[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 77 (Monday, June 19, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5362-S5363]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. REID:
  S. 2751. 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; to the Committee on Energy and Natural 
Resources.


                washoe tribe land conveyance legislation

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce the Washoe Tribe 
Lake Tahoe Access Act.
  In 1997, I helped convene a Presidential Forum at Lake Tahoe to 
discuss the future of the Lake Tahoe Basin. Together with President 
Clinton, Federal, State, and local government leaders, we addressed the 
protection of the extraordinary natural, recreational, and ecological 
resources of the Lake Tahoe region. Goals and an action plan developed 
during the Lake Tahoe Forum were codified as the ``Presidential Forum 
Deliverables.'' These Deliverables included supporting the traditional 
and customary use of the Lake Tahoe Basin by the Washoe Tribe. Perhaps, 
most importantly, the Deliverables include a provision designed to 
provide the Washoe Tribe access to the shore of Lake Tahoe for cultural 
purposes.
  Mr. President, the ancestral homeland of the Washoe Tribe of Nevada 
and California included an area of over 10,000 square miles in and 
around Lake Tahoe. The purpose of this Act is to ensure that the 
members of the Washoe Tribe have the opportunity to engage in 
traditional and customary cultural practices on the shore of Lake Tahoe 
including spiritual renewal, land stewardship, Washoe horticulture and 
ethnobotany, subsistence gathering, traditional learning, and 
reunification of tribal and family bonds as was envisioned by the 
parties involved in the Lake Tahoe Presidential Forum.
  Mr. President, this Act will convey 24.3 acres from the Secretary of 
Agriculture to the Secretary of the Interior to be held in trust for 
the Washoe Tribe. This is land located within the Lake Tahoe Basin 
Management Unit north of Skunk Harbor, Nevada. The land in question 
would be conveyed with the expectation that it would be used for 
traditional and customary uses and stewardship conservation of the 
Washoe Tribe and will not permit any commercial use. In the unlikely 
event this land were used for any commercial development purpose, title 
to the land will revert to the Secretary of Agriculture. It is my 
sincere hope that Congress will pass this bill thereby making the 
Presidential Deliverables of the Lake Tahoe forum a reality by ensuring 
that the Washoe Tribe once again enjoy access to Lake Tahoe.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be 
printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the bill was ordered to be printed in the 
Record, as follows:

                                S. 2751

       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 
     ethnobotony, 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.--

[[Page S5363]]

       (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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