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 mem-
bers 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 oppor-
tunity 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 Develop-
ment Road #15N67 to National Forest System land, to be adminis-
tered 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 rec-
reational 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 Agri-
culture.
Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Vice President of the United States and
President of the Senate.