II

103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 765

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

JUNE 22, 1993

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition,

and Forestry

JUNE 29 (legislative day, JUNE 22), 1993

Committee discharged

AN ACT

To resolve the status of certain lands relinquished to the

United States under the Act of June 4, 1897 (30 Stat.

11, 36), and for other purposes.

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

3 SECTION 1. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.

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

5 (1) Pursuant to the invitation and requirements

6 contained in the 15th paragraph under the heading

7 ‘‘Surveying the Public Lands’’ in the Act of June 4,

8 1897 (30 Stat. 11, 36), as amended or supple9 mented by the Acts of June 6, 1900 (31 Stat. 588,

10 614), March 4, 1901 (31 Stat. 1010, 1037), and
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1 September 22, 1922 (42 Stat. 1067), certain land2 owners or entrymen within forest reserves acted to

3 transfer their lands to the United States as the basis

4 for an in lieu selection of other Federal lands (here5 after in this Act referred to as ‘‘lieu lands’’) in ex6 change for such lands within such reserves (here7 after in this Act referred to as ‘‘base lands’’).

8 (2) By the Act of March 3, 1905 (33 Stat.

9 1264), Congress repealed the in lieu selection provi10 sions of the Act of June 4, 1897, as amended, and

11 terminated the right to select lieu lands, but ex12 pressly preserved the rights of land owners who had

13 valid pending applications for in lieu selections, most

14 of which have subsequently been granted.

15 (3) Other persons affected by the Acts cited in

16 paragraphs (1) and (2) who acted to transfer base

17 lands, or their successors in interest, have never ob18 tained either (A) a patent to the lieu lands or any

19 other consideration for their relinquishment, or (B)

20 a quitclaim of their base lands, notwithstanding re21 lief legislation enacted in 1922 and 1930.

22 (4) By the Act of July 6, 1960 (74 Stat. 334),

23 Congress established a procedure to compensate per24 sons affected by the Acts cited in paragraphs (1)

25 and (2) who had not received appropriate relief
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1 under prior legislation. However, no payments of

2 such compensation were made under that Act.

3 (5) Section 4 of the Act of July 6, 1960, fur4 ther provided that lands with respect to which com5 pensation under that Act were or could have been

6 made, and not previously disposed of by the United

7 States, shall be a part of any national forest, na8 tional park, or other area withdrawn from the public

9 domain wherein they are located.

10 (6) Absent further legislation, lengthy and ex11 pensive litigation will be required to resolve existing

12 questions about the title to lands covered by section

13 4 of the 1960 Act.

14 (b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is to resolve

15 the status of the title to base lands affected by the past

16 legislation cited in subsection (a).

17 SEC. 2. IDENTIFICATION AND QUITCLAIM OF FEDERAL IN18 TEREST IN BASE LANDS.

19 (a) QUITCLAIM.—Except as otherwise provided by

20 this Act, and subject to valid existing rights, but notwith21 standing any other provision of law, the United States

22 hereby quitclaims to the listed owner or entryman, his

23 heirs, devisees, successors, and assigns, all right, title, and

24 interest of the United States in and to the base lands de-
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1 scribed on a final list published pursuant to subsection

2 (d)(1), effective on the date of publication of such list.

3 (b) PREPARATION OF INITIAL LISTS.—(1) Not later

4 than 6 months after the date of enactment of this Act,

5 the Secretary of the Interior, with respect to lands under

6 such Secretary’s jurisdiction, and the Secretary of Agri7 culture with respect to National Forest System lands,

8 shall each prepare an initial list of all parcels of base lands

9 that were relinquished to the United States pursuant to

10 the Act of June 4, 1897 (as amended), and for which se11 lection or other rights under that Act or supplemental leg12 islation were not realized or exercised.

13 (2) The initial lists prepared under paragraph (1)

14 shall be based on information in the actual possession of

15 the Secretaries of the Interior and Agriculture on the date

16 of enactment of this Act, including information submitted

17 to Congress pursuant to the directive contained in Senate

18 Report No. 98–578, issued for the Fiscal Year 1985 Inte19 rior and Related Agencies Appropriation, as revised and

20 updated. The initial lists shall be published and distrib21 uted for public review in accordance with procedures

22 adopted by the Secretary concerned.

