[Senate Report 118-225]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
Calendar No. 517
118th Congress } { Report
SENATE
2d Session } { 118-225
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LEECH LAKE RESERVATION RESTORATION TECHNICAL CORRECTIONS ACT OF 2023
_______
September 18, 2024.--Ordered to be printed
_______
Mr. Schatz, from the Committee on Indian Affairs,
submitted the following
R E P O R T
[To accompany S. 616]
[Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office]
The Committee on Indian Affairs, to which was referred the
bill (S. 616), to amend the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe
Reservation Restoration Act to provide for the transfer of
additional Federal land to the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, and
for other purposes, having considered the same, reports
favorably thereon with amendments and recommends that the bill,
as amended, do pass.
PURPOSE
The purpose of S. 616 is to amend the Leech Lake Band of
Ojibwe Restoration Act (Restoration Act)\1\ to provide for the
transfer of additional Forest Service land located in the
Chippewa National Forest in Cass County, Minnesota, to the
Secretary of the Interior for the benefit of the Leech Lake
Band of Ojibwe Indians and for other related purposes.
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\1\Pub. L. No. 116-255, 134 Stat. 1139 (2020).
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BACKGROUND
The Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe Indians is a federally-
recognized Indian Tribe in Minnesota whose original reservation
was established through treaties and executive orders.\2\ The
original reservation was reduced in size, from 550,000 acres to
29,000 acres,\3\ through a series of federal actions including
the Nelson Act of January 14, 1889,\4\ the establishment of the
Chippewa National Forest,\5\ and ``Secretarial transfers''--a
form of land transaction approved by the Department of the
Interior without the consent of the Tribe or affected
individual Indian allottees.
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\2\See Treaty of February 22, 1855 (10 Stat. 1165); Treaty of March
19, 1867 (16 Stat. 719); Executive Order of October 29, 1873; Executive
Order of November 4, 1873; and Executive Order of May 26, 1874.
\3\Legislative Hearing to receive Testimony on S. 616, S. 1898, and
S. 1987 Before the S. Comm. on Indian Affairs, 118th Cong. (2023)
(statement of Lenny Fineday, Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe Indians).
\4\25 Stat. 642 (1889).
\5\Morris Act of 1902, 32 Stat. 400; Act of May 23, 1908, 35 Stat.
260.
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NEED FOR LEGISLATION
The Tribe and individual Indian allottees sought to restore
the Secretarial transfer lands through litigation, however,
their claims were time barred and the stakeholders sought
legislation to carry out the restoration.
Enacted in 2020, the Restoration Act transferred
approximately 11,760 acres of land in the Chippewa National
Forest from the U.S. Forest Service to the Department of the
Interior in trust status for the Tribe. These 11,760 acres were
wrongfully transferred from the Tribe through Secretarial
transfers in the 1950s. After passage, and pursuant to a survey
required by the Act, the Bureau of Land Management conducted a
detailed review of Chippewa National Forest land holdings
within Cass County, Minnesota, and discovered an additional
4,362.21 acres that were wrongfully transferred from the Tribe
via Secretarial transfers.
S. 616 is therefore necessary to return the additional
4,362.21 acres and ensure prompt and efficient return of any
subsequently identified acres. In addition, some of the parcels
wrongfully transferred in the 1940s and 1950s are now isolated
and would result in highly fragmented inholdings; other parcels
are unusable swamplands. To ensure the consolidation of both
Chippewa National Forest and Leech Lake Reservations lands, and
to avoid restoring lands that would be landlocked or otherwise
unusable, the legislation also provides an authorization for
acre-for-acre substitution of lands within the Chippewa
National Forest in Cass County, Minnesota under certain
conditions.
SUMMARY OF THE BILL AS ORDERED REPORTED
S. 616 would transfer certain additional Forest Service
land located in the Chippewa National Forest, in Cass County,
Minnesota, to the Secretary of the Interior for the benefit of
the Tribe. The bill would also authorize an acre-for-acre
substitution of lands within the Chippewa National Forest in
Cass County, Minnesota if the Band identifies certain parcels
as unsuitable for future use.
SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS OF S. 616 AS ORDERED REPORTED
Section 1--Short title
This section amends the title of the bill, as introduced,
and sets forth the new short title as the ``Leech Lake
Reservation Restoration Amendments Act of 2023.''
Section 2--Transfer of additional federal land
Section 2(a) removes the requirement that the Tribe keep
returned lands in tax-exempt fee status as part of the Chippewa
National Forest until the Tribe develops a plan for
development.
