103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 765

AN ACT

To resolve the status of certain lands relinquished

1897 (30 Stat. 11, 36), and for other purposes.to the United States under the Act of June 4,
103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 765

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:
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1 (1) Pursuant to the invitation and requirements

2 contained in the 15th paragraph under the heading

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

4 1897 (30 Stat. 11, 36), as amended or supple5 mented by the Acts of June 6, 1900 (31 Stat. 588,

6 614), March 4, 1901 (31 Stat. 1010, 1037), and

7 September 22, 1922 (42 Stat. 1067), certain land8 owners or entrymen within forest reserves acted to

9 transfer their lands to the United States as the basis

10 for an in lieu selection of other Federal lands (here11 after in this Act referred to as ‘‘lieu lands’’) in ex12 change for such lands within such reserves (here13 after in this Act referred to as ‘‘base lands’’).

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

15 1264), Congress repealed the in lieu selection provi16 sions of the Act of June 4, 1897, as amended, and

17 terminated the right to select lieu lands, but ex18 pressly preserved the rights of land owners who had

19 valid pending applications for in lieu selections, most

20 of which have subsequently been granted.

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

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

23 lands, or their successors in interest, have never ob24 tained either (A) a patent to the lieu lands or any

25 other consideration for their relinquishment, or (B)
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1 a quitclaim of their base lands, notwithstanding re2 lief legislation enacted in 1922 and 1930.

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

4 Congress established a procedure to compensate per5 sons affected by the Acts cited in paragraphs (1)

6 and (2) who had not received appropriate relief

7 under prior legislation. However, no payments of

8 such compensation were made under that Act.

9 (5) Section 4 of the Act of July 6, 1960, fur10 ther provided that lands with respect to which com11 pensation under that Act were or could have been

12 made, and not previously disposed of by the United

13 States, shall be a part of any national forest, na14 tional park, or other area withdrawn from the public

15 domain wherein they are located.

16 (6) Absent further legislation, lengthy and ex17 pensive litigation will be required to resolve existing

18 questions about the title to lands covered by section

19 4 of the 1960 Act.

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

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

22 legislation cited in subsection (a).
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1 SEC. 2. IDENTIFICATION AND QUITCLAIM OF FEDERAL IN2 TEREST IN BASE LANDS.

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

4 this Act, and subject to valid existing rights, but notwith5 standing any other provision of law, the United States

6 hereby quitclaims to the listed owner or entryman, his

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

8 interest of the United States in and to the base lands de9 scribed on a final list published pursuant to subsection

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

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

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

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

14 such Secretary’s jurisdiction, and the Secretary of Agri15 culture with respect to National Forest System lands,

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

17 that were relinquished to the United States pursuant to

18 the Act of June 4, 1897 (as amended), and for which se19 lection or other rights under that Act or supplemental leg20 islation were not realized or exercised.

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

22 shall be based on information in the actual possession of

23 the Secretaries of the Interior and Agriculture on the date

24 of enactment of this Act, including information submitted

25 to Congress pursuant to the directive contained in Senate

26 Report No. 98–578, issued for the Fiscal Year 1985 Inte-
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1 rior and Related Agencies Appropriation, as revised and

2 updated. The initial lists shall be published and distrib3 uted for public review in accordance with procedures

4 adopted by the Secretary concerned.

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

6 list pursuant to paragraph (2), persons asserting that par7 ticular parcels omitted from such a list should have been

8 included may request the Secretary concerned to add such

9 parcels to the appropriate list. The Secretary concerned

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

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

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

13 preparation or revision of an initial list under subsection

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

15 lands which are located wholly or partially within any con16 servation system unit and all other listed lands which Con17 gress has designated for specific management or which the

18 Secretary concerned decides, in the concerned Secretary’s

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

20 resource protection, or administrative needs. For purposes

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

22 means any unit of the National Park System, National

23 Wildlife Refuge System, National Wild and Scenic Rivers

24 System, National Trails System, or National Wilderness

25 Preservation System, a national forest monument, or a na-
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1 tional conservation area, a national recreation area, or any

2 lands being studied for possible designation as part of

3 such a system or unit.

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

5 to any lands identified by the Secretary concerned pursu6 ant to paragraph (1). The Secretary concerned shall not

7 include any such lands on any list prepared pursuant to

8 subsection (d). Subject to valid existing rights arising

9 from factors other than those described in subsection

10 (b)(1), any right, title, and interest in and to lands identi11 fied pursuant to paragraph (1) and not previously vested

12 in the United States is hereby vested and confirmed in

13 the United States.

14 (3) In the same manner as the initial list was pub15 lished and distributed pursuant to subsection (b)(2), the

16 Secretary concerned shall publish and distribute an identi17 fication of all lands in which right, title, and interest is

18 vested and confirmed in the United States by paragraph

19 (2).

