I 
108TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 74
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. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JANUARY 7, 2003
Mr. GIBBONS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Resources 
A BILL 
To direct the Secretary of Agriculture to convey certain 
land in the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit, Ne-
vada, 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 Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. WASHOE TRIBE LAND CONVEYANCE. 
(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, Cali-
fornia and Nevada, and Lake Tahoe was the heart 
of the territory; 
(2) in 1997, Federal, State, and local govern-
ments, together with many private landholders, rec-
ognized the Washoe people as indigenous people of 
Lake Tahoe Basin through a series of meetings con-
vened by those governments at 2 locations in Lake 
Tahoe; 
(3) the meetings were held to address protec-
tion of the extraordinary natural, recreational, and 
ecological resources in the Lake Tahoe region; 
(4) the resulting multiagency agreement in-
cludes objectives that support the traditional and 
customary uses of National Forest System land by 
the Tribe; and 
(5) those objectives include the provision of ac-
cess by members of the Tribe to the shore of Lake 
Tahoe in order to reestablish traditional and cus-
tomary 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 cus-
tomary 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 re-
unification of tribal and family bonds. 
(c) CONVEYANCE
ON CONDITION SUBSEQUENT.—
Subject to valid existing rights, the easement reserved 
under subsection (d), and the condition stated in sub-
section (e), 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 with-
in the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit north of 
Skunk Harbor, Nevada, and more particularly described 
as Mount Diablo Meridian, T15N, R18E, section 27, lot 
3. 
(d) EASEMENT.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—The conveyance under sub-
section (c) shall be made subject to reservation to 
the United States of a nonexclusive easement for 
public and administrative access over Forest Devel-
opment Road #15N67 to National Forest System 
land, to be administered by the Secretary of Agri-
culture.
(2) ACCESS
BY
INDIVIDUALS
WITH
DISABIL-
ITIES.—The Secretary of Agriculture shall provide a 
reciprocal easement to the Tribe permitting vehic-
ular access to the parcel over Forest Development 
Road #15N67 to—
(A) members of the Tribe for administra-
tive and safety purposes; and 
(B) members of the Tribe who, due to age, 
infirmity, or disability, would have difficulty ac-
cessing the conveyed parcel on foot. 
(e) CONDITION ON USE OF LAND.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—In using the parcel conveyed 
under subsection (c), the Tribe and members of the 
Tribe—
(A) shall limit the use of the parcel to tra-
ditional and customary uses and stewardship 
conservation for the benefit of the Tribe; 
(B) shall not permit any permanent resi-
dential or recreational development on, or com-
mercial use of, the parcel (including commercial 
development, tourist accommodations, gaming, 
sale of timber, or mineral extraction); and 
(C) shall comply with environmental re-
quirements that are no less protective than en-
vironmental requirements that apply under the
Regional Plan of the Tahoe Regional Planning 
Agency. 
(2) TERMINATION
AND
REVERSION.—If the 
Secretary of the Interior, after notice to the Tribe 
and an opportunity for a hearing, based on moni-
toring 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 paragraph (1) and the 
Tribe fails to take corrective or remedial action di-
rected by the Secretary of the Interior—
(A) title to the parcel in the Secretary of 
the Interior, in trust for the Tribe, shall termi-
nate; and 
(B) title to the parcel shall revert to the 
Secretary of Agriculture.
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