Calendar No. 239

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 953

[Report No. 106–129]

A BILL

To direct the Secretary of Agriculture to convey

Terry Peak Ski Area.certain land in the State of South Dakota to the

JULY 29, 1999

Reported with an amendment
II

Calendar No. 239

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 953

[Report No. 106–129]

To direct the Secretary of Agriculture to convey certain land in the State

of South Dakota to the Terry Peak Ski Area.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

MAY 4, 1999

Mr. JOHNSON (for himself and Mr. DASCHLE) introduced the following bill;

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources

JULY 29, 1999

Reported by Mr. MURKOWSKI, with an amendment

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic]

A BILL

To direct the Secretary of Agriculture to convey certain

land in the State of South Dakota to the Terry Peak

Ski Area.

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 ‘‘Terry Peak Land Con5 veyance Act of 1999’’.
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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.

2 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that—

3 (1) certain land in the National Forest system

4 located in the Black Hills National Forest in Law5 rence County, South Dakota, is permitted to the

6 Terry Peak Ski Area by the Secretary of Agriculture

7 under the National Forest Ski Area Permit Act of

8 1986 (16 U.S.C. 497b);

9 (2) the Forest land comprises only 10 percent

10 of the land at the Ski Area, and the remaining 90

11 percent of land at the Ski Area is owned by the Ski

12 Area operator;

13 (3) the small percentage of Forest land at the

14 Ski Area—

15 (A) is encumbered by ski lifts and trails, a

16 base lodge, a parking lot, and other privately17 owned improvements;

18 (B) serves little purpose in continued pub19 lic ownership; and

20 (C) should be conveyed to the Ski Area to

21 unify land management and eliminate permit22 ting and related administrative costs to the

23 United States;

24 (4) the Ski Area is interested in acquiring the

25 land from the United States;
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1 (5) the Secretary lacks the administrative au2 thority to convey the land in a non-simultaneous

3 land exchange absent specific authorization from

4 Congress;

5 (6) the Forest contains several small inholdings

6 of undeveloped private land with multiple land7 owners that—

8 (A) complicate the management of Forest

9 land; and

10 (B) may be acquired by the United States

11 from willing sellers if funds for the acquisition

12 of the land are made available to the Secretary;

13 (7) the proceeds from the Terry Peak convey14 ance would provide a modest, but readily available

15 and flexible source of funds that may be used by the

16 Secretary to acquire certain inholdings in the Forest

17 from willing sellers;

18 (8) due to the small and scattered nature of the

19 inholdings of private land in the Forest and the

20 number of potential sellers involved, the Secretary

21 could acquire the inholdings more quickly and effi22 ciently by purchasing them directly rather than ac23 quiring the inholdings through administrative land

24 exchanges; and

25 (9) it is in the public interest to—
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1 (A) convey the Forest land at Terry Peak

2 to the Ski Area at fair market value; and

3 (B) use the proceeds of the conveyance to

4 acquire more desirable land for addition to the

5 Forest for permanent public use and enjoyment.

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

7 (1) authorize and direct the conveyance of cer8 tain Forest land at the Ski Area to the Ski Area;

9 and

10 (2) to use the proceeds of the conveyance to ac11 quire more desirable land for the United States for

12 permanent public use and enjoyment.

13 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

14 In this Act:

15 (1) FOREST.—The term ‘‘Forest’’ means the

16 Black Hills National Forest in the State of South

17 Dakota.

18 (2) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means

19 the Secretary of Agriculture.

20 (3) SELECTED LAND.—The term ‘‘selected

21 land’’ means land comprising approximately 41.42

22 acres and generally depicted as Government Lots 6

23 and 11, Section 2, Township 4 North, Range 2

24 East, Black Hills Meridian, on the map entitled
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1 ‘‘Terry Peak Land Conveyance’’, dated March,

2 1999.

3 (4) SKI AREA.—The term ‘‘Ski Area’’ means—

4 (A) the Terry Peak Ski Area of the Black

5 Hills Chairlift Company, a South Dakota Cor6 poration; or

7 (B) the successors, heirs, and assigns of

8 the entity described in subparagraph (A).

