S. 1233

One Hundred Third Congress

of the

United States of America

AT THE SECOND SESSION

Begun and held at the City of Washington on Tuesday,

the twenty-fifth day of January, one thousand nine hundred and ninety-four

An Act

To resolve the status of certain lands in Arizona that are subject to a claim

as a grant of public lands for railroad purposes, and for other purposes.

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 ‘‘Arizona Wilderness Land Title

Resolution Act of 1994’’.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.

(a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that—

(1) the Act entitled ‘‘An Act granting Lands to aid in

the Construction of a Railroad and Telegraph Line from the

States of Missouri and Arkansas to the Pacific Coast’’, approved

July 27, 1866 (14 Stat. 292), granted a right-of-way in Arizona

to the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad Company, together with

certain alternate sections of public lands on both sides of the

right-of-way; (2) patents were not issued to some of the lands in the

grant described in paragraph (1); (3) as successors in interest to the Atlantic and Pacific

Railroad Company, the Santa Fe Pacific Railroad, and Perrin

Properties, Inc., a California corporation—

(A) claim rights to approximately 14,632.72 acres of the lands described in paragraph (1); and (B) applied to the Secretary of the Interior for a patent

to the lands;

(4) the Secretary of the Interior denied the application

for the patent, which was filed in the name of the Santa

Fe Railroad Company for the benefit of Perrin Properties, Inc.,

on the ground that the claim had been extinguished by failure

to record the claim in accordance with the Act entitled ‘‘An

Act to require the recordation of scrip, lieu selection, and similar

rights’’, approved August 5, 1955 (69 Stat. 534; 43 U.S.C. 274

note) (commonly known as the ‘‘Recordation Act’’);

(5) on appeal, the United States Court of Appeals for the

District of Columbia Circuit ruled in Santa Fe Pacific Railroad

Company, et al. v. Secretary of the Interior, 830 F.2d 1168

(D.C. Cir. 1987), that such Act was not applicable and did

not bar the issuance of a patent;

(6) ultimate resolution of the question of the title to the

14,632.72 acres may require years of additional litigation;

(7) the Arizona Wilderness Act of 1984 (Public Law 98–

406) designated certain lands in the Prescott National Forest
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in Arizona as components of the National Wilderness Preservation System established by the Wilderness Act (16 U.S.C. 1131

et seq.), including the Apache Creek Wilderness and the Juniper

Mesa Wilderness;

(8) the 14,632.72 acres are in the Prescott National Forest

and comprise large portions of the Apache Creek and Juniper

Mesa Wilderness areas; and

(9) if the 14,632.72 acres are patented to private owners,

the creation of a checkerboard ownership pattern over the

wilderness areas will effectively preclude management of the

areas as wilderness.

(b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are—

(1) to resolve the status of the title to the approximately

14,632.72 acres in the Prescott National Forest described in

section 3(c);

(2) to ensure that the lands are permanently retained in

Federal ownership; and

(3) to preserve the integrity of the Apache Creek and

Juniper Mesa Wilderness areas consistent with the Arizona

Wilderness Act of 1984 (Public Law 98–406).

SEC. 3. RESOLUTION OF STATUS OF LANDS.

(a) PAYMENT BY THE SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY.—

(1) PAYMENT.—Subject to subsection (b), the Secretary of

the Treasury shall pay to Perrin Properties, Inc., the sum

of $3,854,000 from the permanent judgment appropriation

established pursuant to section 1304 of title 31, United States

Code.

(2) INTEREST.—No funds shall be made available for the

payment of interest on the amounts payable under paragraph

(1).

(b) CONDITIONS OF PAYMENT.—The Secretary of the Treasury shall make the payment described in subsection (a) if the Attorney

General of the United States notifies the Secretary of the Treasury

that the appellants in Santa Fe Pacific Railroad Company, et al.

v. Secretary of the Interior, 830 F.2d 1168 (1987), and Perrin

Properties, Inc., have executed in forms satisfactory to the Attorney

General all documents necessary— (1) to dismiss with prejudice all litigation involving the title to the lands described in subsection (c); and

(2) to release and quitclaim to the United States all right,

title, and interest of the appellants and of Perrin Properties,

Inc., arising out of the Act entitled ‘‘An Act granting Lands

to aid in the Construction of a Railroad and Telegraph Line

from the States of Missouri and Arkansas to the Pacific Coast’’,

approved July 27, 1866 (14 Stat. 292), in and to lands in

the Prescott National Forest.

(c) DESCRIPTION OF LANDS.—The lands described in this subsection are the approximately 14,632.72 acres of land in the Prescott

National Forest in Arizona described in the decision by the Interior

Board of Land Appeals, Santa Fe Pacific Railroad Co., No. 82–

449, 72 IBLA 197 (April 19, 1983).

(d) MANAGEMENT OF LANDS.—Upon the execution of documents

and dismissal of the litigation as described in subsection (b), the

lands described in subsection (c) shall be managed in accordance

with the laws, rules, and regulations pertaining to the National

Forest System. Lands described in subsection (c) that lie within
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the boundaries of a wilderness area, as designated on or before

the date of enactment of this Act, shall also be managed in accordance with the applicable provisions of the Wilderness Act (16 U.S.C.

1131 et seq.).

Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Vice President of the United States and

President of the Senate.