108TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 2304
AN ACT
To resolve boundary conflicts in the vicinity of the Mark
Twain National Forest in Barry and Stone Counties,
Missouri, that resulted from private landowner reliance
on a subsequent Federal survey, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following:
(1) Certain landowners in Barry and Stone
Counties, Missouri, innocently and in good faith re-
lied on subsequent land surveys, which they believed
to be correct, and occupied, improved, or claimed
portions of adjoining Federal lands based on such
survey information.
(2) The appropriate Federal agencies should
undertake actions to correctly reestablish the corners
of the Public Land Survey System in Barry and
Stone Counties, Missouri, and rectify boundary con-
flicts and landownership claims against Federal
lands resulting from subsequent land surveys, and
do so in a manner which imposes the least cost and
inconvenience to affected private landowners.
(b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are—
(1) to resolve boundary conflicts in Barry and
Stone Counties, Missouri, arising from subsequent
land surveys; and
(2) to minimize costs and inconvenience to the
affected private property owners in Barry and Stone
Counties, Missouri.
SEC. 2. RESOLUTION OF BOUNDARY CONFLICTS, VICINITY
OF MARK TWAIN NATIONAL FOREST, BARRY
AND STONE COUNTIES, MISSOURI.
(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section:
(1) The term ‘‘appropriate Secretary’’ means
the Secretary of the Army or the Secretary of Agri-
culture.
(2) The term ‘‘boundary conflict’’ means the
situation in which the private claim of ownership to
certain lands, based on subsequent land surveys,
overlaps or conflicts with Federal ownership of the
same lands.
(3) The term ‘‘Federal land surveys’’ means
any land survey made by any agency or department
of the Federal Government using Federal employees,
or by Federal contract with State-licensed private
land surveyors or corporations and businesses li-
censed to provide professional land surveying serv-
ices in the State of Missouri.
(4) The term ‘‘original land surveys’’ means the
land surveys made by the United States General
Land Office as part of the Public Land Survey Sys-
tem in the State of Missouri, and upon which Gov-
ernment land patents were issued conveying the
land.
(5) The term ‘‘Public Land Survey System’’
means the rectangular system of original Govern-
ment lands surveys made by the United States Gen-
eral Land Office and its successor, the Bureau of
Land Management, under Federal laws providing for
the survey of the public lands upon which the origi-
nal land patents were issued.
(6) The term ‘‘qualifying claimant’’ means a
private owner of real property in Barry or Stone
County, Missouri, who has a boundary conflict as a
result of good faith and innocent reliance on subse-
quent land surveys, and as a result of such reliance,
has occupied, improved, or made ownership claims to
Federal lands.
(7) The term ‘‘subsequent land surveys’’ mean
any land surveys made after the original land sur-
veys.
(b) NOTICE OF BOUNDARY CONFLICT.—
(1) SUBMISSION AND CONTENTS.—A qualifying
claimant shall notify the appropriate Secretary in
writing of a claim that a boundary conflict exists
with Federal land administered by the appropriate
Secretary. The notice shall be accompanied by the
following information, which, except as provided in
subsection (d)(2)(B), shall be provided without cost
to the United States:
(A) A land survey plat and legal descrip-
tion of the affected Federal lands, which are
based upon a land survey completed and cer-
tified by a Missouri State-licensed professional
land surveyor, and done in conformity with the
Public Land Survey System and in compliance
with the applicable State and Federal land sur-
veying laws.
(B) Information relating to the claim of
ownership of the Federal lands, including sup-
porting documentation showing the landowner
relied on a subsequent land survey due to ac-
tions by the Federal Government in making or
approving surveys for the Table Rock Reservoir.
(2) DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION.—To obtain re-
lief under this section, a qualifying claimant shall
submit the notice required by paragraph (1) within
15 years after the date of the enactment of this Act.
(3) RESPONSIBILITIES
OF
CLAIMANTS.—The
qualifying claimant shall have the responsibility for
establishing that the qualifying claimant qualifies for
the remedies provided in subsection (c).
(c) RESOLUTION AUTHORITIES.—The appropriate
Secretary may take any of the following actions, or com-
bination of actions, in order to resolve boundary conflicts
with qualifying claimants involving lands under the admin-
istrative jurisdiction of the appropriate Secretary:
(1) Convey and quitclaim all right, title, and in-
terest of the United States in land subject to a
boundary conflict.
(2) Confirm Federal title to, and retain in Fed-
eral management, any land subject to a boundary
conflict, if the appropriate Secretary determines
there are Federal interests, including improvements,
authorized uses, easements, hazardous materials, or
historical and cultural resources, on the land that
necessitates retention of the land.
(3) Compensate the qualifying claimant for the
value of the overlapping property for which title is
confirmed and retained in Federal management pur-
suant to paragraph (2).
(d) CONSIDERATION AND COST.—
(1) CONVEYANCE WITHOUT CONSIDERATION.—
The conveyance of land under subsection (c)(1) shall
be made without consideration if the appropriate
Secretary determines that the boundary conflict was
the result of the innocent detrimental reliance by the
qualifying claimant on a subsequent land survey.
(2) COSTS.—The appropriate Secretary shall—
(A) pay administrative, personnel, and any
other costs associated with the implementation
of this section, including the costs of survey,
marking, and monumenting property lines and
corners; and
(B) reimburse the qualifying claimant for
reasonable out-of-pocket survey costs necessary
to establish a claim under this section.
(3) VALUATION.—Compensation paid to a
qualifying claimant pursuant to subsection (c)(3) for
land retained in Federal ownership pursuant to sub-
section (c)(2) shall be valued on the basis of the con-
tributory value of the tract of land to the larger ad-
joining private parcel and not on the basis of the
land being a separate tract. The appropriate Sec-
retary shall not consider the value of any Federal
improvements to the land.
(e) PREEXISTING CONDITIONS; RESERVATIONS; EX-
ISTING RIGHTS AND USES.—
(1) PREEXISTING
CONDITIONS.—The appro-
priate Secretary shall not compensate a qualifying
claimant or any other person for any preexisting
(28 U.S.C. 2409a) or other applicable law, or affects the
exchange and disposal authorities of the Secretary of Agri-
culture, including the Small Tracts Act (16 U.S.C. 521c),
or the exchange and disposal authorities of the Secretary
of the Army.
(g) ADDITIONAL TERMS AND CONDITIONS.—The ap-
propriate Secretary may require such additional terms and
conditions in connection with a conveyance under sub-
section (c)(1) as the Secretary considers appropriate to
protect the interests of the United States.
Passed the House of Representatives November 17,
2003.
Attest:
Clerk.