9 SEC. 4. LAND CONVEYANCE.

10 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall convey the se11 lected land to the Ski Area at fair market value as deter12 mined by the Secretary under subsection (b).

13 (b) APPRAISAL.—

14 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall deter15 mine the value of the selected land by using nation16 ally recognized appraisal standards, including, to the

17 extent appropriate—

18 (A) the uniform appraisal standards for

19 Federal land acquisitions;

20 (B) the uniform standards of professional

21 appraisal practice; and

22 (C) other applicable law.

23 (2) COSTS.—As a condition of the conveyance

24 under this section, the Ski Area shall pay all costs

25 of the appraisal.
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1 (c) COMPLETION.—The conveyance under this sec2 tion shall be completed not later than 180 days after the

3 date of enactment of this Act, unless the Secretary and

4 the Ski Area agree to postpone the completion date.

5 (d) OTHER LAW.—Prior to completing the convey6 ance under this section, the Secretary shall complete

7 standard pre-disposal analyses and obtain necessary per8 mits and clearances pertaining to—

9 (1) threatened and endangered species;

10 (2) cultural and historic resources;

11 (3) wetland and floodplains; and

12 (4) hazardous materials.

13 (e) USE OF PROCEEDS.—All funds received by the

14 Secretary under this Act shall be—

15 (1) considered to be funds received and depos16 ited under the Public Law 90–171 (16 U.S.C.

17 484a); and

18 (2) used by the Secretary to acquire replace19 ment land from willing sellers for addition to the

20 Forest.

21 (f) LAND ACQUIRED.—

22 (1) IN GENERAL.—Any land acquired under

23 subsection (e)(2) shall be added to and administered

24 as part of the Forest.

25 (2) BOUNDARY.—
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1 (A) IN GENERAL.—If any land acquired

2 under subsection (e)(2) lies outside the exterior

3 boundary of the Forest, the Secretary may

4 modify the boundary of the Forest to include

5 the acquired land.

6 (B) NO EFFECT ON OTHER LAW.—Nothing

7 in this section limits the authority of the Sec8 retary to adjust the boundaries of the Forest in

9 accordance with section 11 of the Act of March

10 1, 1911 (36 Stat. 963, chapter 186; 16 U.S.C.

11 500).

12 (g) VALID EXISTING RIGHTS; EASEMENTS.—The

13 conveyance under this section shall be subject to valid

14 rights, easements (including utility easements), rights-of15 way, and any other right, title, or interest of record on

16 the selected land existing on the date of the conveyance

17 of the selected land to the Ski Area.

18 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

19 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Terry Peak Land Trans20 fer Act of 1999’’.

21 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.

22 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following:

23 (1) Certain National Forest System land located

24 in the Black Hills National Forest in Lawrence

25 County, South Dakota, is currently permitted to the
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1 Terry Peak Ski Area by the Secretary of Agriculture

2 pursuant to section 3 of the National Forest Ski Area

3 Permit Act of 1986 (16 U.S.C. 497b).

4 (2) The National Forest System land comprises

5 only 10 percent of the land at the Ski Area, with the

6 remaining 90 percent located on private land owned

7 by the Ski Area operator.

8 (3) As the fractional Forest Service land holding

9 at the Ski Area is also encumbered by ski lifts, ski

10 trails, a base lodge parking lot and other privately

11 owned improvements, it serves little purpose in con12 tinued public ownership, and can more logically be

13 conveyed to the Ski Area to unify land management

14 and eliminate permitting and other administrative

15 costs to the United States.

16 (4) The Ski Area is interested in acquiring the

17 land from the United States, but the Secretary does

18 not have administrative authority to convey such

19 land in a nonsimultaneous land exchange absent spe20 cific authorization from Congress.

21 (5) The Black Hills National Forest contains

22 several small inholdings of undeveloped private land

23 with multiple landowners which complicate National

24 Forest land management and which can be acquired
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1 by the United States from willing sellers if acquisi2 tion funds are made available to the Secretary.

