I 
108TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2907
To provide for a land exchange in the State of Arizona between the Secretary 
of Agriculture and Yavapai Ranch Limited Partnership. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 25, 2003
Mr. RENZI (for himself and Mr. HAYWORTH) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on Resources 
A BILL 
To provide for a land exchange in the State of Arizona 
between the Secretary of Agriculture and Yavapai Ranch 
Limited Partnership.
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 ‘‘Northern Arizona Na-
tional Forest Land Exchange Act of 2003’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES. 
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that—
(1) certain parcels of private land in the ap-
proximately 170 square miles of land commonly 
known as the ‘‘Yavapai Ranch’’ and located in
Yavapai County, Arizona, are intermingled with Na-
tional Forest System land owned by the United 
States and administered by the Secretary of Agri-
culture as part of Prescott National Forest; 
(2) the private land is owned by the Yavapai 
Ranch Limited Partnership and the Northern 
Yavapai, L.L.C., in an intermingled checkerboard 
pattern, with the United States or Yavapai Ranch 
Limited Partnership and the Northern Yavapai, 
L.L.C., owning alternate square mile sections of 
land or fractions of square mile sections; 
(3) a significant portion of the private land 
within the checkerboard area (including the land lo-
cated in or near the Pine Creek watershed, Juniper 
Mesa Wilderness Area, Haystack Peak, and the Luis 
Maria Baca Float No. 5) is located in environ-
mentally valuable areas that possess attributes for 
public management, use, and enjoyment, including—
(A) outdoor recreation; 
(B) preservation of stands of old growth 
forest; 
(C) largely unfragmented habitat for ante-
lope, deer, elk, mountain lion, wild turkey, and 
other wildlife species; 
(D) scientific research;
(E) rangeland; 
(F) cultural and archaeological resources; 
and 
(G) scenic vistas; 
(4) the checkerboard ownership pattern of pri-
vate and public land within Prescott National Forest 
impedes sound and efficient management of the 
intermingled National Forest System land; 
(5) if the private land in the checkerboard area 
is subdivided or developed, the intermingled National 
Forest System land will become highly fragmented 
and lose much of the value of the land for wildlife 
habitat and future public access, use, and enjoy-
ment; 
(6) acquisition by the United States of certain 
parcels of land that have been offered by Yavapai 
Ranch Limited Partnership and the Northern 
Yavapai, L.L.C., for addition to Prescott National 
Forest will serve important public objectives, includ-
ing—
(A) acquiring private land that meets the 
criteria for inclusion in the National Forest 
System in exchange for land with lower public, 
environmental, and ecological values;
(B) consolidating a large area of National 
Forest System land to preserve—
(i) permanent public access, use, and 
enjoyment of the land; and 
(ii) efficient management of the land; 
(C) minimizing cash outlays by the United 
States to achieve the objectives described in 
subparagraphs (A) and (B); and 
(D) reducing administrative costs to the 
United States through—
(i) consolidation of Federal land hold-
ings for more efficient land management 
and planning; 
(ii) elimination of approximately 350 
miles of boundary between private land 
and the Federal parcels; and 
(iii) reduction of right-of-way, special 
use, and other permit processing and 
issuance for roads and other facilities on 
National Forest System land; 
(7) parcels of National Forest System land have 
been identified for conveyance to Yavapai Ranch 
Limited Partnership or the Northern Yavapai, 
L.L.C., through a land exchange because the par-
cels—
(A) have significantly lower recreational, 
wildlife, ecological, and other public purpose 
values than the land to be acquired by the 
United States; and 
(B) are encumbered by special use permits 
and rights-of-way for a variety of purposes (in-
cluding summer youth camps, municipal water 
treatment facilities, sewage treatment facilities, 
city parks, and airport-related facilities) that—
(i) limit the usefulness of the parcels 
for general National Forest System pur-
poses; but 
(ii) are logical for pass-through con-
veyances from Yavapai Ranch Limited 
Partnership and the Northern Yavapai, 
L.L.C., to the permit or right-of-way hold-
ers; 
(8) because there are limited water resources on 
the National Forest System land available for future 
water users and the unlimited use of the water re-
sources would have adverse long-term impacts on ex-
isting and future water users and State water right 
holders and the Verde River and National Forest 
System land retained by the United States, limits on
water use should be established on the National For-
est System land that—
(A) is located near the communities of 
Camp Verde, Cottonwood, and Clarkdale; and 
(B) is to be conveyed by the United States 
to Yavapai Ranch Limited Partnership or the 
Northern Yavapai, L.L.C.; and 
(9) under section 402(g) of the Federal Land 
Policy and Management Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 
1752(g)), the land exchange provided for in this Act 
shall cause a hardship for persons holding grazing 
permits for that land and compensation shall be pro-
vided. 
(b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is to author-
ize, direct, and facilitate the exchange of Federal land and 
non-Federal land between the United States, Yavapai 
Ranch Limited Partnership, and the Northern Yavapai, 
L.L.C. 
