Congress passes land-transfer bill for Utah town

The family of a man who helped settle the tiny town of Mantua gave the Forest Service 32 acres in exchange for a $1 bill. Now, 70 years later, Congress is giving the land to the town, as long as it’s used for a public purpose. On a unanimous voice vote late Wednesday, the House ended a three-year legislative push by Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, to transfer the land to the town. The land-transfer is also the first piece of legislation sponsored by freshman Sen. Mike Lee to become law. The bill requires the Forest Service to turn over the legal right to two parcels on the town’s south end to the local government within the next year. Bishop first introduced legislation in 2008 and the House has passed the bill twice, only to see it stymied in the Senate. In promoting the bill on the House floor, Bishop took a few jabs at the other chamber, saying: “The fact that the Senate did anything should be a cause for our celebration today.” He said the land transfer in Box Elder County made sense because the Forest Service hasn’t used the property since taking control of it in 1941. “In the intervening time period that the Forest Service has owned these lands, not only have they not needed them, they have not used them and until five years ago forgot they had them,” Bishop said...more