II 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1484 

To provide for an exchange of land between the Secretary of Agriculture 

and the Sabine River Authority of Texas. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

AUGUST 1, 2013 

Mr. REID (for Ms. LANDRIEU (for herself, Mr. VITTER, and Mr. CORNYN)) 

introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 

Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry 

A BILL 

To provide for an exchange of land between the Secretary 

of Agriculture and the Sabine River Authority of Texas. 

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 ‘‘Sabine National Forest 

5 Land Exchange Act of 2013’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act: 

8 (1) AUTHORITY.—The term ‘‘Authority’’ means 

9 the Sabine River Authority of Texas. 


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1 (2) FEDERAL LAND.—The term ‘‘Federal land’’ 

2 means— 

3 (A) the approximately 4,000 acres of Na4 tional Forest System land, excluding the min5 eral estate and including the wilderness area, 

6 located within the Sabine National Forest and 

7 the Toledo Bend Project boundary in Texas, as 

8 generally depicted on the map entitled ‘‘Sabine 

9 National Forest Toledo Bend Project Strip 

10 Lands’’; and 

11 (B) certain additional Federal land occu12 pied by Forest Service campgrounds, including 

13 all structures, buildings, fixtures, roads, and 

14 other improvements on the land, adjacent to the 

15 Toledo Bend Project, as mutually agreed by the 

16 Secretary and the Authority, and as generally 

17 depicted on the map entitled ‘‘Sabine National 

18 Forest Campgrounds, Toledo Bend Project’’. 

19 (3) NON-FEDERAL LAND.—The term ‘‘non-Fed20 eral land’’ means the surface estate of a parcel or 

21 parcels of private land adjacent to Sabine National 

22 Forest that is— 

23 (A) owned or to be acquired by the Au24 thority; and 


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1 (B) mutually agreed upon by the Authority 

2 and the Secretary. 

3 (4) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

4 the Secretary of Agriculture, acting through the 

5 Chief of the Forest Service. 

6 (5) TOLEDO BEND PROJECT.—The term ‘‘To7 ledo Bend Project’’ means the Federal Energy Reg8 ulatory Commission project numbered 2305. 

9 (6) WILDERNESS AREA.—The term ‘‘wilderness 

10 area’’ means the Indian Mounds Wilderness Area, 

11 Sabine National Forest, as designated by section 

12 2(4) of the Texas Wilderness Act of 1984 (16 

13 U.S.C. 1132 note; Public Law 98–574). 

14 (7) WILDERNESS CANDIDATE LAND.—The term 

15 ‘‘wilderness candidate land’’ means the surface es16 tate of land adjacent to the wilderness area, to be 

17 mutually agreed upon by the Authority and the Sec18 retary, that is owned or to be acquired by the Au19 thority. 

20 SEC. 3. LAND EXCHANGE, SABINE NATIONAL FOREST. 

21 (a) IN GENERAL.—In exchange for the non-Federal 

22 land, wilderness candidate land, and any cash equalization 

23 payment authorized under subsection (d), the Secretary 

24 shall convey to the Authority all right, title, and interest 

25 of the United States in and to the Federal land. 


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1 (b) EXISTING RIGHTS.—The conveyance of the Fed2 eral land under subsection (a) shall be subject to valid ex3 isting rights. 

4 (c) IMPLEMENTATION.— 

5 (1) APPRAISAL.— 

6 (A) DEADLINE.—Not later than 180 days 

7 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Sec8 retary shall complete an appraisal of the sur9 face estate of the Federal land, non-Federal 

10 land, and wilderness candidate land. 

11 (B) STANDARDS.—The appraisal under 

12 this paragraph shall be performed in accordance 

13 with— 

14 (i) the Uniform Appraisal Standards 

15 for Federal Land Acquisitions; 

16 (ii) the Uniform Standards of Profes17 sional Appraisal Practice; and 

18 (iii) appraisal instructions issued by 

19 the Secretary. 

20 (C) EFFECT OF RESTRICTIVE COV21 ENANT.—In determining the value of the Fed22 eral land, the Secretary shall account for the 

23 limitations on the use of the Federal land after 

24 conveyance imposed by the restrictive covenant 

25 required under subsection (e)(3). 


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1 (2) SURVEY.—The exact acreage and legal de2 scription of the Federal land, non-Federal land, and 

3 wilderness candidate land to be conveyed under sub4 section (a) shall be determined by surveys or other 

5 means of identifying and describing the land mutu6 ally agreed to by the Secretary and the Authority. 

7 (3) COSTS.—The costs of conducting the land 

8 exchange under subsection (a) shall be shared equal9 ly between the Authority and the Secretary. 

