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Forests. S. 59 would also transfer 23,000 acres of National Forest System 

 lands administered by the Forest Service to the Bureau of Land Management. 

 These lands are in the eastern Sierras within the Toiyabe and Inyo National 

 Forests. (Refer to Map Display.) 



S. 59 would require that the transferred land be managed under the current 

 plans in effect at the time of transfer. This situation would continue until 

 the plans are revised under the planning authorities of the agency managing the 

 land at that time. The bill further provides that existing valid water rights 

 and other outstanding rights would not be expanded upon or diminished by the 

 land transfer and affirms that new. reserved water rights would not be created 

 by its enactment. 



With respect to the transfer of land, S. 59 is the same as the Nevada portion 

 of the Bureau of Land Management/ Forest Service (BLM/FS) interchange proposal. 

 However, S. 59 lacks the nationwide initiatives; it would not result in the 

 same savings and efficiencies as would the national proposal, for example, the 

 transfer of mineral management functions to the Forest Service. We strongly 

 recommend enactment of the overall BLM/FS interchange as explained in the 

 Record of Decision for the Legislative Environmental Impact Statement trans- 

 mitted to the Congress in February of 1986 and again earlier this year. We 

 support the specific actions proposed by S. 59 if done within the framework of 

 a National proposal rather than through the concept of individual State inter- 

 changes . 



This concludes my prepared testimony. I would be pleased to answer questions 

 that the members of the Subcommittee may have. 



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