Lake Winnibigoshish Land Exchange Act of 2025

House Bill

H.R. 197

119th Congress

Lake Winnibigoshish Land Exchange Act of 2025

Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 218.

Introduced:Jan 6, 2025

Primary Sponsor

David Scott

Representative

Democratic

GA-13

Cosponsors

2

Quick Stats

Policy Area

Public Lands and Natural Resources

Summary

This bill directs the Forest Service to exchange federal land along Lake Winnibigoshish shoreline in Minnesota Chippewa National Forest for private land owned by Big Winnie Land and Timber, LLC, if the company offers to make the exchange. The acquired land becomes part of Chippewa National Forest. Requirements include equal value exchange or cash equalization, environmental assessment by the private party, Forest Service road access easement, and the private party paying all closing costs.

Latest Action

Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 218.

AI Summary

Plain-English explanation of this bill

This bill directs the Forest Service to exchange federal land along Lake Winnibigoshish shoreline in Minnesota Chippewa National Forest for private land owned by Big Winnie Land and Timber, LLC, if the company offers to make the exchange. The acquired land becomes part of Chippewa National Forest. Requirements include equal value exchange or cash equalization, environmental assessment by the private party, Forest Service road access easement, and the private party paying all closing costs.

Last updated: 1/4/2026

Official Summary

Congressional Research Service summary

Lake Winnibigoshish Land Exchange Act of 2025This bill directs the Forest Service to exchange specified land along the shoreline of Lake Winnibigoshish (commonly known as Lake Winnie) in the Chippewa National Forest in Minnesota for specified land owned by Big Winnie Land and Timber, LLC (BWLT), if BWLT offers to make the exchange. The land acquired by the Forest Service must be added to and managed as part of Chippewa National Forest. The bill outlines requirements and conditions for the exchange. For example, the Forest Service must reserve an easement for road access to certain land in the forest. The bill also conditions the exchange on the satisfactory completion of a Phase I Environmental Site Assessment by BWLT before the nonfederal land is accepted in the exchange.In addition, the exchange must be for equal value or the values must be equalized by a cash payment, subject to an exception.Finally, the bill directs BWLT to pay all closing costs associated with the exchange.

Key Points

Main provisions of the bill

Authorizes land exchange along Lake Winnibigoshish shoreline
Adds acquired private land to Chippewa National Forest
Requires equal value or cash equalization
Mandates Phase I Environmental Site Assessment
Private party pays all closing costs

How This Impacts Americans

Potential effects on citizens and communities

For Forest Service: Acquisition of private land for national forest. For Big Winnie Land and Timber: Opportunity to acquire federal shoreline property. For Chippewa National Forest: Potential expansion of public lands. For local community: Changes to land ownership around the lake. For recreation users: Implications for public access along shoreline.

Policy Areas

Primary Policy Area

Public Lands and Natural Resources

Related Subjects

Forests, forestry, trees

Geography and mapping

Land transfers

Minnesota

Scope & Jurisdiction

Jurisdiction Level

federal

Congressional Session

119th Congress

Citation Reference

197, 119th Congress (2025). "Lake Winnibigoshish Land Exchange Act of 2025". Source: Voter's Right Platform. https://votersright.org/bills/118-hr-197