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Senate says yes to land exchange
Land deal now awaiting action from the House

The controversial Northern Arizona Land Exchange and Verde River Basin Partnership Act of 2005, more commonly known as the Yavapai Land Exchange, passed the Senate by unanimous consent recently and now awaits action by the House of Representatives.

"We have been waiting for the Senate version after passing this bill on the House side several times, and it looks like the House will be able to vote on this bill in early September or October," said Congressman Rick Renzi in a recent press release.

Arizona Senators John McCain and Jon Kyl jointly introduced the original Senate bill in 2003 with Congressmen Renzi and JD Hayworth introducing the HR version shortly after.

"This is a hallmark day for the people of Arizona. This compromise bill is both balanced and foresighted in addressing land use and water issues in Northern Arizona," McCain said in a previous release.

The bill allows for the largest exchange of federal and privately owned land in Arizona history and does so through a legislative process, rather than public debate.

The Yavapai Ranch ‹ owned by the Ruskin family and located west of Williams, south of Seligman ‹ proposes to consolidate its checkerboard holdings by giving the Forest Service some of its more ecologically valuable land in exchange for less ecologically sensitive parcels of Forest Service land around certain northern Arizona communities.

The total land to be traded equals nearly 50,000 acres. Those communities stand to benefit from the exchange because Ruskin has promised to sell much of the land the ranch acquires to them.

Once those municipalities ‹ such as Williams ‹ acquire the land, it can be used for economic expansion and development.

"I think as far as the city of Williams is concerned, it is very positive and that's why we've supported it," said Councilman Don Dent. "There are a number of real positives for the city, such as giving us the chance to expand the airport and maybe get some industry out there."

Other benefits to the acquisition of new land include improving the city's waste water plant, new city well sites, future parks, cemetery expansion, and even new land for Young Life's Lost Canyon Camp.

The bill has flip-flopped back and forth between the House and the Senate since its introduction, and was almost stopped cold last year due to public concern in the Camp Verde area. A group called Citizens for Public Review, spearheaded by Camp Verde Councilman Tony Gioia, was concerned about the status of a 1600-acre parcel in their community that is up for trade.

Yavapai Ranch owner Fred Ruskin, who has been working on the exchange for nearly eight years, said early on in the process that he had plans of developing the parcel for commercial use. The opposition raised questions of water resources in the area, enough so that they convinced McCain to halt the bill and scrutinize the issue.

To address the problem, the latest version calls for the formation of a water use task force specifically for the Verde Basin watershed.

President Bush has apparently signaled that if the bill comes to his desk as is, he would sign it into enactment.


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