H. R. 74

One Hundred Eighth Congress

of the

United States of America

AT THE FIRST SESSION

Begun and held at the City of Washington on Tuesday,

the seventh day of January, two thousand and three

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.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of

the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.

(a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that—

(1) the ancestral homeland of the Washoe Tribe of Nevada

and California (referred to in this Act as the ‘‘Tribe’’) included

an area of approximately 5,000 square miles in and around

Lake Tahoe, California and Nevada, and Lake Tahoe was the

heart of the territory;

(2) in 1997, Federal, State, and local governments, together

with many private landholders, recognized the Washoe people

as indigenous people of Lake Tahoe Basin through a series

of meetings convened by those governments at 2 locations in

Lake Tahoe;

(3) the meetings were held to address protection of the

extraordinary natural, recreational, and ecological resources

in the Lake Tahoe region;

(4) the resulting multiagency agreement includes objectives

that support the traditional and customary uses of National

Forest System land by the Tribe; and

(5) those objectives include the provision of access by members of the Tribe to the shore of Lake Tahoe in order to

reestablish traditional and customary cultural practices.

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

(1) to implement the joint local, State, tribal, and Federal

objective of returning the Tribe to Lake Tahoe; and

(2) to ensure that members of the Tribe have the opportunity to engage in traditional and customary cultural practices

on the shore of Lake Tahoe to meet the needs of spiritual

renewal, land stewardship, Washoe horticulture and

ethnobotany, subsistence gathering, traditional learning, and

reunification of tribal and family bonds.

SEC. 2. CONVEYANCE ON CONDITION SUBSEQUENT.

Subject to valid existing rights, the easement reserved under

section 3, and the condition stated in section 4, the Secretary

of Agriculture shall convey to the Secretary of the Interior, in

trust for the Tribe, for no consideration, all right, title, and interest

in the parcel of land comprising approximately 24.3 acres, located

within the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit north of Skunk
H. R. 74—2

Harbor, Nevada, and more particularly described as Mount Diablo

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

SEC. 3. EASEMENT.

(a) IN GENERAL.—The conveyance under section 2 shall be

made subject to reservation to the United States of a nonexclusive

easement for public and administrative access over Forest Development Road #15N67 to National Forest System land, to be administered by the Secretary of Agriculture.

(b) ACCESS BY INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES.—The Secretary

of Agriculture shall provide a reciprocal easement to the Tribe

permitting vehicular access to the parcel over Forest Development

Road #15N67 to—

(1) members of the Tribe for administrative and safety

purposes; and

(2) members of the Tribe who, due to age, infirmity, or

disability, would have difficulty accessing the conveyed parcel

on foot.

SEC. 4. CONDITION ON USE OF LAND.

(a) IN GENERAL.—In using the parcel conveyed under section

2, the Tribe and members of the Tribe—

(1) shall limit the use of the parcel to traditional and

customary uses and stewardship conservation for the benefit

of the Tribe;

(2) shall not permit any permanent residential or recreational development on, or commercial use of, the parcel

(including commercial development, tourist accommodations,

gaming, sale of timber, or mineral extraction); and

(3) shall comply with environmental requirements that are

no less protective than environmental requirements that apply

under the Regional Plan of the Tahoe Regional Planning

Agency.

(b) TERMINATION AND REVERSION.—If the Secretary of the

Interior, after notice to the Tribe and an opportunity for a hearing,

based on monitoring of use of the parcel by the Tribe, makes

a finding that the Tribe has used or permitted the use of the

parcel in violation of subsection (a) and the Tribe fails to take

corrective or remedial action directed by the Secretary of the

Interior—

(1) title to the parcel in the Secretary of the Interior,

in trust for the Tribe, shall terminate; and
H. R. 74—3

(2) title to the parcel shall revert to the Secretary of Agriculture.

Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Vice President of the United States and

President of the Senate.