I 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4187 

To direct the Secretary of the Interior to place certain lands in trust for 

the Zuni Tribe and Navajo Nation and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 8, 2012 

Mr. PEARCE introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To direct the Secretary of the Interior to place certain lands 

in trust for the Zuni Tribe and Navajo Nation 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 ‘‘Return of Certain 

5 Lands At Fort Wingate to The Original Inhabitants Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES. 

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

8 (1) In January 1993, the active mission of the 

9 former Fort Wingate Depot Activity (referred to in 

10 this Act as the ‘‘FWDA’’) in New Mexico ceased and 


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1 the installation was closed pursuant to the Defense 

2 Authorization Amendments and Base Closure and 

3 Realignment Act of 1988. 

4 (2) The lands occupied by the FWDA were 

5 originally the ancestral lands of the Zuni Tribe and 

6 Navajo Nation, as indicated by the large number of 

7 archeological and cultural sites identified on such 

8 lands. 

9 (3) Because of the long-term operation of the 

10 FWDA for the receipt, storage, and shipment of mu11 nitions, and the disposal of obsolete or deteriorated 

12 explosives and military munitions, the lands occupied 

13 by the FWDA required substantial environmental 

14 remediation before they could be transferred from 

15 control by the Department of the Army and used for 

16 other purposes. 

17 (4) The Department of the Interior and the De18 partment of the Army, with the support of the two 

19 Indian tribes and other concerned parties, deter20 mined that, upon completion of the remediation ef21 fort, control over those lands no longer needed by 

22 the Department of the Army should be transferred 

23 to the Secretary of the Interior and held in trust by 

24 the United States for the benefit of the Zuni Tribe 

25 of the Zuni Reservation and the Navajo Nation. 


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1 (5) For purposes of scheduling the remediation 

2 and future use of the lands, the Department of the 

3 Army divided the FWDA installation into 25 reuse 

4 parcels. 

5 (6) Reuse parcels 1, 15, and 17, totaling 5,854 

6 acres, have been remediated to the standards estab7 lished by the New Mexico Environment Department 

8 and transferred to the Secretary of the Interior. 

9 (b) PURPOSE.—The purposes of this Act include to 

10 implement the objective of returning to the Zuni Tribe and 

11 the Navajo Nation certain lands formerly occupied by the 

12 FWDA, by declaring the three reuse parcels that have 

13 been remediated and transferred to the Secretary of the 

14 Interior to be held in trust for the Zuni Tribe and Navajo 

15 Nation and returning use of these parcels to those Indian 

16 tribes. 

17 SEC. 3. CONVEYANCE. 

18 (a) ZUNI TRIBE OF THE ZUNI RESERVATION.—Sub19 ject to existing rights and to easements reserved under 

20 section 4, all right, title, and interest in the lands referred 

21 to as Reuse Parcel 1 of the FWDA that are owned by 

22 the United States are hereby declared to be held by the 

23 Secretary of the Interior in trust for the Zuni Tribe of 

24 the Zuni Reservation and part of the Zuni Reservation. 


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1 (b) NAVAJO NATION.—Subject to existing rights and 

2 to easements reserved under section 4, all right, title, and 

3 interest in the lands referred to as Reuse Parcels 15 and 

4 17 of the FWDA that are owned by the United States 

5 are hereby declared to be held by the Secretary of the Inte6 rior in trust for the Navajo Nation and part of the Navajo 

7 Reservation. 

8 SEC. 4. EASEMENTS. 

9 The lands held in trust pursuant to this Act shall 

10 be held subject to reservation to the United States of such 

11 easements as are required for access to the Fort Wingate 

12 Launch Complex and for administrative and environ13 mental remediation purposes. 

Æ 


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