IIA

103D CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 3613

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

OCTOBER 4 (legislative day, SEPTEMBER 12), 1994

Received

OCTOBER 8 (legislative day, SEPTEMBER 12), 1994

Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources

AN ACT

Entitled the ‘‘Kenai Natives Association Equity Act’’.

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 ‘‘Kenai Natives Associa5 tion Equity Act of 1994’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.

7 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that—
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1 (1) the United States Fish and Wildlife Service

2 and Kenai Natives Association, Inc. (KNA), have

3 agreed to an exchange and acquisition program pur4 suant to Public Law 102–458, of lands and interests

5 in lands in and near the Kenai National Wildlife

6 Refuge (Refuge);

7 (2) this acquisition of and exchange of lands

8 will significantly enhance the ability of the Service to

9 conserve fish and wildlife populations and habitats,

10 fulfill migratory bird treaties, ensure water quality

11 and quantity, provide opportunities for environ12 mental research and education, improve access to

13 fish and wildlife oriented recreation, and further en14 hance the Refuge management objectives;

15 (3) the amount to be paid for the Swanson

16 River Road West Tract, the sole issue upon which

17 the Service and KNA could not agree, is established

18 by Congress at $7,500,000; and

19 (4) it is in the public interest to complete this

20 exchange, and to provide for the economic and bene21 ficial use of lands conveyed to KNA in fulfillment of

22 the purpose of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement

23 Act of 1971, as amended (43 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.)

24 (Settlement Act).
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1 (b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is to author2 ize and direct the Secretary to complete an exchange and

3 acquisition as provided by Public Law 102–458 of lands

4 owned by KNA that will provide for and enhance the man5 agement opportunities and objectives of the Refuge, and

6 assist KNA in achieving economic viability and use of its

7 retained lands in furtherance of the Settlement Act.

8 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

9 For purposes of this Act, the term—

10 (1) ‘‘ANILCA’’ means the Alaska National In11 terest Lands Conservation Act, as amended (16

12 U.S.C. 3101 et seq.);

13 (2) ‘‘conservation system unit’’ has the same

14 meaning as in ANILCA;

15 (3) ‘‘KNA’’ means the Kenai Natives Associa16 tion, Inc., an urban corporation incorporated in the

17 State of Alaska pursuant to the terms of the Settle18 ment Act;

19 (4) ‘‘lands’’ means both the surface and sub20 surface estates or any interest therein whenever both

21 estates are owned by the United States or KNA, as

22 applicable;

23 (5) ‘‘property’’ has the same meaning given

24 such term by section 12(b)(7) of the Settlement Act;
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1 (6) ‘‘refuge’’ means the Kenai National Wildlife

2 Refuge;

3 (7) ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary of the

4 Interior;

5 (8) ‘‘Service’’ means the United States Fish

6 and Wildlife Service; and

7 (9) ‘‘Settlement Act’’ means the Alaska Native

8 Claims Settlement Act of 1971, as amended (43

9 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.).

10 SEC. 4. EXCHANGE AND ACQUISITION OF LANDS

11 (a) EXCHANGE OF LANDS; ACQUISITION AND

12 EQUALIZATION PAYMENT.—

13 (1) IN GENERAL.—No later than June 1, 1995,

14 the Secretary shall offer to convey to KNA, in ac15 cordance with the provisions of the report to Con16 gress issued pursuant to Public Law 102–458 and

17 subject to the provisions of paragraph (3) and valid

18 existing rights, approximately 1,831 acres of land,

19 portions of the Federal subsurface estate underlying

20 the same, and portions of the Federal subsurface es21 tate underlying another 3,238 acres, all as identified

22 in subsection (b)(2), in exchange for approximately

23 14,338 acres of KNA land, and the relinquishment

24 by KNA of its unpatented selections and all entitle25 ment to selections under the Settlement Act, consist-
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1 ing of approximately 1,207 acres, all located within

2 the Refuge and identified in subsection (b)(1). The

3 Secretary shall develop the offer required by this

4 section in consultation with KNA.

5 (2) LIMITATION.—The Secretary may not con6 vey any lands or make any payment to KNA under

7 this section unless title to the lands to be conveyed

8 by KNA in exchange for such lands and payments

9 is in accordance with the Department of Justice

10 standards for preparation of title evidence in land

11 acquisitions by the United States.

