[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 137 (Friday, October 27, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11274-S11275]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




DIRECTING THE SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE TO CONVEY CERTAIN LAND IN NEVADA

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DIRECTING THE SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR TO CONDUCT A STUDY REGARDING AN 
   UPPER HOUSATONIC VALLEY NATIONAL HERITAGE AREA IN CONNECTICUT AND 
                             MASSACHUSETTS

  Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the Energy 
Committee be discharged from the following bills and the Senate 
proceed, en bloc, to their consideration:
  S. 2751 from the Energy Committee and H.R. 4312.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will state the bills by title.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       A bill (S. 2751) to direct the Secretary of Agriculture to 
     convey certain land in the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit.
       A bill (H.R. 4312) to direct the Secretary of the Interior 
     to conduct a study of the suitability and feasibility of 
     establishing an Upper Housatonic Valley National Heritage 
     Area in the State of Connecticut and the Commonwealth of 
     Massachusetts, and for other purposes.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the bills.


                     Amendment No. 4350 to S. 2751

  Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, I send an amendment to the desk and ask for 
its immediate consideration.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       The Senator from Utah [Mr. Hatch], for Mr. Murkowski, 
     proposes an amendment numbered 4350.

  The amendment reads as follows:

       Strike all after the enacting clause and insert the 
     following:

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Washoe Indian Tribe Land 
     Conveyance Act of 2000''.

     SEC. 2. 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 section 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.--
       (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 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) 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.

  Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the amendment, No. 
4350, to S. 2751 be agreed to, the bills be read the third time and 
passed, the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table, and that any 
statements relating to the bills be printed in the Record, with the 
above occurring en bloc.
  The amendment (No. 4350) was agreed to.
  The bills (H.R. 4312 and S. 2751, as amended) were read the third 
time and passed, en bloc.
  The bill (S. 2751), as amended, reads 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. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Washoe Indian Tribe Land 
     Conveyance Act of 2000''.

     SEC. 2. 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;

[[Page S11275]]

       (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 section 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.--
       (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 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) 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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