Joseph T. Burns: “this bill conveys 3.4 acres on the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest to Jefferson County, MT and 10 acres on the…”

“this bill conveys 3.4 acres on the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest to Jefferson County, MT and 10 acres on the Kootenai National Forest to Sanders County, MT for continued use as cemeteries. The Elkhorn Cemetery in Jefferson County has been used as a cemetery since the 1860's. Due to surveying errors and limited information when the National Forest boundaries were surveyed in the early 1900's, the cemetery was included as National Forest lands. The cemetery is still in use by local families who homesteaded and worked the mines in the area. However, Forest Service manual direction strongly discourages burials on National Forest lands, placing both the families and Forest Service in an awkward position. The Noxon Cemetery is part of a Kootenai National Forest administrative site that is currently for sale. The cemetery has been used since at least 1910 and contains over 300 graves. Sanders County wants to protect the cemetery from potential damage, and the Forest Service wants to remove the encumbrance of the cemetery from the administrative site sale or future Federal ownership. In both locations, it is clear the cemeteries should not have been included as part of the National Forest. The County Commissioners and the local public strongly support the conveyance. I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record. There being no objection, the bill was ordered to be printed in the Record, as follows: S.…”