Apache County and Navajo County Conveyance Act of 2025
The Apache County and Navajo County Conveyance Act of 2025 would require the Secretary of Agriculture (through the Forest Service) to convey, without payment, specific parcels of National Forest System land within the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests to Navajo County and Apache County, Arizona. The transfers are conditioned on timely county requests and are limited to land identified on two maps: one for Navajo County’s cemetery expansion and one for Apache County’s Alpine cemetery-related parcels. The conveyed land must be used as a cemetery, and if used contrary to this requirement, the land would revert to the United States. Conveyance would be by quitclaim deed and subject to existing rights and other protections the Secretary deems appropriate. Counties would cover all conveyance costs, including surveys and any required environmental analyses. The act also explicitly states the conveyances are not subject to certain CERCLA liability provisions.
Key Points
- 1Timing for requests: Navajo County must submit a written request within 180 days after enactment; Apache County within 365 days after enactment.
- 2Land to be conveyed:
- 3- Navajo County: approximately 2.5 acres for an existing cemetery and approximately 2.5 acres for a proposed expansion (total ~5.0 acres), identified on the map “Pinedale Cemetery Expansion” (May 23, 2022).
- 4- Apache County: approximately 2.56 acres for the Existing Alpine Cemetery and approximately 8.06 acres for the Proposed Townsite Tract (total ~10.62 acres), identified on the map “Exhibit, Alpine Cemetery” (October 2019).
- 5Conveyance mechanics and protections: Transfers would be by quitclaim deed, without consideration, and subject to valid existing rights and other protections the Secretary may impose; not subject to section 120(h) of CERCLA; exact acreage to be finalized by a survey; minor map corrections allowed; public copies of the maps available.
- 6Use and reversion: Conveyed property must be used by each county as a cemetery; if used inconsistently with this requirement, ownership reverts to the United States.
- 7Costs: The receiving counties must pay all conveyance-related costs, including any surveys and environmental analyses or resource surveys required by federal law.