A former Forest Service ranger station in the small community of Young, Arizona, is one step away from becoming the permanent home of a retreat for rural veterans and their families.
The U.S. Senate passed H.R. 837 by unanimous consent, sending the bill to the President's desk. If signed, it will transfer ownership of the Pleasant Valley Ranger District Administrative Site — roughly 232.9 acres in the Tonto National Forest — from the federal government to Gila County, which has been turning the property into the Pleasant Valley Veterans Retreat.
The Forest Service moved its Pleasant Valley administrative operations to a new site near Payson in 2016, leaving most of the Young property sitting unused. In 2021, Gila County began operating the land under a 20-year special use permit and started developing it for veterans.
That arrangement came with a catch: the county still had to seek federal approval for projects on the site. Under H.R. 837, the Secretary of Agriculture, acting through the Forest Service, will convey the land outright to the county, replacing the permit with local ownership.
Supporters say that change matters most for the long term. Owning the property gives the county the certainty it needs to invest in buildings and programs without navigating a federal approval process for each project.
The retreat is the first facility of its kind in the region and is aimed primarily at rural veterans and their families — including the nearly 5,500 veterans who live in Gila County. Plans for the site include:
The transfer is also intended to preserve the property's history.
Gila County Supervisor Woody Cline, who testified on the project before the House Committee on Natural Resources, said the retreat would be one of only two such sites in Arizona, alongside one in the southern part of the state. He noted that Young itself has a veteran community of about 100 people, with an estimated 5,000 to 7,000 more between Young and Payson. Veterans from the nearby White Mountain Apache Tribe, he added, have been strong supporters of the project.
"It means everything to these folks," Cline told the committee.
Gila County will cover all costs tied to the transfer, and the Congressional Budget Office estimates the bill will have no effect on the federal budget.
Rep. Eli Crane, who introduced the bill, highlighted that point during the hearing, praising the county for seeking to revitalize unused federal land rather than asking Washington for money.
H.R. 837 is a reintroduction of the first bill Crane filed after arriving in Congress, and it is now the first of his bills positioned to become law. The House passed the measure unanimously in two consecutive Congresses, most recently on Feb. 5, 2025. It then moved through the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, chaired by Sen. Mike Lee, before clearing the full Senate.
House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Bruce Westerman described the land transfer as a commonsense, bipartisan measure that would open new opportunities for recreation and recovery for veterans in the area.
Crane credited Cline with spending years building bipartisan support for the retreat and thanked Westerman, Lee and Rep. Paul Gosar for helping move the bill forward.
"Arizona's veterans deserve a permanent place to recreate, reconnect, and spend time with their families," Crane said.
The bill now goes to the President. Once signed, ownership of the site passes to Gila County, which can continue building out the Pleasant Valley Veterans Retreat.
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