zli12321/Bills huggingface dataset:
Amends the Coquille Restoration Act to require the Department of the Interior to manage the Coquille Forest in accordance with the laws pertaining to the management of Indian trust land. (Currently, Interior is also required to manage the Forest under applicable state and federal forestry and environmental protection laws, and subject to critical habitat designations under the Endangered Species Act and the standards and guidelines of federal forest plans on adjacent or nearby federal lands.)

Continues to apply: (1) federal law relating to the export of unprocessed logs harvested from federal land to any unprocessed logs that are harvested from the Forest, and (2) competitive bidding requirements to sales of timber from the Forest.

Removes a provision: (1) giving the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon jurisdiction over certain actions concerning the placement of lands in Coos County and Curry County, Oregon, into trust for the Coquille Tribe and the management of the Coquille Forest; and (2) limiting available remedies to equitable relief, unless otherwise provided for by law.

Date: 2015-03-19
Topic: Public Lands (Public Lands)
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
Jay S. Hammond Wilderness Act

Designates approximately 2,600,000 acres of National Wilderness Preservation System land in the Lake Clark National Park and Preserve in Alaska as the "Jay S. Hammond Wilderness Area."

Date: 2015-03-26
Topic: Public Lands (Public Lands)
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
American Mineral Security Act of 2015

 This bill amends the National Materials and Minerals Policy, Research and Development Act of 1980 to direct the President to: (1) establish an analytical and forecasting capability for identifying critical mineral market factors so as to avoid supply shortages, mitigate price volatility, and prepare for demand growth and other market shifts; and (2) encourage federal agencies to facilitate development and production of domestic resources to meet national critical material and minerals needs.

The Director of the U.S. Geological Survey (Director) shall publish in the Federal Register a methodology for determining which minerals qualify as critical minerals, and review it at least every two years.

The Director is also required, within four years after enactment of this Act, to complete a comprehensive national assessment of each critical mineral.

Both the Bureau of Land Management of the Department of the Interior and the Forest Service of the Department of Agricultureshall: (1) complete federal permitting and review processes governing critical mineral production on federal land with maximum efficiency and effectiveness, and (2) report to Congress on additional measures and implementation options.

 Prescribes a Federal Register notice process for the issuance of a critical mineral exploration or mine permit.

The Department of Energy shall conduct research and development to promote: (1) the production, use, and recycling of critical minerals throughout the supply chain; and (2) develop alternatives to critical minerals that do not occur in significant abundance in the United States.

The Director shall publish an annual report that includes, as part of the Mineral Commodity Summaries, a comprehensive review of critical mineral production, consumption, and recycling patterns.

The Department of Labor (DOL) must assess the domestic availability of technically trained personnel with the necessary skillset for critical mineral activities.

The Director and the DOL shall jointly arrange with the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering to coordinate with the National Science Foundation on a study to design an interdisciplinary program on critical minerals that will support the critical mineral supply chain and increase domestic critical mineral development.

The Director and the DOL shall also jointly conduct a competitive grant program for institutions of higher education to implement integrated critical mineral education, training, and workforce development programs.

The National Critical Materials Act of 1984 is repealed.

Date: 2015-03-26
Topic: Public Lands (Public Lands)
Subject: Energy
Eastern Nevada Land Implementation Improvement Act

 Amends the Lincoln County Land Act of 2000 (the Act) to require implementation of a multispecies habitat conservation plan in Lincoln County, Nevada.

Amends the Act and the Lincoln County Conservation, Recreation, and Development Act of 2004 to make certain amounts available for comprehensive, cost-effective, and multijurisdictional hazardous fuels reduction projects and wildfire prevention planning (particularly for pinyon-juniper dominated landscapes) and other rangeland and woodland restoration projects within the county, consistent with the Ely Resource Management Plan and subject to approval by the Department of the Interior.

Requires establishment of cooperative agreements between the Bureau of Land Management and Lincoln County for certain county-provided law enforcement and planning related activities.

Requires the use of a portion of proceeds from land sales under both Acts for the Lincoln County Regional Development Authority or any other county economic development organization.

Excludes specified public land within certain utility corridors in Lincoln and Clark Counties, Nevada, from being withdrawn from public land, mining, and mineral leasing and geothermal leasing laws.

Amends the Pam White Wilderness Act to adjust the boundary of the Mt. Moriah Wilderness to include specified lands. Adjusts the boundary of the High Schells Wilderness to include and exclude specified lands.

Amends the Nevada Wilderness Protection Act of 1989 to adjust the boundary of the Arc Dome Wilderness to exclude specified land.

