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Union Calendar No. 156

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 2079

[Report No. 106–261]

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

the State of South Dakota.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JUNE 8, 1999

Mr. THUNE introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee

on Resources

JULY 26, 1999

Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union

and ordered to be printed

A BILL

To provide for the conveyance of certain National Forest

System lands in the State of South Dakota.

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

5 Transfer Act of 1999’’.
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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.

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

3 (1) Certain National Forest System land lo4 cated in the Black Hills National Forest in Law5 rence County, South Dakota, is currently permitted

6 to the Terry Peak Ski Area by the Secretary of Ag7 riculture pursuant to section 3 of the National For8 est Ski Area Permit Act of 1986 (16 U.S.C. 497b).

9 (2) The National Forest System land comprises

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

11 remaining 90 percent located on private land owned

12 by the Ski Area operator.

13 (3) As the fractional Forest Service land hold14 ing at the Ski Area is also encumbered by ski lifts,

15 ski trails, a base lodge parking lot and other pri16 vately owned improvements, it serves little purpose

17 in continued public ownership, and can more logi18 cally be conveyed to the Ski Area to unify land man19 agement and eliminate permitting and other admin20 istrative costs to the United States.

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

22 land from the United States, but the Secretary does

23 not have administrative authority to convey such

24 land in a nonsimultaneous land exchange absent spe25 cific authorization from Congress.
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1 (5) The Black Hills National Forest contains

2 several small inholdings of undeveloped private land

3 with multiple landowners which complicate National

4 Forest land management and which can be acquired

5 by the United States from willing sellers if acquisi6 tion funds are made available to the Secretary.

7 (6) The proceeds from the Terry Peak convey8 ance can provide a modest, but readily available and

9 flexible, funding source for the Secretary to acquire

10 certain inholdings in the Black Hills National Forest

11 from willing sellers, and given the small and scat12 tered nature of such inholdings, and number of po13 tential sellers involved, can do so more efficiently

14 and quickly than through administrative land ex15 changes.

16 (7) It is, therefore, in the public interest to con17 vey the National Forest System land at Terry Peak

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

19 the proceeds to acquire more desirable lands for ad20 dition to the Black Hills National Forest for perma21 nent public use and enjoyment.

22 (b) PURPOSE.—It is the purpose of this Act to re23 quire the conveyance of certain National Forest System

24 lands at the Terry Peak Ski Area to the Ski Area and

25 to utilize the proceeds to acquire more desirable lands for
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1 the United States for permanent public use and enjoy2 ment.

3 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

4 As used in this Act:

5 (1) The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary

6 of Agriculture, unless otherwise specified.

7 (2) The term ‘‘selected land’’ means land com8 prising approximately 41.42 acres and generally de9 picted as government lots 6 and 11, section 2, town10 ship 4 north, range 2 east, Black Hills meridian, on

11 a map entitled ‘‘Terry Peak Land Conveyance’’,

12 dated March 1999.

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

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

15 South Dakota Corporation, or its successors, heirs

16 and assigns.

17 SEC. 4. LAND CONVEYANCE AND MISCELLANEOUS PROVI18 SIONS.

19 (a) CONVEYANCE REQUIRED.—The Secretary of Ag20 riculture shall convey the selected land to the Terry Peak

21 Ski Area at fair market value, as determined by the Sec22 retary.

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

24 be determined by the Secretary utilizing nationally recog25 nized appraisal standards, including to the extent appro-
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1 priate, the Uniform Appraisal Standards For Federal

2 Land Acquisitions (1992), the Uniform Standards of Pro3 fessional Appraisal Practice, and other applicable law. The

4 costs of the appraisal shall be paid for by the Ski Area.

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

6 of Congress that the conveyance to the Ski Area required

7 by this Act be consummated no later than 6 months after

8 the date of enactment of this Act, unless the Secretary

9 and the Ski Area mutually agree to extend the consumma10 tion date. Prior to conveying the selected land to the Ski

11 Area, the Secretary shall complete standard pre-disposal

12 analyses and clearances pertaining to threatened and en13 dangered species, cultural and historic resources, wetlands

14 and floodplains, and hazardous materials.

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

16 monies received by the Secretary pursuant to this Act

17 shall be considered monies received and deposited pursu18 ant to Public Law 90–171 (16 U.S.C. 484a; commonly

19 known as the Sisk Act) and shall be utilized by the Sec20 retary to acquire replacement land from willing sellers for

21 addition to the Black Hills National Forest in South Da22 kota. Any lands so acquired shall be added to and adminis23 tered as part of the Black Hills National Forest and, if

24 any such land lies outside the exterior boundaries of the

25 Forest, the Secretary may modify the boundary of the
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1 Forest to include such land. Nothing in this section shall

2 be construed to limit the authority of the Secretary to ad3 just the boundaries of the Forest pursuant to section 11

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

5 known as the Weeks Act).

6 (e) CONVEYANCE SUBJECT TO VALID EXISTING

7 RIGHTS, EASEMENTS.—The conveyance to the Ski Area

8 required by this Act shall be subject to valid existing

9 rights and to existing easements, rights-of-way, utility

10 lines and any other right, title or interest of record on

11 the selected land as of the date of transfer of the selected

12 land to the Terry Peak Ski Area.

Union Calendar No. 156

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 2079

[Report No. 106–261]

A BILL

Forest System lands in the State of South Dakota.

To provide for the conveyance of certain National

JULY 26, 1999

Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the

State of the Union and ordered to be printed