Section 2(b) amends the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe
Reservation Restoration Act to:
Clarify the Secretary of Agriculture's
authority to transfer to the Secretary of the Interior
lands managed by the U.S. Forest Service in the
Chippewa National Forest that weresold without the
unanimous consent of Tribal landowners, according to Bureau of Indian
Affairs records;
Require, upon agreement between the
Secretary of Agriculture and the Tribe, the Secretary
to substitute alternative national forest system land
located in Cass County Minnesota, on an acre-for-acre
basis for those parcels of federal land to be
transferred in a manner that avoids in-holdings and
provides a preference for land adjacent to or near
existing Leech Lake trust lands and lands of cultural
importance to the maximum extent practicable;
Provide that the Secretary of Agriculture
may transfer land to the Secretary of the Interior on a
rolling basis pursuant to the agreement entered into
between the Secretary of the Interior and the Tribe.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY
Senator Smith (D-MN), along with Senator Klobuchar (D-MN),
introduced S. 616 on March 1, 2023. The Committee held a
legislative hearing on the bill on July 12, 2023. On May 1,
2024, the Committee met at a duly convened business meeting to
consider the bill. Senator Smith timely filed an amendment to
change the short title of the bill, specify the additional
national forest system land to be transferred to the Secretary
to be taken into trust for the Tribe, and clarify the process
for acre-for-acre transfers. The Committee ordered S. 616, as
amended, favorably reported by voice vote.
COST AND BUDGETARY CONSIDERATIONS
REGULATORY AND PAPERWORK IMPACT STATEMENT
Paragraph 11(b) of rule XXVI of the Standing Rules of the
Senate requires each report accompanying a bill to evaluate the
regulatory and paperwork impact that would be incurred in
carrying out the bill. The Committee believes that S. 616 will
have minimal impact on regulatory or paperwork requirements.
EXECUTIVE TESTIMONY
The Committee received testimony from John Crockett,
Associate Deputy Chief, State, Private, and Tribal Forestry,
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, before the U.S.
Senate Committee on Indian Affairs at the July 12, 2023
legislative hearing on S. 616. It follows below in relevant
part:
Chairman Schatz, Vice-Chair Murkowski, and Members of the
Committee, thank you for the opportunity to appear before you
today to discuss the views of the U.S. Department of
Agriculture on bills that include provisions related to the
USDA Forest Service.
S. 616, ``Leech Lake Reservation Restoration Technical Corrections Act
of 2023''
Following the passage of the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe
Reservation Restoration Act, the U.S. Department of Agriculture
(USDA) Forest Service has been working closely with the Leech
Lake Band of Ojibwe. In the early stages of implementation of
the Act, the Forest Service and the U.S. Department of the
Interior (DOI) identified additional lands that had been
wrongfully transferred from the Band and its members to the
Chippewa National Forest. S. 616, the Leech Lake Reservation
Restoration Technical Corrections Act of 2023, would amend the
Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe Reservation Restoration Act to
address the wrongful transfer of lands from the DOI to the USDA
for inclusion as a part of the Chippewa National Forest.
The bill would direct the USDA to transfer specified land
in the Chippewa National Forest to the Leech Lake Band of
Ojibwe--specifically land that was sold without the consent of
a majority of the rightful landowners, according to records
maintained by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Upon agreement
between the USDA and the tribe, the Department would substitute
alternative National Forest System land located in Cass County,
Minnesota, on an acre-for-acre basis, for those parcels of
federal land to be transferred that are found to be unsuitable
for the future uses of the tribe. The bill would further allow
the USDA to transfer land to the tribe on a rolling basis as
that land is identified and surveys are completed. Any such
agreement, and any transfer of land made pursuant to such
agreement, would be considered a final agency action.
The technical amendments in S. 616 would address the newly
identified acreage not included in the original legislation.
The USDA appreciates and supports the intent of the Leech Lake
Reservation Restoration Technical Corrections Act of 2023.
EXECUTIVE COMMUNICATIONS
The Committee has received no communications from the
Executive Branch regarding S. 616.
CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW
On February 9, 2023, the Committee unanimously approved a
motion to waive subsection 12 of rule XXVI of the Standing
Rules of the Senate. In the opinion of the Committee, it is
necessary to dispense with subsection 12 of rule XXVI of the
Standing Rules of the Senate to expedite the business of the
Senate.