108TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1409

AN ACT

To provide for a Federal land exchange for the environmental, educational, and cultural benefit of

the American public and the Eastern Band ofCherokee Indians, and for other purposes.

108TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1409

AN ACT

To provide for a Federal land exchange for the environmental, educational, and cultural benefit of the American

public and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, and

for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Eastern Band of Cher3 okee Indians Land Exchange Act of 2003’’.

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.

5 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following:

6 (1) Since time immemorial, the ancestors of the

7 Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians have lived in the

8 Great Smoky Mountains of North Carolina. The

9 Eastern Band’s ancestral homeland includes sub10 stantial parts of seven eastern States and the land

11 that now constitutes the Great Smoky Mountains

12 National Park.

13 (2) The Eastern Band has proposed a land ex14 change with the National Park Service and has

15 spent over $1,500,000 for studies to thoroughly in16 ventory the environmental and cultural resources of

17 the proposed land exchange parcels.

18 (3) Such land exchange would benefit the

19 American public by enabling the National Park

20 Service to acquire the Yellow Face tract, comprising

21 218 acres of land adjacent to the Blue Ridge Park22 way.

23 (4) Acquisition of the Yellow Face tract for pro24 tection by the National Park Service would serve the

25 public interest by preserving important views for

26 Blue Ridge Parkway visitors, preserving habitat for
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1 endangered species and threatened species including

2 the northern flying squirrel and the rock gnome li3 chen, preserving valuable high altitude wetland

4 seeps, and preserving the property from rapidly ad5 vancing residential development.

6 (5) The proposed land exchange would also ben7 efit the Eastern Band by allowing it to acquire the

8 Ravensford tract, comprising 143 acres adjacent to

9 the Tribe’s trust territory in Cherokee, North Caro10 lina, and currently within the Great Smoky Moun11 tains National Park and Blue Ridge Parkway. The

12 Ravensford tract is part of the Tribe’s ancestral

13 homeland as evidenced by archaeological finds dat14 ing back no less than 6,000 years.

15 (6) The Eastern Band has a critical need to re16 place the current Cherokee Elementary School,

17 which was built by the Department of the Interior

18 over 40 years ago with a capacity of 480 students.

19 The school now hosts 794 students in dilapidated

20 buildings and mobile classrooms at a dangerous

21 highway intersection in downtown Cherokee, North

22 Carolina.

23 (7) The Eastern Band ultimately intends to

24 build a new three-school campus to serve as an envi25 ronmental, cultural, and educational ‘‘village,’’ where
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1 Cherokee language and culture can be taught along2 side the standard curriculum.

3 (8) The land exchange and construction of this

4 educational village will benefit the American public

5 by preserving Cherokee traditions and fostering a vi6 brant, modern, and well-educated Indian nation.

7 (9) The land exchange will also reunify tribal

8 reservation lands now separated between the Big

9 Cove Community and the balance of the Qualla

10 Boundary, reestablishing the territorial integrity of

11 the Eastern Band.

12 (10) The Ravensford tract contains no threat13 ened species or endangered species listed pursuant

14 to the Endangered Species Act of 1973. The 218-

15 acre Yellow Face tract has a number of listed

16 threatened species and endangered species and a

17 higher appraised value than the 143-acre Ravensford

18 tract.

19 (11) The American public will benefit from the

20 Eastern Band’s commitment to mitigate any impacts

21 on natural and cultural resources on the Ravensford

22 tract, by among other things reducing the requested

23 acreage from 168 to 143 acres.

24 (12) The Congress and the Department of the

25 Interior have approved land exchanges in the past
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1 when the benefits to the public and requesting party

2 are clear, as they are in this case.

3 (b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are the fol4 lowing:

5 (1) To acquire the Yellow Face tract for protec6 tion by the National Park Service, in order to pre7 serve the Waterrock Knob area’s spectacular views,

8 endangered species and high altitude wetland seeps

9 from encroachment by housing development, for the

10 benefit and enjoyment of the American public.

11 (2) To transfer the Ravensford tract, to be held

12 in trust by the United States for the benefit of the

13 Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, in order to pro14 vide for an education facility that promotes the cul15 tural integrity of the Eastern Band and to reunify

16 two Cherokee communities that were historically

17 contiguous, while mitigating any impacts on natural

18 and cultural resources on the tract.

19 (3) To promote cooperative activities and part20 nerships between the Eastern band and the National

21 Park Service within the Eastern Band’s ancestral

22 homelands.

