I 
112TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 4187 
To direct the Secretary of the Interior to place certain lands in trust for 
the Zuni Tribe and Navajo Nation and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 8, 2012 
Mr. PEARCE introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Natural Resources 
A BILL 
To direct the Secretary of the Interior to place certain lands 
in trust for the Zuni Tribe and Navajo Nation 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 ‘‘Return of Certain 
Lands At Fort Wingate to The Original Inhabitants Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES. 
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 
(1) In January 1993, the active mission of the 
former Fort Wingate Depot Activity (referred to in 
this Act as the ‘‘FWDA’’) in New Mexico ceased and 
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the installation was closed pursuant to the Defense 
Authorization Amendments and Base Closure and 
Realignment Act of 1988. 
(2) The lands occupied by the FWDA were 
originally the ancestral lands of the Zuni Tribe and 
Navajo Nation, as indicated by the large number of 
archeological and cultural sites identified on such 
lands. 
(3) Because of the long-term operation of the 
FWDA for the receipt, storage, and shipment of mu-
nitions, and the disposal of obsolete or deteriorated 
explosives and military munitions, the lands occupied 
by the FWDA required substantial environmental 
remediation before they could be transferred from 
control by the Department of the Army and used for 
other purposes. 
(4) The Department of the Interior and the De-
partment of the Army, with the support of the two 
Indian tribes and other concerned parties, deter-
mined that, upon completion of the remediation ef-
fort, control over those lands no longer needed by 
the Department of the Army should be transferred 
to the Secretary of the Interior and held in trust by 
the United States for the benefit of the Zuni Tribe 
of the Zuni Reservation and the Navajo Nation. 
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(5) For purposes of scheduling the remediation 
and future use of the lands, the Department of the 
Army divided the FWDA installation into 25 reuse 
parcels. 
(6) Reuse parcels 1, 15, and 17, totaling 5,854 
acres, have been remediated to the standards estab-
lished by the New Mexico Environment Department 
and transferred to the Secretary of the Interior. 
(b) PURPOSE.—The purposes of this Act include to 
implement the objective of returning to the Zuni Tribe and 
the Navajo Nation certain lands formerly occupied by the 
FWDA, by declaring the three reuse parcels that have 
been remediated and transferred to the Secretary of the 
Interior to be held in trust for the Zuni Tribe and Navajo 
Nation and returning use of these parcels to those Indian 
tribes. 
SEC. 3. CONVEYANCE. 
(a) ZUNI TRIBE OF THE ZUNI RESERVATION.—Sub-
ject to existing rights and to easements reserved under 
section 4, all right, title, and interest in the lands referred 
to as Reuse Parcel 1 of the FWDA that are owned by 
the United States are hereby declared to be held by the 
Secretary of the Interior in trust for the Zuni Tribe of 
the Zuni Reservation and part of the Zuni Reservation. 
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(b) NAVAJO NATION.—Subject to existing rights and 
to easements reserved under section 4, all right, title, and 
interest in the lands referred to as Reuse Parcels 15 and 
17 of the FWDA that are owned by the United States 
are hereby declared to be held by the Secretary of the Inte-
rior in trust for the Navajo Nation and part of the Navajo 
Reservation. 
SEC. 4. EASEMENTS. 
The lands held in trust pursuant to this Act shall 
be held subject to reservation to the United States of such 
easements as are required for access to the Fort Wingate 
Launch Complex and for administrative and environ-
mental remediation purposes. 
Æ 
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