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) CAMP.—The term ‘‘camp’’ means Camp 
Pearlstein, Friendly Pines, Patterdale Pines, Pine 
Summit, Sky Y, and YoungLife Lost Canyon camps 
in the State of Arizona.
(2) FEDERAL LAND.—The term ‘‘Federal land’’ 
means the land described in section 4(a)(2). 
(3) MANAGEMENT PLAN.—The term ‘‘Manage-
ment Plan’’ means the land and resource manage-
ment plan for Prescott National Forest. 
(4) NON-FEDERAL LAND.—The term ‘‘non-Fed-
eral land’’ means the approximately 35,000 acres of 
non-Federal land located within the boundaries of 
Prescott National Forest, as generally depicted on 
the map entitled ‘‘Yavapai Ranch Non-Federal 
Lands’’, dated April 2002. 
(5) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 
the Secretary of Agriculture. 
(6) YAVAPAI
RANCH.—The term ‘‘Yavapai 
Ranch’’ means—
(A) the Yavapai Ranch Limited Partner-
ship, an Arizona Limited Partnership; and 
(B) the Northern Yavapai, L.L.C., an Ari-
zona Limited Liability Company.
SEC. 4. LAND EXCHANGE. 
(a) CONVEYANCE
OF
FEDERAL
LAND
BY
THE 
UNITED STATES.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—On receipt of an offer from 
Yavapai Ranch to convey the non-Federal land, the 
Secretary shall convey to Yavapai Ranch by deed ac-
ceptable to Yavapai Ranch, subject to easements, 
rights-of-way, utility lines, and any other valid en-
cumbrances on the Federal land in existence on the 
date of enactment of this Act and any other reserva-
tions that may be agreed to by the Secretary and 
Yavapai Ranch, all right, title, and interest of the 
United States in and to the Federal land described 
in paragraph (2). 
(2) DESCRIPTION
OF
FEDERAL
LAND.—The 
Federal land referred to in paragraph (1) shall con-
sist of the following: 
(A) Certain land comprising approximately 
15,300 acres located in Yavapai County, Ari-
zona, as generally depicted on the map entitled 
‘‘Yavapai Ranch-Ranch Area Federal Lands’’, 
dated April 2002. 
(B) Certain land in the Coconino National 
Forest, Coconino County Arizona—
(i) comprising approximately 1,500 
acres located in Coconino National Forest, 
Coconino County, Arizona, as generally de-
picted on the map entitled ‘‘Flagstaff Fed-
eral Lands-Airport Parcel’’, dated April 
2002; and
(ii) comprising approximately 28.26 
acres in 2 separate parcels, as generally 
depicted on the map entitled ‘‘Flagstaff 
Federal Lands—Wetzel School and Mt. 
Elden Parcels’’, dated September 2002. 
(C) Certain land referred to as Williams 
Airport, Williams golf course, Williams Sewer, 
Buckskinner Park, Williams Railroad, and Well 
parcels numbers 2, 3, and 4, comprising ap-
proximately 950 acres, located in Kaibab Na-
tional Forest, Coconino County, Arizona, as 
generally depicted on the map entitled ‘‘Wil-
liams Federal Lands’’, dated April 2002. 
(D) Certain land comprising approximately 
2,200 acres located in Prescott National Forest, 
Yavapai County, Arizona, as generally depicted 
on the map entitled ‘‘Camp Verde Federal 
Land—General Crook Parcel’’, dated April 
2002. 
(E) Certain land comprising approximately 
820 acres located in Prescott National Forest 
in Yavapai County, Arizona, as generally de-
picted on the map entitled ‘‘Cottonwood/
Clarkdale Federal Lands’’, dated April 2002.
(F) Certain land comprising approximately 
237.5 acres located in Kaibab National Forest, 
Coconino County, Arizona, as generally depicted 
on the map entitled ‘‘Younglife Lost Canyon’’, 
dated April 2002. 
(G) Certain land comprising approximately 
200 acres located in Prescott National Forest, 
Yavapai County, Arizona, and including Friend-
ly Pines, Patterdale Pines, Camp Pearlstein, 
Pine Summit, and Sky Y, as generally depicted 
on the map entitled ‘‘Prescott Federal Lands—
Summer Youth Camp Parcels’’, dated April 
2002. 
(H) Perpetual, unrestricted, and nonexclu-
sive easements that—
(i) run with and benefit land owned 
by or conveyed to Yavapai Ranch across 
certain land of the United States; 
(ii) are for the purposes of—
(I) operating, maintaining, re-
pairing, improving, and replacing elec-
tric power lines or water pipelines (in-
cluding related storage tanks, valves, 
pumps, and hardware); and
(II) providing rights of reason-
able ingress and egress necessary for 
the activities described in subclause 
(I); 
(iii) are 20 feet in width; and 
(iv) are located 10 feet on either side 
of each line depicted on the map entitled 
‘‘YRLP Acquired Easements for Water 
Lines’’, dated April 2002. 
