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 trust for the Washoe Indian Tribe of Nevada and California.

        [Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 74 Enrolled Bill (ENR)]

H.R.74

One Hundred Eighth Congress

of the

United States of America

AT THE FIRST SESSION

Begun and held at the City of Washington on Tuesday,
the seventh day of January, two thousand and three

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

Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Vice President of the United States and
President of the Senate.