Amends the Mesquite Lands Act of 1988 to require the proceeds of the sales of certain parcels of land by Interior to the city of Mesquite, Nevada, to be made available for use for the development and implementation of a conservation plan to benefit fish and wildlife species of the Virgin River in Clark County (rather than, as currently, for development of a multispecies habitat conservation plan).

Date: 2015-04-15
Topic: Public Lands (Public Lands)
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
Target Practice and Marksmanship Training Support Act 

 This bill amends the Pittman-Robertson Wildlife Restoration Act to facilitate the construction and expansion of public target ranges by: (1) authorizing a state to pay up to 90% of the costs of acquiring land for, expanding, or constructing a public target range; (2) authorizing a state to elect to allocate 10% of a specified amount apportioned to it from the federal aid to wildlife restoration fund for those costs; (3) limiting the federal share of those costs under such Act to 90%; and (4) requiring amounts provided for those costs under such Act to remain available for expenditure and obligation for five fiscal years.

The United States shall be shielded from any civil action or claim for money damages for injury to or loss of property, personal injury, or death caused by an activity occurring at a public target range that is funded by the federal government pursuant to such Act or located on federal land, except to the extent provided under the Federal Tort Claims Act with respect to the exercise or performance of a discretionary function.

The bill urges the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management to cooperate with state and local authorities and other entities to carry out waste removal and other activities on any federal land used as a public target range to encourage its continued use for target practice or marksmanship training.

Date: 2015-04-16
Topic: Public Lands (Public Lands)
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
Prescribed Burn Approval Act of 2015

Bars any federal agency from authorizing a prescribed burn on federal land if, for the county or contiguous county in which the federal land is located, the grassland fire danger index indicates a high, very high, or extreme danger of grassland fire or the Forest Service has declared a very high or extreme fire danger, unless the agency obtains prior approval from the applicable state government and local fire officials.

Makes a federal agency that authorizes a prescribed burn liable for any damage to private property, notwithstanding the Federal Tort Claims Act or any state law.

Date: 2015-04-27
Topic: Public Lands (Public Lands)
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
National Forest System Trails Stewardship Act

 Directs the Department of Agriculture (USDA) to publish a national strategy to significantly increase the role of volunteers and partners in trail maintenance.

Requires the strategy to: (1) augment and support the capabilities of federal employees to carry out or contribute to trail maintenance; (2) provide opportunities for volunteers and partners to carry out trail maintenance in each region of the Forest Service; (3) address the barriers to increased volunteerism and partnerships; (4) prioritize increased volunteerism and partnerships in those regions with the most severe trail maintenance needs, and where backlogs are jeopardizing access to national forest lands; and (5) aim to increase trail maintenance by volunteers and partners by 100% within 5 years.

Directs USDA to study opportunities to improve trail maintenance by addressing opportunities to use fire crews in trail maintenance activities.

Deems a volunteer with a partner organization to be considered a federal employee for the purposes of civil claims relating to damage to, or loss of, personal property of a volunteer incident to volunteer services.

Sets forth provisions for the selection of priority areas for increased trail maintenance accomplishments.

Directs USDA to establish a pilot program to offset all or part of the land use fee for outfitting and guiding permits.

Date: 2015-04-28
Topic: Public Lands (Public Lands)
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
Red River Private Property Protection Act

 Declares that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) of the Department of the Interior disclaims any right, title, and interest to certain lands along a stretch of the Red River between Texas and Oklahoma (the affected area) located south of the South Bank boundary line.

Directs the BLM, in identifying the current South Bank boundary line along the affected area, to commission a new survey that: (1) adheres to the gradient boundary survey method, (2) spans the entire length of the affected area, (3) is conducted by Licensed State Land Surveyors chosen by the Texas General Land Office, and (4) is completed within two years of enactment of this Act. Requires submission of the survey to the Texas General Land Office for approval.

Permits a private property owner who holds, right, title, or interest in the affected area, after the survey is completed and approved, to appeal public domain claims by the BLM to an Administrative Law Judge.

Instructs the BLM to:

 ensure that no parcels of land in the affected area are treated as federal land for the purpose of any resource management plan until the survey has been completed and approved and the parcel is no longer subject to further appeal, and, subsequently, offer any remaining identified federal lands for disposal by competitive sale for at least fair market value. Requires the BLM to submit to Congress a list of identified federal lands that have not been sold and the reasons why.

