A bill to provide for an exchange of lands with the city of Greely, Colorado, and The Water Supply and Storage Company to eliminate private inholdings in wilderness areas, and for other purposes.
Subcommittee on Forests and Public Lands. Hearings held. Hearings printed: S.Hrg. 105-158.
Congressional Research Service
Official summary
Version 00 · Introduced in Senate · Apr 9, 1997
Directs the Secretary of Agriculture to transfer specified Federal lands to the city of Greeley, Colorado, and The Water Supply and Storage Company, a Colorado mutual ditch company, if the city and the company offer to transfer specified lands to the United States (Rockwell Ranch and Timberline Lake properties and specified company lands). Specifies exchange terms and conditions, including that: (1) the United States shall grant perpetual access easements to the city and the company to the lands conveyed; (2) the city and the company shall continue to make specified reservoirs accessible to visitors to the Roosevelt National Forest; (3) all special use permits, easements, or other instruments authorizing occupancy of certain identified Federal lands are rescinded; and (4) conditions specified in certain easements for Long Draw, Peterson Lake, and Barnes Meadow Reservoirs requiring a joint operations plan providing instream winter flows to the mainstream of the Cache La Poudre River from Chambers Lake and Barnes Meadow Reservoir shall continue to be fulfilled regardless of land ownership unless the grantor and grantee of an easement agree otherwise. Directs that lands acquired by the United States under this Act be added to and administered as part of the Roosevelt National Forest and the portions of such lands located within a wilderness area shall be added to such area. Modifies the boundaries of the Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests.
Source last updated: Sep 8, 2026. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
AI Conversation Starters
Explore the bill from different angles
Choose a perspective, copy a prompt, and paste it into your preferred AI. Each prompt includes the bill version and available official source links, and asks for counterarguments as well as supporting evidence.
Neutral evidence review
Objective
Analyze S.541 as objectively as possible. Explain its main provisions, who would be affected, possible benefits and harms, implementation, exceptions, and uncertainties. Present the strongest arguments for and against it, and identify evidence needed to assess its public impact.
View full prompt & sources
Fairness and public impact
Progressive lens
Examine S.541 through a progressive lens, focusing on fairness, access, economic inequality, and effects on vulnerable communities. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and distinguish stated goals from demonstrated outcomes.
View full prompt & sources
Institutions and government scope
Conservative lens
Examine S.541 through a conservative lens, focusing on fiscal responsibility, institutional stability, federalism, and the scope of government. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and any provisions that challenge this perspective.
View full prompt & sources
Individual rights and government power
Liberty lens
Examine S.541 through a civil-liberties and limited-government lens. Consider individual rights, privacy, voluntary choice, accountability, and government power. Explain tradeoffs, possible safeguards, and the strongest counterarguments without assuming the proposal is beneficial or harmful.