I
107TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 3534
To provide for the settlement of certain land claims of Cherokee, Choctaw,
and Chickasaw Nations to the Arkansas Riverbed in Oklahoma.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
DECEMBER 19, 2001
Mr. CARSON of Oklahoma (for himself, Mr. WATKINS of Oklahoma, Mr. KIL-
DEE, and Mr. LARGENT) introduced the following bill; which was referred
to the Committee on Resources
A BILL
To provide for the settlement of certain land claims of Cher-
okee, Choctaw, and Chickasaw Nations to the Arkansas
Riverbed in Oklahoma.
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 ‘‘Cherokee, Choctaw,
and Chickasaw Nations Claims Settlement Act’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS; PURPOSE; DEFINITIONS.
(a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds the following:
(1) It is the policy of the United States to pro-
mote tribal self-determination and economic self-suf-
ficiency and to encourage the resolution of disputes
over historical claims through mutually agreed-to
settlements between Indian Nations and the United
States.
(2) There are pending before the United States
Court of Federal Claims certain lawsuits against the
United States brought by the Cherokee, Choctaw,
and Chickasaw Nations seeking monetary damages
for the alleged use and mismanagement of tribal re-
sources along the Arkansas River in eastern Okla-
homa.
(3) Some of the significant historical facts rel-
evant to the claims and controversies between the
Cherokee, Choctaw, and Chickasaw Nations and the
United States include the following:
(A) The Cherokee Nation, a federally rec-
ognized Indian tribe with its present tribal
headquarters near Tahlequah, Oklahoma, hav-
ing adopted its most recent constitution on
June 26, 1976, and having entered into various
treaties with the United States, including but
not limited to the Treaty at Hopewell, executed
on November 28, 1785 (7 Stat. 18), and the
Treaty at Washington, D.C., executed on July
19, 1866 (14 Stat. 799), has maintained a con-
tinuous government-to-government relationship
with the United States since the earliest years
of the Union.
(B) The Choctaw Nation, a federally rec-
ognized Indian tribe with its present tribal
headquarters in Durant, Oklahoma, having
adopted its most recent constitution on July 9,
1983, and having entered into various treaties
with the United States of America, including
but not limited to the Treaty at Hopewell, exe-
cuted on January 3, 1786 (7 Stat. 21), and the
Treaty at Washington, D.C., executed on April
28, 1866 (7 Stat. 21), has maintained a contin-
uous 
government-to-government 
relationship
with the United States since the earliest years
of the Union.
(C) The Chickasaw Nation, a federally rec-
ognized Indian tribe with its present tribal
headquarters in Ada, Oklahoma, having adopt-
ed its most recent constitution on August 27,
1983, and having entered into various treaties
with the United States of America, including
but not limited to the Treaty at Hopewell, exe-
cuted on January 10, 1786 (7 Stat. 24), and
the Treaty at Washington, D.C., executed on
April 28, 1866 (7 Stat. 21), has maintained a
continuous government-to-government relation-
ship with the United States since the earliest
years of the Union.
(D) In the first half of the 19th century,
the Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek, and
Seminole Nations were forcibly removed from
their homelands in the southeastern United
States to lands west of the Mississippi in the
Indian Territory which were ceded to them by
the United States. From the ‘‘Three Forks’’
area near present day Muskogee, Oklahoma,
downstream to the point of confluence with the
Canadian River, the Arkansas River flowed en-
tirely within the territory of the Cherokee Na-
tion. From that point of confluence downstream
to the Arkansas territorial line, the Arkansas
River formed the boundary between the Cher-
okee Nation on the left side of the thread of the
river and the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations
on the right.
(E) Pursuant to the Act of April 30, 1906
(34 Stat. 137), title to the bed and banks of the
Arkansas River passed to the United States in
trust for the respective Indian Nations in ac-
cordance with their respective interests therein.
(F) For more than 60 years after Okla-
homa statehood, the Bureau of Indian Affairs
incorrectly assumed that Oklahoma owned the
Riverbed from the Arkansas State line to Three
Forks, and therefore took no action to protect
the Indian Nations’ Riverbed resources such as
oil and gas production, sand and gravel as well
as Drybed Lands suitable for grazing and agri-
culture. The United States Government con-
structed powerheads and other improvements in
the channel of the Arkansas River on tribal
lands, using sand and gravel belonging to the
three Indian Nations. Due to the Bureau’s in-
action, individuals with property near the Ar-
kansas River began to occupy the three Indian
Nations’ Drybed Lands—lands that were under
water at the time of statehood but that are now
dry due to changes in the course of the river.
