II

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 2751

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.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

JUNE 19, 2000

Mr. REID introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to

the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources

A BILL

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. WASHOE TRIBE LAND CONVEYANCE.

4 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that—

5 (1) the ancestral homeland of the Washoe Tribe

6 of Nevada and California (referred to in this section

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

8 5,000 square miles in and around Lake Tahoe, Cali-
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1 fornia and Nevada, and Lake Tahoe was the heart

2 of the territory;

3 (2) in 1997, Federal, State, and local govern4 ments, together with many private landholders, rec5 ognized the Washoe people as indigenous people of

6 Lake Tahoe Basin through a series of meetings con7 vened by those governments at 2 locations in Lake

8 Tahoe;

9 (3) the meetings were held to address protec10 tion of the extraordinary natural, recreational, and

11 ecological resources in the Lake Tahoe region;

12 (4) the resulting multiagency agreement in13 cludes objectives that support the traditional and

14 customary uses of Forest Service land by the Tribe;

15 and

16 (5) those objectives include the provision of ac17 cess by members of the Tribe to the shore of Lake

18 Tahoe in order to reestablish traditional and cus19 tomary cultural practices.

20 (b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are—

21 (1) to implement the joint local, State, tribal,

22 and Federal objective of returning the Tribe to Lake

23 Tahoe; and

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

25 the opportunity to engage in traditional and cus-
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1 tomary cultural practices on the shore of Lake

2 Tahoe to meet the needs of spiritual renewal, land

3 stewardship, Washoe horticulture and ethnobotany,

4 subsistence gathering, traditional learning, and re5 unification of tribal and family bonds.

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

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

8 the Secretary of Agriculture shall convey to the Secretary

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

10 all right, title, and interest in the parcel of land com11 prising approximately 24.3 acres, located within the Lake

12 Tahoe Basin Management Unit north of Skunk Harbor,

13 Nevada, and more particularly described as Mount Diablo

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

15 (d) EASEMENT.—

16 (1) IN GENERAL.—The conveyance under sub17 section (c) shall be made subject to reservation to

18 the United States of a nonexclusive easement for

19 public and administrative access over Forest Devel20 opment Road #15N67 to National Forest System

21 land.

22 (2) ACCESS BY INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABIL23 ITIES.—The Secretary shall provide a reciprocal

24 easement to the Tribe permitting vehicular access to
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1 the parcel over Forest Development Road #15N67

2 to—

3 (A) members of the Tribe for administra4 tive and safety purposes; and

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

6 infirmity, or disability, would have difficulty ac7 cessing the conveyed parcel on foot.

8 (e) USE OF LAND.—

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

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

11 Tribe—

12 (A) shall limit the use of the parcel to tra13 ditional and customary uses and stewardship

14 conservation of the Tribe and not permit any

15 commercial use (including commercial develop16 ment, residential development, gaming, sale of

17 timber, or mineral extraction); and

18 (B) shall comply with environmental re19 quirements that are no less protective than en20 vironmental requirements that apply under the

21 Regional Plan of the Tahoe Regional Planning

22 Agency.

23 (2) REVERSION.—If the Secretary of the Inte24 rior, after notice to the Tribe and an opportunity for

25 a hearing, based on monitoring of use of the parcel
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1 by the Tribe, makes a finding that the Tribe has

2 used or permitted the use of the parcel in violation

3 of paragraph (1) and the Tribe fails to take correc4 tive or remedial action directed by the Secretary of

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

6 Secretary of Agriculture.

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