I 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3411 

To provide for an exchange of land between the United States Department 

of Agriculture and the Sabine River Authority of Texas. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

OCTOBER 30, 2013 

Mr. GOHMERT (for himself, Mr. FLEMING, Mr. STOCKMAN, Mr. BRADY of 

Texas, and Mr. HALL) introduced the following bill; which was referred 

to the Committee on Agriculture, and in addition to the Committee on 

Natural Resources, for a period to be subsequently determined by the 

Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within 

the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To provide for an exchange of land between the United 

States Department 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: 


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

2 the Sabine River Authority of Texas. 

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

4 means— 

5 (A) the approximately 4,000 acres of Na6 tional Forest System land, excluding the sub7 surface mineral estate and including certain 

8 land in the wilderness area, located in Texas 

9 within Sabine National Forest and the Toledo 

10 Bend Project boundary, as generally depicted 

11 on a map titled ‘‘Sabine National Forest Toledo 

12 Bend Project Strip Lands’’; and 

13 (B) certain additional Federal land, ex14 cluding the subsurface mineral estate, occupied 

15 by Forest Service campgrounds, including all 

16 structures, buildings, fixtures, roads, and other 

17 improvements on the land, adjacent to the To18 ledo Bend Project, as mutually agreed by the 

19 Secretary and the Authority, and as generally 

20 depicted on the map titled ‘‘Sabine National 

21 Forest Campgrounds, Toledo Bend Project’’. 

22 (3) NON-FEDERAL LAND.—The term ‘‘non-Fed23 eral land’’ means the parcel or parcels of private 

24 land, excluding the subsurface mineral estate, adja25 cent to Sabine National Forest— 


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1 (A) owned or to be acquired by the Au2 thority; and 

3 (B) mutually agreed upon by the Authority 

4 and the Secretary. 

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

6 the Secretary of Agriculture, acting through the 

7 Chief of the Forest Service. 

8 (5) TOLEDO BEND PROJECT.—The term ‘‘To9 ledo Bend Project’’ means Federal Energy Regu10 latory Commission Project numbered 2305. 

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

12 area’’ means the Indian Mounds Wilderness Area, 

13 Sabine National Forest, as designated by section 

14 2(4) of the Texas Wilderness Act of 1984 (Public 

15 Law 98–574; 16 U.S.C. 1132 note). 

16 (7) WILDERNESS CANDIDATE LAND.—The term 

17 ‘‘wilderness candidate land’’ means certain non-Fed18 eral land adjacent to the wilderness area that is in19 tended for inclusion as part of the wilderness area 

20 upon acquisition by the Secretary. 

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

22 (a) LAND EXCHANGE AUTHORIZED AND DI23 RECTED.—In exchange for the non-Federal land and any 

24 cash equalization payment authorized in subsection (d), 

25 the Secretary shall convey to the Authority all right, title, 


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1 and interest of the United States in and to the Federal 

2 land. 

3 (b) EXISTING RIGHTS.—The conveyance of the Fed4 eral land under subsection (a) shall be subject to valid ex5 isting rights. 

6 (c) IMPLEMENTATION.— 

7 (1) APPRAISAL.— 

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

9 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 

10 Secretary shall complete an appraisal of the 

11 surface estate of the Federal land and non-Fed12 eral land. 

13 (B) STANDARDS.—The appraisal under 

14 this paragraph shall be performed in accordance 

15 with— 

16 (i) the Uniform Appraisal Standards 

17 for Federal Land Acquisitions; 

18 (ii) the Uniform Standards of Profes19 sional Appraisal Practice; and 

20 (iii) appraisal instructions issued by 

21 the Secretary. 

22 (C) EFFECT OF RESTRICTIVE COV23 ENANT.—In determining the value of the Fed24 eral land, the Secretary shall account for the 

25 limitations on the use of the Federal land after 


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1 conveyance imposed by the restrictive covenant 

2 required by subsection (e)(3). 

