[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 490 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 490

 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

                           February 27, 2003

 Mr. Reid (for himself and Mr. Ensign) 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 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.
    (c) Conveyance on Condition Subsequent.--Subject to valid existing 
rights, the easement reserved under subsection (d), and the condition 
stated in subsection (e), 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, 
        to be administered by the Secretary of Agriculture.
            (2) 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--
                    (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) Condition on 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 for the benefit of the Tribe;
                    (B) 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
                    (C) 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) 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 paragraph (1) and the Tribe fails to 
        take corrective or remedial action directed by the Secretary of 
        the Interior--
                    (A) title to the parcel in the Secretary of the 
                Interior, in trust for the Tribe, shall terminate; and
                    (B) title to the parcel shall revert to the 
                Secretary of Agriculture.
                                 <all>