I 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5049 

To exchange trust and fee land to resolve land disputes created by the 

realignment of the Blackfoot River along the boundary of the Fort 

Hall Indian Reservation, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 9, 2014 

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

Committee on Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To exchange trust and fee land to resolve land disputes 

created by the realignment of the Blackfoot River along 

the boundary of the Fort Hall Indian Reservation, 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 ‘‘Blackfoot River Land 

5 Exchange Act of 2014’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS; PURPOSES. 

7 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that— 


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1 (1) the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes, a federally 

2 recognized Indian tribe with tribal headquarters at 

3 Fort Hall, Idaho— 

4 (A) adopted a tribal constitution and by5 laws on March 31, 1936, that were approved by 

6 the Secretary of the Interior on April 30, 1936, 

7 pursuant to the Act of June 18, 1934 (25 

8 U.S.C. 461 et seq.) (commonly known as the 

9 ‘‘Indian Reorganization Act’’); 

10 (B) has entered into various treaties with 

11 the United States, including the Second Treaty 

12 of Fort Bridger, executed on July 3, 1868; and 

13 (C) has maintained a continuous govern14 ment-to-government relationship with the 

15 United States since the earliest years of the 

16 Union; 

17 (2)(A) in 1867, President Andrew Johnson des18 ignated by Executive order the Fort Hall Reserva19 tion for various bands of Shoshone and Bannock In20 dians; 

21 (B) the Reservation is located near the cities of 

22 Blackfoot and Pocatello in southeastern Idaho; and 

23 (C) article 4 of the Second Treaty of Fort 

24 Bridger secured the Reservation as a ‘‘permanent 

25 home’’ for the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes; 


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1 (3)(A) according to the Executive order referred 

2 to in paragraph (2)(A), the Blackfoot River, as the 

3 river existed in its natural state— 

4 (i) is the northern boundary of the Res5 ervation; and 

6 (ii) flows in a westerly direction along that 

7 northern boundary; and 

8 (B) within the Reservation, land use in the 

9 River watershed is dominated by— 

10 (i) rangeland; 

11 (ii) dry and irrigated farming; and 

12 (iii) residential development; 

13 (4)(A) in 1964, the Corps of Engineers com14 pleted a local flood protection project on the River— 

15 (i) authorized by section 204 of the Flood 

16 Control Act of 1950 (64 Stat. 170); and 

17 (ii) sponsored by the Blackfoot River Flood 

18 Control District No. 7; 

19 (B) the project consisted of building levees, re20 placing irrigation diversion structures, replacing 

21 bridges, and channel realignment; and 

22 (C) the channel realignment portion of the 

23 project severed various parcels of land located con24 tiguous to the River along the boundary of the Res25 ervation, resulting in Indian land being located 


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1 north of the Realigned River and non-Indian land 

2 being located south of the Realigned River; 

3 (5) beginning in 1999, the Cadastral Survey 

4 Office of the Bureau of Land Management con5 ducted surveys of— 

6 (A) 25 parcels of Indian land; and 

7 (B) 19 parcels of non-Indian land; and 

8 (6) the enactment of this Act and separate 

9 agreements of the parties would represent a resolu10 tion of the disputes described in subsection (b)(1) 

11 among— 

12 (A) the Tribes; 

13 (B) the allottees; and 

14 (C) the non-Indian landowners. 

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

16 (1) to resolve the land ownership and land use 

17 disputes resulting from realignment of the River by 

18 the Corps of Engineers during calendar year 1964 

19 pursuant to the project described in subsection 

20 (a)(4)(A); and 

21 (2) to achieve a final and fair solution to re22 solve those disputes. 

23 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

24 In this Act: 


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1 (1) ALLOTTEE.—The term ‘‘allottee’’ means an 

2 heir of an original allottee of the Reservation who 

3 owns an interest in a parcel of land that is— 

4 (A) held in trust by the United States for 

5 the benefit of the allottee; and 

6 (B) located north of the Realigned River 

7 within the exterior boundaries of the Reserva8 tion. 

9 (2) BLACKFOOT RIVER FLOOD CONTROL DIS10 TRICT NO. 7.—The term ‘‘Blackfoot River Flood 

11 Control District No. 7’’ means the governmental 

12 subdivision in the State of Idaho, located at 75 East 

13 Judicial, Blackfoot, Idaho, that— 

14 (A) is responsible for maintenance and re15 pair of the Realigned River; and 

16 (B) represents the non-Indian landowners 

17 relating to the resolution of the disputes de18 scribed in section 2(b)(1) in accordance with 

19 this Act. 

20 (3) INDIAN LAND.—The term ‘‘Indian land’’ 

21 means any parcel of land that is— 

22 (A) held in trust by the United States for 

23 the benefit of the Tribes or the allottees; 

24 (B) located north of the Realigned River; 

25 and 


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1 (C) identified in exhibit A of the survey of 

2 the Bureau of Land Management entitled ‘‘Sur3 vey of the Blackfoot River of 2002 to 2005’’, 

4 which is located at— 

5 (i) the Fort Hall Indian Agency office 

6 of the Bureau of Indian Affairs; and 

7 (ii) the Blackfoot River Flood Control 

8 District No. 7. 

9 (4) NON-INDIAN LAND.—The term ‘‘non-Indian 

10 land’’ means any parcel of fee land that is— 

11 (A) located south of the Realigned River; 

12 and 

13 (B) identified in exhibit B, which is located 

14 at the areas described in clauses (i) and (ii) of 

15 paragraph (3)(C). 

