Orrin Hatch: “I rise today along with my cosponsors Senators Bennett, Reid, and Ensign to introduce a very simple piece of…”

“I rise today along with my cosponsors Senators Bennett, Reid, and Ensign to introduce a very simple piece of legislation. The bill would direct the Secretary of Agriculture to convey, at fair market value, 112 acres of property in the Dixie National Forest to Mr. Kirk Harrison. Let me explain why this legislation is necessary. Mr. Harrison's family settled in southern Utah's Pinto Valley in 1860. The family was among the first to locate to the area. The Harrison family established their property boundaries by constructing fences that are still standing today. The family cleared, irrigated, and settled the property in question and continued to plant and harvest crops, raise livestock, maintain fences, and otherwise work the land for more than 150 years. During that time, the family exercised unrestricted use, relying on those boundaries established in 1860. In 1885, the Harrison family applied for and was granted a patent to those lands. Subsequent surveys in 1881 and 1905 found no discrepancies between the boundaries asserted by the Harrison family and the actual boundaries of the adjacent Forest Service lands. It was not until 1984, when the Forest Service employed an independent firm to perform a survey, did any inconsistency arise. The 1984 survey found that the land occupied by the Harrison family was in violation of the boundary established in the 1885 patent.…”