3 (2) SURVEY.—The exact acreage and legal de4 scription of the Federal land and non-Federal land, 

5 including a separate accounting of the wilderness 

6 candidate land, to be conveyed under subsection (a) 

7 shall be determined by surveys or other means iden8 tifying and describing such land mutually agreed to 

9 by the Secretary and the Authority. 

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

11 exchange under subsection (a) shall be shared equal12 ly by the Authority and the Secretary. 

13 (d) CASH EQUALIZATION.— 

14 (1) EQUAL VALUE EXCHANGE.—The land ex15 change under subsection (a) shall be conducted on 

16 an equal value basis. 

17 (2) LIMITS WAIVED.—The values of the lands 

18 to be exchanged under subsection (a) may be equal19 ized through the use of a cash equalization payment 

20 in an amount in excess of the statutory limit speci21 fied in section 206 of the Federal Land Policy and 

22 Management Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1716). 

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

24 cash equalization payment received by the Secretary 

25 under this subsection shall be deposited into the 


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1 fund established by Public Law 90–171 (commonly 

2 known as the Sisk Act; 16 U.S.C. 484a). The pay3 ment shall be available to the Secretary for expendi4 ture, without further appropriation and until ex5 pended, for the acquisition of land or interests in 

6 land for addition to the National Forest System. 

7 (e) TITLE.— 

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

9 land conveyed to the Secretary under this section 

10 shall be acceptable to the Secretary and shall con11 form to the title approval standards of the Attorney 

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

14 (2) RESERVATION OF MINERAL ESTATE.—The 

15 Secretary shall ensure that the deed of conveyance 

16 to convey the Federal land to the Authority reserves 

17 for the United States any subsurface mineral estate 

18 owned by the United States in the Federal land, in19 cluding oil, gas, rock, sand, and gravel. 

20 (3) RESTRICTIVE COVENANT.— 

21 (A) IN GENERAL.—In the deed of convey22 ance that conveys the Federal land to the Au23 thority, the Secretary shall include a covenant, 

24 running with the land, providing that the Fed25 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) PROHIBITION.—The restrictive cov9 enant described in subparagraph (A) shall not 

10 create any property interest of the United 

11 States. 

12 (f) CONTINUED CAMPGROUND OPERATION.—The 

13 Authority may continue to operate and maintain the For14 est Service campgrounds described in section 2(2)(B) and 

15 conveyed under subsection (a) consistent with the author16 ization granted by the Federal Energy Regulatory Com17 mission. 

18 (g) TIME FOR COMPLETION.—It is the intent of Con19 gress that the land exchange under subsection (a) be com20 pleted not later than one year after the date of the enact21 ment of this Act. 


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1 SEC. 4. BOUNDARY ADJUSTMENT, INDIAN MOUNDS WIL2 DERNESS AREA, SABINE NATIONAL FOREST. 

3 (a) BOUNDARY ADJUSTMENT.—Upon completion of 

4 the land exchange under section 3(a), the Secretary shall 

5 modify the boundaries of the wilderness area— 

6 (1) to exclude all wilderness area land that, be7 fore the exchange, was located within the Toledo 

8 Bend Project, and such land shall be removed from 

9 wilderness designation and shall cease to be part of 

10 the wilderness area and the National Wilderness 

11 Preservation System under the Wilderness Act (16 

12 U.S.C. 1131 et seq.); and 

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

14 wilderness candidate land acquired by the Secretary 

15 under such section, and such land shall be des16 ignated as wilderness and as a component of the Na17 tional Wilderness Preservation System. 

18 (b) MAP AND LEGAL DESCRIPTION.— 

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

20 completion of the land exchange under section 3(a), 

21 the Secretary shall file with the Committee on Nat22 ural Resources of the House of Representatives and 

23 the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of 

24 the Senate a map and legal description of the 

25 changes made to the boundaries of the wilderness 

26 area as a result of the land exchange. 


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

2 description filed under paragraph (1) shall have the 

3 same force and effect as if included in this Act, ex4 cept that the Secretary may correct clerical and ty5 pographical errors in the map and description. 

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

7 description also shall be on file and available for 

8 public inspection in the appropriate offices of the 

9 Forest Service. 

Æ 


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