119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 197
AN ACT
To provide for a land exchange in the Chippewa National
Forest, Minnesota, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 2
•HR 197 EH
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Lake Winnibigoshish 2
Land Exchange Act of 2025’’. 3
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 4
In this Act: 5
(1) BWLT.—The term ‘‘BWLT’’ means Big 6
Winnie Land and Timber, LLC, a Minnesota Lim-7
ited Liability Corporation. 8
(2) M
AP.—The term ‘‘Map’’ means the map en-9
titled ‘‘Heig Land Exchange’’ and dated December 10
14, 2023. 11
(3) F
EDERAL LAND.—The term ‘‘Federal land’’ 12
means the approximately 17.5 acres of Federal land 13
in Itasca County, Minnesota, generally depicted as 14
the ‘‘Federal Parcel’’ on the Map. 15
(4) N
ON-FEDERAL LAND.—The term ‘‘non-Fed-16
eral land’’ means the approximately 36.7 acres of 17
non-Federal land in Itasca County, Minnesota, gen-18
erally depicted as the ‘‘Non-Federal Parcel’’ on the 19
Map. 20
(5) S
ECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 21
the Secretary of Agriculture, acting through the 22
Chief of the Forest Service. 23
SEC. 3. EXCHANGE OF LAND. 24
(a) E
XCHANGEAUTHORIZED.—Subject to the provi-25
sions of this Act, if BWLT offers to convey the non-Fed-26 3
•HR 197 EH
eral land to the United States, the Secretary shall, not 1
later than 1 year after the date on which such offer is 2
made— 3
(1) accept the offer; 4
(2) convey to BWLT all right, title, and inter-5
est of the United States in and to the Federal land, 6
excepting and reserving an easement for road access 7
to National Forest System land west of the Federal 8
Parcel; and 9
(3) accept from BWLT all right, title, and in-10
terest of BWLT in and to the non-Federal land. 11
(b) R
EQUIREMENTS.—The exchange under sub-12
section (a) shall be— 13
(1) conditioned on title approval for the non- 14
Federal land by the Secretary in accordance with 15
subsection (e); 16
(2) conditioned on a cash equalization payment 17
made by BWLT to the United States in accordance 18
with subsection (c) if, under the appraisals con-19
ducted in accordance with this Act, it is determined 20
that the value of the Federal land exceeds the value 21
of the non-Federal land; 22
(3) conditioned on the satisfactory completion 23
of a Phase I Environmental Site Assessment by 24 4
•HR 197 EH
BWLT, provided to the Secretary, in advance of the 1
acceptance of the non-Federal parcel; 2
(4) subject to valid existing rights; and 3
(5) subject to any other terms and conditions 4
the Secretary determines appropriate. 5
(c) E
QUALVALUE ANDCASHEQUALIZATION.— 6
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Except as provided in para-7
graph (2), the exchange under subsection (a) shall 8
be for equal value or the values shall be equalized 9
by a cash payment. 10
(2) E
XCEPTION.—Notwithstanding any other 11
provision of law, if the appraised value of the non- 12
Federal land to be conveyed to the United States ex-13
ceeds the appraised value of the Federal land, a cash 14
equalization payment by the United States to 15
BWLT is hereby waived and the amount of such 16
waived payment shall be considered a donation by 17
BWLT to the United States for all purposes of law. 18
(d) A
PPRAISALS.— 19
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The value of the land to be 20
exchanged under this Act shall be determined by ap-21
praisals conducted by an independent and qualified 22
appraiser mutually agreed to by the Secretary and 23
BWLT. 24 5
•HR 197 EH
(2) APPRAISAL STANDARDS .—The Secretary 1
shall complete appraisals of the land to be ex-2
changed under this Act in accordance with— 3
(A) the Uniform Appraisal Standards for 4
Federal Land Acquisitions; and 5
(B) the Uniform Standards of Professional 6
Appraisal Practice. 7
(e) F
ORMAT.—Title to the non-Federal land to be 8
conveyed to the United States under this Act shall be 9
found sufficient by the Secretary pursuant to section 3111 10
of title 40, United States Code. 11
(f) M
ANAGEMENT OF ACQUIREDLAND.—The non- 12
Federal land acquired by the United States under sub-13
section (a) shall be— 14
(1) added to, and managed as part of, the 15
Chippewa National Forest; and 16
(2) managed in accordance with the laws, rules, 17
and regulations pertaining to National Forest Sys-18
tem lands. 19
(g) M
AP ANDLEGALDESCRIPTIONS.— 20
(1) I
N GENERAL.—As soon as practicable after 21
the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary 22
shall finalize the Map and legal descriptions of all 23
land to be conveyed under this Act. 24 6
•HR 197 EH
(2) CONTROLLING DOCUMENT .—In the case of 1
a discrepancy between the Map and a legal descrip-2
tion, the Map shall control. 3
(3) C
ORRECTIONS.—The Secretary and BWLT, 4
by mutual agreement, may correct any minor errors 5
in the Map or in the legal descriptions, including 6
with respect to the boundaries of the Federal land 7
and the non-Federal land. 8
(4) M
AP ON FILE.—The Map and legal descrip-9
tions shall be on file and available for public inspec-10
tion in appropriate offices of the Forest Service. 11
(h) C
LOSINGCOSTS.—As a condition for the ex-12
change under subsection (a), BWLT shall pay all closing 13
costs associated with the exchange, including for— 14
(1) title insurance and title search; 15
(2) any applicable inspection fees, escrow fees, 16
attorneys fees, and recording fees; and 17
(3) any environmental analysis or resource sur-18
vey required under Federal law, regulation, or pol-19
icy, including a Phase I Environmental Site Assess-20
ment of the non-Federal land. 21
(i) S
URVEY.— 22
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The exact acreages and legal 23
descriptions of the Federal and non-Federal land to 24 7
•HR 197 EH
be exchanged under subsection (a) shall be deter-1
mined by surveys satisfactory to the Secretary. 2
(2) C
OSTS OF SURVEY.—BWLT shall bear all 3
costs associated with the surveys under paragraph 4
(1). 5
Passed the House of Representatives January 21,
2025.
Attest:
Clerk. 119
TH
CONGRESS
1
ST
S
ESSION
H. R. 197
AN ACT
To provide for a land exchange in the Chippewa
National Forest, Minnesota, and for other pur-
poses.