Date: 2015-04-30
Topic: Public Lands (Public Lands)
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
Public Lands Service Corps Act of 2015

 Amends the Public Lands Corps Act of 1993 to rename: (1) the Public Lands Corps Act of 1993 as the Public Lands Service Corps Act of 1993, and (2) the Public Lands Corps as the Public Lands Service Corps (the Corps).

 Establishes the Corps in the Department of Commerce (as well as in the Department of Agriculture and the Department of the Interior, as under current law).

Requires: (1) establishment of a department-level office within the Department of the Interior, Forest Service, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for the coordination of Corps activities; and (2) designation of a Corps coordinator for each agency within the Departments of the Interior, of Agriculture, and of Commerce that administers such activities. Establishes an Indian Youth Service Corps liaison.

Permits the enrollment of resource assistants and consulting interns. Sets a maximum enrollment term of two years.

Requires a recruitment program for the Corps.

Instructs the Department concerned, for purposes of training, to take into account training already received by Corps participants enrolled from qualified youth or conservation corps.

Describes the types of natural and cultural resources conservation projects that may be carried out by the Corps.

Authorizes the Corps to provide certain visitor and interpretation services.

Authorizes each Department to make: (1) arrangements for temporary housing for Corps participants in conservation centers, and (2) individual placements of consulting interns to perform management analysis activities for agencies under the Department's jurisdiction carrying out appropriate natural and cultural resources conservation projects.

Authorizes cooperative agreements and competitive grants for Indian tribes and qualified youth or conservation corps to establish Indian Youth Service Corps programs.

Requires the Secretary to issue management guidelines for programs of the Corps.

Revises requirements for: (1) participant living allowances to include certain travel costs; and (2) noncompetitive hiring status to cover Indian Youth Service Corps participants, resource assistants, and consulting interns.

Removes resource assistants from eligibility for national service educational awards.

Date: 2015-04-30
Topic: Public Lands (Public Lands)
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
Federal Land Access Act

This bill amends the Mineral Leasing Act, with respect to rights-of-way for pipelines through federal lands, to redefine federal lands, for purposes of granting an application for a natural gas pipeline right-of-way, to mean all lands owned by the United States, except only those lands held in trust for an Indian or Indian tribe and lands on the outer Continental Shelf.

The exception for the National Park System is repealed, thereby authorizing the Secretary of the Interior to grant natural gas pipeline rights-of-way on National Park System land.

Date: 2015-05-05
Topic: Public Lands (Public Lands)
Subject: Energy
Federal Land Asset Inventory Reform Act of 2015 

 Directs the Department of the Interior to develop and maintain a current, accurate multipurpose cadastre of federal real property (an inventory of real property of the federal government) to assist with federal land management activities, including resource development and conservation, agricultural use, active forest management, environmental protection, and use of real property. Authorizes Interior to enter into cost-sharing agreements with states to include any nonfederal land in a state in such cadastre. Limits the federal share of any such agreement to 50% of the total cost to a state for the development of the cadastre of the nonfederal land in the state.

Requires Interior to submit a report, covering all cadastres and inventories authorized, operated, or maintained by all executive agencies, on: (1) existing real property inventories or any components of any cadastre, (2) consolidation of inventories and components, (3) the use of existing inventories and components of any cadastre, (4) cost savings that will be achieved, and (5) recommendations for legislation.

 Requires Interior to: (1) make the cadastre required under this Act available on the Internet in a graphically geoenabled and searchable format; (2) ensure that the inventory required under this Act includes the identification of all lands and parcels suitable for disposal by resource management plans conducted under the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976; and (3) prevent the disclosure of the identity of any one or more parcels of land, buildings or facilities on the parcels or information related to those parcels, if this would impair or jeopardize national security or homeland defense.

Date: 2015-05-06
Topic: Public Lands (Public Lands)
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
American Helium Production Act of 2015 

This bill amends the Mineral Leasing Act to permit the Department of the Interior to lease federal land for helium exploration, development, and production under substantially the same terms and conditions as federal land is leased for oil and gas exploration, development, and production.

Any lease issued for gas exploration or development in effect grants the lessee a right of first refusal to engage in helium exploration and production on land subject to the lease under the Mineral Leasing Act as well as under the Mineral Leasing Act for Acquired Lands.

The Department shall collect a $5,000 permit processing fee per application at the time the final decision is made whether to issue a permit to drill under a helium lease.

The Bureau of Land Management must prepare a programmatic environmental impact statement for an agencywide helium exploration and development program.

Date: 2015-05-06
Topic: Public Lands (Public Lands)
Subject: Energy
Arapaho National Forest Boundary Adjustment Act of 2015

 Adjusts the boundary of the Arapaho National Forest in Colorado to incorporate approximately 92.95 acres of land generally depicted as 'The Wedge" on the map entitled "Arapaho National Forest Boundary Adjustment" and identified as lots 3,4, 8, and 9 of section 13.

