SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE, FINDINGS, PURPOSES. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Col-
orado River Indian Reservation Boundary Correction Act’’. 
(b) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 
(1) The Act of March 3, 1865, created the Colo-
rado River Indian Reservation (hereinafter ‘‘Reserva-
tion’’) along the Colorado River in Arizona and Cali-
fornia for the ‘‘Indians of said river and its tribu-
taries’’. 
(2) In 1873 and 1874, President Grant issued 
Executive Orders to expand the Reservation south-
ward and to secure its southern boundary at a clearly 
recognizable geographic location in order to forestall 
non-Indian encroachment and conflicts with the Indi-
ans of the Reservation. 
(3) In 1875, Mr. Chandler Robbins surveyed the 
Reservation (hereinafter ‘‘the Robbins Survey’’) and 
delineated its new southern boundary, which included 
approximately 16,000 additional acres (hereinafter 
‘‘the La Paz lands’’), as part of the Reservation. 
(4) On May 15, 1876, President Grant issued an 
Executive Order that established the Reservation’s 
boundaries as those delineated by the Robbins Survey. 
(5) In 1907, as a result of increasingly frequent 
trespasses by miners and cattle and at the request of 
the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the General Land Office
of the United States provided for a resurvey of the 
southern and southeastern areas of the Reservation. 
(6) In 1914, the General Land Office accepted 
and approved a resurvey of the Reservation conducted 
by Mr. Guy Harrington in 1912 (hereinafter the 
‘‘Harrington Resurvey’’) which confirmed the bound-
aries that were delineated by the Robbins Survey and 
established by Executive Order in 1876. 
(7) On November 19, 1915, the Secretary of the 
Interior reversed the decision of the General Land Of-
fice to accept the Harrington Resurvey, and upon his 
recommendation on November 22, 1915, President 
Wilson issued Executive Order No. 2273 ‘‘. . . to cor-
rect the error in location said southern boundary line 
. . .’’—and thus effectively excluded the La Paz from 
the Reservation. 
(8) Historical evidence compiled by the Depart-
ment of the Interior supports the conclusion that the 
reason given by the Secretary in recommending that 
the President issue the 1915 Executive Order—‘‘to 
correct an error in locating the southern boundary’’—
was itself in error and that the La Paz lands should 
not have been excluded from the Reservation. 
(9) The La Paz lands continue to hold cultural 
and historical significance, as well as economic devel-
opment potential, for the Colorado River Indian 
tribes, who have consistently sought to have such 
lands restored to their Reservation. 
(c) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are: 
(1) To correct the south boundary of the Reserva-
tion by reestablishing such boundary as it was delin-
eated by the Robbins Survey and affirmed by the 
Harrington Resurvey. 
(2) To restore the La Paz lands to the Reserva-
tion, subject to valid existing rights under Federal 
law and to provide for continued reasonable public 
access for recreational purposes. 
(3) To provide for the Secretary of the Interior 
to review and ensure that the corrected Reservation 
boundary is resurveyed and marked in conformance 
with the public system of surveys extended over such 
lands. 
SEC. 2. BOUNDARY CORRECTION, RESTORATION, DESCRIP-
TION. 
(a) BOUNDARY.—The boundaries of the Colorado River 
Indian Reservation are hereby declared to include those 
boundaries as were delineated by the Robbins Survey, af-
firmed by the Harrington Survey, and described as follows: 
The approximately 15,375 acres of Federal land described 
as ‘‘Lands Identified for Transfer to Colorado River Indian
Tribes’’ on the map prepared by the Bureau of Land Man-
agement entitled ‘‘H.R. 2981, Colorado River Indian Res-
ervation Boundary Correction Act, and dated May 14, 
2004’’, (hereinafter referred to as the ‘‘Map’’). 
(b) MAP.—The Map shall be available for review at 
the Bureau of Land Management. 
(c) RESTORATION.—Subject to valid existing rights 
under Federal law, all right, title, and interest of the United 
States to those lands within the boundaries declared in sub-
section (a) that were excluded from the Colorado River In-
dian Reservation pursuant to Executive Order No. 2273 
(November 22, 1915) are hereby restored to the Reservation 
and shall be held in trust by the United States on behalf 
of the Colorado River Indian Tribes. 
(d) EXCLUSION.—Excluded from the lands restored to 
trust status on behalf of the Colorado River Indian Tribes 
that are described in subsection (a) are 2 parcels of Arizona 
State Lands identified on the Map as ‘‘State Lands’’ and 
totaling 320 acres and 520 acres. 
SEC. 3. RESURVEY AND MARKING. 
The Secretary of the Interior shall ensure that the 
boundary for the restored lands described in section 2(a) 
is surveyed and clearly marked in conformance with the 
public system of surveys extended over such lands.
SEC. 4. WATER RIGHTS. 
The restored lands described in section 2(a) and shown 
on the Map shall have no Federal reserve water rights to 
surface water or ground water from any source. 
SEC. 5. PUBLIC ACCESS. 
Continued access to the restored lands described in sec-
tion (2)(a) for hunting and other existing recreational pur-
poses shall remain available to the public under reasonable 
rules and regulations promulgated by the Colorado River 
Indian Tribes. 
SEC. 6. ECONOMIC ACTIVITY. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The restored lands described in sec-
tion (2)(a) shall be subject to all rights-of-way, easements, 
leases, and mining claims existing on the date of the enact-
ment of this Act. The United States reserves the right to 
continue all Reclamation projects, including the right to ac-
cess and remove mineral materials for Colorado River 
maintenance on the restored lands described in section 
(2)(a). 
(b) ADDITIONAL RIGHTS-OF-WAY.—Notwithstanding 
any other provision of law, the Secretary, in consultation 
with the Tribe, shall grant additional rights-of-way, expan-
sions, or renewals of existing rights-of-way for roads, utili-
ties, and other accommodations to adjoining landowners or 
existing right-of-way holders, or their successors and as-
signs, if—
(1) the proposed right-of-way is necessary to the 
needs of the applicant; 
(2) the proposed right-of-way acquisition will 
not cause significant and substantial harm to the Col-
orado River Indian Tribes; and 
(3) the proposed right-of-way complies with the 
procedures in part 169 of title 25, Code of Federal 
Regulations consistent with this subsection and other 
generally applicable Federal laws unrelated to the ac-
quisition of interests on trust lands, except that sec-
tion 169.3 of those regulations shall not be applicable 
to expansions or renewals of existing rights-of-way for 
roads and utilities. 
(c) FEES.—The fees charged for the renewal of any 
valid lease, easement, or right-of-way subject to this section 
shall not be greater than the current Federal rate for such 
a lease, easement, or right-of-way at the time of renewal 
if the holder has been in substantial compliance with all 
terms of the lease, easement, or right-of-way. 
SEC. 7. GAMING. 
The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (25 U.S.C. 2701 
et seq.) shall not apply to the restored lands described in 
section (2)(a).
Union Calendar No. 429
108TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 2941
[Report No. 108–701] 
A BILL 
To correct the south boundary of the Colorado 
River Indian Reservation in Arizona, and for 
other purposes. 
SEPTEMBER 28, 2004
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Com-
mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, 
and ordered to be printed