Minnesota swaps forest land with a timber company
H.R. 197 — Lake Winnibigoshish Land Exchange Act of 2025 · Filed by Pete Stauber (R-MN) · 2 cosponsors · Introduced Jan 3, 2025 · Passed chamber
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What it does
The bill lets the Forest Service trade land with Big Winnie Land and Timber, LLC in Minnesota. The company gives about 36.7 acres of private land to the government. The Forest Service gives about 17.5 acres of federal land to the company. The company must pay all costs and fees. If federal land is worth more, the company pays the difference.
Who it affects
The public gains land added to the Chippewa National Forest. The timber company gets federal land in return.
One thing to notice
If private land is worth more than federal land, the company does not pay extra. The company is protected but the government is not.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
2 cosponsors: 2 Republicans.
- Jan 3, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Jan 3, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Natural Resources and Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources”
- Jan 21, 2025 — Passed the House · Congress.gov: “On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill Agreed to by voice vote. (text: CR H242-243)”
- Jan 21, 2025 — Floor vote scheduled · Congress.gov: “Mr. Westerman moved to suspend the rules and pass the bill”
- Oct 21, 2025 — Reported out of committee · Congress.gov: “Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry. Ordered to be reported without amendment favorably”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Words to know
- Forest Service — The government agency that manages national forests
- Chippewa National Forest — A large forest in Minnesota owned by the government
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (4,781 characters) on Jul 25, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 14,358 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
As of — page rendered 2026-09-19.
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