Permits such a lot to be included in the boundary adjustment only after the Department of Agriculture (USDA) obtains written permission from the lot owner or owners.

Requires the USDA to include all federal land within the boundary in the Bowen Gulch Protection Area established under the Colorado Wilderness Act of 1993.

Date: 2015-05-12
Topic: Public Lands (Public Lands)
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
Amends federal law authorizing Rockingham County, Virginia, to use specified land transferred by the United States for a child care center to remove that use restriction.

Date: 2015-05-13
Topic: Public Lands (Public Lands)
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
This bill identifies specified mining claims in Alaska that qualify for certain relief under the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993, and, accordingly, grants claimholders the opportunity to cure defects affecting such claims with respect to any prior period during which: (1) either the defects existed, or (2) there was a failure to pay claim maintenance fees.

Date: 2015-05-20
Topic: Public Lands (Public Lands)
Subject: Energy
Land Management Workforce Flexibility Act

Makes an employee of a land management agency serving under a time-limited appointment in the competitive service eligible to compete for a permanent appointment in the agency or any other agency if: (1) the original appointment was competitive, (2) the employee has served under one or more time-limited appointments totaling more than 24 months without a break of two or more years, and (3) the employee's performance has been at an acceptable level.

Date: 2015-06-08
Topic: Public Lands (Public Lands)
Subject: Government operations and politics
Land Management Workforce Flexibility Act of 2015

Makes an employee of a land management agency serving under a time-limited appointment in the competitive service eligible to compete for a permanent appointment in the agency or any other agency if: (1) the original appointment was competitive, (2) the employee has served under one or more time-limited appointments totaling more than 24 months without a break of two or more years, and (3) the employee's performance has been at an acceptable level.

Date: 2015-06-17
Topic: Public Lands (Public Lands)
Subject: Government operations and politics
(This measure has not been amended since it was introduced. The summary of that version is repeated here.)

Amends the Northern Arizona Land Exchange and Verde River Basin Partnership Act of 2005 to include as "certain land located within the Kaibab National Forest" to be conveyed to the Yavapai Ranch Limited Partnership approximately 25 acres of land at the Gila and Salt River Meridian, Coconino County.

Date: 2015-06-17
Topic: Public Lands (Public Lands)
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
National Forest Foundation Reauthorization Act of 2015 

This bill amends the National Forest Foundation Act to authorize the Department of Agriculture to provide for each of FY2016-FY2018 matching funds for certain administrative and project expenses incurred by the National Forest Foundation.

Date: 2015-06-24
Topic: Public Lands (Public Lands)
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
National Forest Ecosystem Improvement Act of 2015

This bill directs the Department of Agriculture (USDA), acting through the Forest Service, to identify, prioritize, and carry out ecosystem restoration projects on National Forest System land in accordance with applicable land and resource management plans, if any, to accomplish one or more of the following objectives:

 restore terrestrial habitat; sustain water quality, water flows, or watershed health and function; create, improve, or increase early seral habitat; carry out a needed timber stand improvement; reduce the risk or extent of insect or disease infestation; reduce wildland fire severity potential; implement a community wildfire protection plan; or establish, recover, or maintain ecosystem resiliency. USDA may not carry out an ecosystem restoration project on any area of System land in the National Wilderness Preservation System or on which removal of vegetation is prohibited by law.

USDA must accomplish restoration treatments throughout the National Forest System on 1 million acres using certain mechanical treatment methods and on another 1 million acres using prescribed fire.

USDA shall prepare an environmental assessment in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) for each ecosystem restoration project that accomplishes one or more objectives of this Act.

USDA shall study, develop, and describe in each ecosystem restoration project both the proposed action and a no-action alternative.

USDA shall establish within the Forest Service an arbitration program as an alternative dispute resolution process in lieu of judicial review for specified types of ecosystem restoration projects.

The judicial review of an action challenging an ecosystem restoration project under this Act shall be subject to specified plaintiff bonding requirements.

A categorical exclusion is made available to USDA for certain forest management activities in order to: (1) expedite specified critical response actions, (2) expedite salvage operations in response to catastrophic events, and (3) meet forest plan goals for early successional forests.

(A "categorical exclusion" under NEPA is a category of actions which do not individually or cumulatively have a significant effect on the human environment and which have been found to have no such effect in procedures adopted by a federal agency in implementing environmental regulations and for which, therefore, neither an Environmental Assessment nor an Environmental Impact Statement is required.)

