comple24 tion of the exchange.
8

•HR 3541 IH

1 (7) Values of the respective lands exchanged be2 tween the United States and the city of Greeley and

3 The Water Supply and Storage Company pursuant

4 to section 1 are deemed to be of approximately equal

5 value, without any need for cash equalization, as

6 based on statements of value prepared by a qualified

7 Forest Service Review Appraiser.

8 (8) It is recognized that some Federal lands to

9 be conveyed to the city of Greeley and The Water

10 Supply and Storage Company will create new hold11 ings in otherwise consolidated areas of Federal own12 ership. If the city or the company decide to perma13 nently discontinue reservoir operations on any of the

14 properties acquired through this exchange, the Unit15 ed States Forest Service, Arapaho-Roosevelt Na16 tional Forest Supervisor shall be advised of the in17 tent to perform nonreconstructive breaching of the

18 dam for purposes of permanently terminating res19 ervoir operations. Upon such notification, the United

20 States Forest Service will be afforded the oppor21 tunity to reacquire property at fair market value or

22 exchange or upon such other terms and conditions

23 as the parties may agree for a period of time not to

24 exceed one year.
9

•HR 3541 IH

1 (9) The Federal lands to be exchanged under

2 section 1, with the exception of the Seaman Res3 ervoir enlargement area and potential new damsite

4 below Seaman Reservoir on the North Fork of the

5 Cache la Poudre River, are already fully developed

6 and authorized for occupancy by the city of Greeley

7 and The Water Supply and Storage Company.

8 Therefore, this land exchange may be completed

9 without further inventory or consultation under the

10 National Historic Preservation Act. Should the city

11 of Greeley seek enlargement of Seaman Reservoir or

12 construction of a new dam on the North Fork of

13 the Poudre River below Seaman Reservoir for a Sea14 man Reservoir Enlargement, the site will be subject

15 to all Federal statutes and regulations applicable at

16 the time of proposed construction.

17 (10) The Forest Service shall grant a 20-year

18 easement to the city of Greeley for use of the exist19 ing cabin in the north half of the southwest quarter

20 of Section 30, Township 8 North, Range 72 West.

21 The easement shall allow the use of the cabin, other

22 improvements, and access to the forest lands nearby.

23 The access road shall be available for city employees

24 to access the cabin for recreational purposes and to
10

•HR 3541 IH

1 the United States Forest Service for administrative

2 purposes.

3 (11) The Forest Service shall grant a 20-year

4 easement to the city of Greeley for use of approxi5 mately 1 acre of land under the existing cabin in the

6 vicinity of Jacks Gulch Campground on Pingree

7 Road as depicted on the attached map. The ease8 ment shall include the administrative use of the ac9 cess road to the cabin and the reservation of the use

10 of the cabin to those permitted under the existing

11 special use permit.

12 SEC. 3. ADMINISTRATION OF LANDS ACQUIRED BY THE

13 UNITED STATES.

14 The Rockwell Ranch, Timberline Lake, and Cameron

15 Pass Lands acquired by the United States under this Act

16 shall be added to and administered as part of the Roo17 sevelt National Forest. Those portions of such property

18 located within a wilderness area shall be added to and ad19 ministered as part of the wilderness area.

20 SEC. 4. BOUNDARY MODIFICATION OF THE ARAPAHO NA21 TIONAL FOREST AND ROOSEVELT NATIONAL

22 FOREST.

23 (a) IN GENERAL.—In order to provide for more effi24 cient administration of certain Federal lands adjoining the

25 Arapaho National Forest and Roosevelt National Forest,
11

•HR 3541 IH

1 the exterior boundary of the Arapaho Forest is hereby

2 modified as shown on Department of Agriculture, Forest

3 Service map entitled ‘‘Boundary Modification, Arapaho

4 National Forest’’ dated ll, 1995, and the exterior

5 boundary of the Roosevelt Forest is hereby modified as

6 shown on Department of Agriculture, Forest Service map

7 entitled ‘‘Boundary Modification, Roosevelt National For8 est’’, dated ll, 1995. The maps and a legal description

9 of the boundary changes shall be on file and available for

10 public inspection in the offices of the Chief of the Forest

11 Service and appropriate field offices.

12 (b) ADMINISTRATION.—All Federal lands brought

13 within the boundary of the Arapaho National Forest and

14 Roosevelt National Forest by this Act are hereby added

15 to the Arapaho National Forest and Roosevelt National

16 Forest, respectively, and shall be administered in accord17 ance with the laws, rules, and regulations applicable to

18 the National Forest System.

19 (c) AVAILABILITY OF CERTAIN LANDS.—For the

20 purpose of section 7 of the Land and Water Conservation

21 Act of 1965 (16 U.S.C. 460l–9), the boundary of the

22 Arapaho National Forest and Roosevelt National Forest,

23 as modified by this section, shall be treated as if it were

24 the boundary of that forest as of January 1, 1965.

Æ