Utah city gets 296 acres of federal forest land for free—with strings attached
H.R. 5478 — Fruit Heights Land Conveyance Act of 2025 · Filed by Blake Moore (R-UT) · 1 cosponsor · Introduced Sep 18, 2025 · Hearing held
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What it does
This bill directs the U.S. Forest Service to transfer approximately 296 acres of National Forest land in Utah to the city of Fruit Heights at no cost. The city must use the land only for public purposes; if it does not, the land reverts to the federal government. The city pays for survey and administrative costs.
Why we flagged it
The bill's sole operative mechanism is a one-time transfer of federal forest land to a city for public purposes, with reversionary protections. This is a straightforward conveyance, not a regulatory change or appropriation.
What the text implies
- Removal of 296 acres from federal National Forest management may reduce federal recreation, conservation, or resource-management authority in that area.
- Reversionary interest depends on Secretary discretion and City compliance; enforcement over decades is uncertain and may require litigation.
- Public-use covenant is not defined in the bill; disputes over what constitutes 'public purposes' could arise between City and federal government.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
Citizens in Fruit Heights gain a public asset (296 acres for local public use) at no federal cost, but the transfer removes the land from federal stewardship and national forest protections. The reversionary clause and public-use covenant provide some safeguard, but enforcement depends on the Secretary's discretion and the city's compliance over time.
Who stands to gain
- City of Fruit Heights (receives 296 acres of land at no cost)
Named in the bill
City of Fruit Heights, Utah, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest, Bonneville Shoreline Trail
Where it stands
1 cosponsor: 1 Republicans.
- Sep 18, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Sep 18, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Natural Resources · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources”
- Feb 10, 2026 — Hearing held · Congress.gov: “Subcommittee Hearings Held”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
1 lobbying clients named this bill on 2 disclosure filings across 2 quarters, Mar 2026 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $26,409 in lobbying spend. A filing names 26 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 0% of bills with at least one filing.
Blake Moore, the sponsor, reported $1,475,500 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- Backcountry Hunters & Anglers — $26,409 on 2 filings
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 10, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (2,318 characters) on Sep 28, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 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.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Mar 2026 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 10, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
“Utah city gets 296 acres of federal forest land for free—with strings attached” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/hr5478 Report an error
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