I
107TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 5327
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
SEPTEMBER 4, 2002
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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