I

104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 401

Entitled the ‘‘Kenai Natives Association Equity Act’’.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JANUARY 4, 1995

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska introduced the following bill; which was referred to the

Committee on Resources

A BILL

Entitled the ‘‘Kenai Natives Association Equity Act’’.

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 ‘‘Kenai Natives Associa5 tion Equity Act of 1995’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.

7 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that—

8 (1) the United States Fish and Wildlife Service

9 and Kenai Natives Association, Inc. (KNA), have

10 agreed to an exchange and acquisition program pur11 suant to Public Law 102–458, of lands and interests
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1 in lands in and near the Kenai National Wildlife

2 Refuge (Refuge);

3 (2) this acquisition of and exchange of lands

4 will significantly enhance the ability of the Service to

5 conserve fish and wildlife populations and habitats,

6 fulfill migratory bird treaties, ensure water quality

7 and quantity, provide opportunities for environ8 mental research and education, improve access to

9 fish and wildlife oriented recreation, and further en10 hance the Refuge management objectives;

11 (3) the amount to be paid for the Swanson

12 River Road West Tract, the sole issue upon which

13 the Service and KNA could not agree, is established

14 by Congress at $7,500,000; and

15 (4) it is in the public interest to complete this

16 exchange, and to provide for the economic and bene17 ficial use of lands conveyed to KNA in fulfillment of

18 the purpose of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement

19 Act of 1971, as amended (43 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.)

20 (Settlement Act).

21 (b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is to author22 ize and direct the Secretary to complete an exchange and

23 acquisition as provided by Public Law 102–458 of lands

24 owned by KNA that will provide for and enhance the man25 agement opportunities and objectives of the Refuge, and
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1 assist KNA in achieving economic viability and use of its

2 retained lands in furtherance of the Settlement Act.

3 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

4 For purposes of this Act, the term—

5 (1) ‘‘ANILCA’’ means the Alaska National In6 terest Lands Conservation Act, as amended (16

7 U.S.C. 3101 et seq.);

8 (2) ‘‘conservation system unit’’ has the same

9 meaning as in ANILCA;

10 (3) ‘‘KNA’’ means the Kenai Natives Associa11 tion, Inc., an urban corporation incorporated in the

12 State of Alaska pursuant to the terms of the Settle13 ment Act;

14 (4) ‘‘lands’’ means both the surface and sub15 surface estates or any interest therein whenever both

16 estates are owned by the United States or KNA, as

17 applicable;

18 (5) ‘‘property’’ has the same meaning given

19 such term by section 12(b)(7) of the Settlement Act;

20 (6) ‘‘refuge’’ means the Kenai National Wildlife

21 Refuge;

22 (7) ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary of the

23 Interior;

24 (8) ‘‘Service’’ means the United States Fish

25 and Wildlife Service; and
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1 (9) ‘‘Settlement Act’’ means the Alaska Native

2 Claims Settlement Act of 1971, as amended (43

3 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.).

4 SEC. 4. EXCHANGE AND ACQUISITION OF LANDS.

5 (a) EXCHANGE OF LANDS; ACQUISITION AND

6 EQUALIZATION PAYMENT.—

7 (1) IN GENERAL.—No later than June 1, 1995,

8 the Secretary shall offer to convey to KNA, in ac9 cordance with the provisions of the report to Con10 gress issued pursuant to Public Law 102–458 and

11 subject to the provisions of paragraph (3) and valid

12 existing rights, approximately 1,831 acres of land,

13 portions of the Federal subsurface estate underlying

14 the same, and portions of the Federal subsurface es15 tate underlying another 3,238 acres, all as identified

16 in subsection (b)(2), in exchange for approximately

17 14,338 acres of KNA land, and the relinquishment

18 by KNA of its unpatented selections and all entitle19 ment to selections under the Settlement Act, consist20 ing of approximately 1,207 acres, all located within

21 the Refuge and identified in subsection (b)(1). The

22 Secretary shall develop the offer required by this

23 section in consultation with KNA.

24 (2) LIMITATION.—The Secretary may not con25 vey any lands or make any payment to KNA under
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1 this section unless title to the lands to be conveyed

2 by KNA in exchange for such lands and payments

3 is in accordance with the Department of Justice

4 standards for preparation of title evidence in land

5 acquisitions by the United States.

