IB 
Union Calendar No. 440
107TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 4968
[Report No. 107–709] 
To provide for the exchange of certain lands in Utah. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JUNE 19, 2002
Mr. CANNON (for himself, Mr. HANSEN, and Mr. MATHESON) introduced the 
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Resources 
OCTOBER 1, 2002
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 
House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed 
[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 
[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on June 19, 2002] 
A BILL 
To provide for the exchange of certain lands in Utah.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Federal-Utah State 
Trust Lands Consolidation Act’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE. 
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 
(1) The San Rafael Swell in Utah is a 900-
square mile, wild and beautiful region west of the 
Green River. The San Rafael Swell is dominated by 
the jagged, uplifted San Rafael Reef, which has near-
ly two dozen major canyons and many side draws 
and box canyons. The San Rafael Swell towers above 
the desert like a wilderness castle, ringed by 1,000-foot 
ramparts of Navajo sandstone. Its highlands have 
been fractured by uplift and scooped hollow by erosion 
over countless millennia, leaving a tremendous basin 
punctuated by mesas, buttes, and canyons and tra-
versed by sediment-laden desert streams. 
(2) The San Rafael Swell region was one of the 
country’s last frontiers and possesses important nat-
ural, historical, and cultural resources, including ex-
ceptional backcountry recreation opportunities, pro-
ductive habitat for Desert Bighorn Sheep, important 
historical sites, including sections of the Old Spanish 
Trail and the Outlaw Trail, significant paleontolog-
ical resources, and multiple wilderness study areas 
created pursuant to section 603 of the Federal Lands 
Policy and Management Act of 1976, or otherwise 
identified by local government and conservation inter-
ests as having significant conservation values. The
beautiful rural landscapes, historic and cultural land-
scapes, and spectacular scenic vistas of the San 
Rafael Swell region contain significant undeveloped 
recreational opportunities for people throughout the 
United States. 
(3) The State of Utah owns approximately 
102,871 acres of land located in the San Rafael Swell 
region and administered by the Utah School and In-
stitutional Trust Lands Administration. These lands 
were granted by the Congress to the State of Utah 
pursuant to the Utah Enabling Act of 1894 (chapter 
138; 23 Stat. 107), to be held in trust for the benefit 
of the State’s public school system and other public 
institutions. The lands are largely scattered in check-
erboard fashion amidst the Federal lands comprising 
the remainder of the San Rafael Swell area. 
(4) Development of surface and mineral resources 
on State trust lands within the San Rafael Swell 
area, or the sale of such lands into private ownership, 
could be incompatible with management of such lands 
for nonimpairment of their wilderness characteristics 
pursuant to section 603(c) of the Federal Land Policy 
and Management Act of 1976, with future congres-
sional designation of the lands as wilderness, or with 
future designation of such lands as a national monu-
ment, national heritage area, or other conservation 
designation. 
(5) The State of Utah also owns 3,533 acres of 
land within or directly adjacent to the Manti-La Sal 
National Forest in Grand and Emery Counties, Utah, 
and 6,411 acres of land within the Red Cliffs Desert 
Reserve, a conservation reserve established in 1995 by 
the United States and Washington County, Utah, to 
implement a multiple-species habitat conservation 
plan approved by the Fish and Wildlife Service under 
section 10(a) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973. 
The Reserve contains the highest density of critical 
habitat for the Mojave desert tortoise, a threatened 
species, in the United States. These State trust lands 
are also administered by the Utah School and Institu-
tional Trust Lands Administration, but the use of 
such lands by the State is limited because of the con-
servation designations of surrounding Federal lands. 
(6) The United States owns lands and interests 
in lands elsewhere in Utah that can be transferred to 
the State of Utah in exchange for the San Rafael 
Swell inholdings, the Manti-La Sal forest lands, and 
the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve lands without jeopard-
izing Federal management objectives or needs.
(7) The large presence of State trust land 
inholdings in the San Rafael Swell region, the Manti-
La Sal National Forest, and the Red Cliffs Desert Re-
serve makes land and resource management in these 
areas difficult, costly, and controversial for both the 
State of Utah and the United States. 
(8) It is in the public interest to reach agreement 
on exchange of such inholdings, on terms fair to both 
the State of Utah and the United States. Such an 
agreement, subject to ratification by Congress and 
consent by the Utah legislature, would save much 
time and delay in meeting the legitimate expectations 
of the State school and institutional trusts, in simpli-
fying management of Federal lands, and in avoiding 
the significant time and expense associated with ad-
ministrative land exchanges. 
(9) The State of Utah and the United States 
have reached an agreement under which the State 
would exchange certain State trust lands within the 
San Rafael Swell region, the Manti-La Sal National 
Forest, and the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve for various 
Federal lands outside of those areas but in the same 
region of Utah. 
(10) The parties agreed at the outset of negotia-
tions to avoid identifying Federal assets for convey-