23 (3) For a period of 180 days after publication of a

24 list pursuant to paragraph (2), persons asserting that par25 ticular parcels omitted from such a list should have been
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1 included may request the Secretary concerned to add such

2 parcels to the appropriate list. The Secretary concerned

3 shall add to the list any such parcels which the Secretary

4 determines meet the conditions specified in paragraph (1).

5 (c) NATIONALLY SIGNIFICANT LANDS.—(1) During

6 preparation or revision of an initial list under subsection

7 (b), the Secretary concerned shall identify those listed

8 lands which are located wholly or partially within any con9 servation system unit and all other listed lands which Con10 gress has designated for specific management or which the

11 Secretary concerned decides, in the concerned Secretary’s

12 sole discretion, should be retained in order to meet public,

13 resource protection, or administrative needs. For purposes

14 of this paragraph, the term ‘‘conservation system unit’’

15 means any unit of the National Park System, National

16 Wildlife Refuge System, National Wild and Scenic Rivers

17 System, National Trails System, or National Wilderness

18 Preservation System, a national forest monument, or a na19 tional conservation area, a national recreation area, or any

20 lands being studied for possible designation as part of

21 such a system or unit.

22 (2) The provisions of subsection (a) shall not apply

23 to any lands identified by the Secretary concerned pursu24 ant to paragraph (1). The Secretary concerned shall not

25 include any such lands on any list prepared pursuant to
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1 subsection (d). Subject to valid existing rights arising

2 from factors other than those described in subsection

3 (b)(1), any right, title, and interest in and to lands identi4 fied pursuant to paragraph (1) and not previously vested

5 in the United States is hereby vested and confirmed in

6 the United States.

7 (3) In the same manner as the initial list was pub8 lished and distributed pursuant to subsection (b)(2), the

9 Secretary concerned shall publish and distribute an identi10 fication of all lands in which right, title, and interest is

11 vested and confirmed in the United States by paragraph

12 (2).

13 (d) FINAL LISTS.—(1) As soon as possible after con14 sidering any requests made pursuant to subsection (b)(3)

15 and the identification of lands pursuant to subsection (c),

16 the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agri17 culture shall each publish a final list, consisting of lands

18 included on each Secretary’s initial list not identified pur19 suant to subsection (c)(1). Unless a Secretary has pub20 lished a final list on or before the date 24 months after

21 the date of publication, pursuant to subsection (b)(2), of

22 such Secretary’s initial list, the initial list prepared by

23 such Secretary shall be deemed on such date to be the

24 final list required to be published by such Secretary, and

25 thereafter no lands included on such initial list shall be
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1 excluded from operation of subsection (a) except lands lo2 cated wholly or partially within a conservation system unit

3 or any other area which Congress has designated for spe4 cific management.

5 (2) If after publication of a final list a court makes

6 a final decision that a parcel of land was arbitrarily and

7 capriciously excluded from an initial list as provided by

8 subsection (b), such parcel shall be deemed to have been

9 included on a final list published pursuant to paragraph

10 (1), unless such parcel is located wholly or partially inside

11 a conservation system unit or any other area which Con12 gress has designated for specific management, in which

13 case such parcel shall be subject to the provisions of sub14 section (c)(2).

15 (e) ISSUANCE OF INSTRUMENTS.—(1) Except as oth16 erwise provided in this Act, no later than 6 months after

17 the date on which the Secretary concerned publishes a

18 final list of lands pursuant to subsection (d), the Secretary

19 concerned shall issue documents of disclaimer of interest

20 confirming the quitclaim made by subsection (a) of this

21 section of all right, title, and interest of the United States

22 in and to the lands included on such final list, subject to

23 valid existing rights arising from factors other than a re24 linquishment to the United States of the type described

25 in subsection (b). Each such confirmatory document of
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1 disclaimer of interest shall operate to estop the United

2 States from making any claim of right, title, or interest

3 of the United States in and to the base lands described

4 in the document of disclaimer of interest, shall be made

5 in the name of the listed owner or entryman, his heirs,

6 devisees, successors, and assigns, and shall be in a form

7 suitable for recordation and shall be filed and recorded

8 by the United States with the recorder of deeds or other

9 like official of the county or counties within which the

10 lands covered by such confirmatory document of dis11 claimer of interest are located so that the title to such

12 lands may be determined in accordance with applicable

13 State law.

14 (2) The United States shall not adjudicate and, not15 withstanding any provision of law to the contrary, does

16 not consent to be sued in any suit instituted to adjudicate

17 the ownership of, or to quiet title to, any base land in18 cluded in a final list and described in a confirmatory docu19 ment of disclaimer of interest.

