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Section 9 of S. 59 would protect valid existing rights. 



Section 10 would provide that administrative appeals, adjudications or reviews 

 that are pending on the date of enactment would be completed by the Secretary 

 of the Department In which they were initiated, except that the Secretary of 

 the Department having jurisdiction over the land pursuant to this bill could 

 exercise final administrative review. As a point of clarification, the 

 reference to section 3 should be changed to section 4. 



S. 59 deals exclusively with lands in the State of Nevada transferring certain 

 public lands presently administered by the Bureau of Land Management to the 

 Forest Service and certain national forest lands to the Bureau of Land 

 Management.^ The Administration has proposed a nationwide Interchange of lands 

 between the Bureau of Land Management and the Forest Service. This proposal 

 was submitted to the Congress on April 23, 1987. While S. 59 proposes to 

 transfer the same lands within Nevada that are Included within the Adminis- 

 tration's broader proposal, It does not generate the savings and efficiencies 

 that would result from the single nationwide bill. Therefore, we recommend 

 that the Subcommittee consider the nationwide proposal In lieu of S. 59. 



The Administration's proposal was developed after many months of careful and 

 thorough consideration. To gain public input to the Interchange proposal, the 

 Forest Service and ELM, on a multi-state basis, conducted 85 public meetings 

 in 1985; recorded over 600 consultations with Congress, Interest groups. 

 Individuals, and government entities; and held a formal public comment period, 

 including 30 public hearings. In addition, we conducted numerous meetings and 



