I
105TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 4119
To provide for the restoration of certain Federal land of religious and cultural
significance to the Tohono O’odham Nation of Arizona, and for other
purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JUNE 23, 1998
Mr. PASTOR introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Resosurces
A BILL
To provide for the restoration of certain Federal land of
religious and cultural significance to the Tohono
O’odham Nation of Arizona, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Tohono O’odham Reli-
gious Area Restoration Act’’.
SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.
(a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds that—
(1) the Tohono O’odham Nation is a federally
recognized Indian tribe located on 4 reservation par-
cels in southwestern Arizona;
(2) the Tohono O’odham people are descend-
ants of the HoHokam Indian people and were lo-
cated in southwestern Arizona from time immemo-
rial;
(3) a majority of the Tohono O’odham people
continue to practice, the religious and cultural be-
liefs and traditions of their ancestors;
(4) the immemorial tradition and belief of the
Tohono O’odham people establishes the Baboquivari
Peak and Mountain of southwestern Arizona as the
center of Mother Earth and the dwelling place of
I’itoi, the Creator, and holds that desecration of the
mountain will lead to the destruction and end of the
universe and the O’odham people;
(5) members of the Tohono O’odham Nation
continue to use the Baboquivari Peak on a daily
basis as a part of their religious and cultural beliefs
and practices;
(6) in the establishment of the Sells Reserva-
tion for the Tohono O’odham Nation by the execu-
tive order of February 1, 1917, the eastern bound-
ary of the reservation bisected the peak of
Baboquivari Mountain, leaving only the western half
in the ownership of the Nation, despite the fact that
the mountain has been, from time immemorial, the
central religious and cultural site of the Nation and
the sacred symbol of its people;
(7) despite the express opposition of the Tohono
O’odham Nation, the eastern portion of the
Baboquivari Peak and Mountain was included as a
component of the National Wilderness Preservation
System by section 101(a)(1) of the Arizona Desert
Wilderness Act of 1990 (Public Law 101–628; 104
Stat. 4469);
(8) the exclusion of the eastern portion of the
Baboquivari Peak and Mountain from the Nation’s
ownership in 1917, and the inclusion of the area as
a component of the National Wilderness Preserva-
tion System has frustrated the ability of the Tohono
O’odham people in the practice of their religion; and
(9) the Forty-second Legislature of the State of
Arizona passed, on March 26, 1996, House Concur-
rent Memorial 2005 which requests ‘‘that the Con-
gress of the United States enact legislation to trans-
fer in trust that portion of the Baboquivari Peak
consisting of Federal lands for inclusion in the
Tohono O’odham Indian Reservation.’’.
(b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is to restore
to the Tohono O’odham people, at the request of the Leg-
islature of the State of Arizona and the Tohono O’odham
Nation, the tribal religious area of the eastern portion of
Baboquivari Peak and Mountain.
SEC. 3. RESTORATION OF TRIBAL RELIGIOUS AREA.
Subject to the management requirements and use re-
strictions in section 4, all right, title, and interest of the
United States in and to the land described in section
101(a)(19) of the Arizona Desert Wilderness Act of 1990
(104 Stat. 4471) shall be taken by the Secretary of the
Interior in trust for the benefit of the Tohono O’odham
Nation as a part of its reservation.
SEC. 4. MANAGEMENT REQUIREMENTS; RELIGIOUS USE.
(a) MANAGEMENT.—Except as provided in subsection
(b), the Nation, in cooperation with the Bureau of Land
Management of the Department of the Interior, shall
agree to—
(1) manage the land described in section 3 sub-
ject to the same management requirements and use
restrictions which were applicable to the land as a
part of the National Wilderness Preservation System
as administered by the Bureau of Land Manage-
ment; and
(2) permit the same kind of public access to,
and use of, the land described in section 3 as was
permitted by the Bureau of Land Management as
part of the Wilderness System.
(b) RELIGIOUS USES.—The Tohono O’odham Nation
may manage the use of the land described in section 3,
and limit public access thereto, as may be reasonably nec-
essary to facilitate the religious and cultural uses of the
land and resources of the land, and to prevent the invasion
of the privacy of the Nation for such uses by the public.
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