20 (d) FINAL LISTS.—(1) As soon as possible after con21 sidering any requests made pursuant to subsection (b)(3)

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

23 the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agri24 culture shall each publish a final list, consisting of lands

25 included on each Secretary’s initial list not identified pur-
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1 suant to subsection (c)(1). Unless a Secretary has pub2 lished a final list on or before the date 24 months after

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

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

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

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

7 thereafter no lands included on such initial list shall be

8 excluded from operation of subsection (a) except lands lo9 cated wholly or partially within a conservation system unit

10 or any other area which Congress has designated for spe11 cific management.

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

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

14 capriciously excluded from an initial list as provided by

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

16 included on a final list published pursuant to paragraph

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

18 a conservation system unit or any other area which Con19 gress has designated for specific management, in which

20 case such parcel shall be subject to the provisions of sub21 section (c)(2).

22 (e) ISSUANCE OF INSTRUMENTS.—(1) Except as oth23 erwise provided in this Act, no later than 6 months after

24 the date on which the Secretary concerned publishes a

25 final list of lands pursuant to subsection (d), the Secretary
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1 concerned shall issue documents of disclaimer of interest

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

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

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

5 valid existing rights arising from factors other than a re6 linquishment to the United States of the type described

7 in subsection (b). Each such confirmatory document of

8 disclaimer of interest shall operate to estop the United

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

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

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

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

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

14 suitable for recordation and shall be filed and recorded

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

16 like official of the county or counties within which the

17 lands covered by such confirmatory document of dis18 claimer of interest are located so that the title to such

19 lands may be determined in accordance with applicable

20 State law.

21 (2) The United States shall not adjudicate and, not22 withstanding any provision of law to the contrary, does

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

24 the ownership of, or to quiet title to, any base land in-
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1 cluded in a final list and described in a confirmatory docu2 ment of disclaimer of interest.

3 (3) Neither the Secretary of the Interior nor the Sec4 retary of Agriculture shall be required to inspect any lands

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

6 public regarding the condition of such lands prior to the

7 issuance of any confirmatory document of disclaimer of

8 interest required by this subsection, and nothing in this

9 Act shall be construed as affecting any valid rights with

10 respect to lands covered by a confirmatory document of

11 disclaimer of interest issued pursuant to this subsection

12 that were in existence on the date of issuance of such con13 firmatory document of disclaimer of interest.

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

15 disclaimer of interest’’ means a memorandum or other

16 document, however styled or described, that references the

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

18 meets the requirements for recordation established by ap19 plicable laws of the State in which the lands to which such

20 document refers are located.

21 (f) WAIVER OF CERTAIN CLAIMS AGAINST THE

22 UNITED STATES.—Any person or entity accepting the

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

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

25 base or other lands shall be deemed to have waived any
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1 claims against the United States, its agents or contrac2 tors, with respect to such lands, or with respect to any

3 revenues received by the United States from such lands

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

5 third party rights granted by the United States with re6 spect to base lands shall remain effective subject to the

7 terms and conditions of the authorizing document. The

8 United States may reserve any rights-of-way currently oc9 cupied or used for Government purposes.

10 SEC. 3. OTHER CLAIMS.

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

12 the requirements and limitations of this section, a party

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

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

15 the United States Claims Court a claim against the United

16 States seeking compensation based on such vesting. Not17 withstanding any other provision of law, the Claims Court

18 shall have exclusive jurisdiction over such claim.

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

20 barred unless the petition thereon is filed within 1 year

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

22 section 2(d) of this Act.

23 (3) Nothing in this Act shall be construed as author24 izing any claim to be brought in any court other than a

25 claim brought in the United States Claims Court based
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1 upon the vesting of right, title, and interest in and to the

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

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

4 Nothing in this Act shall be construed as diminishing any

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

6 lands covered by section 2(c), including but not limited

7 to any such right, title, or interest established by the Act

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

9 (2) Nothing in this Act shall be construed as preclud10 ing or limiting any defenses or claims (including but not

11 limited to defenses based on applicable statutes of limita12 tions, affirmative defenses relating to fraud or speculative

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

14 possession) otherwise available to the United States.

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

16 any party to compensation from the United States. How17 ever, in the event of a final judgment of the United States

18 Claims Court in favor of a party seeking such compensa19 tion, or in the event of a negotiated settlement agreement

20 made between such a party and the Attorney General of

21 the United States, the United States shall pay such com22 pensation from the permanent judgment appropriation es23 tablished pursuant to section 1304 of title 31, United

24 States Code.
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1 (c) SAVINGS CLAUSE.—This Act does not include

2 within its scope selection rights required to be recorded

3 under the Act of August 5, 1955 (69 Stat. 534), regard4 less of whether compensation authorized by the Act of Au5 gust 31, 1964 (78 Stat. 751) was or was not received.

6 SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

7 There are authorized to be appropriated such sums

8 as may be necessary to carry out this Act.

Passed the House of Representatives June 21, 1993.

Attest:

Clerk.