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106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 2079

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

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’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.

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

8 (1) Certain National Forest System land lo9 cated in the Black Hills National Forest in Law10 rence County, South Dakota, is currently permitted
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1 to the Terry Peak Ski Area by the Secretary of Ag2 riculture pursuant to section 3 of the National For3 est Ski Area 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 hold9 ing at the Ski Area is also encumbered by ski lifts,

10 ski trails, a base lodge parking lot and other pri11 vately owned improvements, it serves little purpose

12 in continued public ownership, and can more logi13 cally be conveyed to the Ski Area to unify land man14 agement and eliminate permitting and other admin15 istrative 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 convey4 ance can provide a modest, but readily available and

5 flexible, funding source for the Secretary to acquire

6 certain inholdings in the Black Hills National Forest

7 from willing sellers, and given the small and scat8 tered nature of such inholdings, and number of po9 tential sellers involved, can do so more efficiently

10 and quickly than through administrative land ex11 changes.

12 (7) It is, therefore, in the public interest to con13 vey the National Forest System land at Terry Peak

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

15 the proceeds to acquire more desirable lands for ad16 dition to the Black Hills National Forest for perma17 nent public use and enjoyment.

18 (b) PURPOSE.—It is the purpose of this Act to re19 quire the conveyance of certain National Forest System

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

21 to utilize the proceeds to acquire more desirable lands for

22 the United States for permanent public use and enjoy23 ment.

24 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

25 As used in this Act:
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1 (1) The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary

2 of Agriculture, unless otherwise specified.

3 (2) The term ‘‘selected land’’ means land com4 prising approximately 41.42 acres and generally de5 picted as government lots 6 and 11, section 2, town6 ship 4 north, range 2 east, Black Hills meridian, on

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

8 dated March 1999; and

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

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

11 South Dakota Corporation, or its successors, heirs

12 and assigns.

13 SEC. 4. LAND CONVEYANCE AND MISCELLANEOUS PROVI14 SIONS.

15 (a) CONVEYANCE REQUIRED.—The Secretary of Ag16 riculture shall convey the selected land to the Terry Peak

17 Ski Area at fair market value, as determined by the Sec18 retary.

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

20 be determined by the Secretary utilizing nationally recog21 nized appraisal standards, including to the extent appro22 priate, the Uniform Appraisal Standards For Federal

23 Land Acquisitions (1992), the Uniform Standards of Pro24 fessional Appraisal Practice, and other applicable law. The

25 costs of the appraisal shall be paid for by the Ski Area.
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1 (c) COMPLETION OF CONVEYANCE.—It is the sense

2 of Congress that the conveyance to the Ski Area required

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

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

5 and the Ski Area mutually agree to extend the consumma6 tion date. Prior to conveying the selected land to the Ski

7 Area, the Secretary shall complete standard pre-disposal

8 analyses and clearances pertaining to threatened and en9 dangered species, cultural and historic resources, wetlands

10 and floodplains, and hazardous materials.

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

12 monies received by the Secretary pursuant to this Act

13 shall be considered monies received and deposited pursu14 ant to Public Law 90–171 (16 U.S.C. 484a; commonly

15 known as the Sisk Act) and shall be utilized by the Sec16 retary to acquire replacement land from willing sellers for

17 addition to the Black Hills National Forest in South Da18 kota. Any lands so acquired shall be added to and adminis19 tered as part of the Black Hills National Forest and, if

20 any such land lies outside the exterior boundaries of the

21 Forest, the Secretary may modify the boundary of the

22 Forest to include such land. Nothing in this section shall

23 be construed to limit the authority of the Secretary to ad24 just the boundaries of the Forest pursuant to section 11
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1 of the Act of March 1, 1911 (16 U.S.C. 521; commonly

2 known as the Weeks Act).

3 (e) CONVEYANCE SUBJECT TO VALID EXISTING

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

5 required by this Act shall be subject to valid existing

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

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

8 the selected land as of the date of transfer of the selected

9 land to the Terry Peak Ski Area.

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