I
104TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 3541
To provide for an exchange of lands with the city of Greeley, Colorado,
and The Water Supply and Storage Company to eliminate private
inholdings in wilderness areas, to cause instream flows to be created
above a Wild and Scenic River, to eliminate potential development on
private inholdings within the Forest boundary, to reduce the need for
future water reservoirs, to reduce the number of Federal land use author-
izations, and to improve the security of the water supply of the city
and the company, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MAY 29, 1996
Mr. ALLARD introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Resources
A BILL
To provide for an exchange of lands with the city of Greeley,
Colorado, and The Water Supply and Storage Company
to eliminate private inholdings in wilderness areas, to
cause instream flows to be created above a Wild and
Scenic River, to eliminate potential development on pri-
vate inholdings within the Forest boundary, to reduce
the need for future water reservoirs, to reduce the num-
ber of Federal land use authorizations, and to improve
the security of the water supply of the city and the
company, 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. LAND EXCHANGE WITH CITY OF GREELEY, COL-
ORADO, AND THE WATER SUPPLY AND STOR-
AGE COMPANY.
(a) IN GENERAL.—If the city of Greeley, Colorado,
and The Water Supply and Storage Company, a Colorado
mutual ditch company, offer to transfer all their right,
title, and interest in and to the Rockwell Ranch property
and Timberline Lake property, and The Water Supply and
Storage Company designated lands, all described in sub-
section (b), the Secretary of Agriculture shall, in exchange
for such property, transfer to the city and to the company,
as they each shall designate, all right, title, and interest
of the United States, including the mineral estate, in and
to the Federal lands described in subsection (c) within 12
months of the date of the city’s and company’s offer.
(b) CITY AND COMPANY LANDS.—
(1) The city and company lands to be ex-
changed under this section are these lands depicted
on maps entitled ‘‘Rockwell Ranch Property Land
Exchange’’ and ‘‘Timberline Lake Property’’ and
‘‘Cameron Pass Lands’’ dated lllllll
1995.
(2) The Rockwell Ranch property is comprised
of 4 parcels containing approximately 520 acres of
lands.
(3) The Timberline Lake Property is a parcel
of approximately 10 acres located in the Comanche
Peak Wilderness which shall be conveyed by quit
claim deed for the purposes of eliminating any fu-
ture title conflict between the city of Greeley and the
United States in regard to the property.
(4) The Cameron Pass Lands consist of 2 par-
cels totaling approximately 178 acres owned by The
Water Supply and Storage Company.
(c) FEDERAL LANDS TO BE EXCHANGED.—The
Federal lands to be exchanged under this section are those
lands depicted on the maps referred to in subsection (b)
as ‘‘Federal Exchange Lands’’. The total area of Federal
lands to be exchanged is approximately 1,176 acres, in-
cluding approximately 447 acres occupied by the city and
the company under perpetual easements of the United
States Department of the Interior, Numbers D–028135
and D–029149. The Federal lands to be exchanged in-
clude the following:
(1) All Federal land within the high water con-
tour lines of the following existing reservoirs: Barnes
Meadow, Chambers Lake, Comanche, Hourglass,
Long Draw, Milton Seaman, Peterson Lake, and
Twin Lakes, together with their dams and struc-
tures. The high water line is defined as the elevation
at the dam crest of each reservoir.
(2) A surcharge and operational access area
around each reservoir consisting of an average 50
foot horizontal projection from the high water line
and an average 100 foot horizontal projection from
the outer perimeter of all dams and appurtenant
structures, including but not limited to, outlets,
measuring devices, spillways, wasteways, toe drains,
canals, abutments, and the Peterson Lake oper-
ations cabin, as generally depicted on such map. The
access area to the east of Long Draw Reservoir will
be limited to the extent necessary to convey only
those lands within the boundary of the National
Forest.
(3) Those Federal lands which would be occu-
pied by an enlargement of Seaman Reservoir to an
approximate capacity of 43,000 acre feet (but not to
exceed 50,000 acre feet), including an average 50
foot horizontally projected buffer zone around the
enlarged water line and structures, and an 80-acre
parcel of Federal land south of Seaman Reservoir
potentially required for a downstream damsite on
the North Fork of the Cache la Poudre River, as
generally depicted on such map.
SEC. 2. TERMS AND CONDITIONS RELATING TO LAND EX-
CHANGE.
The land exchange under section 1 shall be processed
in accordance with Forest Service Land Exchange Regula-
tions in part 254 of title 36, Code of Federal Regulations,
subpart A subject to the direction in section 1 and the
following terms and conditions:
(1) The United States shall grant perpetual ac-
cess easements to the city of Greeley and to The
Water Supply and Storage Company to the lands
conveyed by the United States under section 1 as
part of the consideration of this exchange. The Unit-
ed States shall reserve easements for all designated
roads and trails crossing any Federal lands to be
conveyed that are necessary to assure public access
to adjoining National Forest lands.
(2) The city of Greeley, Colorado, and The
Water Supply and Storage Company shall continue
to make the following facilities accessible to visitors
to the Roosevelt National Forest: Chambers, Long
Draw, Peterson, Barnes Meadow, Comanche, Sea-
man and Twin Lakes Reservoirs, under rules and re-
strictions as determined by the city and the com-
pany.
