Mono Lake Kutzadikaa Tribe Recognition Act

To extend Federal recognition to the Mono Lake Kutzadika a 1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Mono Lake Kutzadika a 2. Findings Congress finds as follows: (1) The Mono Lake Kutzadika a (2) The Mono Lake Kutzadika a Yosemite Mono Pass Tsadoba Indians of that name (3) The Tribe, like all tribes in California, was not the beneficiary of a reservation through the treaty process and remained landless and without Federal protection in the wake of the California gold rush and other non-Indian encroachment into the Tribe’s aboriginal lands. (4) In 1904, the plight of the Tribe was brought to the attention of the Committee on Indian Affairs by the Northern California Indian Association through a petition and extensive, but not exhaustive, study documenting the landless Indians in California. The study identified the numerous tribal communities in California who were in desperate need of land, as well as Federal support and protection, and the Mono Lake Kutzadika a homeless Indians (5) In 1907, historical members of the Tribe were issued individual allotted lands near Mono Lake under the General Allotment Act. In accordance to the General Allotment Act, allotted lands were only provided to Indians shown to be recognized or entitled to be recognized members of an Indian tribe a (6) In the early 1920s, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power began purchasing lands throughout Inyo and Mono Counties in its effort to secure a reliable water supply for the expanding city of Los Angeles in southern California. The Mono Lake Kutzadika a (7) Although Tribal members were once again landless, they remained under the jurisdiction of the Federal Government and appeared on the Bureau of Indian Affairs census records, their children attended Bureau of Indian Affairs boarding schools, and members received (and do today) health care services, and other Federal benefits and services. (8) Federal representatives worked with the Tribe to no avail in the 1920s and 1930s to secure a land base, and these efforts are well documented in official Bureau of Indian Affairs correspondence and records. (9) In June 1950, Tribal members submitted a petition to the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs and the Subcommittee on Indian Affairs, requesting an investigation into their living conditions. In the petition, they stated that they hoped that through an investigation, the agencies might appropriate, rehabilitate, or set aside land for us (10) On December 26, 1950, a formal petition was filed before the Indian Claims Commission on behalf of the Northern Paiute Nation, which included various individual Northern Paiute Indians and several reservation tribes, all located in Nevada. The original claim, designated as Docket No. 87, did not include California Paiute tribes from the Owens Valley, Mono Lake, Deep Springs Valley, or Fish Lake Valley. During the course of the liability phase of the trial, expert testimony was introduced correcting the oversight, and on August 8, 1951, an amended petition was filed that included the Tribe and other overlooked California Paiute Nations. Unfortunately, the Commission awarded only meager compensation to individual members and did not provide lands to the Tribe. (11) In 1955, the Tribe submitted a petition to State Senator Charles Brown of Sacramento, California, seeking to establish a reservation that included 66,000 acres of land. The petition rested on a 1912 Presidential Executive order that had set aside lands for the Tribe and other tribes in Inyo and Mono County, but was later withdrawn because the original land identified was unsuitable. The Tribe’s petition was again met with the statement that there was no land available for a reservation. (12) Believing that recognition might lead to land for the Tribe, the Tribe submitted a letter of Intent to Petition for Recognition (13) In 1977, the Tribe adopted formal Articles of Association to define its enrollment criteria and election of Tribal leaders. (14) Also in 1977, the Tribe petitioned and was recognized by the BIA as an adult Indian community of one-half degree of Indian blood 25 U.S.C. 5101 et seq. Indians (15) Even without formal Tribal recognition, the Tribe has remained a political force and the protector of Mono Lake, Kutzapaa’ which is at the center of the Tribe’s culture and history and provided its ancestors with a critical food source. On March 19, 1983, Jessie Durant, a revered Tribal elder, testified before the Subcommittee on Public Lands and National Parks on the importance of Mono Lake to the Mono Lake people and culture. Mono Lake is now known as the Mono Lake Tufa State Natural Reserve thanks in large part to the efforts of the Tribe and the Mono Lake Foundation. (16) On April 28, 1989, the Senate Select Committee on Indian Affairs held hearings in Sacramento, California, on SB 611, a bill to Establish Administrative Procedures to Determine Status of Certain Indian Groups. Tribal member Richard Blaver was invited to and provided testimony on behalf of the Tribe on the difficulties encountered by tribes seeking recognition through the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ administrative acknowledgment process. (17) The Federal agencies that now manage Federal lands, some of which are the ancestral lands of the Tribe, share a deep respect for the Tribe, and acknowledge that the Kutzadika a Indian (18) In 1993, the Forest Service hosted a dedication in honor of the elders of the Kutzadika a honor of the Mono Lake [Kutzadika a (19) In 1996, the National Park Service issued a directive to all Yosemite Entrance Station personnel informing them that members of the Tribe were to be granted entrance to the Yosemite National Park at no cost. More recent examples are the ongoing Federal, State, and county agencies consultations with the Tribe on proposed environmental projects, land management planning, and repatriation of Tribal funerary objects and