IIB 
108TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2304
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 
NOVEMBER 18, 2003
Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural 
Resources 
AN ACT 
To resolve boundary conflicts in the vicinity of the Mark 
Twain National Forest in Barry and Stone Counties, 
Missouri, that resulted from private landowner reliance 
on a subsequent Federal survey, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
HR 2304 RFS 
SECTION 1. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE. 
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 
(1) Certain landowners in Barry and Stone 
Counties, Missouri, innocently and in good faith re-
lied on subsequent land surveys, which they believed 
to be correct, and occupied, improved, or claimed 
portions of adjoining Federal lands based on such 
survey information. 
(2) The appropriate Federal agencies should 
undertake actions to correctly reestablish the corners 
of the Public Land Survey System in Barry and 
Stone Counties, Missouri, and rectify boundary con-
flicts and landownership claims against Federal 
lands resulting from subsequent land surveys, and 
do so in a manner which imposes the least cost and 
inconvenience to affected private landowners. 
(b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are—
(1) to resolve boundary conflicts in Barry and 
Stone Counties, Missouri, arising from subsequent 
land surveys; and 
(2) to minimize costs and inconvenience to the 
affected private property owners in Barry and Stone 
Counties, Missouri.
HR 2304 RFS 
SEC. 2. RESOLUTION OF BOUNDARY CONFLICTS, VICINITY 
OF MARK TWAIN NATIONAL FOREST, BARRY 
AND STONE COUNTIES, MISSOURI. 
(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
(1) The term ‘‘appropriate Secretary’’ means 
the Secretary of the Army or the Secretary of Agri-
culture. 
(2) The term ‘‘boundary conflict’’ means the 
situation in which the private claim of ownership to 
certain lands, based on subsequent land surveys, 
overlaps or conflicts with Federal ownership of the 
same lands. 
(3) The term ‘‘Federal land surveys’’ means 
any land survey made by any agency or department 
of the Federal Government using Federal employees, 
or by Federal contract with State-licensed private 
land surveyors or corporations and businesses li-
censed to provide professional land surveying serv-
ices in the State of Missouri. 
(4) The term ‘‘original land surveys’’ means the 
land surveys made by the United States General 
Land Office as part of the Public Land Survey Sys-
tem in the State of Missouri, and upon which Gov-
ernment land patents were issued conveying the 
land.
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(5) The term ‘‘Public Land Survey System’’ 
means the rectangular system of original Govern-
ment lands surveys made by the United States Gen-
eral Land Office and its successor, the Bureau of 
Land Management, under Federal laws providing for 
the survey of the public lands upon which the origi-
nal land patents were issued. 
(6) The term ‘‘qualifying claimant’’ means a 
private owner of real property in Barry or Stone 
County, Missouri, who has a boundary conflict as a 
result of good faith and innocent reliance on subse-
quent land surveys, and as a result of such reliance, 
has occupied, improved, or made ownership claims to 
Federal lands. 
(7) The term ‘‘subsequent land surveys’’ mean 
any land surveys made after the original land sur-
veys. 
(b) NOTICE OF BOUNDARY CONFLICT.—
(1) SUBMISSION AND CONTENTS.—A qualifying 
claimant shall notify the appropriate Secretary in 
writing of a claim that a boundary conflict exists 
with Federal land administered by the appropriate 
Secretary. The notice shall be accompanied by the 
following information, which, except as provided in
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subsection (d)(2)(B), shall be provided without cost 
to the United States: 
(A) A land survey plat and legal descrip-
tion of the affected Federal lands, which are 
based upon a land survey completed and cer-
tified by a Missouri State-licensed professional 
land surveyor, and done in conformity with the 
Public Land Survey System and in compliance 
with the applicable State and Federal land sur-
veying laws. 
(B) Information relating to the claim of 
ownership of the Federal lands, including sup-
porting documentation showing the landowner 
relied on a subsequent land survey due to ac-
tions by the Federal Government in making or 
approving surveys for the Table Rock Reservoir. 
(2) DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION.—To obtain re-
lief under this section, a qualifying claimant shall 
submit the notice required by paragraph (1) within 
15 years after the date of the enactment of this Act. 
