[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 133 (Monday, September 10, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1847-E1848]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 INTRODUCTORY FLOOR STATEMENT FOR A BILL TO RATIFY A CONVEYANCE OF THE 
JICARILLA APACHE RESERVATION TO RIO ARRIBA COUNTY, STATE OF NEW MEXICO, 
 PURSUANT TO THE SETTLEMENT OF LITIGATION BETWEEN THE JICARILLA APACHE 
    NATION AND RIO ARRIBA COUNTY, STATE OF NEW MEXICO, TO AUTHORIZE 
    ISSUANCE OF A PATENT FOR SAID LANDS, AND TO CHANGE THE EXTERIOR 
BOUNDARY OF THE JICARILLA APACHE RESERVATION ACCORDINGLY, AND FOR OTHER 
                                PURPOSES

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. TOM UDALL

                             of new mexico

                    in the house of representatives

                       Monday, September 10, 2007

  Mr. UDALL of New Mexico. Madam Speaker, I rise to introduce a bill to 
ratify a conveyance of a portion of the Jicarilla Apache reservation to 
the county of Rio Arriba, New Mexico. This legislation will bring 
resolution to a long-standing dispute between the Jicarilla Apache 
Nation and Rio Arriba County. In the 109th Congress, H.R. 4876, a 
nearly identical bill, passed the House under suspension of the rules.
  The dispute, which has been ongoing for nearly two decades, is over 
the ownership of a road on a parcel of land formerly referred to as 
Theis Ranch. The Jicarilla Nation purchased Theis Ranch in 1985 and, in 
March 1988, the Nation subsequently conveyed a trust deed for Theis 
Ranch to the United States. The Theis Ranch property then, by 
proclamation of the Secretary of the Interior, became part of the 
Jicarilla Reservation in September 1988.
  A lawsuit was filed in October 1987 and the District Court was asked 
to determine the ownership status of the disputed road. In the original 
lawsuit, Rio Arriba County sought to establish that the county acquired 
the disputed road by prescription and, therefore, the county was the 
road's rightful owner. However, the Jicarilla Nation contended that the 
Nation owned the road because the road was, and continues to be, within 
the boundaries of the expanded 1988 Jicarilla reservation. On December 
10, 2001, the District Court found in favor of the Jicarilla and 
determined that the disputed road traversed the Jicarilla Reservation 
in several locations. Rio Arriba County appealed the December 2001 
District Court decision; the appeal is currently pending before the 
Court of Appeals of the State of New Mexico. In a separate yet relevant 
matter, Rio Arriba County appealed a February 2003 decision by the 
Southwest Bureau of the United States Department of the Interior to 
acquire a

[[Page E1848]]

tract of land referred to as the Boyd Ranch in trust for the Jicarilla 
Nation. Rio Arriba's appeal of this determination is currently pending 
before the Interior Board of Indian Appeals.
  In an effort to settle the road dispute, the Jicarilla Nation and Rio 
Arriba County entered into mediation. The parties successfully reached 
a settlement that was subsequently executed by the Jicarilla Nation on 
May 3, 2003, and Rio Arriba County on May 15, 2003. Representatives of 
the Secretary of the Interior approved the settlement on June 18, 2003. 
The settlement agreement, which would be implemented by this 
legislation, provided that the Jicarilla Nation would transfer 
approximately 70.5 acres of land located with the expanded 1988 
Jicarilla reservation to Rio Arriba County. In exchange for the 
Jicarilla Nation's land conveyance, Rio Arriba County agreed to 
permanently abandon any and all claims to the disputed road. The 
settlement also provides that the terms of the agreement do not take 
effect until all parties complete their respective promises in the 
agreement and the United States, pursuant to federal law, approves of 
the conveyance of this particular Jicarilla trust land to Rio Arriba 
County.

  Both parties and the Secretary of the Interior have fully performed 
the terms agreed to within the settlement agreement. All that stands 
between the parties to this dispute and long overdue resolution is 
Congressional approval. Consequently, the legislation will adjust the 
Jicarilla Reservation border in order to account for the transfer. At 
the same time, this legislation upholds Congress' trust responsibility 
to the Jicarilla Nation by placing restrictive covenants on the trust 
land transferred to the County. In other words, this legislation 
recognizes that the transferred land is immediately adjacent to the 
remainder of the Jicarilla Nation. As a result of the transferred 
land's proximity to the reservation, certain uses of the transferred 
land would have a detrimental effect on the remaining reservation. 
Therefore, this legislation allows the County to use the land only for 
governmental purposes but specifically prohibits the County from using 
the land for prisons, jails, or other facility for incarcerating 
persons.
  Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to expedite passage of this 
legislation. Both the Nation and the County have waited years for this 
agreement to be implemented. Congress must now do their part to provide 
long overdue resolution.

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