20 (3) Neither the Secretary of the Interior nor the Sec21 retary of Agriculture shall be required to inspect any lands

22 included on a final list nor to inform any member of the

23 public regarding the condition of such lands prior to the

24 issuance of any confirmatory document of disclaimer of

25 interest required by this subsection, and nothing in this
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1 Act shall be construed as affecting any valid rights with

2 respect to lands covered by a confirmatory document of

3 disclaimer of interest issued pursuant to this subsection

4 that were in existence on the date of issuance of such con5 firmatory document of disclaimer of interest.

6 (4) For purposes of this Act, the term ‘‘document of

7 disclaimer of interest’’ means a memorandum or other

8 document, however styled or described, that references the

9 quitclaim made by subsection (a) of this section and that

10 meets the requirements for recordation established by ap11 plicable laws of the State in which the lands to which such

12 document refers are located.

13 (f) WAIVER OF CERTAIN CLAIMS AGAINST THE

14 UNITED STATES.—Any person or entity accepting the

15 benefits of this Act or failing to act to seek such benefits

16 within the time allotted by this Act with respect to any

17 base or other lands shall be deemed to have waived any

18 claims against the United States, its agents or contrac19 tors, with respect to such lands, or with respect to any

20 revenues received by the United States from such lands

21 prior to the date of enactment of this Act. All non-Federal,

22 third party rights granted by the United States with re23 spect to base lands shall remain effective subject to the

24 terms and conditions of the authorizing document. The
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1 United States may reserve any rights-of-way currently oc2 cupied or used for Government purposes.

3 SEC. 3. OTHER CLAIMS.

4 (a) JURISDICTION AND DEADLINE.—(1) Subject to

5 the requirements and limitations of this section, a party

6 claiming right, title, or interest in or to land vested in the

7 United States by section 2(c)(2) of this Act may file in

8 the United States Claims Court a claim against the United

9 States seeking compensation based on such vesting. Not10 withstanding any other provision of law, the Claims Court

11 shall have exclusive jurisdiction over such claim.

12 (2) A claim described in paragraph (1) shall be

13 barred unless the petition thereon is filed within 1 year

14 after the date of publication of a final list pursuant to

15 section 2(d) of this Act.

16 (3) Nothing in this Act shall be construed as author17 izing any claim to be brought in any court other than a

18 claim brought in the United States Claims Court based

19 upon the vesting of right, title, and interest in and to the

20 United States made by section 2(c)(2) of this Act.

21 (b) LIMITATIONS, DEFENSES, AND AWARDS.—(1)

22 Nothing in this Act shall be construed as diminishing any

23 existing right, title, or interest of the United States in any

24 lands covered by section 2(c), including but not limited
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1 to any such right, title, or interest established by the Act

2 of July 6, 1960 (74 Stat. 334).

3 (2) Nothing in this Act shall be construed as preclud4 ing or limiting any defenses or claims (including but not

5 limited to defenses based on applicable statutes of limita6 tions, affirmative defenses relating to fraud or speculative

7 practices, or claims by the United States based on adverse

8 possession) otherwise available to the United States.

9 (3) Nothing in this Act shall be construed as entitling

10 any party to compensation from the United States. How11 ever, in the event of a final judgment of the United States

12 Claims Court in favor of a party seeking such compensa13 tion, or in the event of a negotiated settlement agreement

14 made between such a party and the Attorney General of

15 the United States, the United States shall pay such com16 pensation from the permanent judgment appropriation es17 tablished pursuant to section 1304 of title 31, United

18 States Code.

19 (c) SAVINGS CLAUSE.—This Act does not include

20 within its scope selection rights required to be recorded

21 under the Act of August 5, 1955 (69 Stat. 534), regard22 less of whether compensation authorized by the Act of Au23 gust 31, 1964 (78 Stat. 751) was or was not received.
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1 SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

2 There are authorized to be appropriated such sums

3 as may be necessary to carry out this Act.

Passed the House of Representatives June 21, 1993.

Attest: DONNALD K. ANDERSON,

Clerk.