I 

109TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4876 

To ratify a conveyance of a portion of the Jicarilla Apache Reservation 

to Rio Arriba County, State of New Mexico, pursuant to the settlement 

of litigation between the Jicarilla Apache Nation and Rio Arriba County, 

State of New Mexico, to authorize issuance of a patent for said lands, 

and to change the exterior boundary of the Jicarilla Apache Reservation 

accordingly, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 2, 2006 

Mr. UDALL of New Mexico introduced the following bill; which was referred 

to the Committee on Resources 

A BILL 

To ratify a conveyance of a portion of the Jicarilla Apache 

Reservation to Rio Arriba County, State of New Mexico, 

pursuant to the settlement of litigation between the 

Jicarilla Apache Nation and Rio Arriba County, State 

of New Mexico, to authorize issuance of a patent for 

said lands, and to change the exterior boundary of the 

Jicarilla Apache Reservation accordingly, 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, 


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1 SECTION 1. DEFINITIONS. 

2 For the purposes of this act, the following definitions 

3 apply: 

4 (1) JICARILLA APACHE NATION.—The term 

5 ‘‘Jicarilla Apache Nation’’ means the Jicarilla 

6 Apache Nation, a tribe of American Indians recog7 nized by the United States and organized under sec8 tion 16 of the Act of June 18, 1934 (25 U.S.C. 476; 

9 popularly known as the Indian Reorganization Act). 

10 (2) 1988 RESERVATION ADDITION.—The term 

11 ‘‘1988 Reservation Addition’’ means those lands 

12 known locally as the Theis Ranch that were added 

13 to the Jicarilla Apache Reservation in the state of 

14 New Mexico by the proclamation of the Secretary of 

15 the Interior issued on September 1, 1988 pursuant 

16 to authority granted by section 7 of the Act of June 

17 18, 1934 (25 U.S.C. 467; popularly known as the 

18 Indian Reorganization Act), and published in the 

19 Federal Register on September 26, 1988 at 53 F.R. 

20 37355–56. 

21 (3) SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT.—The term 

22 ‘‘Settlement Agreement’’ means the agreement exe23 cuted by the President of the Jicarilla Apache Na24 tion on May 6, 2003 and executed by the Chairman 

25 of the Rio Arriba Board of County Commissioners 

26 on May 15, 2003 and approved by the Department 


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1 of the Interior on June 18, 2003 to settle the Law2 suit. 

3 (4) LAWSUIT.—The term ‘‘Lawsuit’’ means the 

4 case identified as Jicarilla Apache Tribe v. Board of 

5 County Commissioners, County of Rio Arriba, No. 

6 RA 87–2225(C), State of New Mexico District 

7 Court, First Judicial District, filed in October 1987. 

8 (5) RIO ARRIBA COUNTY.—The term ‘‘Rio 

9 Arriba County’’ means the political subdivision of 

10 the state of New Mexico described in Section 4–21– 

11 1 and Section 4–21–2, New Mexico Statutes Anno12 tated 1978 (Original Pamphlet). 

13 (6) SETTLEMENT LANDS.—The term ‘‘Settle14 ment Lands’’ means Tract A and Tract B as de15 scribed in the plat of the ‘‘Dependent Resurvey and 

16 Survey of Tract within Theis Ranch’’ within the 

17 Tierra Amarilla Grant, New Mexico prepared by Leo 

18 P. Kelley, Cadastral Surveyor, United States De19 partment of the Interior, Bureau of Land Manage20 ment, dated January 7, 2004, and recorded in the 

21 office of the Rio Arriba County Clerk on March 8, 

22 2004, in Cabinet C–1, Page 199, Document No. 

23 242411, consisting of 70.75 acres more or less. Title 

24 to the Settlement Lands is held by the United States 

25 in trust for the Jicarilla Apache Nation. 


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1 (7) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

2 the Secretary of the Interior. 

3 (8) DISPUTED COUNTY ROAD.—The term ‘‘Dis4 puted County Road’’ means the county road passing 

5 through the 1988 Reservation Addition along the 

6 course identified in the judgment entered by the 

7 New Mexico District Court in the Lawsuit on De8 cember 10, 2001 and the decision entered on De9 cember 11, 2001, which judgment and decision have 

10 been appealed to the New Mexico Court of Appeals. 

