H. R. 2079

One Hundred Sixth Congress

of the

United States of America

AT THE FIRST SESSION

Begun and held at the City of Washington on Wednesday,

the sixth day of January, one thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine

An Act

To provide for the conveyance of certain National Forest System lands in the

State of South Dakota.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of

the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Terry Peak Land Transfer Act

of 1999’’.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.

(a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following:

(1) Certain National Forest System land located in the

Black Hills National Forest in Lawrence County, South Dakota,

is currently permitted to the Terry Peak Ski Area by the

Secretary of Agriculture pursuant to section 3 of the National

Forest Ski Area Permit Act of 1986 (16 U.S.C. 497b).

(2) The National Forest System land comprises only 10

percent of the land at the Ski Area, with the remaining 90

percent located on private land owned by the Ski Area operator.

(3) As the fractional Forest Service land holding at the

Ski Area is also encumbered by ski lifts, ski trails, a base

lodge parking lot and other privately owned improvements,

it serves little purpose in continued public ownership, and

can more logically be conveyed to the Ski Area to unify land

management and eliminate permitting and other administrative costs to the United States.

(4) The Ski Area is interested in acquiring the land from

the United States, but the Secretary does not have administrative authority to convey such land in a nonsimultaneous land

exchange absent specific authorization from Congress.

(5) The Black Hills National Forest contains several small

inholdings of undeveloped private land with multiple landowners which complicate National Forest land management

and which can be acquired by the United States from willing

sellers if acquisition funds are made available to the Secretary.

(6) The proceeds from the Terry Peak conveyance can provide a modest, but readily available and flexible, funding source

for the Secretary to acquire certain inholdings in the Black

Hills National Forest from willing sellers, and given the small

and scattered nature of such inholdings, and number of potential sellers involved, can do so more efficiently and quickly

than through administrative land exchanges.

(7) It is, therefore, in the public interest to convey the

National Forest System land at Terry Peak to the Ski Area
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at fair market value and to utilize the proceeds to acquire

more desirable lands for addition to the Black Hills National

Forest for permanent public use and enjoyment.

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

conveyance of certain National Forest System lands at the Terry

Peak Ski Area to the Ski Area and to utilize the proceeds to

acquire more desirable lands for the United States for permanent

public use and enjoyment.

SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

As used in this Act:

(1) The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary of Agriculture, unless otherwise specified.

(2) The term ‘‘selected land’’ means land comprising

approximately 41.42 acres and generally depicted as Government lots 6 and 11, section 2, township 4 north, range 2

east, Black Hills meridian, on a map entitled ‘‘Terry Peak

Land Conveyance’’, dated March 1999.

(3) The terms ‘‘Terry Peak Ski Area’’ and ‘‘Ski Area’’ mean

the Black Hills Chairlift Company, a South Dakota Corporation,

or its successors, heirs and assigns.

SEC. 4. LAND CONVEYANCE AND MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS.

(a) CONVEYANCE REQUIRED.—The Secretary of Agriculture shall

convey the selected land to the Terry Peak Ski Area at fair market

value, as determined by the Secretary.

(b) APPRAISAL.—The value of the selected land shall be determined by the Secretary utilizing nationally recognized appraisal

standards, including to the extent appropriate, the Uniform

Appraisal Standards For Federal Land Acquisitions (1992), the

Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice, and other

applicable law. The costs of the appraisal shall be paid for by

the Ski Area.

(c) COMPLETION OF CONVEYANCE.—It is the sense of the Congress that the conveyance to the Ski Area required by this Act

be consummated no later than 6 months after the date of the

enactment of this Act, unless the Secretary and the Ski Area

mutually agree to extend the consummation date. Prior to conveying

the selected land to the Ski Area, the Secretary shall complete

standard pre-disposal analyses and clearances pertaining to threatened and endangered species, cultural and historic resources, wetlands and floodplains, and hazardous materials.

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

by the Secretary pursuant to this Act shall be considered monies

received and deposited pursuant to Public Law 90–171 (16 U.S.C.

484a; commonly known as the Sisk Act) and shall be utilized

by the Secretary to acquire replacement land from willing sellers

for addition to the Black Hills National Forest in South Dakota.

Any lands so acquired shall be added to and administered as

part of the Black Hills National Forest and, if any such land

lies outside the exterior boundaries of the Forest, the Secretary

may modify the boundary of the Forest to include such land.

Nothing in this section shall be construed to limit the authority

of the Secretary to adjust the boundaries of the Forest pursuant

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

known as the Weeks Act).

(e) CONVEYANCE SUBJECT TO VALID EXISTING RIGHTS, EASEMENTS.—The conveyance to the Ski Area required by this Act shall
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be subject to valid existing rights and to existing easements, rightsof-way, utility lines and any other right, title or interest of record

on the selected land as of the date of transfer of the selected

land to the Terry Peak Ski Area.

Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Vice President of the United States and

President of the Senate.