[United States Statutes at Large, Volume 117, 108th Congress, 1st Session]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]


117 STAT. 880]]

Public Law 108-67
108th Congress

An Act


 
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 [NOTE: Aug. 1, 2003 -  [H.R. 74]] trust for the Washoe
Indian Tribe of Nevada and California.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.

(a) Findings.--Congress finds that--
(1) the ancestral homeland of the Washoe Tribe of Nevada and
California (referred to in this Act 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 National
Forest System 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 ethnobotany, subsistence
gathering, traditional learning, and reunification of tribal and
family bonds.

SEC. 2. CONVEYANCE ON CONDITION SUBSEQUENT.

Subject to valid existing rights, the easement reserved under
section 3, and the condition stated in section 4, 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

[[Page 881]]

117 STAT. 881

Harbor, Nevada, and more particularly described as Mount Diablo
Meridian, T15N, R18E, section 27, lot 3.

SEC. 3. EASEMENT.

(a) In General.--The conveyance under section 2 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, to be administered by the Secretary of
Agriculture.
(b) Access by Individuals With Disabilities.--The Secretary of
Agriculture shall provide a reciprocal easement to the Tribe permitting
vehicular access to the parcel over Forest Development Road #15N67 to--
(1) members of the Tribe for administrative and safety
purposes; and
(2) members of the Tribe who, due to age, infirmity, or
disability, would have difficulty accessing the conveyed parcel
on foot.

SEC. 4. CONDITION ON USE OF LAND.

(a) In General.--In using the parcel conveyed under section 2, the
Tribe and members of the Tribe--
(1) shall limit the use of the parcel to traditional and
customary uses and stewardship conservation for the benefit of
the Tribe;
(2) 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
(3) 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.

(b) Termination and 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
subsection (a) and the Tribe fails to take corrective or remedial action
directed by the Secretary of the Interior--
(1) title to the parcel in the Secretary of the Interior, in
trust for the Tribe, shall terminate; and

[[Page 882]]

117 STAT. 882

(2) title to the parcel shall revert to the Secretary of
Agriculture.

Approved August 1, 2003.

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY--H.R. 74 (S. 490):
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

HOUSE REPORTS: No. 108-185 (Comm. on Resources).
SENATE REPORTS: No. 108-91 accompanying S. 490 (Comm. on Energy and
Natural Resources).
CONGRESSIONAL RECORD, Vol. 149 (2003):
July 16, considered and passed House.
July 17, considered and passed Senate.