For each forest management activity covered by a categorical exclusion granted by this title, USDA shall satisfy the interagency consultation obligations under the Endangered Species Act of 1973 by achieving compliance with certain alternative consultation procedures established by federal regulation.

Date: 2015-06-25
Topic: Public Lands (Public Lands)
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
National Forest Small Tracts Act Amendments Act of 2015

 Amends the Small Tract Act of 1983 (the Act) to permit the sale, exchange, or interchange under such Act of National Forest System lands the sale or exchange of which is not practicable under any other authority of the Department of Agriculture (USDA) which have a value determined to be not more than $500,000.

Includes as those lands permitted to be sold, exchanged, or interchanged under the Act:

 parcels of 40 acres or less that are determined to be physically isolated, to be inaccessible, or to have lost their National Forest character; parcels of 10 acres or less which are not eligible for conveyance under such Act, but which are encroached on by a permanent habitable improvement for which there is no evidence that the encroachment was intentional or negligent; or parcels used as a cemetery, a landfill, or a sewage treatment plant under a special use authorization issued by the USDA. Requires any proceeds under this Act to be deposited in the special fund established under the Sisk Act and made available for:

 the acquisition of land or interests in land for administrative sites for the National Forest System (NFS) in the state from which the amounts were derived; the acquisition of land or interests in land for inclusion in the NFS in that state, including those which enhance opportunities for recreational access; the performance of deferred maintenance on administrative sites for the NFS in that state or other deferred maintenance activities in that state which enhance opportunities for recreational access; and the reimbursement of the USDA for costs incurred in preparing a competitive sale conducted under the authority of the Act.

Date: 2015-07-07
Topic: Public Lands (Public Lands)
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest Land Adjustment Act of 2015

Authorizes the Department of Agriculture (USDA) to sell or exchange any or all interest of the United States in 30 tracts of National Forest System land in Georgia totaling approximately 3,841 acres.

Authorizes USDA to reserve any rights-of-way or other rights or interests in land sold or exchanged under this Act that is considered necessary for management purposes or to protect the public interest.

Prohibits USDA from selling or exchanging land under this Act for less than market value, as determined by an appraisal or through a competitive bid.

Requires proceeds to be used for the acquisition of land for national forest purposes in Georgia.

Date: 2015-07-09
Topic: Public Lands (Public Lands)
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
Restoring America's Watersheds Act of 2015

 Directs the Forest Service to establish a Water Source Protection Program for National Forest System land derived from the public domain.

Authorizes the Department of Agriculture (USDA) to enter into water source investment partnerships with specified end water users to protect and restore the condition of National Forest watersheds that provide water to non-federal partners.

Authorizes USDA to produce a water source management plan.

Directs the Forest Service to establish a Watershed Condition Framework for System land derived from the public domain to:

 evaluate and classify the condition of watersheds, identify for restoration up to five priority watersheds in each National Forest and up to two priority watersheds in each national grassland, develop a watershed restoration action plan for each priority watershed, prioritize restoration activities for each watershed restoration action plan, implement each watershed restoration action plan, and monitor the effectiveness of restoration actions and indicators of watershed health. Requires USDA, before awarding a contract funded by the Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Fund, to determine whether the contractor has the ability to complete the proposed restoration activities, including:

 the financial ability to raise the funds necessary, and sufficient capacity to perform the type and scope of those activities. Reauthorizes the Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Fund for each of FY2016-FY2024.

Date: 2015-07-15
Topic: Public Lands (Public Lands)
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
This bill amends the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 to require the Department of the Interior, in developing a comprehensive travel management plan for the land managed by the Bureau of Land Management in Washington County, Utah, to ensure that the plan: (1) designates a northern transportation route in the County that follows the route depicted on the map titled "Washington Parkway," and (2) declares that the route's designation and construction are not subject to additional restrictions or requirements from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Date: 2015-07-15
Topic: Public Lands (Public Lands)
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
Black Hills National Cemetery Boundary Expansion Act

This bill transfers administrative jurisdiction over specified Bureau of Land Management land within Meade County, South Dakota, from the Department of the Interior to the Department of Veterans Affairs for inclusion in the Black Hills National Cemetery in Sturgis, South Dakota.

Upon transfer, the Cemetery's boundary is modified to include such land.

Date: 2015-08-04
Topic: Public Lands (Public Lands)
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
(This measure has not been amended since it was introduced. The summary has been expanded because action occurred on the measure.)

