[Senate Report 119-78]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
Calendar No. 187
119th Congress } { Report
SENATE
1st Session } { 119-78
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LEECH LAKE RESERVATION RESTORATION AMENDMENTS ACT OF 2025
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October 14, 2025.--Ordered to be printed
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Ms. Murkowski, from the Committee on Indian Affairs,
submitted the following
R E P O R T
[To accompany S. 622]
[Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office]
The Committee on Indian Affairs, to which was referred the
bill (S. 622) 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 without amendment and recommends that the
bill do pass.
PURPOSE
S. 622 would amend the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe
Restoration Act (Restoration Act)\1\ to provide for the
transfer of additional Forest Service lands 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.
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\1\Pub. L. No. 116-255, 134 Stat. 1139 (2020).
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BACKGROUND AND NEED
The Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe Indians (Tribe) is a
federally-recognized Indian Tribe located in Minnesota whose
original reservation was established by 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 passage of the Nelson Act of January 14,
1889,\4\ the establishment of the Chippewa National Forest,\5\
and ``a series of Secretarial transfers,'' which were land
transactions approved by the Department of the Interior (DOI)
without the consent of the Tribe or affected individual Indian
allottees. The Tribe and individual Indian allottees sought to
restore the Secretarial transfer lands through litigation,
however, their claims were time barred. The Tribe seeks
legislation to carry out the restoration.
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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 and 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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Enacted in 2020, the Restoration Act transferred
approximately 11,760 acres of land in the Chippewa National
Forest from the Department of Agriculture (USDA) to the DOI
into 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 Restoration 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 were wrongfully transferred from the
Tribe via these DOI Secretarial transfers.
S. 622 is therefore necessary to return the additional
4,362.21 acres and ensure prompt and efficient return of any
subsequently identified acres back to the Tribe. In addition,
some of the parcels wrongfully transferred in the 1940s and
1950s are now isolated and would result in highly fragmented
in-holdings, and other identified parcels are unusable
swamplands. To ensure the consolidation of both Chippewa
National Forest and the Tribe's reservation 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
S. 622 transfers additional Forest Service land located in
the Chippewa National Forest, in Cass County, Minnesota, to be
placed in trust by 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, pursuant to agreement between
the USDA and Tribe, if the Tribe identifies certain parcels as
unsuitable. These land transfers may occur on a rolling basis
as land is identified and surveys are completed. The bill
reaffirms the hunting, fishing, and recreation rights of non-
Tribal members under the Restoration Act and its amendments.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY
S. 622 was introduced by Senators Smith and Klobuchar on
February 18, 2025. The Committee held a business meeting on
March 5, 2025, to consider S. 622 and ordered the bill to be
reported favorably, without amendment, by voice vote.
In the 118th Congress, Senators Smith and Klobuchar
introduced a similar bill, S. 616, on March 1, 2023. The
Committee held a hearing on S. 616 on July 12, 2023 (S. Hrg.
118-225). On May 1, 2024, the Committee held a business meeting
to consider S. 616 and ordered the bill to be reported
favorably, with amendments, by voice vote (S. Rept. No. 118-
225).
COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION
The Senate Committee on Indian Affairs in an open business
meeting on March 5, 2025, by a majority voice vote of a quorum
present, recommends that the Senate pass S. 622, without
amendment.
SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS
Section 1--Short title
This section provides the short title of the bill as the
``Leech Lake Reservation Restoration Amendments Act of 2025.''
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 economic
and residential development, and replaces with intention to not
immediately modify the use of the federal land.
Section 2(b) amends section 2 of the Restoration Act to:
Clarify the USDA Secretary's authority to
transfer to the DOI Secretary lands managed by the
Forest Service in the Chippewa National Forest were
sold without the unanimous consent of Tribal
landowners, according to Bureau of Indian Affairs
records;
Require the USDA Secretary to substitute
alternative National Forest System land located in Cass
County, Minnesota to avoid in-holdings and to ensure
consolidation of Tribal and Forest Service lands; and
Provide that the USDA Secretary may transfer
land to the DOI Secretary on a rolling basis pursuant
to agreement between the USDA and the Tribe.
Section 2(c) reaffirms the hunting, fishing, and recreation
rights of non-Tribal members remains unchanged by the
Restoration Act and its amendments.
Section 2(d) requires the USDA to provide public engagement
and comment in implementing this section.
COST AND BUDGETARY CONSIDERATIONS
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
S. 622 would amend the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe
Reservation Restoration Act to require the Department of
Agriculture (USDA) to transfer to the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe
tribe certain federal land located in the Chippewa National
Forest in Cass County, Minnesota. The Department of Agriculture
would need to transfer land that federal records show was
transferred by the Department of the Interior to USDA without
the unanimous consent of the rightful landowners.
S. 622 would allow USDA to substitute other National Forest
System land located in Cass County for land required to be
transferred under the bill for one of the following reasons:
To avoid inholdings, that is land that is
completely surrounded by public land, or
To transfer land that is adjacent to or near
existing Leech Lake trust land and land of cultural
importance to the tribe.
The bill would allow USDA to transfer land to the tribe on
a rolling basis as the land is identified and surveyed.
Receipts generated from the sale of timber and minerals and
the issuance of special use permits--for example, for
recreational events--on federal land are recorded in the
federal budget as offsetting receipts, that is, as reductions
in direct spending. Under current law, some of those receipts
are spent without further appropriation, which results in an
offsetting increase in direct spending of a similar magnitude
as the receipts.
CBO cannot determine which parcels of land would be
transferred under the bill and whether those parcels would
include timber and mineral rights or special use
authorizations. However, CBO expects that any loss of receipts
from the land transfers would increase net direct spending by a
negligible amount over the 2025-2035 period.
In addition, the Secretary of Agriculture would need to
provide for public engagement and comment. Based on the cost of
similar activities, CBO estimates that public comment, as well
as any other administrative costs for USDA to implement S. 622
would be insignificant. Any related spending would be subject
to the availability of appropriated funds.
The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Margot Berman.
The estimate was reviewed by H. Samuel Papenfuss, Deputy
Director of Budget Analysis.
Phillip L. Swagel,
Director, Congressional Budget Office.
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. 622, as
reported, will have minimal impact on regulatory or paperwork
requirements.
EXECUTIVE TESTIMONY AND COMMUNICATIONS
The testimony provided by the Forest Service, U.S.
Department of Agriculture from the July 12, 2023, hearing on S.
616 follows:
statement of john crockett, associate deputy chief, state, private, and
tribal forestry, forest service, u.s. department of agriculture
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.
CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW
In the opinion of the Committee, it is necessary to
dispense with the requirements of subsection 12 of rule XXVI of
the Standing Rules of the Senate to expedite business of the
Senate.
[all]