Return of Certain Lands At Fort Wingate to The Original Inhabitants Act

Return of Certain Lands At Fort Wingate to The Original Inhabitants Act - Declares a parcel of remediated land of the Fort Wingate Depot Activity (FWDA) in New Mexico to be held in trust by the Secretary of the Interior for the Zuni Tribe of the Zuni Reservation and part of the Zuni Reservation.

Declares two parcels of remediated land of the FWDA to be held in trust by the Secretary for the Navajo Nation and part of the Navajo Reservation.

Reserves to the United States such easements to those lands that are required for access to the Fort Wingate Launch Complex and for administrative and environmental remediation purposes.

[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4187 Introduced in House (IH)]

112th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4187

To direct the Secretary of the Interior to place certain lands in trust 
      for the Zuni Tribe and Navajo Nation and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 8, 2012

  Mr. Pearce introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                     Committee on Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To direct the Secretary of the Interior to place certain lands in trust 
      for the Zuni Tribe and Navajo Nation 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 ``Return of Certain Lands At Fort 
Wingate to The Original Inhabitants Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.

    (a) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
            (1) In January 1993, the active mission of the former Fort 
        Wingate Depot Activity (referred to in this Act as the 
        ``FWDA'') in New Mexico ceased and the installation was closed 
        pursuant to the Defense Authorization Amendments and Base 
        Closure and Realignment Act of 1988.
            (2) The lands occupied by the FWDA were originally the 
        ancestral lands of the Zuni Tribe and Navajo Nation, as 
        indicated by the large number of archeological and cultural 
        sites identified on such lands.
            (3) Because of the long-term operation of the FWDA for the 
        receipt, storage, and shipment of munitions, and the disposal 
        of obsolete or deteriorated explosives and military munitions, 
        the lands occupied by the FWDA required substantial 
        environmental remediation before they could be transferred from 
        control by the Department of the Army and used for other 
        purposes.
            (4) The Department of the Interior and the Department of 
        the Army, with the support of the two Indian tribes and other 
        concerned parties, determined that, upon completion of the 
        remediation effort, control over those lands no longer needed 
        by the Department of the Army should be transferred to the 
        Secretary of the Interior and held in trust by the United 
        States for the benefit of the Zuni Tribe of the Zuni 
        Reservation and the Navajo Nation.
            (5) For purposes of scheduling the remediation and future 
        use of the lands, the Department of the Army divided the FWDA 
        installation into 25 reuse parcels.
            (6) Reuse parcels 1, 15, and 17, totaling 5,854 acres, have 
        been remediated to the standards established by the New Mexico 
        Environment Department and transferred to the Secretary of the 
        Interior.
    (b) Purpose.--The purposes of this Act include to implement the 
objective of returning to the Zuni Tribe and the Navajo Nation certain 
lands formerly occupied by the FWDA, by declaring the three reuse 
parcels that have been remediated and transferred to the Secretary of 
the Interior to be held in trust for the Zuni Tribe and Navajo Nation 
and returning use of these parcels to those Indian tribes.

SEC. 3. CONVEYANCE.

    (a) Zuni Tribe of the Zuni Reservation.--Subject to existing rights 
and to easements reserved under section 4, all right, title, and 
interest in the lands referred to as Reuse Parcel 1 of the FWDA that 
are owned by the United States are hereby declared to be held by the 
Secretary of the Interior in trust for the Zuni Tribe of the Zuni 
Reservation and part of the Zuni Reservation.
    (b) Navajo Nation.--Subject to existing rights and to easements 
reserved under section 4, all right, title, and interest in the lands 
referred to as Reuse Parcels 15 and 17 of the FWDA that are owned by 
the United States are hereby declared to be held by the Secretary of 
the Interior in trust for the Navajo Nation and part of the Navajo 
Reservation.

SEC. 4. EASEMENTS.

    The lands held in trust pursuant to this Act shall be held subject 
to reservation to the United States of such easements as are required 
for access to the Fort Wingate Launch Complex and for administrative 
and environmental remediation purposes.
                                 <all>