II

105TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1509

To authorize the Bureau of Land Management to use vegetation sales contracts in managing land at Fort Stanton and certain nearby acquired

land along the Rio Bonito in Lincoln County, New Mexico.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

NOVEMBER 9, 1997

Mr. DOMENICI (for himself and Mr. BINGAMAN) introduced the following bill;

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

A BILL

To authorize the Bureau of Land Management to use vegetation sales contracts in managing land at Fort Stanton

and certain nearby acquired land along the Rio Bonito

in Lincoln County, New Mexico.

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 ‘‘Fort Stanton and Rio

5 Bonito Corridor Vegetation Management Act’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 Congress finds that—
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1 (1) the lands under the jurisdiction of the Sec2 retary surrounding Fort Stanton, New Mexico, con3 tain historic and natural resources that warrant spe4 cial management considerations by the Bureau of

5 Land Management;

6 (2) the adjudication process for establishing

7 grazing preferences under the Act of June 28, 1934

8 (commonly known as the ‘‘Taylor Grazing Act’’) (43

9 U.S.C. 315 et seq.) and other applicable laws has

10 not been conducted on lands acquired by the Sec11 retary at and near Fort Stanton, New Mexico, in12 cluding lands along the Rio Bonito in Lincoln Coun13 ty, New Mexico;

14 (3) in the management of renewable forage re15 sources on lands surrounding Fort Stanton, New

16 Mexico, vegetation sales contracts would be a bene17 ficial tool for the Bureau of Land Management to

18 use to maintain and enhance the condition of the

19 forage and other natural resources of the area;

20 (4) the management of grazing animals under

21 vegetation sales contracts requires fiscal resources

22 and personnel that exceed that of the grazing pref23 erence system in place on other public domain lands;

24 and
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1 (5) disputes over the legal description of lands

2 acquired by the Secretary along the Rio Bonito in

3 Lincoln County, New Mexico, make it necessary for

4 the Bureau of Land Management to pursue reason5 able legal remedies under existing authorities to re6 solve such disputes with adjacent landowners.

7 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

8 (a) FORT STANTON.—The term ‘‘Fort Stanton’’

9 means land under the administrative jurisdiction of the

10 Secretary at Fort Stanton, New Mexico, as depicted on

11 the map entitled ‘‘Fort Stanton and Rio Bonito Corridor,

12 NM’’, dated May 13, 1997.

13 (b) RIO BONITO CORRIDOR.—The term ‘‘Rio Bonito

14 Corridor’’ means land under the administrative jurisdic15 tion of the Secretary near Fort Stanton, New Mexico,

16 within the area identified as the ‘‘Rio Bonito Corridor’’,

17 as depicted on the map entitled ‘‘Fort Stanton and Rio

18 Bonito Corridor, NM’’, dated May 13, 1997, which—

19 (1) was acquired by the Secretary before May

20 13, 1997; or

21 (2) is acquired by the Secretary (by purchase or

22 exchange) from willing landowners after May 13,

23 1997.
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1 (c) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the

2 Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Director of

3 the Bureau of Land Management.

4 SEC. 4. MAPS.

5 The maps referred to in section 3 shall be made avail6 able for public inspection by the Bureau of Land Manage7 ment at the Roswell District Office in Roswell, New Mex8 ico, and at the New Mexico State Office in Santa Fe, New

9 Mexico.

10 SEC. 5. MANAGEMENT OF FORT STANTON AND RIO BONITO

11 LAND.

12 (a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any provision of

13 the Act of June 28, 1934 (43 U.S.C. 315 et seq.), or any

14 other law relating to the establishment, leasing, or permit15 ting of grazing under a grazing preference, the Secretary,

16 in managing land within Fort Stanton and the Rio Bonito

17 Corridor that is under the jurisdiction of the Secretary,

18 may solicit competitive bids for and enter into vegetation

19 sales contracts for the purpose of using livestock grazing

20 as a vegetation management tool. Any such contracts en21 tered into with respect to the land before the date of enact22 ment of this Act are ratified.

23 (b) CONSISTENCY WITH LAND AND RESOURCE MAN24 AGEMENT PLANS.—Management of Fort Stanton and the

25 Rio Bonito Corridor shall be consistent with any applica-
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1 ble land and resource management plan under the Federal

2 Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C.

3 1701 et seq.).

4 (c) DISTRIBUTION AND USE OF PROCEEDS.—Of the

5 proceeds of vegetation sales contracts entered into under

6 subsection (a)—

(1) 121 7 ⁄2 percent shall be paid to the State of

8 New Mexico for distribution to Lincoln County, New

9 Mexico, to be used for purposes authorized by sec10 tion 10 of the Act of June 28, 1934 (43 U.S.C.

11 315i);

(2) 121 12 ⁄2 percent shall be deposited in the gen13 eral fund of the Treasury of the United States; and

14 (3) 75 percent shall be deposited in a special

15 account in the Treasury of the United States and

16 shall be available to the Secretary, without further

17 Act of appropriation, for use in managing Fort

18 Stanton and the Rio Bonito Corridor and to achieve

19 the management goals and prescriptions identified in

20 applicable resource management plans for the Rio

21 Bonito acquired lands and the Fort Stanton area of

22 critical environmental concern, but none of the pro23 ceeds provided to the Secretary under this para24 graph shall be available for land acquisition.

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