6 (3) SOURCES OF FUNDS.—The Secretary shall

7 utilize any combination of Land and Water Con8 servation Act of 1965 funds, funds otherwise appro9 priated by the Congress, Exxon Valdez Oil Spill set10 tlement funds, and lands or other Federal property

11 within the Secretary’s jurisdiction as payment to

12 KNA to equalize the values in the exchange.

13 (4) INTEREST.—If a bonafide offer required by

14 this section is not made by June 1, 1995, interest

15 on the value of the property and interests to be con16 veyed to KNA shall accrue beginning October 1,

17 1993.

18 (b) EXCHANGE AND ACQUISITION LANDS.—

19 (1) KNA LANDS TO BE ACQUIRED.—The lands

20 or interests to be conveyed by KNA to the United

21 States, all situated within the existing authorized

22 boundary of the Refuge, and identified on the map

23 titled ‘‘Kenai Natives Association, Inc. and United

24 States Fish and Wildlife Service Negotiated Ex25 change/Acquisition Package,’’ dated October 1993,
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1 on file and available for inspection in the Office of

2 the Secretary, generally include, subject to reserva3 tions of existing road easements—

4 (A) approximately 803 acres located along

5 the Kenai River, known as the Stephanka

6 Tract;

7 (B) approximately 1,243 acres located

8 along the Moose River, known as the Moose

9 River Patented Lands Tract;

10 (C) approximately 2,120 acres located

11 along Marathon Road, known as the Beaver

12 Creek Tract;

13 (D) approximately 10,172 acres located

14 along the Swanson River Road and the Sunken

15 Island Lake Road, known as the Swanson River

16 Road West Tract;

17 (E) all of the remaining KNA selections

18 under the Settlement Act, consisting of approxi19 mately 1,207 acres, are hereby relinquished and

20 all remaining entitlement of KNA is hereby ex21 tinguished; and

22 (F) an easement for access to and use of

less than one acre of land, located in the NE1 23 ⁄4

NE1 24 ⁄4 of section 24, T.6N., R.9W., Seward Me25 ridian, within the Swanson River Road East
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1 Tract, for so long as the site is used by the

2 Service as a radio communications repeater site.

3 (2) LANDS TO BE EXCHANGED.—The lands or

4 interests to be conveyed by the United States to

5 KNA, and identified (except for the parcel identified

6 in subparagraph (A)) on the map titled ‘‘Kenai Na7 tives Association, Inc. and United States Fish and

8 Wildlife Service Negotiated Exchange/Acquisition

9 package,’’ dated October 1993, on file and available

10 for inspection in the Office of the Secretary, gen11 erally include, subject to reservations of existing

12 road easements—

13 (A) approximately five acres, located with14 in the city of Kenai, Alaska, identified as Unit15 ed States Survey 1435, and known as the old

16 Fish and Wildlife Service Headquarters site;

17 (B) approximately 1,826 acres located

18 along the Swanson River Road, known as the

19 Swanson River Road East Tract; and

20 (C) the subsurface estate (less oil, coal,

21 and gas) to approximately 5,064 acres, includ22 ing approximately 1,826 acres underlying the

23 Swanson River Road East Tract and approxi24 mately 3,238 adjacent acres underlying lands
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1 previously patented to KNA which are located

2 east of the Swanson River Road.

3 (3) ACQUISITION AUTHORITY.—The lands iden4 tified for acquisition by the United States, specifi5 cally identified on the maps referenced in subsection

6 (c) as the Stephanka Tract, the Beaver Creek Tract,

7 and the Moose River Patented Lands Tract, collec8 tively referred to as the ‘‘Kenai River Project’’, may

9 be acquired by the United States pursuant to the

10 Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of 1965.

11 (4) NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC

12 PLACES.—Upon completion of the exchange author13 ized in subsection (a), the Secretary shall promptly

14 undertake to nominate the Stephanka Tract to the

15 National Register of Historic Places, in recognition

16 of the archeological artifacts from the original

17 Kenaitze Indian settlement.

18 (5) VALUATIONS.—This exchange and acquisi19 tion shall be accomplished utilizing the valuations es20 tablished in the report to Congress issued pursuant

21 to Public Law 102–458, with the exception of the

22 Swanson River Road West Tract which value is es23 tablished at $7,500,000.

24 (c) GENERAL PROVISIONS.—
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1 (1) REMOVAL OF RESTRICTIONS.—(A) Those

2 lands retained by KNA, and those parcels within the

3 Refuge, including designated wilderness, conveyed to

4 KNA pursuant to the terms of this Act, shall be re5 moved in their entirety from inclusion within the

6 boundaries of the Refuge by operation of this Act.

