H.R. 2388
Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe Project Lands Restoration Act
Sponsor: Emily Randall · 0 cosponsors
In plain English: what this bill does
The bill would place about 1,082.63 acres of federal land in Washington State, now part of Olympic National Park, into trust for the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe, and make that land part of the tribe's reservation. Part of the land along the Elwha River would be managed under the federal Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, with some modifications allowed. The land would not count as Indian gaming land, and nothing in the bill would change the tribe's treaty rights.
Who this affects
- Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe: would receive about 1,082.63 acres of federal land from Olympic National Park, held in trust for the tribe and added to its reservation.
- Olympic National Park: the approximately 1,082.63 acres shown on the named map would no longer be federal park land once taken into trust.
- Interior Department (Secretary of the Interior): would survey the new land's boundaries and could make minor boundary adjustments and fix minor map, acreage or description errors.
- Owners of federal rights in the land: the trust transfer would be subject to all valid existing rights of the United States.
Words to know
- Held in trust: the federal government holds legal title to the land for the tribe's benefit, and the tribe uses it.
- Reservation: land set aside under federal law for a tribe's government and members.
- Indian gaming: casinos and other gambling run on tribal land under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act.
- Wild and Scenic Rivers Act: a federal law that protects certain rivers in their natural condition.
For example
Made-up situation: A park ranger's old cabin sits on land the bill transfers to the tribe. Under the bill, that land would be held in trust for the tribe and become part of its reservation, and the cabin's land would no longer be part of the park. The bill does not say what happens to the cabin itself.
Written by AI from the bill's text below; it can be wrong. How it's written
Official summary
Written by the Congressional Research Service.
Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe Project Lands Restoration Act
This bill takes approximately 1,082.63 acres of specified lands in Washington into trust for the benefit of the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe. Land taken into trust shall be part of the tribe's reservation.
Further, the bill prohibits gaming on the land taken into trust.
Text of the bill
In plain English
This section states that nothing in this bill changes the rights the S'Klallam Indians have under the 1855 Treaty of Point No Point with the United States. In other words, the bill does not take away or alter any treaty rights those people hold.
Written by AI from the text below; it can be wrong. How it's written
Nothing in this Act affects treaty rights under the Treaty between the United States of America and the S'Klallams Indians, concluded at Point no Point, Washington Territory, January 26, 1855 (12 Stat. 933) (commonly known as the Treaty of Point No Point).