3 (6) The proceeds from the Terry Peak conveyance

4 can provide a modest, but readily available and flexi5 ble, funding source for the Secretary to acquire cer6 tain inholdings in the Black Hills National Forest

7 from willing sellers, and given the small and scattered

8 nature of such inholdings, and number of potential

9 sellers involved, can do so more efficiently and quickly

10 than through administrative land exchanges.

11 (7) It is, therefore, in the public interest to con12 vey the National Forest System land at Terry Peak

13 to the Ski Area at fair market value and to utilize

14 the proceeds to acquire more desirable lands for addi15 tion to the Black Hills National Forest for permanent

16 public use and enjoyment.

17 (b) PURPOSE.—It is the purpose of this Act to require

18 the conveyance of certain National Forest System lands at

19 the Terry Peak Ski Area to the Ski Area and to utilize the

20 proceeds to acquire more desirable lands for the United

21 States for permanent public use and enjoyment.

22 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

23 As used in this Act:

24 (1) The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary of

25 Agriculture, unless otherwise specified.
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1 (2) The term ‘‘selected land’’ means land com2 prising approximately 41.42 acres and generally de3 picted as government lots 6 and 11, section 2, town4 ship 4 north, range 2 east, Black Hills meridian, on

5 a map entitled ‘‘Terry Peak Land Conveyance’’, dated

6 March 1999; and

7 (3) the terms ‘‘Terry Peak Ski Area’’ and ‘‘Ski

8 Area’’ mean the Black Hills Chairlift Company, a

9 South Dakota Corporation, or its successors, heirs

10 and assigns.

11 SEC. 4. LAND CONVEYANCE AND MISCELLANEOUS PROVI12 SIONS.

13 (a) CONVEYANCE REQUIRED.—The Secretary of Agri14 culture shall convey the selected land to the Terry Peak Ski

15 Area at fair market value, as determined by the Secretary.

16 (b) APPRAISAL.—The value of the selected land shall

17 be determined by the Secretary utilizing nationally recog18 nized appraisal standards, including to the extent appro19 priate, the Uniform Appraisal Standards For Federal Land

20 Acquisitions (1992), the Uniform Standards of Professional

21 Appraisal Practice, and other applicable law. The costs of

22 the appraisal shall be paid for by the Ski Area.

23 (c) COMPLETION OF CONVEYANCE.—It is the sense of

24 Congress that the conveyance to the Ski Area required by

25 this Act be consummated no later than 6 months after the
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1 date of enactment of this Act, unless the Secretary and the

2 Ski Area mutually agree to extend the consummation date.

3 Prior to conveying the selected land to the Ski Area, the

4 Secretary shall complete standard pre-disposal analyses

5 and clearances pertaining to threatened and endangered

6 species, cultural and historic resources, wetlands and

7 floodplains, and hazardous materials.

8 (d) USE OF PROCEEDS BY THE SECRETARY.—All

9 monies received by the Secretary pursuant to this Act shall

10 be considered monies received and deposited pursuant to

11 Public Law 90–171 (16 U.S.C. 484a; commonly known as

12 the Sisk Act) and shall be retained and utilized by the Sec13 retary until fully expended to acquire replacement land

14 from willing sellers for addition to the Black Hills National

15 Forest in South Dakota. Any lands so acquired shall be

16 added to and administered as part of the Black Hills Na17 tional Forest and, if any such land lies outside the exterior

18 boundaries of the Forest, the Secretary may modify the

19 boundary of the Forest to include such land. Nothing in

20 this section shall be construed to limit the authority of the

21 Secretary to adjust the boundaries of the Forest pursuant

22 to section 11 of the Act of March 1, 1911 (16 U.S.C. 521;

23 commonly known as the Weeks Act).

24 (e) CONVEYANCE SUBJECT TO VALID EXISTING

25 RIGHTS, EASEMENTS.—The conveyance to the Ski Area re-
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1 quired by this Act shall be subject to valid existing rights

2 and to existing easements, rights-of-way, utility lines and

3 any other right, title or interest of record on the selected

4 land as of the date of transfer of the selected land to the

5 Terry Peak Ski Area.