[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 74 Enrolled Bill (ENR)]

        H.R.74

                       One Hundred Eighth Congress

                                 of the

                        United States of America


                          AT THE FIRST SESSION

          Begun and held at the City of Washington on Tuesday,
           the seventh day of January, two thousand and three


                                 An Act


 
  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. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.

    (a) Findings.--Congress finds that--
        (1) the ancestral homeland of the Washoe Tribe of Nevada and 
    California (referred to in this Act 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 National Forest 
    System 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.

SEC. 2. CONVEYANCE ON CONDITION SUBSEQUENT.

    Subject to valid existing rights, the easement reserved under 
section 3, and the condition stated in section 4, 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.

SEC. 3. EASEMENT.

    (a) In General.--The conveyance under section 2 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, to be administered by the 
Secretary of Agriculture.
    (b) Access by Individuals With Disabilities.--The Secretary of 
Agriculture shall provide a reciprocal easement to the Tribe permitting 
vehicular access to the parcel over Forest Development Road #15N67 to--
        (1) members of the Tribe for administrative and safety 
    purposes; and
        (2) members of the Tribe who, due to age, infirmity, or 
    disability, would have difficulty accessing the conveyed parcel on 
    foot.

SEC. 4. CONDITION ON USE OF LAND.

    (a) In General.--In using the parcel conveyed under section 2, the 
Tribe and members of the Tribe--
        (1) shall limit the use of the parcel to traditional and 
    customary uses and stewardship conservation for the benefit of the 
    Tribe;
        (2) shall not permit any permanent residential or recreational 
    development on, or commercial use of, the parcel (including 
    commercial development, tourist accommodations, gaming, sale of 
    timber, or mineral extraction); and
        (3) 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.
    (b) Termination and 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 
subsection (a) and the Tribe fails to take corrective or remedial 
action directed by the Secretary of the Interior--
        (1) title to the parcel in the Secretary of the Interior, in 
    trust for the Tribe, shall terminate; and
        (2) title to the parcel shall revert to the Secretary of 
    Agriculture.

                               Speaker of the House of Representatives.

                            Vice President of the United States and    
                                               President of the Senate.