artifacts under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act when encountered on Federal lands. (20) In 2000, the Tribe partnered with the Mono County Board of Supervisors to seek funding to assist the county in completing a community center in Lee Vining, California. The Tribe was awarded a State Community Development Block Grant from the California Native American Allocation for $475,000, which was used to complete construction of the community center. In exchange for this contribution, the county has dedicated office space to the Tribe and a large meeting room for Tribal general council meetings, and the building is identified as the Mono Lake Indian and Lee Vining Community Center (21) In 2003, the Tribe adopted a Constitution and other governing documents to formalize its Tribal Government structure, enrollment process, and elections of its leaders. Even without Federal financial assistance to carry out its governmental functions or a land base, the Tribe remains a distinct community both politically and culturally. The Tribe works with its Federal, State, and county agency partners to protect cultural and sacred sites, the environment, Mono Lake, and habitat. In recent years, the Tribe has established the Mono Lake/Yosemite Traditional Walk (22) Federal recognition of the Tribe through this Act is supported by the Mono County Board of Supervisors, all five federally recognized Tribes in Inyo County, the non-federally recognized tribe Southern Sierra Muwuk Nation, and the federally recognized tribes of Tuolumne Band of Me-Wuk Indians, Picayune Rancheria of the Chuckansi Tribe, and the North Fork Rancheria of Mono Indians. Support also comes from the National Park Service, the Sierra Club, Friends of Inyo County, the Anthropology Department of California State University Chico, California Indian Legal Services, and other organizations. 3. Definitions In this Act: (1) Member The term member (2) Secretary The term Secretary (3) Tribe The term Tribe a 4. Federal recognition (a) In general Federal recognition is extended to the Tribe. (b) Effect of federal laws Except as otherwise provided in this Act, all Federal laws (including regulations) of general application to Indians and Indian tribes, including the Act of June 18, 1934 ( 25 U.S.C. 5101 et seq. 5. Federal services and benefits (a) In general The Tribe and each member of the Tribe shall be eligible for all services and benefits provided by the United States to Indians and federally recognized Indian Tribes, without regard to— (1) the existence of a reservation for the Tribe; or (2) the location of the residence of any member on or near an Indian reservation. (b) Service area For purposes of the delivery of services and benefits to members, the service area of the Tribe shall be considered to be the counties of Mono and Inyo, in the State of California. 6. Reaffirmation of rights (a) In general Nothing in this Act diminishes any right or privilege of the Tribe or any member that existed before the date of the enactment of this Act. (b) Claims of tribe Except as otherwise provided in this Act, nothing in this Act alters or affects any legal or equitable claim of the Tribe to enforce any right or privilege reserved by, or granted to, the Tribe that was wrongfully denied to, or taken from, the Tribe before the date of the enactment of this Act. (c) Hunting and fishing rights The Tribe shall be granted hunting and fishing rights on all Federal lands within its aboriginal land area. Each Federal agency who administers lands within the Tribe’s aboriginal land area shall work with the Tribe so as to accommodate the exercise of its hunting and fishing rights within the agencies existing land use plans, Federal law and governing regulations. 7. Membership roll (a) In general As a condition of receiving recognition, services, and benefits pursuant to this Act, the Tribe shall submit to the Secretary, by not later than 18 months after the date of the enactment of this Act, a membership roll consisting of the name of each individual enrolled as a member of the Tribe. (b) Determination of membership The qualifications for inclusion on the membership roll of the Tribe shall be determined in accordance with section (a) of Article III of the constitution of the Tribe, dated June 23, 2003. (c) Maintenance of roll The Tribe shall maintain the membership roll. 8. Trust land (a) Identification of land The Secretary shall identify land administered by the Bureau of Land Management that is located in that portion of Mono County that is within the Tribe’s ancestral homelands, sufficient to support the location of Tribal Government administration and services, economic development, and housing. (b) Land into trust After the Secretary identifies said land to meet the purposes so described, the Tribe shall request and the Secretary shall accept such lands into trust for the benefit of the Tribe. Nothing in this section shall prevent the Secretary or the Tribe from acquiring land, and the Secretary taking land into trust for the benefit of the Tribe, pursuant to section 5 of the Act of June 18, 1934 ( 25 U.S.C. 51108

Summary: Mono Lake Kutzadikaᵃ Tribe Recognition Act This bill extends federal recognition to the Mono Lake Kutzadikaᵃ Tribe. The bill makes the tribe and its members eligible for services and benefits provided to federally recognized tribes and their members, without regard to the existence of a reservation or the location of the residence of any member. The service area of the tribe is considered to be Mono and Inyo counties, California. In addition, the bill grants the tribe hunting and fishing rights on all federal lands within its aboriginal land area. Further, the tribe must submit a membership roll to the Department of the Interior as a condition of receiving recognition, services, and benefits. The tribe must maintain the membership roll. Interior, upon the request of the tribe, must take into trust certain land in Mono County, California, for the benefit of the tribe.