[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4119 Introduced in House (IH)]







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 Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Tohono O'odham Religious 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 parcels in southwestern 
        Arizona;
            (2) the Tohono O'odham people are descendants of the 
        HoHokam Indian people and were located in southwestern Arizona 
        from time immemorial;
            (3) a majority of the Tohono O'odham people continue to 
        practice, the religious and cultural beliefs 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 Reservation for the 
        Tohono O'odham Nation by the executive order of February 1, 
        1917, the eastern boundary 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 
        Preservation 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 Concurrent Memorial 2005 which 
        requests ``that the Congress of the United States enact 
        legislation to transfer 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 Legislature 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 restrictions 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 subject 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 
        Management; 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 necessary 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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