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104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 440

To provide for the conveyance of lands to certain individuals in Butte County,

California.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JANUARY 9, 1993

Mr. HERGER introduced the following bill; which was referred to the

Committee on Resources

A BILL

To provide for the conveyance of lands to certain individuals

in Butte County, California.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.

4 (a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds and declares

5 that—

6 (1) certain landowners in Butte County, Cali7 fornia who own property adjacent to the Plumas Na8 tional Forest have been adversely affected by certain

9 erroneous surveys;
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1 (2) these landowners have occupied or improved

2 their property in good faith and in reliance on erro3 neous surveys of their properties that they believed

4 were accurate; and

5 (3) the 1992 Bureau of Land Management de6 pendent resurvey of the Plumas National Forest will

7 correctly establish accurate boundaries between such

8 forest and private lands.

9 (b) PURPOSE.—It is the purpose of this Act to au10 thorize and direct the Secretary of Agriculture to convey,

11 without consideration, certain lands in Butte County, Cali12 fornia, to persons claiming to have been deprived of title

13 to such lands.

14 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

15 For the purpose of this Act—

16 (1) the term ‘‘affected lands’’ means those Fed17 eral lands located in the Plumas National Forest in

18 Butte County, California, in sections 11, 12, 13, and

19 14, township 21 north, range 5 East, Mount Diablo

20 Meridian, as described by the dependent resurvey by

21 the Bureau of Land Management conducted in

22 1992, and subsequent Forest Service land line loca23 tion surveys, including all adjoining parcels where

24 the property line as identified by the 1992 BLM de25 pendent resurvey and National Forest boundary
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1 lines before such dependent resurvey are not coinci2 dent;

3 (2) the term ‘‘claimant’’ means an owner of real

4 property in Butte County, California, whose real

5 property adjoins Plumas National Forest lands de6 scribed in subsection (a), who claims to have been

7 deprived by the United States of title to property as

8 a result of previous erroneous surveys; and

9 (3) the term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary

10 of Agriculture.

11 SEC. 3. CONVEYANCE OF LANDS.

12 Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Sec13 retary is authorized and directed to convey, without con14 sideration, all right, title, and interest of the United States

15 in and to affected lands as described in section 2(1), to

16 any claimant or claimants, upon proper application from

17 such claimant or claimants, as provided in section 4.

18 SEC. 4. TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF CONVEYANCE.

19 (a) NOTIFICATION.—Not later than 2 years after the

20 date of enactment of this Act, claimants shall notify the

21 Secretary, through the Forest Supervisor of the Plumas

22 National Forest, in writing of their claim to affected lands.

23 Such claim shall be accompanied by—

24 (1) a description of the affected lands claimed;
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1 (2) information relating to the claim of owner2 ship of such lands; and

3 (3) such other information as the Secretary

4 may require.

5 (b) ISSUANCE OF DEED.—(1) Upon a determination

6 by the Secretary that issuance of a deed for affected lands

7 is consistent with the purpose and requirements of this

8 Act, the Secretary shall issue a quitclaim deed to such

9 claimant for the parcel to be conveyed.

10 (2) Prior to the issuance of any such deed as provided

11 in paragraph (1), the Secretary shall ensure that—

12 (A) the parcel or parcels to be conveyed have

13 been surveyed in accordance with the Memorandum

14 of Understanding between the Forest Service and

15 the Bureau of Land Management, dated November

16 11, 1989;

17 (B) all new property lines established by such

18 surveys have been monumented and marked; and

19 (C) all terms and conditions necessary to pro20 tect third party and Government Rights-of-Way or

21 other interests are included in the deed.

22 (3) The Federal Government shall be responsible for

23 all surveys and property line markings necessary to imple24 ment this subsection.
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1 (c) NOTIFICATION TO BLM.—The Secretary shall

2 submit to the Secretary of the Interior an authenticated

3 copy of each deed issued pursuant to this Act no later

4 than 30 days after the date such deed is issued.

5 SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

6 There are authorized to be appropriated such sums

7 as necessary to carry out the purposes of this Act.

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