23 SEC. 3. LAND EXCHANGE.

24 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of the Interior

25 (‘‘Secretary’’) shall exchange the Ravensford tract, cur-
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1 rently in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and

2 the Blue Ridge Parkway, for the Yellow Face tract adja3 cent to the Waterrock Knob Visitor Center on the Blue

4 Ridge Parkway.

5 (b) TREATMENT OF EXCHANGED LANDS.—Effective

6 upon receipt by the Secretary of a deed or deeds satisfac7 tory to the Secretary for the lands comprising the Yellow

8 Face tract (as described in subsection (c)) to the United

9 States, all right, title, and interest of the United States

10 in and to the Ravensford tract (as described in subsection

11 (d)), including all improvements and appurtenances, are

12 declared to be held in trust by the United States for the

13 benefit of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians as part

14 of the Cherokee Indian Reservation.

15 (c) YELLOW FACE TRACT.—The Yellow Face tract

16 shall contain Parcels 88 and 89 of the Hornbuckle Tract,

17 Yellow Face Section, Qualla Township, Jackson County,

18 North Carolina, which consist altogether of approximately

19 218 acres and are depicted as the ‘‘Yellow Face Tract’’

20 on the map entitled ‘‘Land Exchange Between the Na21 tional Park Service and the Eastern Band of Cherokee

22 Indians,’’ numbered 133/80020A, and dated November

23 2002. The map shall be on file and available for public

24 inspection in the appropriate offices of the National Park

25 Service and the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Upon comple-
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1 tion of the land exchange, the Secretary shall adjust the

2 boundary of the Blue Ridge Parkway to include such lands

3 and shall manage the lands as part of the parkway.

4 (d) RAVENSFORD TRACT.—The lands declared by

5 subsection (b) to be held in trust for the Eastern Band

6 of Cherokee Indians shall consist of approximately 143

7 acres depicted as the ‘‘Ravensford Tract’’ on the map

8 identified in subsection (c). Upon completion of the land

9 exchange, the Secretary shall adjust the boundaries of

10 Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the Blue

11 Ridge Parkway to exclude such lands.

12 (e) LEGAL DESCRIPTIONS.—Not later than 1 year

13 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of

14 the Interior shall file a legal description of the areas de15 scribed in subsections (c) and (d) with the Committee on

16 Resources of the House of Representatives and the Com17 mittee on Indian Affairs and the Committee on Energy

18 and Natural Resources of the Senate. Such legal descrip19 tions shall have the same force and effect as if the infor20 mation contained in the description were included in those

21 subsections except that the Secretary may correct clerical

22 and typographical errors in such legal descriptions. The

23 legal descriptions shall be on file and available for public

24 inspection in the offices of the National Park Service and

25 the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
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1 SEC. 4. IMPLEMENTATION PROCESS.

2 (a) GOVERNMENT-TO-GOVERNMENT AGREE3 MENTS.—In order to fulfill the purposes of this Act and

4 to establish cooperative partnerships for purposes of this

5 Act the Director of the National Park Service and the

6 Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians shall enter into govern7 ment-to-government consultations and shall develop proto8 cols to review planned construction on the Ravensford

9 tract. The Director of the National Park Service is author10 ized to enter into cooperative agreements with the Eastern

11 Band for the purpose of providing training, management,

12 protection, preservation, and interpretation of the natural

13 and cultural resources on the Ravensford tract.

14 (b) CONSTRUCTION STANDARDS.—Recognizing the

15 mutual interests and responsibilities of the Eastern Band

16 of Cherokee Indians and the National Park Service for

17 the conservation and protection of the resources on the

18 Ravensford tract, the National Park Service and the East19 ern Band shall develop mutually agreed upon standards

20 for size, impact, and design of construction consistent with

21 the purposes of this Act on the Ravensford tract. The

22 standards shall be consistent with the Eastern Band’s

23 need to develop educational facilities and support infra24 structure adequate for current and future generations and

25 shall otherwise minimize or mitigate any adverse impacts

26 on natural or cultural resources. The standards shall be
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1 based on recognized best practices for environmental sus2 tainability and shall be reviewed periodically and revised

3 as necessary. Development of the tract shall be limited to

4 a road and utility corridor, an educational campus, and

5 the infrastructure necessary to support such development.

6 No new structures shall be constructed on the part of the

7 Ravensford tract depicted as the ‘‘No New Construction’’

8 area on the map referred to in Section 3(c), which is gen9 erally the area north of the point where Big Cove Road

10 crosses the Raven Fork River. All development on the

11 Ravensford tract shall be conducted in a manner con12 sistent with this section and such development standards.

13 SEC. 5. GAMING PROHIBITION.

14 Gaming as defined and regulated by the Indian Gam15 ing Regulatory Act (25 U.S.C. 2701 et seq.) shall be pro16 hibited on the Ravensford tract.

Passed the House of Representatives September 23,

2003.

Attest:

Clerk.