12 (3) SOURCES OF FUNDS.—The Secretary shall

13 utilize any combination of Land and Water Con14 servation Act of 1965 funds, funds otherwise appro15 priated by the Congress, Exxon Valdez Oil Spill set16 tlement funds, and lands or other Federal property

17 within the Secretary’s jurisdiction as payment to

18 KNA to equalize the values in the exchange.

19 (4) INTEREST.—If a bonafide offer required by

20 this section is not made by June 1, 1995, interest

21 on the value of the property and interests to be con22 veyed to KNA shall accrue beginning October 1,

23 1993.

24 (b) EXCHANGE AND ACQUISITION LANDS.—
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1 (1) KNA LANDS TO BE ACQUIRED.—The lands

2 or interests to be conveyed by KNA to the United

3 States, all situated within the existing authorized

4 boundary of the Refuge, and identified on the map

5 titled ‘‘Kenai Natives Association, Inc. and United

6 States Fish and Wildlife Service Negotiated Ex7 change/Acquisition Package,’’ dated October 1993,

8 on file and available for inspection in the Office of

9 the Secretary, generally include, subject to reserva10 tions of existing road easements—

11 (A) approximately 803 acres located along

12 the Kenai River, known as the Stephanka

13 Tract;

14 (B) approximately 1,243 acres located

15 along the Moose River, known as the Moose

16 River Patented Lands Tract;

17 (C) approximately 2,120 acres located

18 along Marathon Road, known as the Beaver

19 Creek Tract;

20 (D) approximately 10,172 acres located

21 along the Swanson River Road and the Sunken

22 Island Lake Road, known as the Swanson River

23 Road West Tract;

24 (E) all of the remaining KNA selections

25 under the Settlement Act, consisting of approxi-
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1 mately 1,207 acres, are hereby relinquished and

2 all remaining entitlement of KNA is hereby ex3 tinguished; and

4 (F) an easement for access to and use of

less than one acre of land, located in the NE1 5 ⁄4

NE1 6 ⁄4 of section 24, T.6N., R.9W., Seward Me7 ridian, within the Swanson River Road East

8 Tract, for so long as the site is used by the

9 Service as a radio communications repeater site.

10 (2) LANDS TO BE EXCHANGED.—The lands or

11 interests to be conveyed by the United States to

12 KNA, and identified (except for the parcel identified

13 in subparagraph (A)) on the map titled ‘‘Kenai Na14 tives Association, Inc. and United States Fish and

15 Wildlife Service Negotiated Exchange/Acquisition

16 package,’’ dated October 1993, on file and available

17 for inspection in the Office of the Secretary, gen18 erally include, subject to reservations of existing

19 road easements—

20 (A) approximately five acres, located with21 in the city of Kenai, Alaska, identified as Unit22 ed States Survey 1435, and known as the old

23 Fish and Wildlife Service Headquarters site;
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1 (B) approximately 1,826 acres located

2 along the Swanson River Road, known as the

3 Swanson River Road East Tract; and

4 (C) the subsurface estate (less oil, coal,

5 and gas) to approximately 5,064 acres, includ6 ing approximately 1,826 acres underlying the

7 Swanson River Road East Tract and approxi8 mately 3,238 adjacent acres underlying lands

9 previously patented to KNA which are located

10 east of the Swanson River Road.

11 (3) ACQUISITION AUTHORITY.—The lands iden12 tified for acquisition by the United States, specifi13 cally identified on the maps referenced in subsection

14 (c) as the Stephanka Tract, the Beaver Creek Tract,

15 and the Moose River Patented Lands Tract, collec16 tively referred to as the ‘‘Kenai River Project’’, may

17 be acquired by the United States pursuant to the

18 Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of 1965.

19 (4) NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC

20 PLACES.—Upon completion of the exchange author21 ized in subsection (a), the Secretary shall promptly

22 undertake to nominate the Stephanka Tract to the

23 National Register of Historic Places, in recognition

24 of the archeological artifacts from the original

25 Kenaitze Indian settlement.
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1 (5) VALUATIONS.—This exchange and acquisi2 tion shall be accomplished utilizing the valuations es3 tablished in the report to Congress issued pursuant

4 to Public Law 102–458, with the exception of the

5 Swanson River Road West Tract which value is es6 tablished at $7,500,000.

7 (c) GENERAL PROVISIONS.—

8 (1) REMOVAL OF RESTRICTIONS.—(A) Those

9 lands retained by KNA, and those parcels within the

10 Refuge, including designated wilderness, conveyed to

11 KNA pursuant to the terms of this Act, shall be re12 moved in their entirety from inclusion within the

13 boundaries of the Refuge by operation of this Act.