10 (d) CASH EQUALIZATION.— 

11 (1) EQUAL VALUE EXCHANGE.—The land ex12 change under subsection (a) shall be conducted on 

13 an equal value basis. 

14 (2) LIMITS WAIVED.—The values of the land to 

15 be exchanged under subsection (a) may be equalized 

16 through the use of a cash equalization payment in 

17 an amount in excess of the statutory limit specified 

18 in section 206 of the Federal Land Policy and Man19 agement Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1716). 

20 (3) DISPOSITION AND USE OF FUNDS.—Any 

21 cash equalization payment received by the Secretary 

22 under this subsection shall be— 

23 (A) deposited into the fund established 

24 under Public Law 90–171 (commonly known as 

25 the ‘‘Sisk Act’’) (16 U.S.C. 484a); and 


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1 (B) available to the Secretary for expendi2 ture, without further appropriation and until 

3 expended, for the acquisition of land or inter4 ests in land for addition to the National Forest 

5 System. 

6 (e) TITLE.— 

7 (1) IN GENERAL.—Title to the non-Federal 

8 land conveyed to the Secretary under this section 

9 shall— 

10 (A) be acceptable to the Secretary; and 

11 (B) conform to the title approval standards 

12 of the Attorney General applicable to land ac13 quisitions by the Federal Government. 

14 (2) RESERVATION OF MINERAL ESTATE.—The 

15 deed of conveyance that conveys the Federal land to 

16 the Authority shall reserve any subsurface mineral 

17 estate owned by the United States in the Federal 

18 land, including oil, gas, rock, sand, and gravel. 

19 (3) RESTRICTIVE COVENANT.— 

20 (A) IN GENERAL.—In the deed of convey21 ance that conveys the Federal land to the Au22 thority, the Secretary shall include a covenant, 

23 running with the land, providing that the Fed24 eral land conveyed shall— 


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1 (i) be used in a manner consistent 

2 with the management of adjacent National 

3 Forest System land or wilderness area 

4 land; 

5 (ii) remain unsubdivided; and 

6 (iii) not be used for commercial, resi7 dential, or industrial development. 

8 (B) EFFECT.—The restrictive covenant de9 scribed in subparagraph (A) shall not create 

10 any property interest of the United States. 

11 (f) CONTINUED CAMPGROUND OPERATION.—The 

12 Authority may continue to operate and maintain the For13 est Service campgrounds described in section 2(2)(B) and 

14 conveyed under subsection (a) consistent with the author15 ization granted by the Federal Energy Regulatory Com16 mission. 

17 (g) TIME FOR COMPLETION.—It is the intent of Con18 gress that the land exchange under subsection (a) shall 

19 be completed not later than 1 year after the date of enact20 ment of this Act. 

21 SEC. 4. BOUNDARY ADJUSTMENT, INDIAN MOUNDS WIL22 DERNESS AREA, SABINE NATIONAL FOREST. 

23 (a) BOUNDARY ADJUSTMENT.—On completion of the 

24 land exchange under section 3(a), the Secretary shall mod25 ify the boundaries of the wilderness area— 


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1 (1) to exclude all wilderness area land that, be2 fore the date of the exchange, was located within the 

3 Toledo Bend Project, with the land excluded under 

4 this paragraph to be removed from wilderness des5 ignation and ceasing to be part of the wilderness 

6 area and the National Wilderness Preservation Sys7 tem under the Wilderness Act (16 U.S.C. 1131 et 

8 seq.); and 

9 (2) to include as part of the wilderness area all 

10 wilderness candidate land acquired by the Secretary 

11 under section 3(a), with the land included under this 

12 paragraph to be designated as wilderness and as a 

13 component of the National Wilderness Preservation 

14 System. 

15 (b) MAP AND LEGAL DESCRIPTION.— 

16 (1) REQUIRED.—As soon as practicable after 

17 the date of completion of the land exchange under 

18 section 3(a), the Secretary shall file with the Com19 mittee on Natural Resources of the House of Rep20 resentatives and the Committee on Energy and Nat21 ural Resources of the Senate a map and legal de22 scription of the changes made to the boundaries of 

23 the wilderness area as a result of the land exchange. 

24 (2) FORCE AND EFFECT.—The map and legal 

25 description filed under paragraph (1) shall have the 


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1 same force and effect as if included in this Act, ex2 cept that the Secretary may correct clerical and ty3 pographical errors in the map and legal description. 

4 (3) PUBLIC INSPECTION.—The map and legal 

5 description also shall be on file and available for 

6 public inspection in the appropriate offices of the 

7 Forest Service. 

Æ 


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