Crags, Colorado Land Exchange Act of 2015

(Sec. 4) This bill directs the Department of Agriculture (USDA), if the Broadmoor Hotel, Inc., (BHI) offers to convey to the USDA 320 acres of specified nonfederal land in the Pike National Forest in Teller County, Colorado, and a permanent trail easement for the Barr Trail in El Paso County, Colorado, to accept the offer and convey to BHI 83 acres of specified federal land within the Forest, together with a non-exclusive perpetual access easement for BHI to and from such land on Forest Service Road 371.

The nonexclusive perpetual access easement granted to BHI shall allow: (1) BHI to fully maintain, at its own expense, and use Forest Service Road 371 from its junction with Forest Service Road 368 in accordance with historic BHI use and maintenance patterns; and (2) full and continued public and administrative access and use of FSR 371 in accordance with the existing Forest Service travel management plan, or as it may be revised by USDA.

(Sec. 5) The USDA shall determine the values of the lands to be exchanged through appraisals following specified requirements. The values shall be equal, or if they are not equal, equalized as prescribed by this Act.

The appraised value of the federal land parcel shall not reflect any increase or diminution in value due to the existing special use permit to BHI on the parcel and its improvements.

The Barr Trail easement donation shall not be appraised for purposes of this Act.

(Sec. 6) The lands acquired by the USDA under this Act shall, without further USDA action, be permanently withdrawn from all forms of appropriation and disposal under the public land laws (including the mining and mineral leasing laws) and the Geothermal Steam Act of 1930, except to the extent necessary to permit the disposal of the federal land parcel to BHI.

The land acquired by the USDA under this Act shall become part of the Pike-San Isabel National Forest.

It is the intent of Congress that the land exchange directed by this Act be completed within one year of this Act's enactment.

Date: 2015-08-05
Topic: Public Lands (Public Lands)
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
(This measure has not been amended since it was introduced. The summary has been expanded because action occurred on the measure.)

Elkhorn Ranch and White River National Forest Conveyance Act of 2015

 (Sec. 2) All interest of the United States in 148 acres of identified land shall be conveyed by patent to the Gordman-Leverich Partnership (GLP), a Colorado Limited Liability Partnership.

 The conveyance: (1) shall be subject to the valid existing rights of the lessee of federal oil and gas lease COC-75070 and any other valid existing rights, and (2) shall reserve to the United States the right to collect rent and royalty payments on such lease for its duration.

 The conveyance must: (1) be completed within 180 days after enactment of this Act; and (2) be without consideration, except that all costs incurred by the Department of the Interior relating to any survey, platting, legal description, or other activities carried out to prepare and issue the patent shall be paid to Interior by GLP before conveyance of the land.

Date: 2015-08-05
Topic: Public Lands (Public Lands)
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
Southern Utah Open OHV Areas Act

This bill directs the Department of the Interior to convey specified land owned and managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in Washington County, Utah, to the state of Utah in exchange for specified state lands.

Upon the conveyance of the nonfederal land to Interior, such land shall be used only:

 as an open riding area for the use of off-highway vehicles; or for any other recreational use that does not significantly impact the open use of such vehicles. Interior shall convey, without consideration, specified Open OHV Areas managed by the BLM to Washington County.

Such conveyed land shall be used primarily as an open riding area for the use of off-highway vehicles or for the construction, maintenance, replacement, or operation of:

 water storage or conveyance facilities; subsurface water recharge facilities; or solar or hydroelectric generation or transmission facilities. Before making such conveyance, Interior shall issue to the Washington County Water Conservancy District or the state:

 a 250-foot right-of-way for the construction, maintenance, repair, and replacement of a buried water conveyance pipeline and the associated construction, operation, and maintenance of subsurface water recharge facilities identified as Pipeline 1; and a 150-foot right-of-way for the construction and maintenance of solar and hydroelectric generation and transmission facilities identified as Transmission Line. Interior shall convey to the District or the state 214.8 acres of the County-conveyed Open OHV Areas land for the construction, operation, maintenance, and repair of a water storage facility and associated facilities identified as "Hurricane Cliffs Afterbay."

Before making the conveyance to the County, Interior shall issue to the District a 200-foot right-of-way for the construction, maintenance, repair, and replacement of a buried water conveyance pipeline in the Sand Hollow Regional Pipeline Corridor identified as Pipe Line 2.

Date: 2015-08-05
Topic: Public Lands (Public Lands)
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
Moapa Band of Paiutes Land Conveyance Act

This bill requires that 25,977 acres in Nevada administered by the Bureau of Land Management and the Bureau of Reclamation be held in trust for the benefit of the Moapa Band of Paiutes and made part of the tribe's reservation.

