I
107TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 4968
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
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
nearly two dozen major canyons and many side
draws and box canyons. The San Rafael Swell tow-
ers 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 traversed 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 oth-
erwise identified by local government and conserva-
tion interests as having significant conservation val-
ues. The beautiful rural landscapes, historic and cul-
tural landscapes, and spectacular scenic vistas of the
San Rafael Swell region contain significant undevel-
oped recreational opportunities for people through-
out 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 Institutional 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 sys-
tem and other public institutions. The lands are
largely scattered in checkerboard fashion amidst the
Federal lands comprising the remainder of the San
Rafael Swell area.
(4) Development of surface and mineral re-
sources 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 congressional designation of the lands as
wilderness, or with future designation of such lands
as a national monument, 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 con-
servation plan approved by the Fish and Wildlife
Service under section 10(a) of the Endangered Spe-
cies Act of 1973. The Reserve contains the highest
density of critical habitat for the Mojave desert tor-
toise, a threatened species, in the United States.
These State trust lands are also administered by the
Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands Adminis-
tration, but the use of such lands by the State is
limited because of the conservation 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 Reserve makes land and resource manage-
ment in these areas difficult, costly, and controver-
sial for both the State of Utah and the United
States.
(8) It is in the public interest to reach agree-
ment 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 Con-
gress 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 simplifying management of Federal lands,
and in avoiding the significant time and expense as-
sociated with administrative 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 var-
ious Federal lands outside of those areas but in the
same region of Utah.
(10) The parties agreed at the outset of nego-
tiations to avoid identifying Federal assets for con-
veyance to the State where any of the following was
known to exist or likely to be an issue as a result
of foreseeable future uses of the lands:
(A) Wilderness study areas.
(B) Areas proposed for wilderness designa-
tion in pending Federal legislation.
(C) Significant endangered species habitat.
(D) Significant archaeological resources.
(E) Areas of critical environmental con-
cern.
(F) Other lands known to raise significant
environmental concerns of any kind.
(11) Because the State trust lands to be ac-
quired by the Federal Government include properties
within some of the most spectacular wild areas in
the western United States, and because a mission of
the Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands Ad-
ministration is to produce economic benefits for
Utah’s public schools and other beneficiary institu-
tions, the exchange of lands called for in this agree-
ment will resolve longstanding environmental con-
flicts with respect to existing and proposed wilder-
ness study areas, place important natural lands into
public ownership, and further the interests of the
State trust lands, the school children of Utah, and
these conservation resources.
(12) Under this agreement, the State interests
to be conveyed to the United States by the State of
Utah, and the Federal interests to be conveyed to
the State of Utah by the United States, have been
examined by licensed independent real estate con-
sultants and, taken as a whole, have been found to
be approximately equal in value.
(b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is to enact
into law and direct prompt implementation of this agree-
ment, and thereby to further the public interest by consoli-
dating State and Federal lands into manageable units
while facilitating the protection of lands with significant
scientific, cultural, and natural resources.
SEC. 3. RATIFICATION OF THE AGREED EXCHANGE BE-
TWEEN THE STATE OF UTAH AND THE
UNITED STATES.
(a) AGREEMENT.—The State of Utah, the Depart-
ment of the Interior, and the Department of Agriculture
have agreed to exchange certain Federal lands in the State
of Utah for lands of approximately equal value managed
by the Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands Admin-
istration in the San Rafael Swell area of Utah, the Manti-
La Sal National Forest, and the Red Cliffs Desert Re-
serve.
(b) RATIFICATION.—All terms, conditions, proce-
dures, covenants, reservations, and other provisions set
forth in the document entitled ‘‘Agreement for Exchange
of Lands 2002 Federal-Utah State Trust Lands Consoli-
dation’’, dated June ll, 2002 (in this Act referred to
as ‘‘the Agreement’’), are hereby incorporated in this Act,
are ratified and confirmed, and set forth the obligations
of the United States, the State of Utah, and the Utah
School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration, as
a matter of Federal law.
SEC. 4. CONVEYANCES.
(a) CONVEYANCES.—All conveyances under sections
2, 3, and 4 of the Agreement shall be completed not later
than 70 days after enactment of this Act.
(b) MAPS AND LEGAL DESCRIPTIONS.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—The maps and legal descrip-
tions referred to in the Agreement depict the lands
subject to the conveyances under the Agreement.
(2) PUBLIC
AVAILABILITY.—The maps and
legal descriptions referred to in the Agreement shall
be on file and available for public inspection in the
offices of the Secretary of the Interior, the Secretary
of Agriculture, the Intermountain Regional Office of
the Forest Service, and the Utah State Director of
the Bureau of Land Management.
(3) CONFLICT.—In case of any conflict between
the maps and the legal descriptions in the Agree-
ment, the legal descriptions shall control.
SEC. 5. MINERAL DEVELOPMENT.
All payments received by the United States pursuant
to section 13(c) of the Agreement shall be subject to shar-
ing with the State of Utah in the same manner the United
States shares bonus bids, rentals, and royalties with the
State of Utah under section 35 of the Mineral Leasing
Act (30 U.S.C. 191).
SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION.
There are authorized to be appropriated such sums
as are necessary to carry out this Act, including such sums
as may be desired to reduce the balance of the interest
and principal amounts owed by the United States to the
Trust Lands Administration pursuant to sections 4 and
5 of the Agreement.
SEC. 7. COSTS.
The United States and the State of Utah shall each
bear its own respective costs incurred in the implementa-
tion of this Act.
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