Description:
S. 1222 would designate roughly 330 acres of federal land in the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest in Utah as wilderness and would remove an equal amount of acreage from existing wilderness areas within the forest. Based on the costs of similar tasks, CBO estimates that any costs incurred by the Forest Service to implement S. 1222 would be insignificant; any spending would be subject to the availability of appropriated funds. Land designated as wilderness would be withdrawn from availability for income-generating activities, such as mineral leasing, timber production, and other uses. Using information from the Forest Service, CBO expects that, under the bill, the federal government would not forego any receipts, which are recorded as offsets to direct spending, from such activities on that land. On April 28, 2022, CBO transmitted a cost estimate for H.R. 2551, the Bonneville Shoreline Trail Advancement Act, as ordered reported by the House Committee on Natural Resources on January 19, 2022. The two bills are similar, and CBO’s estimates of their budgetary effects are the same.
