H. R. 4579
One Hundred Sixth Congress
of the
United States of America
AT THE SECOND SESSION
Begun and held at the City of Washington on Monday,
the twenty-fourth day of January, two thousand
An Act
To provide for the exchange of certain lands within the State of Utah.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Utah West Desert Land Exchange
Act of 2000’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.
(a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds the following:
(1) The State of Utah owns approximately 95,095.19 acres
of land, as well as approximately 11,187.60 acres of mineral
interests, located in the West Desert region of Utah and con-
tained wholly or partially within certain wilderness study areas
created pursuant to section 603 of the Federal Lands Policy
and Management Act of 1976, or proposed by the Bureau of
Land Management for wilderness study area status pursuant
to section 202 of that Act. 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 system and other
public institutions. The lands are largely scattered in checker-
board fashion amidst the Federal lands comprising the
remainder of such existing and proposed wilderness study
areas.
(2) Development of surface and mineral resources on State
trust lands within existing or proposed wilderness study areas,
or the sale of such lands into private ownership, could be
incompatible with management of such lands for nonimpair-
ment of their wilderness characteristics pursuant to section
603(c) of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of
1976 or with future congressional designation of the lands
as wilderness.
(3) The United States owns lands and interests in lands
outside of existing and proposed wilderness study areas that
can be transferred to the State of Utah in exchange for the
West Desert wilderness inholdings without jeopardizing Federal
management objectives or needs.
(4) The large presence of State trust land inholdings in
existing and proposed wilderness study areas in the West
Desert region makes land and resource management in these
areas difficult, costly, and controversial for both the State of
Utah and the United States.
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(5) It is in the public interest to reach agreement 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 the Congress, 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 associ-
ated with administrative land exchanges.
(6) The State of Utah and the United States have reached
an agreement under which the State would exchange certain
State trust lands within specified wilderness study areas and
areas identified as having wilderness characteristics in the
West Desert region for various Federal lands and interests
in lands outside of those areas but in the same region of
Utah. The agreement also provides for the State to convey
to the United States approximately 483 acres of land in Wash-
ington County, Utah, that has been designated as critical
habitat for the Desert Tortoise, a threatened species, for inclu-
sion in the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve.
(7) Because the inholdings to be acquired by the Federal
Government include properties within some of the most spectac-
ular wild areas in the western United States, and because
a mission of the Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands
Administration is to produce economic benefits for Utah’s public
schools and other beneficiary institutions, the exchange of lands
called for in this agreement will resolve longstanding environ-
mental conflicts with respect to the existing and proposed
wilderness 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.
(8) Under this agreement taken as a whole, 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, will be approximately equal
in value.
(b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is to enact into law
and direct prompt implementation of this agreement, and thereby
to further the public interest by consolidating 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 BETWEEN THE
STATE OF UTAH AND THE DEPARTMENT OF THE
INTERIOR.
(a) AGREEMENT.—The State of Utah and the Department of
the Interior have agreed to exchange certain Federal lands and
mineral interests in the State of Utah for lands and mineral
interests of approximately equal value managed by the Utah School
and Institutional Trust Lands Administration wholly or partially
within certain existing and proposed wilderness study areas in
the West Desert region of Utah.
(b) RATIFICATION.—All terms, conditions, procedures, covenants,
reservations, and other provisions set forth in the document entitled
‘‘Agreement for Exchange of Lands—West Desert State-Federal
Land Consolidation’’, dated May 30, 2000 (in this Act referred
to as ‘‘the Agreement’’), are hereby incorporated in this Act, are
H. R. 4579—3
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.
(c) CONDITION.—Before exchanging any lands under this Act,
the Secretary of the Interior and the State of Utah shall each
document in a statement of value how the determination of approxi-
mately equal value was made in accordance with section 206(h)
of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C.
1716(h)), provided that the provisions of paragraph (1)(A) of section
206(h) of such Act shall not apply. In addition, the Secretary and
the State shall select an independent qualified appraiser who shall
review the statements of value as prepared by the Secretary and
the State of Utah and all documentation and determine if the
lands are of approximately equal value. If there is a finding of
a difference in value, then the Secretary and the State shall adjust
the exchange to achieve approximately equal value.
SEC. 4. CONVEYANCES.
(a) CONVEYANCES.—All conveyances under sections 2 and 3
of the Agreement shall be completed within 70 days after the
date on which the condition set forth in section 3(c) is met.
(b) MAPS AND LEGAL DESCRIPTIONS.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—The maps and legal descriptions referred
to in the Agreement depict the lands subject to the conveyances
under the Agreement.
(2) PUBLIC
AVAILABILITY.—The maps and descriptions
referred to in the Agreement shall be on file and available
for public inspection in the offices of the Secretary of the
Interior 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 Agreement, the legal descrip-
tions shall control.
SEC. 5. COSTS.
The United States and the State of Utah shall each bear
its own respective costs incurred in the implementation of this
Act.
Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Vice President of the United States and
President of the Senate.