I
107TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 3958
To provide a mechanism for the settlement of claims of the State of Utah
regarding portions of the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge located
on the shore of the Great Salt Lake, Utah.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH 13, 2002
Mr. HANSEN introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Resources
A BILL
To provide a mechanism for the settlement of claims of
the State of Utah regarding portions of the Bear River
Migratory Bird Refuge located on the shore of the Great
Salt Lake, 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 ‘‘Bear River Migratory
Bird Refuge Settlement Act of 2002’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) The Secretary of the Interior and the State
of Utah have negotiated a preliminary agreement
concerning the ownership of lands within the Bear
River Migratory Bird Refuge located in Bear River
Bay of the Great Salt Lake, Utah.
(2) The State is entitled to ownership of those
sovereign lands constituting the bed of the Great
Salt Lake, and, generally, the location of the sov-
ereign lands boundary was set by an official survey
of the Great Salt Lake meander line.
(3) The establishment of the Refuge in 1928
along the shore of the Great Salt Lake, and lack of
a meander line survey within the Refuge, has led to
uncertainty of ownership of some those sovereign
lands.
(4) In order to settle the uncertainty concerning
the sovereign land boundary caused by the gap in
the surveyed Great Salt Lake meander line within
the Refuge, the Secretary and the State have agreed
to the establishment of a fixed sovereign land bound-
ary along the southern boundary of the Refuge and
the State has agreed to release any claim to the lake
bed above such boundary line.
(5) The Secretary and the State have expressed
their intentions to establish a mutually agreed upon
procedure to address the conflicting claims to owner-
ship of the lands and interests in land within the
Refuge.
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means
the Secretary of the Interior.
(2) REFUGE.—The term ‘‘Refuge’’ means the
Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge located in Bear
River Bay of the Great Salt Lake, Utah.
(3) 
AGREEMENT.—The 
term 
‘‘agreement’’
means the agreement to be signed by the Secretary
and the State to establish a mutually agreeable pro-
cedure for addressing the conflicting claims to own-
ership of the lands and interests in land within the
Refuge.
(4) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means the State
of Utah.
SEC. 4. REQUIRED TERMS OF LAND CLAIMS SETTLEMENT,
BEAR 
RIVER 
MIGRATORY 
BIRD 
REFUGE,
UTAH.
(a) SPECIFIC TERMS REQUIRED IN AGREEMENT.—
The Secretary shall not enter into an agreement with the
State for the quitclaim or other transfer of lands or inter-
ests in lands within the Refuge unless the terms of the
agreement include each of the following provisions:
(1) Nothing in the agreement shall be construed
to impose upon the State or any of agency of the
State any obligation to convey to the United States
any interest in water owned or controlled by the
State, except upon appropriate terms and for ade-
quate consideration.
(2) Nothing in the agreement shall constitute
admission or denial of the United States claim to a
Federal reserved water right.
(3) The State shall support the United States
application to add an enlarged Hyrum Reservoir, or
another storage facility, as an alternate place of
storage under the Refuge’s existing 1000 cubic feet
per second State certified water right. Such support
shall be contingent upon demonstration by the
United States that no injury to water rights shall
occur as a result of the addition.
(4) Nothing in the agreement shall affect juris-
diction by the State or the United States Fish and
Wildlife Service over wildlife resources management,
including fishing, hunting and trapping, within the
Refuge.
(5) If the State elects to bring suit against the
United States challenging the validity of the deed
issued pursuant to the agreement, and if such suit
is successful in invalidating such deed, the State
will—
(A) pay the United States for the fair mar-
ket value of all real property improvements on
the property at the time of invalidation, such as
dikes, water control structures and buildings;
(B) repay any amounts paid by the United
States because of ownership of the land by the
United States from the date of establishment of
the Refuge, such as payments in lieu of taxes;
and
(C) repay any amounts paid to the State
pursuant to the agreement.
(6) Subject to the availability of funds for this
purpose, 
the 
Secretary 
shall 
agree 
to 
pay
$15,000,000 to the State upon delivery by the State
of a quitclaim deed that meets all applicable stand-
ards of the Department of Justice and covers all
lands and interests in lands claimed by the State
within the Refuge. Such payment shall be subject to
the condition that the State use the payment for the
purposes, and in the amounts, specified in sub-
sections (b) and (c).
(b) WETLANDS AND WILDLIFE PROTECTION PRO-
GRAMS.—
(1) 
DEPOSIT.—The 
State 
shall 
deposit
$10,000,000 of the amount paid pursuant to the
agreement, as required by subsection (a)(6), in a re-
stricted account, known as the Wetlands and Habi-
tat Protection Account, to be used as provided in
paragraph (2).
(2) AUTHORIZED USES.—The Director of the
Utah Department of Natural Resources may with-
draw from the Wetlands and Habitat Protection Ac-
count, on an annual basis, amounts equal to the in-
terest earned on the amount deposited under para-
graph (1) for the following purposes:
(A) Wetland or open space protection in
and near the Great Salt Lake.
(B) Enhancement and acquisition of wild-
life habitat in and near the Great Salt Lake.
(c) RECREATIONAL TRAILS AND STREAMS DEVELOP-
MENT AND EXPANSION.—The Utah Department of Nat-
ural Resources shall use $5,000,000 of the amount paid
pursuant to the agreement, as required by subsection
(a)(6), for the following purposes:
(1) Development, improvement, and expansion
of motorized and non-motorized recreational trails
on public and private lands in the State, with pri-
ority given to providing trail access to the Great Salt
Lake as part of the proposed Shoshone and Ogden-
Weber trail systems.
(2) Preservation, reclamation, enhancement,
and conservation of streams in the State.
(d) COORDINATION OF PROJECTS.—The Director of
the Utah Department of Natural Resources shall seek to
maximize the use of funds under subsections (b) and (c)
through coordination with nonprofit organizations, Fed-
eral agencies, other agencies of the State, and local gov-
ernments, and shall give priority to those projects under
such subsections that include Federal, State, or private
matching funds.
(e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is
authorized to be appropriated $15,000,000 for the pay-
ment required by subsection (a)(6) to be included as a
term of the agreement.
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