I 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1409

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. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 20, 2003

Mr. TAYLOR of North Carolina (for himself, Mr. JONES of North Carolina, 

Mr. KILDEE, and Mr. CARSON of Oklahoma) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Resources 

A BILL

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,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Eastern Band of Cher5 okee Indians Land Exchange Act of 2002’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES. 

7 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 
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1 (1) Since time immemorial, the ancestors of the 

2 Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians have lived in the 

3 Great Smoky Mountains of North Carolina. The 

4 Eastern Band’s ancestral homeland includes sub5 stantial parts of seven eastern States and the land 

6 that now constitutes the Great Smoky Mountains 

7 National Park. 

8 (2) The Eastern Band has proposed a land ex9 change with the National Park Service and has 

10 spent over $1,500,000 for studies to thoroughly in11 ventory the environmental and cultural resources of 

12 the proposed land exchange parcels. 

13 (3) Such land exchange would benefit the 

14 American public by enabling the National Park 

15 Service to acquire the Yellow Face tract, comprising 

16 218 areas of land adjacent to the Blue Ridge Park17 way. 

18 (4) Acquisition of the Yellow Face tract for pro19 tection by the National Park Service would serve the 

20 public interest by preserving important views for 

21 Blue Ridge Parkway visitors, preserving habitat for 

22 endangered species and threatened species including 

23 the northern flying squirrel and the rock gnome li24 chen, preserving valuable high altitude wetland 
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1 seeps, and preserving the property from rapidly ad2 vancing residential development. 

3 (5) The proposed land exchange would also ben4 efit the Eastern Band by allowing it to acquire the 

5 Ravensford tract, comprising 143 acres adjacent to 

6 the Tribe’s trust territory in Cherokee, North Caro7 lina, and currently within the Great Smoky Moun8 tains National Park and Blue Ridge Parkway. The 

9 Ravensford tract is part of the Tribe’s ancestral 

10 homeland as evidenced by archaeological finds dat11 ing back no less than 6,000 years. 

12 (6) The Eastern Band has a critical need to re13 place the current Cherokee Elementary School, 

14 which was built by the Department of the Interior 

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

16 The school now hosts 794 students in dilapidated 

17 buildings and mobile classrooms at a dangerous 

18 highway intersection in downtown Cherokee, North 

19 Carolina. 

20 (7) The Eastern Band ultimately intends to 

21 build a new three-school campus to serve as an envi22 ronmental, cultural, and educational ‘‘village,’’ where 

23 Cherokee language and culture can be taught along24 side the standard curriculum. 
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1 (8) The land exchange and construction of this 

2 educational village will benefit the American public 

3 by preserving Cherokee traditions and fostering a vi4 brant, modern, and well-educated Indian nation. 

5 (9) The land exchange will also reunify tribal 

6 reservation lands now separated between the Big 

7 Cove Community and the balance of the Qualla 

8 Boundary, reestablishing the territorial integrity of 

9 the Eastern Band. 

10 (10) The Ravensford tract contains no threat11 ened species or endangered species listed pursuant 

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

13 acre Yellow Face tract has a number of listed 

14 threatened species and endangered species and a 

15 higher appraised value than the 143-acre Ravensford 

16 tract. 

17 (11) The American public will benefit from the 

18 Eastern Band’s commitment to mitigate any impacts 

19 on natural and cultural resources on the Ravensford 

20 tract, by among other things reducing the requested 

21 acreage from 168 to 143 acres. 

22 (12) The Congress and the Department of the 

23 Interior have approved land exchanges in the past 

24 when the benefits to the public and requesting party 

25 are clear, as they are in this case. 
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1 (b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are the fol2 lowing: 

3 (1) To acquire the Yellow Face tract for protec4 tion by the National Park Service, in order to pre5 serve the Waterrock Knob area’s spectacular views, 

6 endangered species and high altitude wetland seeps 

7 from encroachment by housing development, for the 

8 benefit and enjoyment of the American public. 

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

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

11 Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, in order to pro12 vide for an education facility that promotes the cul13 tural integrity of the Eastern Band and to reunify 

14 two Cherokee communities that were historically 

15 contiguous, while mitigating any impacts on natural 

16 and cultural resources on the tract. 

17 (3) To promote cooperative activities and part18 nerships between the Eastern band and the National 

19 Park Service within the Eastern Band’s ancestral 

20 homelands. 

21 SEC. 3. LAND EXCHANGE. 

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

23 (‘‘Secretary’’) shall exchange the Ravensford tract, cur24 rently in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and 

25 the Blue Ridge Parkway, for the Yellow Face tract adja-
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1 cent to the Waterrock Knob Visitor Center on the Blue 

2 Ridge Parkway.

3 (b) TREATMENT OF EXCHANGED LANDS.—Effective 

4 upon receipt by the Secretary of a deed or deeds satisfac5 tory to the Secretary for the lands comprising the Yellow 

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

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

8 in and to the Ravensford tract, (as described in subsection 

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

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

11 benefit of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians as part 

12 of the Cherokee Indian Reservation. 

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

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

15 Yellow Face Section, Qualla Township, Jackson County, 

16 North Carolina, which consist altogether of approximately 

17 218 acres and are depicted as the ‘‘Yellow Face Tract’’ 

18 on the map entitled ‘‘Land Exchange Between the Na19 tional Park Service and the Eastern Band of Cherokee 

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

21 2002. The map shall be on file and available for public 

22 inspection in the appropriate offices of the National Park 

23 Service and the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Upon comple24 tion of the land exchange, the Secretary shall adjust the 
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1 boundary of the Blue Ridge Parkway to include such lands 

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

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

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

5 of Cherokee Indians shall consist of approximately 143 

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

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

8 exchange, the Secretary shall adjust the boundaries of 

9 Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the Blue 

10 Ridge Parkway to exclude such lands. 

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

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

13 the Interior shall file a legal description of the areas de14 scribed in subsections (c) and (d) with the Committee on 

15 Resources of the House of Representatives and the Com16 mittee on Indian Affairs and the Committee on Energy 

17 and Natural Resources of the Senate. Such legal descrip18 tions shall have the same force and effect as if the infor19 mation contained in the description were included in those 

20 subsections except that the Secretary may correct clerical 

21 and typographical errors in such legal descriptions. The 

22 legal descriptions shall be on file and available for public 

23 inspection in the offices of the National Park Service and 

24 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.

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