Testimony
Statement of
Gloria Manning
Associate Deputy
Chief, National Forest System
Forest Service
United States
Department of Agriculture
Before the
Subcommittee
on National Parks, Recreation, and Public Lands
Committee on
Resources
United States House of Representatives
on
April 8, 2003
Concerning
H.R. 272 Convey
Land to Lander County, Nevada for Cemetery
Use
Mr. Chairman and members of the Subcommittee,
thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today.
I am Gloria Manning, Associate Deputy Chief for National Forest System,
USDA Forest
Service. I am here today to provide the Department’s
views on H.R. 272, a bill to direct the Secretary of Agriculture to convey certain
lands to Lander County, Nevada.
H.R. 272 - Convey certain land to Lander
County, Nevada for continued use as a cemetery
In
summary, Section 1 of H.R. 272
requires the Secretary through the Chief of the Forest Service to convey to
Lander County, Nevada, for no consideration, all
right, title, and interest of the United States in and to the 10 acres of
National Forest System land known as Kingston Cemetery.
In
accordance with Public Law 85-569, the Townsite Act, we have already conveyed 1.25 acres of land (on which the cemetery is located) to the Town of Kingston for $500 on August 1, 2000. At the time
of the conveyance, the Town of Kingston indicated the 1.25 acres encompassed
all known marked and unmarked gravesites. The Town of Kingston also indicated that the 1.25
acres was adequate to accommodate their future expansion needs. Specifically, all of the gravesites were accounted
for within a half acre fenced area that the 1.25 acres encompassed.
The additional .75 acres were intended for parking and anticipated expansion
of the current cemetery.
If new unmarked gravesites
have been discovered or the needs of the Kingston
Cemetery have changed and are in
the public interest, we would be supportive of making additional Federal lands
available to the county or city for fair market value and granting the county
an easement to maintain the access road to the cemetery as a county road.
If
Lander County is not willing to pay fair
market value to purchase this
land, we would be willing to consider authorizing its current and future use
of this land under a special-use permit authorization.
The
Department does not object to making additional Federal lands available to Lander
County, Nevada in H.R. 272, but the Department believes that the Forest Service
can meet the objectives of Section 1 of this legislation under its current statutory
authorities that would allow it to convey National Forest System lands to Lander
County for land or fair-market value in cash.
For
example, under the Townsite Act, the Secretary of Agriculture may convey, for
fair market value, up to 640 acres of land to established communities located
adjacent to National Forests in Alaska
or the contiguous western states. Within
certain limits, the Sisk Act authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture to exchange
lands with states, counties, or municipal governments or public school districts
for lands or money.
Moreover,
under the General Exchange Act, the Secretary of Agriculture can exchange National
Forest System lands with State and local governments.
These
laws require the Secretary of Agriculture to obtain fair market value for exchanges
or sales of National Forest lands. Indeed,
the Federal policy, in recent decades has moved toward obtaining a fair return
to the public for the value of lands conveyed out of Federal ownership.
Conclusion:
This
concludes my statement; I would be happy to answer
your questions.