I
104TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 3486
To dispose of certain Federal properties at Dutch John, Utah, assist local
government in the interim delivery of basic services to the Dutch John
community, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MAY 16, 1996
Mr. ORTON introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee
on Resources
A BILL
To dispose of certain Federal properties at Dutch John,
Utah, assist local government in the interim delivery
of basic services to the Dutch John community, 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. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.
(a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds that:
(1) Dutch John, Utah was founded by the
United States Department of the Interior’s Bureau
of Reclamation in 1958 on Reclamation lands as a
community to house personnel, administrative of-
fices, and equipment for project construction and op-
eration of Flaming Gorge Dam and Reservoir as au-
thorized by the Colorado River Storage Act. Perma-
nent structures including houses, administrative of-
fices, equipment storage and maintenance buildings,
and other public buildings and facilities were con-
structed and continue to be owned and maintained
by the Bureau of Reclamation.
(2) Reclamation lands surrounding Flaming
Gorge Reservoir, including the Dutch John townsite,
were included within the boundaries of the Flaming
Gorge National Recreation Area (NRA) in 1968
under Public Law 90–540. The Act gave administra-
tion, protection and development of the National
Recreation Area to the Secretary of Agriculture (act-
ing through the United States Forest Service) pro-
vided that lands and waters needed or used for the
Colorado River Storage project would continue to be
administered by the Secretary of the Interior (acting
through the Bureau of Reclamation). Most struc-
tures within Dutch John, including the community’s
schools and public buildings occupy lands adminis-
tered by the United States Forest Service.
(3) The Bureau of Reclamation and the United
States Forest Service are unnecessarily burdened
with costs of continuing to provide basic services, fa-
cilities and building maintenance, and administrative
costs of operating the community of Dutch John.
Certain structures and lands are no longer essential
to management of the project or to management of
the National Recreation Area.
(4) Residents of the community are interested
in purchasing the homes they currently rent from
the Bureau of Reclamation and the land upon which
they were built. Daggett County, Utah (County) is
interested in reducing the financial burden it experi-
ences in providing local government support services
to a community which produces little direct tax reve-
nue due to Federal ownership. A withdrawal of the
Federal Government’s role of providing basic direct
community services to Dutch John would require
local government to provide such services and at
substantial cost.
(5) Residents are interested in self-government
of their community. With growing demands for addi-
tional commercial recreation services for National
Recreation Area and Ashley National Forest visitors,
there are opportunities for private economic develop-
ment, but few private lands are available for such
use.