Gaming is restricted on this land.

Eighty-eight acres held in fee by the tribe must be held in trust for the benefit of the tribe and made part of the tribe's reservation.

Date: 2015-08-05
Topic: Public Lands (Public Lands)
Subject: Native Americans
Outdoor Recreation Legacy Partnership Grant Program Act of 2015

This bill directs the Department of the Interior to establish an outdoor recreation legacy partnership grant program under which Interior awards grants to eligible entities (the states, their political subdivisions, special purpose districts, and Indian Tribes) for projects to: (1) acquire land and water for parks and other outdoor recreation purposes, and (2) develop new or renovate existing outdoor recreation facilities.

As a condition for receiving a grant, an eligible entity shall provide matching funds in cash or in kind equal to 100% of the amounts available under the grant.

A grant recipient may use the grant to acquire land or water providing outdoor recreation opportunities to the public.

A grant may also be used to develop or renovate outdoor recreational facilities, with priority given to projects that:

 create or significantly enhance access to park and recreational opportunities in an urban neighborhood or community; engage and empower underserved communities and youth; provide opportunities for youth employment or job training; establish or expand public-private partnerships; take advantage of coordination among various levels of government. Grant funds may not be used for specified costs, facilities, and activities, including the acquisition of lands or interests that restrict access to particular persons.

Date: 2015-08-05
Topic: Public Lands (Public Lands)
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
(This measure has not been amended since it was introduced. The summary has been expanded because action occurred on the measure.)

(Sec. 1) This bill directs the Department of the Interior to convey, without consideration, to SEND North in Anchorage, Alaska, the reversionary interests of the United States in and to a specified area of 210 acres located in the city of Glennallen and owned by SEND North for the purpose of unencumbering its title and enabling its economic development.

Date: 2015-09-09
Topic: Public Lands (Public Lands)
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
American Soda Ash Competitiveness Act

 Sets at 2%, for a five-year period, the royalty rate on the quantity or gross value of the output of sodium compounds and related products at the point of shipment to market from federal land.

Date: 2015-09-15
Topic: Public Lands (Public Lands)
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
Mount Hood Cooper Spur Land Exchange Clarification Act

(Sec. 2) This bill amends the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 to revise details of the Cooper Spur-Government Camp land exchange between the United States and Oregon.

After the final appraised value of the federal and nonfederal lands is determined and approved by Department of Agriculture (USDA), the USDA shall not be required to reappraise or update such value for a period of up to three years, unless the condition of any of the lands is significantly and substantially altered by fire, windstorm, or other events.

It is the intent of Congress that the land exchange be completed within one year of this Act's enactment.

Conveyance conditions are revised regarding reservation of a conservation easement for the protection of an identified wetland, reservation of a nonexclusive trail easement, and equalization of values of the exchange properties.

Date: 2015-09-22
Topic: Public Lands (Public Lands)
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
Elimination of Double Subsidies for the Hardrock Mining Industry Act of 2015

 This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to disallow the percentage depletion allowance for hardrock mines located on land currently subject to the general mining laws, or on land patented under such laws.

Date: 2015-10-07
Topic: Public Lands (Public Lands)
Subject: Taxation
Timber Revitalization and Economic Enhancement Act of 2015

This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code, with respect to the reduced tax rate on the net timber gains of corporations, to: (1) adjust the formula for calculating such rate, and (2) make such reduced rate permanent.

Date: 2015-10-08
Topic: Public Lands (Public Lands)
Subject: Taxation
Federal Land Transaction Facilitation Act Reauthorization of 2015

Amends the Federal Land Transaction Facilitation Act (FLTFA) to reauthorize and make permanent the program for the completion of appraisals and satisfaction of other legal requirements for the sale or exchange of public land identified for disposal in approved land use plans under the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976.

Makes the FLTFA inapplicable to land eligible for sale under specified public land laws.

Date: 2015-10-21
Topic: Public Lands (Public Lands)
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
Black Hills National Cemetery Boundary Expansion Act 

(Sec. 3) This bill transfers jurisdiction over approximately 200 acres of Bureau of Land Management land from the Department of the Interior to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for inclusion in the Black Hills National Cemetery, South Dakota.

The VA shall reimburse Interior for reasonable transfer costs, including survey costs.

 The cemetery's boundary is modified to include such federal land.

For the period such land is under the administrative jurisdiction of the VA, it shall be withdrawn from all forms of appropriation under the public land laws, including the mining laws, the mineral leasing laws, and the geothermal leasing laws.

