Topic: Public Lands — Public Lands
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
Date: 2013-02-14 00:00:00

Oregon Treasures Act of 2013 - (Sec. 2) Authorizes certain land exchanges with specified landowners (Smith, Shrum, and Young Life) for the benefit of the Cathedral Rock and Horse Heaven Wildernesses designated under this Act.

Requires each land exchange to be carried out in accordance with the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976, including the requirement that the Secretary of the Interior determine that the public interest will be well served by making the exchange.

Subjects each such exchange to valid existing rights and the conditions that: (1) the owner make the offer to convey all or part of the non-federal land during the three-year period following enactment of this Act; (3) the owner of the non-federal land pay at least half of all costs relating to the land exchange; (4) title to the non-federal land be acceptable to the Secretary and in conformance with the title approval standards applicable to Federal land acquisitions; and (5) any sites on the federal land that are eligible for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places shall not be included in the exchange, with any exclusion of land limited to the smallest area necessary.

Requires the value of the federal and non-federal land in each land exchange: (1) to be equal, as determined by appraisals; or (2) if not equal, then equalized by making a cash equalization payment to the Secretary or to the owner, as appropriate, or by reducing the acreage of the federal land or non-federal land to be exchanged.

Requires any cash equalization payments received by the Secretary to be deposited in the Federal Land Disposal Account established by the Federal Land Transaction Facilitation Act and used in accordance with that Act.

Expresses the intent of Congress that these land exchanges be completed within five years after enactment of this Act.

Transfers from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) of the Department of the Interior to the Forest Service of the Department of Agriculture (USDA) the administrative jurisdiction over a approximately 750 acres of specified federal land, any related costs to be paid by the Secretary of Agriculture.

 Requires the designation of specified federal land, by a date certain contingencies occur, as the Cathedral Rock Wilderness and the Horse Heaven Wilderness in the National Wilderness Preservation System.

Permits grazing in the designated wilderness areas to continue if already established.

Prohibits anything in these designations from altering, modifying, enlarging, diminishing, or abrogating the treaty rights of any Indian tribe, including the off-reservation reserved rights secured by a specified treaty.

Prohibits anything in these designations from affecting the jurisdiction or responsibilities of the state of Oregon respecting fish and wildlife.

Prohibits anything in these designations from creating any protective perimeter or buffer zone around the designated wilderness areas.

Authorizes access to the Cathedral Rock Wilderness from Muddy Creek Road on terms acceptable to Jefferson County, Oregon, and the owners of the applicable non-federal land.

Requires the federal land within each wilderness area, before its designation, to be managed in a manner that: (1) protects cultural and archaeological resources, and (2) maintains the suitability of the area for designation as wilderness.

Terminates authority for designation and interim management of the Cathedral Rock Wilderness and the Horse Heaven Wilderness if they are not designated as wilderness within ten years after enactment of this Act.

 (Sec. 3) Adds specified federal land in Oregon to the Wild Rogue Wilderness, except that the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of the Interior shall administer the land under their respective jurisdictions.

Adds also to the Wild Rogue Wilderness certain public land in Oregon administered by the Secretary of the Interior as potential wilderness.

Allows such federal land to be used only for recreational, scenic, and scientific purposes and bars its use for permanent roads, commercial enterprises, and, except as necessary to meet minimum administrative and public health and safety requirements, the use of motor vehicles or the establishment of temporary roads.

Amends the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act (the Act) to add specified segments of certain creeks to the designation of the Rogue River in Oregon as a component of the national wild and scenic rivers system.

Prohibits: (1) the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) from licensing the construction of any dam, water conduit, reservoir, powerhouse, transmission line, or other project works affecting specified stream segments; and (2) any federal department or agency from assisting in the construction of any water resources project affecting any such segment, except to maintain or repair existing projects.

States that nothing prohibits any federal department or agency from assisting in a water resources project: (1) the primary purpose of which is ecological or aquatic restoration, and (2) that provides a net benefit to water quality and aquatic resources.

(Sec. 4) Amends the Act to designate specified segments of the Molalla River in Oregon as components of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System.

Renames the Squaw Creek in Oregon as Whychus Creek.