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Union Calendar No. 144

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1409

[Report No. 108–254] 

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 

SEPTEMBER 3, 2003

Additional sponsors: Mr. HAYWORTH, Mr. BISHOP of Utah, Mr. PALLONE, 

Mrs. CUBIN, Ms. BORDALLO, Mr. ORTIZ, Mr. BACA, Mr. CANNON, and 

Mr. RENZI

SEPTEMBER 3, 2003

Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union 

and ordered to be printed 

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.
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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: 

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

9 Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians have lived in the 

10 Great Smoky Mountains of North Carolina. The 

11 Eastern Band’s ancestral homeland includes sub12 stantial parts of seven eastern States and the land 

13 that now constitutes the Great Smoky Mountains 

14 National Park. 

15 (2) The Eastern Band has proposed a land ex16 change with the National Park Service and has 

17 spent over $1,500,000 for studies to thoroughly in18 ventory the environmental and cultural resources of 

19 the proposed land exchange parcels. 

20 (3) Such land exchange would benefit the 

21 American public by enabling the National Park 

22 Service to acquire the Yellow Face tract, comprising 

23 218 acres of land adjacent to the Blue Ridge Park24 way. 
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1 (4) Acquisition of the Yellow Face tract for pro2 tection by the National Park Service would serve the 

3 public interest by preserving important views for 

4 Blue Ridge Parkway visitors, preserving habitat for 

5 endangered species and threatened species including 

6 the northern flying squirrel and the rock gnome li7 chen, preserving valuable high altitude wetland 

8 seeps, and preserving the property from rapidly ad9 vancing residential development. 

10 (5) The proposed land exchange would also ben11 efit the Eastern Band by allowing it to acquire the 

12 Ravensford tract, comprising 143 acres adjacent to 

13 the Tribe’s trust territory in Cherokee, North Caro14 lina, and currently within the Great Smoky Moun15 tains National Park and Blue Ridge Parkway. The 

16 Ravensford tract is part of the Tribe’s ancestral 

17 homeland as evidenced by archaeological finds dat18 ing back no less than 6,000 years. 

19 (6) The Eastern Band has a critical need to re20 place the current Cherokee Elementary School, 

21 which was built by the Department of the Interior 

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

23 The school now hosts 794 students in dilapidated 

24 buildings and mobile classrooms at a dangerous 
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1 highway intersection in downtown Cherokee, North 

2 Carolina. 

3 (7) The Eastern Band ultimately intends to 

4 build a new three-school campus to serve as an envi5 ronmental, cultural, and educational ‘‘village,’’ where 

6 Cherokee language and culture can be taught along7 side the standard curriculum. 

8 (8) The land exchange and construction of this 

9 educational village will benefit the American public 

10 by preserving Cherokee traditions and fostering a vi11 brant, modern, and well-educated Indian nation. 

12 (9) The land exchange will also reunify tribal 

13 reservation lands now separated between the Big 

14 Cove Community and the balance of the Qualla 

15 Boundary, reestablishing the territorial integrity of 

16 the Eastern Band. 

17 (10) The Ravensford tract contains no threat18 ened species or endangered species listed pursuant 

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

20 acre Yellow Face tract has a number of listed 

21 threatened species and endangered species and a 

22 higher appraised value than the 143-acre Ravensford 

23 tract. 

24 (11) The American public will benefit from the 

25 Eastern Band’s commitment to mitigate any impacts 
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1 on natural and cultural resources on the Ravensford 

2 tract, by among other things reducing the requested 

3 acreage from 168 to 143 acres. 

4 (12) The Congress and the Department of the 

5 Interior have approved land exchanges in the past

6 when the benefits to the public and requesting party 

7 are clear, as they are in this case. 

8 (b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are the fol9 lowing: 

10 (1) To acquire the Yellow Face tract for protec11 tion by the National Park Service, in order to pre12 serve the Waterrock Knob area’s spectacular views, 

13 endangered species and high altitude wetland seeps 

14 from encroachment by housing development, for the 

15 benefit and enjoyment of the American public. 

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

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

18 Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, in order to pro19 vide for an education facility that promotes the cul20 tural integrity of the Eastern Band and to reunify 

21 two Cherokee communities that were historically 

22 contiguous, while mitigating any impacts on natural 

23 and cultural resources on the tract. 