11 SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL FINDINGS. 

12 Congress finds the following: 

13 (1) The lands constituting the 1988 Reserva14 tion Addition to the Jicarilla Apache Reservation 

15 were purchased by the Jicarilla Apache Nation in 

16 June 1985 and were conveyed to the United States 

17 by a trust deed accepted by the Secretary of the In18 terior in March 1988 pursuant to authority granted 

19 by section 5 of the Act of June 18, 1934 (25 U.S.C. 

20 465; popularly known as the Indian Reorganization 

21 Act). 

22 (2) The lands constituting the 1988 Reserva23 tion Addition were added to the Jicarilla Apache 

24 Reservation in September 1988 by proclamation of 

25 the Secretary of the Interior pursuant to authority 


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1 granted by section 7 of the Act of June 18, 1934 

2 (25 U.S.C. 467; popularly known as the Indian Re3 organization Act). 

4 (3) There is pending before the Court of Ap5 peals of the State of New Mexico a lawsuit, filed in 

6 October 1987, that involves a claim that a county 

7 road passing through the 1988 Reservation Addition 

8 had been established by prescription prior to acquisi9 tion of the land by the Jicarilla Apache Nation in 

10 1985. 

11 (4) The parties to that lawsuit, the Jicarilla 

12 Apache Nation and the County of Rio Arriba, have 

13 executed a Settlement Agreement, approved by the 

14 Secretary of the Interior, to resolve all claims relat15 ing to the disputed county road, which agreement 

16 requires ratifying legislation by the Congress of the 

17 United States. 

18 (5) The parties to the Settlement Agreement 

19 desire to settle the claims relating to the disputed 

20 county road on the terms agreed to by the parties, 

21 and it is in the best interests of the parties to re22 solve the claims through the Settlement Agreement 

23 and this implementing legislation. 


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1 SEC. 3. CONDITION ON EFFECT OF SECTION. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 4 of this Act shall not 

3 take effect until the Secretary finds the following events 

4 have occurred: 

5 (1) The Board of Commissioners of Rio Arriba 

6 County has enacted a resolution permanently aban7 doning the disputed county road and has submitted 

8 a copy of that resolution to the Secretary. 

9 (2) The Jicarilla Apache Nation has executed a 

10 quitclaim deed to Rio Arriba County for the Settle11 ment Lands subject to the exceptions identified in 

12 the Settlement Agreement and has submitted a copy 

13 of the quitclaim deed to the Secretary. 

14 (b) PUBLICATION OF FINDINGS.—If the Secretary 

15 finds that the conditions set forth in subsection (a) have 

16 occurred, the Secretary shall publish such findings in the 

17 Federal Register. 

18 SEC. 4. RATIFICATION OF CONVEYANCE; ISSUANCE OF PAT19 ENT. 

20 (a) CONDITIONAL RATIFICATION AND APPROVAL.— 

21 This Act ratifies and approves the Jicarilla Apache Na22 tion’s quitclaim deed for the Settlement Lands to Rio 

23 Arriba County, but such ratification and approval shall be 

24 effective only upon satisfaction of all conditions in section 

25 3, and only as of the date that the Secretary’s findings 


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1 are published in the Federal Register pursuant to section 

2 3. 

3 (b) PATENT.—Following publication of the notice de4 scribed in section 3, the Secretary shall issue to Rio Arriba 

5 County a patent for the Settlement Lands, subject to the 

6 exceptions and restrictive covenants described subsection 

7 (c). 

8 (c) CONDITIONS OF PATENT.—The patent to be 

9 issued by the Secretary under subsection (b) shall be sub10 ject to all valid existing rights of third parties, including 

11 but not limited to easements of record, and shall include 

12 the following perpetual restrictive covenant running with 

13 the Settlement Lands for the benefit of the lands com14 prising the Jicarilla Apache Reservation adjacent to the 

15 Settlement Lands: ‘‘Tract A shall be used only for govern16 mental purposes and shall not be used for a prison, jail 

17 or other facility for incarcerating persons accused or con18 victed of a crime. For purposes of this restrictive covenant, 

19 ‘governmental purposes’ shall include the provision of gov20 ernmental services to the public by Rio Arriba County and 

21 the development and operation of private businesses to the 

22 extent permitted by applicable State law.’’. 

23 SEC. 5. BOUNDARY CHANGE. 

24 Upon issuance of the patent authorized by section 4, 

25 the lands conveyed to Rio Arriba County in the patent 


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1 shall cease to be a part of the Jicarilla Apache Reservation 

2 and the exterior boundary of the Jicarilla Apache Reserva3 tion shall be deemed relocated accordingly. 

Æ 


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