(G) In 1966, the three Indian Nations
sued the State of Oklahoma to recover their
lands. In 1970, the Supreme Court of the
United States decided in the case of Choctaw
Nation vs. Oklahoma (396 U.S. 620 (1970)),
that the Indian Nations retained title to their
respective portions of the Riverbed along the
navigable reach of the river.
(H) In 1989, the three Indian Nations
filed lawsuits against the United States in the
United States Court of Federal Claims (Case
Nos. 218–89L and 630–89L), seeking damages
for the United States use and mismanagement
of tribal trust resources along the Arkansas
River. Those actions are still pending.
(I) In 1997, the United States filed quiet
title litigation against individuals occupying
some of the Indian Nations’ Drybed Lands.
That action, filed in the United States District
Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma,
was dismissed without prejudice on technical
grounds.
(J) From time to time over the years fol-
lowing the Indian Nations’ Court of Federal
Claims litigation, the Indian Nations, the De-
partment of Justice, the Bureau of Indian Af-
fairs, and the Indian Nations have engaged in
settlement negotiations.
(4) Nearly 7,750 acres of the Indian Nations’
Drybed Lands have been occupied by a large number
of adjacent landowners in Oklahoma. Without Fed-
eral legislation, further litigation against thousands
of such landowners would be likely and any final res-
olution of pending disputes through a process of liti-
gation would take many years and entail great ex-
pense to the United States, the three Indian Na-
tions, and the individuals and entities occupying the
Drybed Lands and would seriously impair long-term
economic planning and development for all parties.
(5) The Councils of the Cherokee, Choctaw, and
Chickasaw Nations have each enacted tribal legisla-
tion which would, contingent upon the passage of
this Act and in exchange for the monies appro-
priated hereunder—
(A) settle and forever release their respec-
tive claims against the United States asserted
by them in United States Court of Federal
Claims Case Nos. 218–89L and 630–89L; and
(B) forever disclaim any and all right,
title, and interest in and to the Disclaimed
Drybed Lands, as set forth in those enactments
of the respective councils of those Nations de-
scribed in paragraph (6).
(6) The enactments of settlement legislation
adopted by the respective Councils of the Cherokee,
Choctaw, and Chickasaw Nations each provide that,
contingent upon the passage of this Act, the Indian
Nation agrees to dismiss, release, and forever dis-
charge its claims asserted against the United States
in the United States Court of Federal Claims, Case
No. 218–89L, and to disclaim any right, title, or in-
terest of the Nation in the Disclaimed Drybed
Lands, in exchange for the funds appropriated and
allocated to the Indian Nation under the provisions
of this Act, which funds the Nation agrees to accept
in full satisfaction and settlement of all claims
against the United States for its use of and damage
to the bed of the Arkansas River arising out of the
construction of the McClellan-Kerr Navigation Way
and for the damages sought in the aforementioned
claims asserted in the United States Court of Fed-
eral Claims, and as full and fair compensation for
disclaiming its right, title, and interest in the Dis-
claimed Drybed Lands, payable in the next fiscal
year after the date of the enactment of this Act.
(7) In those enactments, each Indian Nation
expressly reserved all of its beneficial interest and
title to all other Riverbed lands, including minerals,
as determined by the Supreme Court in Choctaw
Nation v. Oklahoma, 397 U.S. 620 (1970), and fur-
ther reserved any and all right, title, or interest that
each Nation may have in and to the water flowing
in said river and its tributaries.
(b) PURPOSE.—The purposes of this Act are as fol-
lows:
(1) To approve, ratify, and confirm an agreed-
to resolution of claims brought by the Cherokee,
Choctaw, and Chickasaw Nations against the United
States, and the agreed-to disclaimers of the three
Indian Nations to any right, title, or interest in ap-
proximately 7,750 acres of Drybed Lands contiguous
to the present channel of the Arkansas River in cer-
tain townships in eastern Oklahoma.
(2) To reserve the three Indian Nations’ bene-
ficial interest in the Riverbed except for the Dis-
claimed Drybed Lands.
(3) To authorize and direct the Secretary to im-
plement the terms of such settlement.
(4) To authorize the actions and appropriations
necessary to implement the provisions of this Act.
(5) To maintain the trust relationship between
the United States and each of the three Indian Na-
tions.
(c) DEFINITIONS.—For the purposes of this Act, the
following definitions apply:
(1) DISCLAIMED
DRYBED
LANDS.—The term
‘‘Disclaimed Drybed Lands’’ means all Drybed
Lands along the Arkansas River that are located in
Township 10 North in Range 24 East, Townships 9
and 10 North in Range 25 East, Township 10
North in Range 26 East, and Townships 10 and 11
North in Range 27 east, in the State of Oklahoma.