14 Such removal from the boundaries of the Refuge

15 shall terminate any application of Federal manage16 ment and patent restrictions applicable to lands

17 within the Refuge for which conveyance was made

18 pursuant to the terms of the Settlement Act or any

19 other law or regulation applicable solely to Federal

20 lands.

21 (B) The Secretary shall execute and file such

22 instruments as are necessary to convey lands and re23 move the restrictions referred to in this section at

24 the time of the conveyances provided in subsection

25 (a)(1).
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1 (C) Any lands KNA shall receive from the Unit2 ed States pursuant to this Act shall be deemed to

3 have been conveyed pursuant to the Settlement Act.

4 (2) MAPS AND LEGAL DESCRIPTIONS.—The

5 maps described in this section and a legal descrip6 tion of the lands depicted on the maps shall be on

7 file and available for public inspection in the appro8 priate offices of the United States Department of

9 the Interior. Not later than 120 days after the day

10 of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall prepare

11 a legal description of the lands depicted on the maps

12 referred to in this section. Such maps and legal de13 scriptions shall have the same force and effect as if

14 included in this Act, except that the Secretary may

15 correct clerical and typographical errors.

16 (3) ACCEPTANCE.—KNA may accept the offer

17 made pursuant to subsection (a) by notifying the

18 Secretary in writing of its decision within 120 days

19 of receipt of the offer. In the event the offer is re20 jected, the Secretary shall submit a report to Con21 gress describing the reasons why agreement was not

22 reached.

23 (4) FINAL MAPS.—Not later than 120 days

24 after the conclusion of the exchange authorized by

25 subsection (a), the Secretary shall transmit a final
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1 report and maps accurately depicting the lands

2 transferred and conveyed pursuant to this Act and

3 the acreage and legal descriptions of such lands to

4 the Committee on Natural Resources and the Com5 mittee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries of the

6 House of Representatives and the Committee on En7 ergy and Natural Resources and the Committee on

8 Environment and Public Works of the Senate.

9 SEC. 5. ADJUSTMENTS TO NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE

10 SYSTEM.

11 (a) ADDITION TO THE KENAI NATIONAL WILDLIFE

12 REFUGE.—The Secretary shall add the lands conveyed to

13 the United States pursuant to subsection (a)(1) to the

14 Refuge. The Secretary shall manage such lands in accord15 ance with the provisions of the National Wildlife Refuge

16 System Administration Act of 1966 (16 U.S.C. 668dd–

17 668ee) and ANILCA.

18 (b) KENAI NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE BOUND19 ARY ADJUSTMENT.—The boundaries of the Refuge as set

20 forth in section 303(4)(A) of ANILCA are hereby adjusted

21 to include those lands generally depicted on the map de22 scribed in section 4(c)(4) entitled ‘‘Proposed Boundary

23 Extension’’, dated October 1993.

24 (c) ADDITION TO WILDERNESS AREA.—Upon acqui25 sition of lands by the United States pursuant to section
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1 4(a)(1), that portion of the Stephanka Tract lying south

2 and west of the Kenai River, consisting of approximately

3 592 acres and as generally depicted as ‘‘To be included

4 in wilderness’’ on the map referenced in section 4(b)(1),

5 shall be included in and managed as part of the Kenai

6 Wilderness. Upon their inclusion into the Kenai Wilder7 ness, such lands shall be managed in accordance with the

8 applicable provisions of the Wilderness Act and ANILCA.

9 (d) REMOVAL OF CONVEYED LANDS FROM WILDER10 NESS AREA.—Upon conveyance to KNA of those lands

11 under section 4(b)(2), a portion of which is currently des12 ignated wilderness, consisting of approximately 623.5

13 acres and identified as ‘‘To be removed from wilderness’’

14 on the map referenced in section 4(b)(2), such lands are

15 removed from the Kenai Wilderness and the National Wil16 derness Preservation System.

17 SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

18 There are authorized to be appropriated such sums

19 as may be necessary to carry out the purposes of this Act.
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1 SEC. 7. LIMITATION ON APPLICATION OF REQUIREMENT

2 FOR ACQUISITIONS BY UNITED STATES

3 UNDER MIGRATORY BIRD CONSERVATION

4 ACT.

5 Section 7 of the Migratory Bird Conservation Act (16

6 U.S.C. 715f) is amended by inserting ‘‘in fee’’ after ‘‘con7 veyance’’.

Passed the House of Representatives October 3,

1994.

Attest: DONNALD K. ANDERSON,

Clerk.