7 Such removal from the boundaries of the Refuge

8 shall terminate any application of Federal manage9 ment and patent restrictions applicable to lands

10 within the Refuge for which conveyance was made

11 pursuant to the terms of the Settlement Act or any

12 other law or regulation applicable solely to Federal

13 lands.

14 (B) The Secretary shall execute and file such

15 instruments as are necessary to convey lands and re16 move the restrictions referred to in this section at

17 the time of the conveyances provided in subsection

18 (a)(1).

19 (C) Any lands KNA shall receive from the Unit20 ed States pursuant to this Act shall be deemed to

21 have been conveyed pursuant to the Settlement Act.

22 (2) MAPS AND LEGAL DESCRIPTIONS.—The

23 maps described in this section and a legal descrip24 tion of the lands depicted on the maps shall be on

25 file and available for public inspection in the appro-
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1 priate offices of the United States Department of

2 the Interior. Not later than 120 days after the day

3 of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall prepare

4 a legal description of the lands depicted on the maps

5 referred to in this section. Such maps and legal de6 scriptions shall have the same force and effect as if

7 included in this Act, except that the Secretary may

8 correct clerical and typographical errors.

9 (3) ACCEPTANCE.—KNA may accept the offer

10 made pursuant to subsection (a) by notifying the

11 Secretary in writing of its decision within 120 days

12 of receipt of the offer. In the event the offer is re13 jected, the Secretary shall submit a report to Con14 gress describing the reasons why agreement was not

15 reached.

16 (4) FINAL MAPS.—Not later than 120 days

17 after the conclusion of the exchange authorized by

18 subsection (a), the Secretary shall transmit a final

19 report and maps accurately depicting the lands

20 transferred and conveyed pursuant to this Act and

21 the acreage and legal descriptions of such lands to

22 the Committee on Resources of the House of Rep23 resentatives and the Committee on Energy and Nat24 ural Resources and the Committee on Environment

25 and Public Works of the Senate.
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1 SEC. 5. ADJUSTMENTS TO NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE

2 SYSTEM.

3 (a) ADDITION TO THE KENAI NATIONAL WILDLIFE

4 REFUGE.—The Secretary shall add the lands conveyed to

5 the United States pursuant to subsection (a)(1) to the

6 Refuge. The Secretary shall manage such lands in accord7 ance with the provisions of the National Wildlife Refuge

8 System Administration Act of 1966 (16 U.S.C. 668dd–

9 668ee) and ANILCA.

10 (b) KENAI NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE BOUND11 ARY ADJUSTMENT.—The boundaries of the Refuge as set

12 forth in section 303(4)(A) of ANILCA are hereby adjusted

13 to include those lands generally depicted on the map de14 scribed in section 4(c)(4) entitled ‘‘Proposed Boundary

15 Extension’’, dated October 1993.

16 (c) ADDITION TO WILDERNESS AREA.—Upon acqui17 sition of lands by the United States pursuant to section

18 4(a)(1), that portion of the Stephanka Tract lying south

19 and west of the Kenai River, consisting of approximately

20 592 acres and as generally depicted as ‘‘To be included

21 in wilderness’’ on the map referenced in section 4(b)(1),

22 shall be included in and managed as part of the Kenai

23 Wilderness. Upon their inclusion into the Kenai Wilder24 ness, such lands shall be managed in accordance with the

25 applicable provisions of the Wilderness Act and ANILCA.
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1 (d) REMOVAL OF CONVEYED LANDS FROM WILDER2 NESS AREA.—Upon conveyance to KNA of those lands

3 under section 4(b)(2), a portion of which is currently des4 ignated wilderness, consisting of approximately 623.5

5 acres and identified as ‘‘To be removed from wilderness’’

6 on the map referenced in section 4(b)(2), such lands are

7 removed from the Kenai Wilderness and the National Wil8 derness Preservation System.

9 SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

10 There are authorized to be appropriated such sums

11 as may be necessary to carry out the purposes of this Act.

12 SEC. 7. LIMITATION ON APPLICATION OF REQUIREMENT

13 FOR ACQUISITIONS BY UNITED STATES

14 UNDER MIGRATORY BIRD CONSERVATION

15 ACT.

16 Section 7 of the Migratory Bird Conservation Act (16

17 U.S.C. 715f) is amended by inserting ‘‘in fee’’ after ‘‘con18 veyance’’.

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