24 (3) To promote cooperative activities and part25 nerships between the Eastern band and the National 
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1 Park Service within the Eastern Band’s ancestral 

2 homelands. 

3 SEC. 3. LAND EXCHANGE. 

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

5 (‘‘Secretary’’) shall exchange the Ravensford tract, cur6 rently in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and 

7 the Blue Ridge Parkway, for the Yellow Face tract adja8 cent to the Waterrock Knob Visitor Center on the Blue 

9 Ridge Parkway.

10 (b) TREATMENT OF EXCHANGED LANDS.—Effective 

11 upon receipt by the Secretary of a deed or deeds satisfac12 tory to the Secretary for the lands comprising the Yellow 

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

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

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

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

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

18 benefit of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians as part 

19 of the Cherokee Indian Reservation. 

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

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

22 Yellow Face Section, Qualla Township, Jackson County, 

23 North Carolina, which consist altogether of approximately 

24 218 acres and are depicted as the ‘‘Yellow Face Tract’’ 

25 on the map entitled ‘‘Land Exchange Between the Na-
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1 tional Park Service and the Eastern Band of Cherokee 

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

3 2002. The map shall be on file and available for public 

4 inspection in the appropriate offices of the National Park 

5 Service and the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Upon comple6 tion of the land exchange, the Secretary shall adjust the 

7 boundary of the Blue Ridge Parkway to include such lands 

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

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

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

11 of Cherokee Indians shall consist of approximately 143 

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

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

14 exchange, the Secretary shall adjust the boundaries of 

15 Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the Blue 

16 Ridge Parkway to exclude such lands. 

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

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

19 the Interior shall file a legal description of the areas de20 scribed in subsections (c) and (d) with the Committee on 

21 Resources of the House of Representatives and the Com22 mittee on Indian Affairs and the Committee on Energy 

23 and Natural Resources of the Senate. Such legal descrip24 tions shall have the same force and effect as if the infor25 mation contained in the description were included in those 
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1 subsections except that the Secretary may correct clerical 

2 and typographical errors in such legal descriptions. The 

3 legal descriptions shall be on file and available for public 

4 inspection in the offices of the National Park Service and 

5 the Bureau of Indian Affairs. 

6 SEC. 4. IMPLEMENTATION PROCESS. 

7 (a) GOVERNMENT-TO-GOVERNMENT AGREE8 MENTS.—In order to fulfill the purposes of this Act and 

9 to establish cooperative partnerships for purposes of this 

10 Act the Director of the National Park Service and the 

11 Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians shall enter into govern12 ment-to-government consultations and shall develop proto13 cols to review planned construction on the Ravensford 

14 tract. The Director of the National Park Service is author15 ized to enter into cooperative agreements with the Eastern 

16 Band for the purpose of providing training, management, 

17 protection, preservation, and interpretation of the natural 

18 and cultural resources on the Ravensford tract. 

19 (b) CONSTRUCTION STANDARDS.—Recognizing the 

20 mutual interests and responsibilities of the Eastern Band 

21 of Cherokee Indians and the National Park Service for 

22 the conservation and protection of the resources on the 

23 Ravensford tract, the National Park Service and the East24 ern Band shall develop mutually agreed upon standards 

25 for size, impact, and design of construction consistent with 
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1 the purposes of this Act on the Ravensford tract. The 

2 standards shall be consistent with the Eastern Band’s 

3 need to develop educational facilities and support infra4 structure adequate for current and future generations and 

5 shall otherwise minimize or mitigate any adverse impacts 

6 on natural or cultural resources. The standards shall be 

7 based on recognized best practices for environmental sus8 tainability and shall be reviewed periodically and revised 

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

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

11 the infrastructure necessary to support such development. 

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

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

14 area on the map referred to in Section 3(c), which is gen15 erally the area north of the point where Big Cove Road 

16 crosses the Raven Fork River. All development on the 

17 Ravensford tract shall be conducted in a manner con18 sistent with this section and such development standards. 

19 SEC. 5. GAMING PROHIBITION. 

20 Gaming as defined and regulated by the Indian Gam21 ing Regulatory Act (25 U.S.C. 2701 et seq.) shall be pro22 hibited on the Ravensford tract.
Union Calendar No. 144

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1409

[Report No. 108–254] 

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. 

SEPTEMBER 3, 2003

Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the 

State of the Union and ordered to be printed