I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 197
To provide for a land exchange in the Chippewa National Forest, Minnesota,
and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY3, 2025
Mr. S
TAUBER(for himself and Mr. FINSTAD) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources
A BILL
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
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Lake Winnibigoshish 4
Land Exchange Act of 2025’’. 5
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 6
In this Act: 7
(1) BWLT.—The term ‘‘BWLT’’ means Big 8
Winnie Land and Timber, LLC, a Minnesota Lim-9
ited Liability Corporation. 10
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(2) MAP.—The term ‘‘Map’’ means the map en-1
titled ‘‘Heig Land Exchange’’ and dated December 2
14, 2023. 3
(3) F
EDERAL LAND.—The term ‘‘Federal land’’ 4
means the approximately 17.5 acres of Federal land 5
in Itasca County, Minnesota, generally depicted as 6
the ‘‘Federal Parcel’’ on the Map. 7
(4) N
ON-FEDERAL LAND.—The term ‘‘non-Fed-8
eral land’’ means the approximately 36.7 acres of 9
non-Federal land in Itasca County, Minnesota, gen-10
erally depicted as the ‘‘Non-Federal Parcel’’ on the 11
Map. 12
(5) S
ECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 13
the Secretary of Agriculture, acting through the 14
Chief of the Forest Service. 15
SEC. 3. EXCHANGE OF LAND. 16
(a) E
XCHANGEAUTHORIZED.—Subject to the provi-17
sions of this Act, if BWLT offers to convey the non-Fed-18
eral land to the United States, the Secretary shall, not 19
later than 1 year after the date on which such offer is 20
made— 21
(1) accept the offer; 22
(2) convey to BWLT all right, title, and inter-23
est of the United States in and to the Federal land, 24
excepting and reserving an easement for road access 25
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to National Forest System land west of the Federal 1
Parcel; and 2
(3) accept from BWLT all right, title, and in-3
terest of BWLT in and to the non-Federal land. 4
(b) R
EQUIREMENTS.—The exchange under sub-5
section (a) shall be— 6
(1) conditioned on title approval for the non- 7
Federal land by the Secretary in accordance with 8
subsection (e); 9
(2) conditioned on a cash equalization payment 10
made by BWLT to the United States in accordance 11
with subsection (c) if, under the appraisals con-12
ducted in accordance with this Act, it is determined 13
that the value of the Federal land exceeds the value 14
of the non-Federal land; 15
(3) conditioned on the satisfactory completion 16
of a Phase I Environmental Site Assessment by 17
BWLT, provided to the Secretary, in advance of the 18
acceptance of the non-Federal parcel; 19
(4) subject to valid existing rights; and 20
(5) subject to any other terms and conditions 21
the Secretary determines appropriate. 22
(c) E
QUALVALUE ANDCASHEQUALIZATION.— 23
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Except as provided in para-24
graph (2), the exchange under subsection (a) shall 25
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be for equal value or the values shall be equalized 1
by a cash payment. 2
(2) E
XCEPTION.—Notwithstanding any other 3
provision of law, if the appraised value of the non- 4
Federal land to be conveyed to the United States ex-5
ceeds the appraised value of the Federal land, a cash 6
equalization payment by the United States to 7
BWLT is hereby waived and the amount of such 8
waived payment shall be considered a donation by 9
BWLT to the United States for all purposes of law. 10
(d) A
PPRAISALS.— 11
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The value of the land to be 12
exchanged under this Act shall be determined by ap-13
praisals conducted by an independent and qualified 14
appraiser mutually agreed to by the Secretary and 15
BWLT. 16
(2) A
PPRAISAL STANDARDS .—The Secretary 17
shall complete appraisals of the land to be ex-18
changed under this Act in accordance with— 19
(A) the Uniform Appraisal Standards for 20
Federal Land Acquisitions; and 21
(B) the Uniform Standards of Professional 22
Appraisal Practice. 23
(e) F
ORMAT.—Title to the non-Federal land to be 24
conveyed to the United States under this Act shall be 25
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found sufficient by the Secretary pursuant to section 3111 1
of title 40, United States Code. 2
(f) M
ANAGEMENT OF ACQUIREDLAND.—The non- 3
Federal land acquired by the United States under sub-4
section (a) shall be— 5
(1) added to, and managed as part of, the 6
Chippewa National Forest; and 7
(2) managed in accordance with the laws, rules, 8
and regulations pertaining to National Forest Sys-9
tem lands. 10
(g) M
AP ANDLEGALDESCRIPTIONS.— 11
(1) I
N GENERAL.—As soon as practicable after 12
the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary 13
shall finalize the Map and legal descriptions of all 14
land to be conveyed under this Act. 15
(2) C
ONTROLLING DOCUMENT .—In the case of 16
a discrepancy between the Map and a legal descrip-17
tion, the Map shall control. 18
(3) C
ORRECTIONS.—The Secretary and BWLT, 19
by mutual agreement, may correct any minor errors 20
in the Map or in the legal descriptions, including 21
with respect to the boundaries of the Federal land 22
and the non-Federal land. 23
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(4) MAP ON FILE.—The Map and legal descrip-1
tions shall be on file and available for public inspec-2
tion in appropriate offices of the Forest Service. 3
(h) C
LOSINGCOSTS.—As a condition for the ex-4
change under subsection (a), BWLT shall pay all closing 5
costs associated with the exchange, including for— 6
(1) title insurance and title search; 7
(2) any applicable inspection fees, escrow fees, 8
attorneys fees, and recording fees; and 9
(3) any environmental analysis or resource sur-10
vey required under Federal law, regulation, or pol-11
icy, including a Phase I Environmental Site Assess-12
ment of the non-Federal land. 13
(i) S
URVEY.— 14
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The exact acreages and legal 15
descriptions of the Federal and non-Federal land to 16
be exchanged under subsection (a) shall be deter-17
mined by surveys satisfactory to the Secretary. 18
(2) C
OSTS OF SURVEY.—BWLT shall bear all 19
costs associated with the surveys under paragraph 20
(1). 21
Æ
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