Lee Metcalf Wilderness and Management Act of 1983

(Measure passed House, amended)

Lee Metcalf Wilderness and Management Act of 1983 - Designates specified lands within the Beaverhead and Gallatin National Forests in Montana and within the Dillon Resource Area in Montana as the Lee Metcalf Wilderness.

Provides that the area lying adjacent to the Monument Mountain and Taylor- Hilgard units of the Lee Metcalf Wilderness shall be managed to protect the wildlife and recreational values of such area. Withdraws such area from all forms of appropriations under mining, mineral leasing, and geothermal leasing laws. Provides that such area shall be administered by the Secretary of Agriculture to maintain its presently existing wilderness character, with no commercial timber harvest or additional road construction permitted. Requires that motor vehicles be allowed in the area only where they are compatible with the protection and propagation of wildlife in the area.

Provides that the following areas have been adequately studied for wilderness and need not be managed to protect their suitability for wilderness designation pending revision of the initial plans required for such lands by the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act of 1974: (1) the Mount Henry Wilderness Study Area in the Kootenai National Forest; (2) portions of the Taylor-Hilgard Wilderness Study Area in the Beaverhead and Gallatin National Forests; (3) certain lands in the Gallatin and Beaverhead National Forests identified as area 1549 in the Forest Service Roadless Area Review and Evaluation (II) Final Environmental Statement (dated May 3, 1979); and (4) the proposed Tongue River Breaks Wilderness in the Custer National Forest. Provides that the following lands have been adequately studied for wilderness and need not be managed to protect their suitability for wilderness designation: (1) lands in the Powder River Resource Area identified as Tongue River Breaks Contiguity; (2) lands in the Dillon Resource Area identified as Madison Tack-Ons; and (3) the Bear Trap Canyon Study Area.

Excludes from the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness in Montana: (1) approximately 40 acres in the West Fork of Mill Creek; and (2) approximately 27 acres in the Passage Creek drainage.

Excludes from the U.L. Bend Wilderness in Montana approximately 28 acres of specified land.

Excludes from the Beaverhead and Gallatin National Forests all lands within the Bear Trap Canyon portion of the Lee Metcalf Wilderness. Requires that such lands be administered as wilderness lands.

Requires that public lands in section 12, township 10 south, range 1 east, Montana principal meridian be administered as national forest system lands.

Requires an exchange of lands and interest within the Lee Metcalf Wilderness between Burlington Northern Railroad Company and the United States. Authorizes the revocation of specified withdrawal orders on the Federal lands involved in such transaction.

Authorizes appropriations.

Amends the Rattlesnake National Recreation Area and Wilderness Act of 1980 to provide that bidding rights issued in an exchange under such Act which have not been exercised within two years from the enactment of such Act may be used as a monetary credit against any bonus, rental, or royalty payments retained by the Government on a Federal coal lease won or held by an individual. (Under current law, the holder of bidding rights which have not been exercised by October 19, 1983, may use such rights as a credit against any royalty, rental, or advance royalty payments owed to the United States on any Federal coal lease it holds.) Requires the holder of such bidding rights to pay the balance due on such payments in cash for transmittal to the States as if in accordance with the Mineral Leasing Act of 1920. Permits the transfer or sale of such bidding rights at any time.

Requires the Secretary of the Interior to consumate the exchange of lands owned by the Montana Power Company within the Rattlesnake National Recreation Area and Rattlesnake Wilderness by issuing bidding rights to the Company equal to the negotiated cash equivalent of the fair market value of such lands as provided in the April 4, 1983, agreement signed by the Secretaries of Agriculture and Interior and the Company, except that the Secretary of the Interior shall determine the maximum "Cash Equivalency Rate" referred to in such agreement.