I 
116TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 5077 
To provide protections and certainty for private landowners related to resur-
veying certain Federal land under the administrative jurisdiction of the 
Bureau of Land Management, the National Park Service, and the Forest 
Service, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
NOVEMBER 13, 2019 
Mr. TIPTON introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 
on Natural Resources, and in addition to the Committee on Agriculture, 
for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case 
for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the 
committee concerned 
A BILL 
To provide protections and certainty for private landowners 
related to resurveying certain Federal land under the 
administrative jurisdiction of the Bureau of Land Man-
agement, the National Park Service, and the Forest 
Service, 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. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Resurveys Entitle Ad-
jacent Landowners to Protection Act’’ or the ‘‘REAL Pro-
tection Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. RESURVEY TRANSPARENCY; NOTICE REQUIRE-
MENTS. 
(a) NOTICE.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 30 days be-
fore the commencement of a resurvey of Federal 
land under the administrative jurisdiction of the Bu-
reau of Land Management, the National Park Serv-
ice, or the Forest Service, the Secretary concerned 
shall notify all property owners with land abutting 
or adjacent to the Federal land being resurveyed of 
the pending resurvey. If a resurvey extends the 
boundaries of Federal land, the Secretary concerned 
shall notify affected landowners of the results of the 
resurvey not later than 30 days after the completion 
of the survey. 
(2) NOTIFICATION.—The Secretary concerned 
shall use certified or registered mail to notify land-
owners under this subsection. 
(3) IDENTIFICATION OF LANDOWNERS.—When 
identifying affected landowners for the purpose of 
notification under this subsection, the Secretary con-
cerned shall use the most recently available tax 
records. 
(b) PUBLIC COMMENT.—Not later than 30 days after 
completing a resurvey, the Secretary concerned shall pub-
lish a notice in the Federal Register. Affected landowners 
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may comment to the Secretary concerned and by submit-
ting formal comments to the Federal Register notice. 
SEC. 3. PROTECTION OF PERSONS. 
If a resurvey results in land previously thought to be 
privately owned to be reclassified as Federal land, the per-
sons thought to be a private owner of such land— 
(1) shall— 
(A) be given the right of first refusal to 
purchase the land for fair market value minus 
the value of any significant improvements made 
to such lands; or 
(B) be reimbursed for the fair market 
value of any significant improvements made to 
such lands; and 
(2) may not be charged with willful trespass 
onto such land unless the person used such lands 
with the knowledge that the lands should be classi-
fied as Federal land. 
SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 
For the purposes of this Act: 
(1) RESURVEY.—The term ‘‘resurvey’’ means 
an official rerunning and remarking intended to su-
persede the records of the original survey. 
(2) SECRETARY CONCERNED.—The term ‘‘Sec-
retary concerned’’ means— 
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(A) the Secretary of the Interior, when re-
ferring Federal land under the administrative 
jurisdiction of the Bureau of Land Management 
or the National Park Service; and 
(B) the Secretary of Agriculture, when re-
ferring to Federal land under the administra-
tive jurisdiction of the Forest Servcie. 
Æ 
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