Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 897) to take certain lands in California into trust for the benefit of the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, and for other…
Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 897) to take certain lands in California into trust for the benefit of the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, and for other purposes, as amended.
Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the measure under consideration.
Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Madam Speaker, H.R. 897 will take approximately 2,560 acres of specified lands in California into trust for the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians and make these lands part of the Agua Caliente Indian Reservation.
The Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians is indigenous to the desert and canyons of what we now call the Coachella Valley. I was just there, Madam Speaker, and it is beautiful, and the manner in which the Agua Caliente Band takes care of the land and works with their community is superb. They should be recognized for their ability to have that government-to-government relationship with their neighbors.
The Agua Caliente Indian Reservation was established in 1876, with their ancestral lands located in the greater Palm Springs area. Over the centuries, the lands traditionally held by the Agua Caliente were divided by parcels owned by the Tribe, the Federal Government, and private entities. The divided plots of land led to a checkerboard formation of ownership.
The Tribe has been involved in land transfers with the Federal Government to consolidate the traditional land and reclaim certain culturally significant areas throughout the years. In 1999, the Tribe assisted in preserving the cultural resources surrounding the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument and supported legislation for its recognition.
The national monument legislation included a land exchange of remote wilderness located within the national monument. Although the legislation establishing the national monument passed, it did not expressly state the status of any land transferred to the Tribe through the land exchange.
The lack of explicit language about the status of land led to the Bureau of Land Management and the Tribe working for at least 17 years to finalize a binding exchange agreement for the 2,560 acres addressed in this bill.
This bill improves land management by the Tribe and the Bureau of Land Management by consolidating the checkerboard land ownership around the Tribe's reservation by placing these lands into trust.
Concerns regarding public access to trails have been addressed. The Tribe has a long history of maintaining public trails within the monument boundary. I urge anybody who is in the area to go take a hike on the trails. They are beautiful.
The land is within a remote wilderness area and will be managed similarly to how the Bureau of Land Management oversaw the land.
In a good faith effort to support the conservation efforts of the binding exchange agreement, the Tribe included a gaming prohibition for the lands in H.R. 897.
I thank Dr. Raul Ruiz for his sponsorship of this bill and his hard work getting it to this point.
Madam Speaker, I urge swift adoption of H.R. 897, and I reserve the balance of my time.
Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time.