16 (5) NON-INDIAN LANDOWNER.—The term 

17 ‘‘non-Indian landowner’’ means any individual who 

18 holds fee title to non-Indian land and is represented 

19 by the Blackfoot River Flood Control District No. 7 

20 for purposes of this Act. 

21 (6) REALIGNED RIVER.—The term ‘‘Realigned 

22 River’’ means that portion of the River that was re23 aligned by the Corps of Engineers during calendar 

24 year 1964 pursuant to the project described in sec25 tion 2(a)(4)(A). 


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1 (7) RESERVATION.—The term ‘‘Reservation’’ 

2 means the Fort Hall Reservation established by Ex3 ecutive order during calendar year 1867 and con4 firmed by treaty during calendar year 1868. 

5 (8) RIVER.—The term ‘‘River’’ means the 

6 Blackfoot River located in the State of Idaho. 

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

8 the Secretary of the Interior. 

9 (10) TRIBES.—The term ‘‘Tribes’’ means the 

10 Shoshone-Bannock Tribes. 

11 SEC. 4. RELEASE OF CLAIMS TO CERTAIN INDIAN AND NON12 INDIAN OWNED LANDS. 

13 (a) RELEASE OF CLAIMS.—Effective on the date of 

14 enactment of this Act— 

15 (1) all existing and future claims with respect 

16 to the Indian land and the non-Indian land and all 

17 right, title, and interest that the Tribes, allottees, 

18 non-Indian landowners, and the Blackfoot River 

19 Flood Control District No. 7 may have had to that 

20 land shall be extinguished; 

21 (2) any interest of the Tribes, the allottees, or 

22 the United States, acting as trustee for the Tribes 

23 or allottees, in the Indian land shall be extinguished 

24 under section 2116 of the Revised Statutes (comVerDate Mar 15 2010 00:30 Jul 12, 2014 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5049.IH H5049

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1 monly known as the ‘‘Indian Trade and Intercourse 

2 Act’’) (25 U.S.C. 177); and 

3 (3) to the extent any interest in non-Indian 

4 land transferred into trust pursuant to section 5 vio5 lates section 2116 of the Revised Statutes (com6 monly known as the ‘‘Indian Trade and Intercourse 

7 Act’’) (25 U.S.C. 177), that transfer shall be valid, 

8 subject to the condition that the transfer is con9 sistent with all other applicable Federal laws (includ10 ing regulations). 

11 (b) DOCUMENTATION.—The Secretary may execute 

12 and file any appropriate documents (including a plat or 

13 map of the transferred Indian land) that are suitable for 

14 filing with the Bingham County clerk or other appropriate 

15 county official, as the Secretary determines necessary to 

16 carry out this Act. 

17 SEC. 5. NON-INDIAN LAND TO BE PLACED INTO TRUST FOR 

18 TRIBES. 

19 Effective on the date of enactment of this Act, the 

20 non-Indian land shall be considered to be held in trust 

21 by the United States for the benefit of the Tribes. 

22 SEC. 6. TRUST LAND TO BE CONVERTED TO FEE LAND. 

23 (a) IN GENERAL.—As soon as practicable after the 

24 date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall transfer 

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1 trict No. 7 for use or sale in accordance with subsection 

2 (b). 

3 (b) USE OF LAND.— 

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Blackfoot River Flood 

5 Control District No. 7 shall use any proceeds from 

6 the sale of land described in subsection (a) according 

7 to the following priorities: 

8 (A) To compensate, at fair market value, 

9 each non-Indian landowner for the net loss of 

10 land to that non-Indian landowner resulting 

11 from the implementation of this Act. 

12 (B) To compensate the Blackfoot River 

13 Flood Control District No. 7 for any adminis14 trative or other expenses relating to carrying 

15 out this Act. 

16 (2) REMAINING LAND.—If any land remains to 

17 be conveyed or proceeds remain after the sale of the 

18 land, the Blackfoot River Flood Control District No. 

19 7 may dispose of that remaining land or proceeds as 

20 the Blackfoot River Flood Control District No. 7 de21 termines to be appropriate. 

22 SEC. 7. EFFECT ON ORIGINAL RESERVATION BOUNDARY. 

23 Nothing in this Act affects the original boundary of 

24 the Reservation, as established by Executive order during 


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1 calendar year 1867 and confirmed by treaty during cal2 endar year 1868. 

3 SEC. 8. EFFECT ON TRIBAL WATER RIGHTS. 

4 Nothing in this Act extinguishes or conveys any water 

5 right of the Tribes, as established in the agreement enti6 tled ‘‘1990 Fort Hall Indian Water Rights Agreement’’ 

7 and ratified by section 4 of the Fort Hall Indian Water 

8 Rights Act of 1990 (Public Law 101–602; 104 Stat. 

9 3060). 

10 SEC. 9. DISCLAIMERS REGARDING CLAIMS. 

11 Nothing in this Act— 

12 (1) affects in any manner the sovereign claim 

13 of the State of Idaho to title in and to the beds and 

14 banks of the River under the equal footing doctrine 

15 of the Constitution of the United States; 

16 (2) affects any action by the State of Idaho to 

17 establish the title described in paragraph (1) under 

18 section 2409a of title 28, United States Code (com19 monly known as the ‘‘Quiet Title Act’’); 

20 (3) affects the ability of the Tribes or the 

21 United States to claim ownership of the beds and 

22 banks of the River; or 

23 (4) extinguishes or conveys any water rights of 

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1 owners to water rights in the Snake River Basin Ad2 judication. 

Æ 


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