(3) CONDITIONS.—
(A) PERMITS.—Permits or other legal oc-
cupancies of the Federal land by third parties 
in existence on the date of transfer of the Fed-
eral land to Yavapai Ranch shall be addressed 
in accordance with—
(i) part 254.15 of title 36, Code of 
Federal Regulations (or any successor reg-
ulation); and 
(ii) other applicable laws (including 
regulations). 
(B) ESTABLISHMENT
OF
CONSERVATION 
EASEMENTS ON CERTAIN PARCELS.—
(i) IN GENERAL.—To conserve water 
in the Verde Valley, Arizona, and to mini-
mize the adverse impacts from future de-
velopment of the parcels described in sub-
paragraphs (D) and (E) of paragraph (2) 
on current and future users of water and 
holders of water rights in existence on the 
date of enactment of this Act and the 
Verde River and National Forest System 
land retained by the United States, the 
United States shall limit in perpetuity the 
use of water on the parcels by establishing 
conservation easements that—
(I) prohibit golf course develop-
ment on the parcels; 
(II) require that public parks and 
greenbelts on the parcels be watered 
with treated effluent; 
(III)(aa) with respect to the par-
cel described in paragraph (2)(D), 
limit total post-exchange water use to 
not more than 700 acre-feet of water 
per year; and 
(bb) with respect to the parcel 
described in paragraph (2)(E), limit 
total post-exchange water use to not 
more than 150 acre-feet of water per 
year; and
(IV) except for water supplied to 
the parcels described in subpara-
graphs (D) and (E) of paragraph (2) 
by municipal water service providers 
or private water companies, require 
that any water used for the parcels 
not be withdrawn from wells per-
forated in the saturated Holocene al-
luvium of the Verde River. 
(ii) RECORDATION.—The conservation 
easements described in clause (i) shall be 
recorded in the title to parcels described in 
subparagraphs (D) and (E) of paragraph 
(2) that are conveyed by the Secretary to 
Yavapai Ranch. 
(iii) SUBSEQUENT CONVEYANCE.—
(I) IN GENERAL.—On acquisition 
of title to the parcels described in sub-
paragraphs (D) and (E) of paragraph 
(2), Yavapai Ranch may convey all or 
a portion of the parcels to 1 or more 
successors-in-interest.
(II) WATER
USE
APPORTION-
MENT.—A conveyance under sub-
clause (I) shall, in accordance with
the terms described in clause (i), in-
clude a recorded and binding agree-
ment on the amount of water avail-
able for use on the parcel or portion 
of the parcel conveyed, as determined 
by the Yavapai Ranch. 
(iv) ENFORCEMENT.—The Secretary 
shall enter into a memorandum of under-
standing with the State of Arizona or a po-
litical subdivision of the State of Arizona 
authorizing the State or political subdivi-
sion to enforce the terms described in 
clause (i) in any manner provided by law. 
(v) LIABILITY.—
(I) IN GENERAL.—Any action for 
a breach of the terms of the conserva-
tion easements described in clause (i) 
shall be against the owner or owners 
of the parcel or portion of the parcel, 
at the time of the breach, whose ac-
tion or failure to act has resulted in 
the breach. 
(II) HOLD
HARMLESS.—To the 
extent that the United States or a 
successor-in-interest to the United
States no longer holds title to the par-
cels or any portion of the parcels de-
scribed in subparagraph (D) or (E) of 
paragraph (2), the United States or 
such successor-in-interest shall be held 
harmless from damages or injuries at-
tributable to any breach of the terms 
of the conservation easements de-
scribed in clause (i) by a subsequent 
successor-in-interest. 
(b) CONVEYANCE
OF
NON-FEDERAL
LAND
BY 
YAVAPAI RANCH.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—On receipt of title to the 
Federal land, Yavapai Ranch shall simultaneously 
convey to the United States, by deed acceptable to 
Secretary and subject to any encumbrances, all 
right, title, and interest of Yavapai Ranch in and to 
the non-Federal land. 
(2) EASEMENTS.—
(A) IN GENERAL.—The conveyance of non-
Federal land to the United States under para-
graph (1) shall be subject to the reservation 
of—
(i) perpetual and unrestricted ease-
ments and water rights that run with and
benefit the land retained by Yavapai 
Ranch for—
(I) the operation, maintenance, 
repair, 
improvement, 
development, 
and replacement of not more than 3 
wells in existence on the date of enact-
ment of this Act; 
(II) related storage tanks, valves, 
pumps, and hardware; and 
(III) pipelines to points of use; 
and 
(ii) easements for reasonable ingress 
and egress to accomplish the purposes of 
the easements described in clause (i). 
(B) EXISTING WELLS.—
(i) IN GENERAL.—Each easement for 
an existing well shall be—
(I) 40 acres in area; and 
(II) to the maximum extent prac-
ticable—
(aa) centered on the existing 
well; and 
(bb) located in the same 
square mile section of land.