S. 1084 — North Dakota Trust Lands Completion Act of 2025

This section defines terms used in the Act, including "(1) North Dakota Enabling Act," meaning the Act of February 22, 1889 (25 Stat. 676, ch. 180); "(2) reservation," meaning any Indian reservation located wholly or partially within North Dakota; "(3) Secretary," meaning the Secretary of the Interior; "(4) State," meaning North Dakota acting through the Board of University and School Lands and the Department of Trust Lands; "(5) State land grant parcel," meaning certain lands granted to North Dakota upon statehood, school sections 16 or 36, indemnity selections therefor, or acquired by the state after statehood; and "(6) unappropriated Federal land," meaning Bureau of Land Management public lands (including mineral lands) in North Dakota, excluding acquired lands, areas of critical environmental concern, withdrawn lands, National Landscape Conservation System components, Research Natural Areas, reservations, specified townships, military reservations, and congressionally or presidentially designated conservation lands.

This section establishes a process allowing a state to relinquish all right, title, and interest in a state land grant parcel located wholly or partially within reservation boundaries—subject to valid existing rights—in exchange for selection of unappropriated federal land of substantially equivalent value. The Secretary must approve or reject the state's selection, in whole or in part, within 180 days (with authority to conduct an environmental review if appropriate) and, if approved, initiate conveyance of the federal land by patent or deed within 60 days; the state must concurrently relinquish and convey the state parcel to the Secretary free of financial claims, liabilities, or encumbrances. (Neither conveyance is considered a sale, exchange, or acquisition under specified provisions of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976.) If the relinquished parcel is located wholly or partially within reservation boundaries, the Secretary must, at the tribe's request, take the reservation portion into trust for the tribe's benefit and deem it part of the tribe's reservation. Prior to any such conveyance, the state and Secretary must consult with affected tribes pursuant to Executive Order 13175 and other applicable laws. (Thus, transferees succeed to existing leases, rights-of-way, permits, or other valid rights on the lands.) Selected federal land is withdrawn from entry, appropriation, disposal under public land laws, mining laws, and mineral/geothermal leasing or materials disposition from selection until conveyance, rejection, or state withdrawal of the selection.

This section establishes valuation requirements for exchanges of State land grant parcels for parcels of unappropriated Federal land under the Act, requiring the overall values to be substantially equal or equalized by cash payment or ledger account entry if the State parcel is of lesser value (with equalization limited to 25% of the Federal parcel's value). It directs that parcel values be determined by appraisals conducted by appraisers jointly selected by the Secretary and the State in accordance with the Uniform Appraisal Standards for Federal Land Acquisitions (or, subject to exceptions, the Uniform Standards for Professional Appraisal Practice). For low-value parcels agreed by both parties to be less than $500,000 total and less than $500 per acre, it authorizes simpler mass appraisals, summary appraisals, or statements of value (prohibiting artificial division to qualify). It further authorizes ledger accounts to track value imbalances for reconciliation in future transactions, requiring balances within three years of establishment and account closure within five years of the last conveyance under the Act; allows either party to assume the other's conveyance costs with value adjustments; and requires reduction of a Federal parcel's value for producing or producible minerals under a Mineral Leasing Act lease by the likely Federal revenue-sharing obligation to the State (without conferring a State property right).

This section specifies requirements and protections applicable to land and mineral conveyances under the Act, including— (1) subjecting such conveyances to all applicable Federal, State, and Tribal laws; (2) preserving all treaty-reserved rights and other rights of Indian Tribes, and leaving unaffected any land or minerals held in trust by the United States for Tribes or individual Indian allotments; (3) requiring the Secretary (for federal lands) or the State (for State land grant parcels) to complete a hazardous materials inspection and certification prior to conveyance, with related records made available for review; and (4) allowing existing grazing leases, permits, or contracts to continue for their remaining terms (subject to existing terms), authorizing cancellation or modification if the land is sold or leased for nongrazing uses, ensuring conveyed State lands continue to qualify as base properties for federal grazing permits, and preserving rights to compensation for range improvements.

This section establishes a savings clause providing that nothing in the Act applies to or affects litigation or disputes pending on the date of enactment regarding ownership of land or mineral resources in North Dakota.