[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2751 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







106th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2751

 To direct the Secretary of Agriculture to convey certain land in the 
   Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit, Nevada, to the Secretary of the 
     Interior, in trust for the Washoe Indian Tribe of Nevada and 
                              California.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             June 19, 2000

   Mr. Reid introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
       referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To direct the Secretary of Agriculture to convey certain land in the 
   Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit, Nevada, to the Secretary of the 
     Interior, in trust for the Washoe Indian Tribe of Nevada and 
                              California.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. WASHOE TRIBE LAND CONVEYANCE.

    (a) Findings.--Congress finds that--
            (1) the ancestral homeland of the Washoe Tribe of Nevada 
        and California (referred to in this section as the ``Tribe'') 
        included an area of approximately 5,000 square miles in and 
        around Lake Tahoe, California and Nevada, and Lake Tahoe was 
        the heart of the territory;
            (2) in 1997, Federal, State, and local governments, 
        together with many private landholders, recognized the Washoe 
        people as indigenous people of Lake Tahoe Basin through a 
        series of meetings convened by those governments at 2 locations 
        in Lake Tahoe;
            (3) the meetings were held to address protection of the 
        extraordinary natural, recreational, and ecological resources 
        in the Lake Tahoe region;
            (4) the resulting multiagency agreement includes objectives 
        that support the traditional and customary uses of Forest 
        Service land by the Tribe; and
            (5) those objectives include the provision of access by 
        members of the Tribe to the shore of Lake Tahoe in order to 
        reestablish traditional and customary cultural practices.
    (b) Purposes.--The purposes of this Act are--
            (1) to implement the joint local, State, tribal, and 
        Federal objective of returning the Tribe to Lake Tahoe; and
            (2) to ensure that members of the Tribe have the 
        opportunity to engage in traditional and customary cultural 
        practices on the shore of Lake Tahoe to meet the needs of 
        spiritual renewal, land stewardship, Washoe horticulture and 
        ethnobotany, subsistence gathering, traditional learning, and 
        reunification of tribal and family bonds.
    (c) Conveyance.--Subject to valid existing rights and subject to 
the easement reserved under subsection (d), the Secretary of 
Agriculture shall convey to the Secretary of the Interior, in trust for 
the Tribe, for no consideration, all right, title, and interest in the 
parcel of land comprising approximately 24.3 acres, located within the 
Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit north of Skunk Harbor, Nevada, and 
more particularly described as Mount Diablo Meridian, T15N, R18E, 
section 27, lot 3.
    (d) Easement.--
            (1) In general.--The conveyance under subsection (c) shall 
        be made subject to reservation to the United States of a 
        nonexclusive easement for public and administrative access over 
        Forest Development Road #15N67 to National Forest System land.
            (2) Access by individuals with disabilities.--The Secretary 
        shall provide a reciprocal easement to the Tribe permitting 
        vehicular access to the parcel over Forest Development Road 
        #15N67 to--
                    (A) members of the Tribe for administrative and 
                safety purposes; and
                    (B) members of the Tribe who, due to age, 
                infirmity, or disability, would have difficulty 
                accessing the conveyed parcel on foot.
    (e) Use of Land.--
            (1) In general.--In using the parcel conveyed under 
        subsection (c), the Tribe and members of the Tribe--
                    (A) shall limit the use of the parcel to 
                traditional and customary uses and stewardship 
                conservation of the Tribe and not permit any commercial 
                use (including commercial development, residential 
                development, gaming, sale of timber, or mineral 
                extraction); and
                    (B) shall comply with environmental requirements 
                that are no less protective than environmental 
                requirements that apply under the Regional Plan of the 
                Tahoe Regional Planning Agency.
            (2) Reversion.--If the Secretary of the Interior, after 
        notice to the Tribe and an opportunity for a hearing, based on 
        monitoring of use of the parcel by the Tribe, makes a finding 
        that the Tribe has used or permitted the use of the parcel in 
        violation of paragraph (1) and the Tribe fails to take 
        corrective or remedial action directed by the Secretary of the 
        Interior, title to the parcel shall revert to the Secretary of 
        Agriculture.
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