(3)(A) All special use permits and/or easements
or other instruments authorizing occupancy of the
Federal lands identified in section 1(c) are rescinded
upon completion of the exchange.
(B) The conditions specified in the December
28, 1994, and the January 4, 1995, easements for
Long Draw, Peterson Lake and Barnes Meadow
Reservoirs requiring a joint operations plan provid-
ing instream winter flows to the mainstream of the
Cache La Poudre River from Chambers Lake and
Barnes Meadow shall continue to be fulfilled regard-
less of land ownership unless mutually agreed other-
wise.
(C) No further consultation with the United
States Fish and Wildlife Service shall be required
for completion of this land exchange.
(D) 
No 
additional 
conditions, 
including
instream or bypass flow requirements, shall be re-
quired as a condition of this land exchange.
(4) The exchange under section 1 does not in-
clude any water right owned by the city of Greeley,
Colorado, or The Water Supply and Storage Com-
pany, except as provided in section 2(5).
(5) The city of Greeley’s one-half interest in the
following rights associated with the Rockwell Ranch
property, to wit: Rockwell Ditches No. 1 in the vol-
ume of 1.2 c.f.s., No. 2 in the volume of 1.7 c.f.s.,
No. 3 in the volume of 2.68 c.f.s., No. 4 in the vol-
ume of 1.87 c.f.s., No. 5 in the volume of 1.95 c.f.s.
and No. 6 in the volume of 2.5 c.f.s., diverting from
the South Fork of the Cache la Poudre River, and
its tributaries, Little Beaver Creek and the North
Fork of Little Beaver Creek, and all with the appro-
priation date of December 31, 1888, shall be dedi-
cated to the Colorado Water Conservation Board in
perpetuity for the instream flow program of the
State of Colorado upon completion of the exchange.
(6) The Federal Exchange Lands to be ex-
changed under section 1 shall be conveyed to the
city of Greeley and to The Water Supply and Stor-
age Company by means of a land exchange deed is-
sued by an authorized officer of the United States
Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, and not-
withstanding any other requirements of law, the Sec-
retary of Agriculture is authorized to conduct and
approve all cadastral surveys necessary for comple-
tion of the exchange.
(7) Values of the respective lands exchanged be-
tween the United States and the city of Greeley and
The Water Supply and Storage Company pursuant
to section 1 are deemed to be of approximately equal
value, without any need for cash equalization, as
based on statements of value prepared by a qualified
Forest Service Review Appraiser.
(8) It is recognized that some Federal lands to
be conveyed to the city of Greeley and The Water
Supply and Storage Company will create new hold-
ings in otherwise consolidated areas of Federal own-
ership. If the city or the company decide to perma-
nently discontinue reservoir operations on any of the
properties acquired through this exchange, the Unit-
ed States Forest Service, Arapaho-Roosevelt Na-
tional Forest Supervisor shall be advised of the in-
tent to perform nonreconstructive breaching of the
dam for purposes of permanently terminating res-
ervoir operations. Upon such notification, the United
States Forest Service will be afforded the oppor-
tunity to reacquire property at fair market value or
exchange or upon such other terms and conditions
as the parties may agree for a period of time not to
exceed one year.
(9) The Federal lands to be exchanged under
section 1, with the exception of the Seaman Res-
ervoir enlargement area and potential new damsite
below Seaman Reservoir on the North Fork of the
Cache la Poudre River, are already fully developed
and authorized for occupancy by the city of Greeley
and The Water Supply and Storage Company.
Therefore, this land exchange may be completed
without further inventory or consultation under the
National Historic Preservation Act. Should the city
of Greeley seek enlargement of Seaman Reservoir or
construction of a new dam on the North Fork of
the Poudre River below Seaman Reservoir for a Sea-
man Reservoir Enlargement, the site will be subject
to all Federal statutes and regulations applicable at
the time of proposed construction.
(10) The Forest Service shall grant a 20-year
easement to the city of Greeley for use of the exist-
ing cabin in the north half of the southwest quarter
of Section 30, Township 8 North, Range 72 West.
The easement shall allow the use of the cabin, other
improvements, and access to the forest lands nearby.
The access road shall be available for city employees
to access the cabin for recreational purposes and to
the United States Forest Service for administrative
purposes.
(11) The Forest Service shall grant a 20-year
easement to the city of Greeley for use of approxi-
mately 1 acre of land under the existing cabin in the
vicinity of Jacks Gulch Campground on Pingree
Road as depicted on the attached map. The ease-
ment shall include the administrative use of the ac-
cess road to the cabin and the reservation of the use
of the cabin to those permitted under the existing
special use permit.
SEC. 3. ADMINISTRATION OF LANDS ACQUIRED BY THE
UNITED STATES.
The Rockwell Ranch, Timberline Lake, and Cameron
Pass Lands acquired by the United States under this Act
shall be added to and administered as part of the Roo-
sevelt National Forest. Those portions of such property
located within a wilderness area shall be added to and ad-
ministered as part of the wilderness area.
SEC. 4. BOUNDARY MODIFICATION OF THE ARAPAHO NA-
TIONAL FOREST AND ROOSEVELT NATIONAL
FOREST.
(a) IN GENERAL.—In order to provide for more effi-
cient administration of certain Federal lands adjoining the
Arapaho National Forest and Roosevelt National Forest,