(2) DRYBED
LANDS.—The term ‘‘Drybed
Lands’’ means those Riverbed lands of the three In-
dian Nations which lie above and contiguous to the
present high water mark of the Arkansas River in
the State of Oklahoma but which have become part
of the Riverbed by operation of accretion and avul-
sion.
(3) INDIAN
NATION; INDIAN
NATIONS.—The
term ‘‘Indian Nation’’ means the Cherokee Nation,
Choctaw Nation, or Chickasaw Nation, and the term
‘‘Indian Nations’’ means all three tribes collectively.
(4) RIVERBED.—The term ‘‘Riverbed’’ means
the Drybed Lands and the Wetbed Lands and in-
cludes all minerals therein.
(5) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means
the Secretary of the Interior.
(6) WETBED
LANDS.—The term ‘‘Wetbed
Lands’’ means those Riverbed lands which lie below
the high water mark of the Arkansas River in the
State of Oklahoma exclusive of the Drybed Lands.
SEC. 3. SETTLEMENT AND CLAIMS; APPROPRIATIONS; AL-
LOCATION OF FUNDS.
(a) EXTINGUISHMENT OF CLAIMS.—Upon payment
of the funds appropriated under this section, all claims
for use of and damage to the Riverbed arising out of the
construction and maintenance of the McClellan-Kerr Navi-
gation Way and the claims asserted by the Cherokee,
Choctaw, and Chickasaw Nations in the United States
Court of Federal Claims against the United States shall
be deemed extinguished.
(b) RELEASE
OF TRIBAL CLAIMS
TO CERTAIN
DRYBED LANDS.—
(1) IN
GENERAL.—Upon the deposit of all
funds authorized for appropriation under subsection
(c) for an Indian Nation into the appropriate trust
fund account described in section 4, all claims and
all right, title, and interest that the Indian Nations
may have to the Disclaimed Drybed Lands, shall be
deemed extinguished. The Secretary shall execute an
appropriate document citing this Act, suitable for fil-
ing with the county clerks, or such other county offi-
cial as is appropriate, of those counties wherein the
foregoing described lands are located, disclaiming
tribal interests in such Disclaimed Drybed Lands.
(2) EXCEPTION.—Notwithstanding any provi-
sion of this Act, the Indian Nations do not relin-
quish any right, title, or interest in any lands or
minerals to which the United States claims title
which are contiguous to the Riverbed, and no provi-
sion of this Act shall be construed to extinguish or
convey any water rights of the Indian Nations in the
Arkansas River or any other stream or the beneficial
interests or title of any of the Indian Nations in and
to trust lands lying above or below the high water
mark of the Arkansas River, except for the Dis-
claimed Drybed Lands.
(3) LAND TO BE TAKEN INTO TRUST.—To the
extent that the United States determines that it is
able to effectively maintain the McClellan-Kerr Navi-
gation Way without retaining title to lands above the
high water mark of the Arkansas River, said lands,
after being declared surplus, shall be taken into
trust for the Indian Nation within whose boundary
the land is located. All Wetbed Lands, including
minerals, from the Arkansas State line upstream to
the historic point of navigability near the confluence
of the Arkansas, Verdigris, and Grand Rivers, and
all Drybed Lands located outside the foregoing de-
scribed Townships, shall continue to be held by the
United States in trust for the beneficiary Indian Na-
tion and shall be protected in accordance with appli-
cable law governing tribal trust lands.
(c) AUTHORIZATION FOR SETTLEMENT APPROPRIA-
TIONS.—
(1) SETTLEMENT OF CLAIMS.—There is author-
ized to be appropriated the aggregate sum of
$41,293,245. After payment pursuant to section 5,
the remaining funds appropriated under this sub-
section shall be paid and allocated among the three
Indian Nations in accordance with subsection (d)
and deposited into the trust fund accounts estab-
lished pursuant to section 4. Such payment shall be
in full satisfaction and settlement of the Indian Na-
tions’ claims for the use of and damage to the Ar-
kansas Riverbed arising out of the construction and
maintenance of the McClellan-Kerr Navigation Way
and asserted against the United States in the
United States Court of Federal Claims, Case Nos.
218–89L and 630–89L, and in full satisfaction of,
and as compensation for, the three Indian Nations’
respective right, title, and interest in and to the Dis-
claimed Drybed Lands.
