Requires the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (Eastern Band) to deed specified parcels of land to the United States. Requires the deeds for specified lands be held in trust by the United States for the benefit of the Eastern Band as part of the Cherokee Indian Reservation.
Requires the Secretary to file a legal description of the areas held in trust by the United States for the benefit of the Eastern Band.
Requires the Director of the National Park Service and the Eastern Band to: (1) enter into government-to-government consultations and develop protocols to review planned construction on the Ravensford tract; and (2) develop mutually agreed upon standards for size, impact, and design of construction consistent with the Eastern Band's need to develop educational facilities and support infrastructure.
Authorizes the Director to enter into cooperative agreements with the Eastern Band for the purpose of providing training, management, protection, and preservation of the natural and cultural resources on the Ravensford tract.
Requires the Secretary to give first preference of employment for service in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park to qualified members of the Eastern Band.
[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5468 Introduced in House (IH)]
107th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 5468
To provide for a Federal land exchange for the environmental,
educational, and cultural benefit of the American public and the
Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
September 25, 2002
Mr. Taylor of North Carolina (for himself, Mr. Jones of North Carolina,
Mr. Kildee, and Mr. Carson of Oklahoma) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on Resources
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To provide for a Federal land exchange for the environmental,
educational, and cultural benefit of the American public and the
Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians
Land Exchange Act of 2002''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.
(a) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
(1) Since time immemorial, the ancestors of the Eastern
Band of Cherokee Indians have lived in the Great Smoky
Mountains of North Carolina. The Eastern Band's ancestral
homeland includes much of seven eastern States and the land
that now constitutes the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
(2) The Eastern Band has proposed a land exchange with the
National Park Service and has spent over $1,500,000 for studies
to thoroughly inventory the environmental and cultural
resources of the proposed land exchange parcels.
(3) Such land exchange would benefit the American public by
enabling the National Park Service to acquire the Yellow Face
tract, comprising 218 acres of land adjacent to the Blue Ridge
Parkway.
(4) Acquisition of the Yellow Face tract for protection by
the National Park Service would serve the public interest by
preserving important views for Blue Ridge Parkway visitors,
preserving habitat for endangered species and threatened
species including the northern flying squirrel and the rock
gnome lichen, preserving valuable high altitude wetland seeps,
and preserving the property from rapidly advancing residential
development.
(5) The proposed land exchange would also benefit the
Eastern Band by allowing it to reclaim the Ravensford tract,
comprising 144 acres adjacent to the Tribe's trust territory in
Cherokee, North Carolina, and currently within the Great Smoky
Mountains National Park. The Ravensford tract is part of the
Tribe's ancestral homeland as evidenced by archaeological finds
dating back no less than 6,000 years.
(6) The Eastern Band has a critical need to replace the
current Cherokee Elementary School, which was built by the
Department of the Interior over 40 years ago with a capacity of
480 students. The school now hosts 794 students in dilapidated
buildings and mobile classrooms at a dangerous highway
intersection in downtown Cherokee, North Carolina.
(7) The Eastern Band ultimately intends to build a new
three-school campus to serve as an environmental, cultural, and
educational ``village,'' where Cherokee language and culture
can be taught alongside the standard curriculum.
(8) The land exchange and construction of this educational
village will benefit the American public by preserving Cherokee
traditions and fostering a vibrant, modern, and well-educated
Indian nation.
(9) The land exchange will also reunify tribal lands now
separated between the Big Cove Community and the balance of the
Qualla Boundary, reestablishing the territorial integrity of
the Eastern Band.
(10) The Ravensford tract contains no threatened species or
endangered species listed pursuant to the Endangered Species
Act of 1973. The 218-acre Yellow Face tract has a number of
listed threatened species and endangered species and a higher
appraised value than the 144-acre Ravensford tract.
(11) The Congress and the Department of the Interior have
approved land exchanges in the past when the benefits to the
public and requesting party are clear, as they are in this
case.
(b) Purposes.--The purposes of this Act are the following:
(1) To acquire the Yellow Face tract for protection by the
National Park Service, in order to preserve the Waterrock Knob
area's spectacular views, pristine wetlands, and endangered
species and threatened species from encroachment by housing
development, for the benefit and enjoyment of the American public.