(3) RESPONSIBILITIES
OF
CLAIMANTS.—The 
qualifying claimant shall have the responsibility for 
establishing that the qualifying claimant qualifies for 
the remedies provided in subsection (c).
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(c) RESOLUTION AUTHORITIES.—The appropriate 
Secretary may take any of the following actions, or com-
bination of actions, in order to resolve boundary conflicts 
with qualifying claimants involving lands under the admin-
istrative jurisdiction of the appropriate Secretary: 
(1) Convey and quitclaim all right, title, and in-
terest of the United States in land subject to a 
boundary conflict. 
(2) Confirm Federal title to, and retain in Fed-
eral management, any land subject to a boundary 
conflict, if the appropriate Secretary determines 
there are Federal interests, including improvements, 
authorized uses, easements, hazardous materials, or 
historical and cultural resources, on the land that 
necessitates retention of the land. 
(3) Compensate the qualifying claimant for the 
value of the overlapping property for which title is 
confirmed and retained in Federal management pur-
suant to paragraph (2). 
(d) CONSIDERATION AND COST.—
(1) CONVEYANCE WITHOUT CONSIDERATION.—
The conveyance of land under subsection (c)(1) shall 
be made without consideration if the appropriate 
Secretary determines that the boundary conflict was
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the result of the innocent detrimental reliance by the 
qualifying claimant on a subsequent land survey. 
(2) COSTS.—The appropriate Secretary shall—
(A) pay administrative, personnel, and any 
other costs associated with the implementation 
of this section, including the costs of survey, 
marking, and monumenting property lines and 
corners; and 
(B) reimburse the qualifying claimant for 
reasonable out-of-pocket survey costs necessary 
to establish a claim under this section. 
(3) VALUATION.—Compensation paid to a 
qualifying claimant pursuant to subsection (c)(3) for 
land retained in Federal ownership pursuant to sub-
section (c)(2) shall be valued on the basis of the con-
tributory value of the tract of land to the larger ad-
joining private parcel and not on the basis of the 
land being a separate tract. The appropriate Sec-
retary shall not consider the value of any Federal 
improvements to the land. 
(e) PREEXISTING CONDITIONS; RESERVATIONS; EX-
ISTING RIGHTS AND USES.—
(1) PREEXISTING
CONDITIONS.—The appro-
priate Secretary shall not compensate a qualifying 
claimant or any other person for any preexisting
HR 2304 RFS 
condition or reduction in value of any land subject 
to a boundary conflict because of any existing or 
outstanding permits, use authorizations, reserva-
tions, timber removal, or other land use or condition. 
(2) EXISTING RESERVATIONS AND RIGHTS AND 
USES.—Any conveyance pursuant to subsection 
(c)(1) shall be subject to—
(A) reservations for existing public uses for 
roads, utilities, and facilities; and 
(B) permits, rights-of-way, contracts and 
any other authorization to use the property. 
(3) TREATMENT OF LAND SUBJECT TO SPECIAL 
USE
AUTHORIZATION
OR
PERMIT.—For any land 
subject to a special use authorization or permit for 
access or utilities, the appropriate Secretary may 
convert, at the request of the holder, such authoriza-
tion to a permanent easement prior to any convey-
ance pursuant to subsection (c)(1). 
(4) FUTURE RESERVATIONS.—The appropriate 
Secretary may reserve rights for future public uses 
in a conveyance made pursuant to subsection (c)(1) 
if the qualifying claimant is compensated for the res-
ervation in cash or in land of equal value. 
(f) RELATION
TO OTHER CONVEYANCE AUTHOR-
ITY.—Nothing in this section affects the Quiet Title Act
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(28 U.S.C. 2409a) or other applicable law, or affects the 
exchange and disposal authorities of the Secretary of Agri-
culture, including the Small Tracts Act (16 U.S.C. 521c), 
or the exchange and disposal authorities of the Secretary 
of the Army. 
(g) ADDITIONAL TERMS AND CONDITIONS.—The ap-
propriate Secretary may require such additional terms and 
conditions in connection with a conveyance under sub-
section (c)(1) as the Secretary considers appropriate to 
protect the interests of the United States.
Passed the House of Representatives November 17, 
2003. 
Attest: 
JEFF TRANDAHL, 
Clerk.