(2) RENTALS.—In addition to funds authorized
to be appropriated in paragraph (1), there is author-
ized for appropriation and allocated in accordance
with subsection (d) $8,000,000, representing the
present value of the fair market rentals for the loca-
tion and future operation in perpetuity of the two
hydropower generation and related facilities at the
Webbers Falls Lock and Dam and the Kerr Lock
and Dam on the Arkansas River.
(d) ALLOCATION AND DEPOSIT OF FUNDS.—After
payment pursuant to section 5, the remaining funds au-
thorized for appropriation under subsection (c) shall be
allocated among the Indian Nations as follows:
(1) 50 percent to be deposited into the trust
fund account established under section 4 for the
Cherokee Nation.
(2) 37.5 percent to be deposited into the trust
fund account established under section 4 for the
Choctaw Nation.
(3) 12.5 percent to be deposited into the trust
fund account established under section 4 for the
Chickasaw Nation.
SEC. 4. TRIBAL TRUST FUNDS.
(a) TRUST FUND ACCOUNTS AND USES OF TRUST
FUNDS.—All funds appropriated and paid pursuant to
section 3 shall be deposited into three separate tribal trust
fund accounts to be established by the Secretary for the
benefit of each of the three Indian Nations. All funds de-
posited into said accounts, and any income earned there-
on, shall be expended only in accordance with the provi-
sions of this section. No funds deposited into the trust
fund accounts established in section 4 shall be made avail-
able to the beneficiary Indian Nation until that Nation
files the appropriate stipulation of dismissal with prejudice
of all claims asserted in Case Nos. 218–89L or 630–89L,
filed in the United States Court of Federal Claims.
(b) LAND ACQUISITION.—The funds appropriated
and allocated to the Indian Nations pursuant to section
3(c) and deposited into trust fund accounts pursuant to
section 4(a), together with any interest earned thereon,
and allocated pursuant to section 3(d) may be used for
the acquisition of land by the three Indian Nations for
transfer to the United States in trust for the beneficiary
Indian Nation in accordance with the Secretary’s trust
land acquisition regulations at part 151 of title 25, Code
of Federal Regulations, as in effect on January 1, 2001.
Any such trust land acquisitions on behalf of the Cherokee
Nation shall be mandatory if the land proposed to be ac-
quired is located within Township 12 North, Range 21
East, in Sequoyah County, Township 11 North, Range 18
East, in McIntosh County, Townships 11 and 12 North,
Range 19 East, or Township 12 North, Range 20 East,
in Muskogee County, Oklahoma, and not within the limits
of any incorporated municipality as of January 1, 2001,
except that any such land proposed to be acquired must
meet the Department of Interior’s minimum environ-
mental standards and requirements for real estate acquisi-
tions set forth in 602 DM 2.6, as in effect on January
1, 2001, and the title to such land must meet applicable
Federal title standards as in effect on said date. The In-
dian Nations may elect to expend all or a portion of the
funds deposited into its trust account for any other pur-
poses authorized under subsection (c).
(c) INVESTMENT OF TRUST FUNDS; NO PER CAPITA
PAYMENT.—
(1) NO PER CAPITA PAYMENTS.—No money re-
ceived by the Indian Nations hereunder may be used
for a general per capita payment.
(2) INVESTMENT
BY
SECRETARY.—Except as
provided in this section and section 5, the principal
of such funds deposited into the accounts established
hereunder and any interest earned thereon shall be
invested by the Secretary in accordance with current
laws and regulations for the investing of tribal trust
funds.
(3) USE OF PRINCIPAL FUNDS.—The principal
amounts of said funds and any amounts earned
thereon shall be made available to the Indian Nation
for which the account was established for expendi-
ture for purposes which may include construction or
repair of health care facilities, law enforcement, cul-
tural or other education activities, economic develop-
ment, social services, and land acquisition. Land ac-
quisition using such funds shall be subject to the
provisions of subsections (b) and (d).
(d) DISBURSEMENT OF FUNDS.—The Secretary shall
disburse the funds from a trust account established under
this section pursuant to a budget adopted by the Council
of the Indian Nation setting forth the amount and an in-
tended use of such funds.
SEC. 5. ATTORNEY FEES.
(a) PAYMENT.—At the time the funds are paid to the
Indian Nations, from funds authorized to be appropriated
pursuant to section 3(c), the Secretary shall pay to the
Indian Nations’ attorneys those fees provided for in the
individual tribal attorney fee contracts as approved by the
respective Indian Nations.
(b) LIMITATIONS.—Notwithstanding subsection (a),
the total fees payable to attorneys under such contracts
with an Indian Nation shall not exceed 10 percent of that
Indian Nation’s allocation of funds appropriated under
section 3(c).
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