(2) To transfer the Ravensford tract, to be held in trust
by the Department of the Interior for the benefit of the
Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, in order to provide for an
education facility that promotes the cultural integrity of the
Eastern Band and to reunify two Cherokee communities that were
historically contiguous.
(3) To promote cooperative activities and partnerships
between the Eastern Band and the National Park Service within
the Eastern Band's ancestral homelands.
SEC. 3. LAND EXCHANGE.
(a) In General.--Within 90 days after the effective date of this
Act, the Secretary of the Interior shall exchange the Ravensford tract,
currently in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, for the Yellow
Face tract adjacent to the Waterrock Knob Visitor Center on the Blue
Ridge Parkway.
(b) Treatment of Exchanged Lands.--Effective upon receipt by the
Secretary of a deed for the lands comprising the Yellow Face tract (as
described in subsection (c)) to the United States, all right, title,
and interest of the United States in and to the Ravensford tract, (as
described in subsection (d)), including all improvements and
appurtenances, are declared to be held in trust by the United States
for the benefit of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians as part of the
Cherokee Indian Reservation.
(c) Yellow Face Tract.--To effectuate this land exchange, the
Eastern Band shall cause the following lands to be deeded to the United
States. Parcels 88 and 89 of the Hornbuckle Tract, Yellow Face Section,
Qualla Township, Jackson County, North Carolina, consisting
respectively of 110.4 and 108.2 acres more or less, together with all
improvements and appurtenances thereto. The lands shall thereafter be
included within the boundary of and managed as part of the Blue Ridge
Parkway by the National Park Service.
(d) Ravensford Tract.--The lands declared by subsection (b) to be
held in trust for the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians are as follows:
The tract currently located within the Great Smoky Mountains National
Park and identified on Map No. 133/80020, entitled ``Ravensford Land
Exchange Tract'', as on file and available for public inspection in the
appropriate offices of the National Park Service and the Bureau of
Indian Affairs, consisting of 144 acres more or less.
(e) Legal Descriptions.--Not later than 1 year after the date of
enactment of this Act, the Secretary of the Interior shall file a legal
description of the areas described in subsections (c) and (d) with the
Committee on Resources of the House of Representatives and the
Committee on Indian Affairs and the Committee on Energy and Natural
Resources of the Senate. Such legal descriptions shall have the same
force and effect as if the information contained in the description
were included in those subsections except that the Secretary may
correct clerical and typographical errors in such legal descriptions.
The legal descriptions shall be on file and available for public
inspection in the offices of the National Park Service and the Bureau
of Indian Affairs.
SEC. 4. IMPLEMENTATION PROCESS.
(a) Government-to-Government Agreements.--In order to fulfill the
purposes of this Act and to establish cooperative partnerships for
purposes of this Act the Director of the National Park Service and the
Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians shall enter into government-to-
government consultations and shall develop protocols to review planned
construction on the Ravensford tract. The Director of the National Park
Service is authorized to enter into cooperative agreements with the
Eastern Band for the purpose of providing training, management,
protection, and preservation of the natural and cultural resources on
the Ravensford tract.
(b) Construction Standards.--The National Park Service and the
Eastern Band shall develop mutually agreed upon standards for size,
impact, and design of construction consistent with the purposes of this
Act on the Ravensford tract. The standards shall be consistent with the
Eastern Band's need to develop educational facilities and support
infrastructure adequate for current and future generations and shall
otherwise minimize or mitigate any adverse impacts on natural or
cultural resources. The standards shall be based on recognized best
practices for environmental sustainability and shall be reviewed
periodically and revised as necessary. All development on the
Ravensford tract shall be conducted in a manner consistent with such
standards.
(c) Tribal Employment.--In employing individuals to perform any
construction, maintenance, interpretation, or other service in the
Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the Secretary of the Interior
shall, insofar as practicable, give first preference to qualified
members of the Eastern Band.
SEC. 5. GAMING PROHIBITION.
Nothing in this Act shall be construed to satisfy the terms for an
exception under section 20(b)(1) of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act
(25 U.S.C. 2719(b)(1)) to the prohibition on gaming on lands acquired
by the Secretary of the Interior in trust for the benefit of an Indian
tribe after October 17, 1988, under section 20(a) of such Act (25
U.S.C. 2719(a)).
<all>
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on Resources.
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