Date: 2015-10-29
Topic: Public Lands (Public Lands)
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
Hardrock Mining and Reclamation Act of 2015

This bill prohibits the United States from issuing a patent for any mining claim, millsite, or tunnel site located unless a patent application meeting all applicable requirements was filed with the Department of the Interior by September 30, 1994.

The holder of each unpatented mining claim, millsite, or tunnel site shall pay Interior a maintenance fee of $150 for each claim, millsite, or tunnel site, as well as a location fee of $50.

Any claimholder failing to perform assessment work or fee a maintenance fee shall forfeit the claim, millsite, or tunnel site.

Production of all locatable minerals from any mining claim shall be subject to a reasonable royalty established by Interior of between 2% and 5% of the gross income from mining for production of all locatable minerals, which may be reduced in certain circumstances.

Interior shall establish a comprehensive inspection, collection, fiscal, and production accounting and auditing system

The bill prescribes requirements for exploration permits and mining permits.

Any mining operator shall provide Interior with specified financial assurances to ensure the completion of reclamation and the restoration of any land or water adversely affected by the mineral activities.

The operator shall restore land and water subject to mineral activities carried out under a permit to a condition capable of supporting:

 the uses that the land and water was capable of supporting before surface disturbance by the operator; or other beneficial uses that conform to applicable land use plans. The Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 is amended to require Interior, for land under the Bureau of Land Management, and the Department of Agriculture, for National Forest System land, to review specified public lands, especially federal land in which mineral activities pose a reasonable likelihood of substantial adverse impacts on National Conservation System units, to inform decisions on withdrawal of land from mining operations.

The bill establishes the Hardrock Minerals Reclamation Fund, administered by the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, for the reclamation and restoration of land and water resources adversely affected by past hardrock minerals and mining and related activities in abandoned hardrock mine states and on Indian land.

Each operator of a hardrock minerals mining operation shall pay, for deposit in the Fund, a reclamation fee of between 0.6% and 2% of the value of the annual production from the operation.

The bill prescribes civil penalties for violation of surface management or operation requirements and related regulations.

Date: 2015-11-05
Topic: Public Lands (Public Lands)
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
Catastrophic Wildfire Prevention Act of 2015 

 Directs the Department of Agriculture (USDA), with respect to National Forest System lands, and the Department of the Interior, with respect to public lands, to implement authorized wildfire prevention projects in at-risk forests and on threatened and endangered species habitat in a manner that focuses on surface, ladder, and canopy fuels reduction activities.

Requires projects carried out on threatened and endangered species habitat to: (1) provide enhanced protection from wildfire, including catastrophic wildfire, for the endangered species, threatened species, or their habitat; and (2) comply with applicable recovery plan guidelines.

Requires projects carried out in at-risk forests to move the federal land from condition class II or III toward condition class I, as those classes were developed by the Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station in a specified general technical report.

Permits use in a project of: (1) domestic livestock grazing to reduce surface fuel loads and to recover burned areas; and (2) timber harvesting and thinning to reduce ladder and canopy fuel loads for the prevention of wildfire, including catastrophic wildfires.

Directs USDA and Interior to review public petitions for, and make determinations with respect to, the designation of federal lands as at-risk forests or as threatened and endangered species habitats.

Requires notice in the Federal Register of proposed projects and final designated projects and permits public comment on projects as specified.

Instructs USDA and Interior to prepare an environmental assessment for projects that include timber harvesting or grazing.

Instructs USDA and Interior to research what impact any listing of a species under the Endangered Species Act of 1973 would have on both forage and timber forest fuel loads. Requires endangered species recovery plans and critical habitat determinations to include a wildfire risk assessment analysis.

Date: 2015-11-17
Topic: Public Lands (Public Lands)
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
Udall Park Land Exchange Completion Act of 2015

This bill directs the Department of the Interior to convey, without consideration, to the city of Tucson, Arizona, the reversionary interest of the United States in and to an approximately 172.8-acre parcel of land owned by the city for the purpose of unencumbering the title to such land to enable its economic development.

Date: 2015-12-09
Topic: Public Lands (Public Lands)
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
RPPA Commercial Recreation Concessions Pilot Program Act of 2015

This bill amends the Recreation and Public Purposes Act to direct the Department of the Interior to establish a pilot program that authorizes commercial recreation concessions on land patented or leased under the Act.

Interior shall enter into at least 10 agreements with parties to whom such land has been patented or leased for the establishment of these concessions.

A party to such an agreement may enter into agreements with third parties to establish such concessions.

Date: 2015-12-09
Topic: Public Lands (Public Lands)
Subject: Public lands and natural resources