I

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 2751

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

OCTOBER 28, 2000

Referred to the Committee on Resources

AN ACT

To direct the Secretary of Agriculture to convey certain

land in the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit, Nevada, to the Secretary of the Interior, in trust for the

Washoe Indian Tribe of Nevada and California.

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 ‘‘Washoe Indian Tribe

5 Land Conveyance Act of 2000’’.
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1 SEC. 2. WASHOE TRIBE LAND CONVEYANCE.

2 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that—

3 (1) the ancestral homeland of the Washoe Tribe

4 of Nevada and California (referred to in this section

5 as the ‘‘Tribe’’) included an area of approximately

6 5,000 square miles in and around Lake Tahoe, Cali7 fornia and Nevada, and Lake Tahoe was the heart

8 of the territory;

9 (2) in 1997, Federal, State, and local govern10 ments, together with many private landholders, rec11 ognized the Washoe people as indigenous people of

12 Lake Tahoe Basin through a series of meetings con13 vened by those governments at 2 locations in Lake

14 Tahoe;

15 (3) the meetings were held to address protec16 tion of the extraordinary natural, recreational, and

17 ecological resources in the Lake Tahoe region;

18 (4) the resulting multiagency agreement in19 cludes objectives that support the traditional and

20 customary uses of Forest Service land by the Tribe;

21 and

22 (5) those objectives include the provision of ac23 cess by members of the Tribe to the shore of Lake

24 Tahoe in order to reestablish traditional and cus25 tomary cultural practices.

26 (b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this section are—
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1 (1) to implement the joint local, State, tribal,

2 and Federal objective of returning the Tribe to Lake

3 Tahoe; and

4 (2) to ensure that members of the Tribe have

5 the opportunity to engage in traditional and cus6 tomary cultural practices on the shore of Lake

7 Tahoe to meet the needs of spiritual renewal, land

8 stewardship, Washoe horticulture and ethnobotony,

9 subsistence gathering, traditional learning, and re10 unification of tribal and family bonds.

11 (c) CONVEYANCE.—Subject to valid existing rights

12 and subject to the easement reserved under subsection (d),

13 the Secretary of Agriculture shall convey to the Secretary

14 of the Interior, in trust for the Tribe, for no consideration,

15 all right, title, and interest in the parcel of land com16 prising approximately 24.3 acres, located within the Lake

17 Tahoe Basin Management Unit north of Skunk Harbor,

18 Nevada, and more particularly described as Mount Diablo

19 Meridian, T15N, R18E, section 27, lot 3.

20 (d) EASEMENT.—

21 (1) IN GENERAL.—The conveyance under sub22 section (c) shall be made subject to reservation to

23 the United States of a nonexclusive easement for

24 public and administrative access over Forest Devel-
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1 opment Road #15N67 to National Forest System

2 land.

3 (2) ACCESS BY INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABIL4 ITIES.—The Secretary shall provide a reciprocal

5 easement to the Tribe permitting vehicular access to

6 the parcel over Forest Development Road #15N67

7 to—

8 (A) members of the Tribe for administra9 tive and safety purposes; and

10 (B) members of the Tribe who, due to age,

11 infirmity, or disability, would have difficulty ac12 cessing the conveyed parcel on foot.

13 (e) USE OF LAND.—

14 (1) IN GENERAL.—In using the parcel conveyed

15 under subsection (c), the Tribe and members of the

16 Tribe—

17 (A) shall limit the use of the parcel to tra18 ditional and customary uses and stewardship

19 conservation for the benefit of the Tribe;

20 (B) shall not permit any permanent resi21 dential or recreational development on, or com22 mercial use of, the parcel (including commercial

23 development, tourist accommodations, gaming,

24 sale of timber, or mineral extraction); and
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1 (C) shall comply with environmental re2 quirements that are no less protective than en3 vironmental requirements that apply under the

4 Regional Plan of the Tahoe Regional Planning

5 Agency.

6 (2) REVERSION.—If the Secretary of the Inte7 rior, after notice to the Tribe and an opportunity for

8 a hearing, based on monitoring of use of the parcel

9 by the Tribe, makes a finding that the Tribe has

10 used or permitted the use of the parcel in violation

11 of paragraph (1) and the Tribe fails to take correc12 tive or remedial action directed by the Secretary of

13 the Interior, title to the parcel shall revert to the

14 Secretary of Agriculture.

Passed the Senate October 27 (legislative day, September 22), 2000.

Attest: GARY SISCO,

Secretary.