§228i Havasupai Indian Reservation

Summary

The United States must hold about 185,000 acres called the Havasupai Reservation Addition in trust for the Havasupai Tribe so the tribe can improve life for its members. A map marks a boundary about one-fourth of a mile from the rim of the outer gorge of the Grand Canyon and shows Havasu Creek from Yumtheska Point to Beaver Falls to Ukwalla Point; that map is kept in the Office of the Secretary of the Interior in Washington, D.C. These lands become part of the Havasupai Reservation and can be used for traditional purposes (like religious use, gathering food, and collecting materials for paints and medicines), for agriculture and grazing if the land can sustain it as decided by the Secretary of the Interior, and for burial places. The Secretary must work with the Havasupai Tribal Council to study and make a land-use plan that identifies areas for housing, schools, and community use without harming park values. That plan must be put out for public review and hearings and sent at least 90 days before it starts to the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources and the House Committee on Natural Resources; changes follow the same steps. No commercial timber, mining, or industrial development is allowed, but the Secretary may allow small tribal businesses that fit the plan. Nonmembers may cross the land at locations set by the Secretary with the Tribal Council to reach park areas, and with the tribe’s consent they may use parts for recreation under the plan or buy hunting licenses subject to rules. Except for these allowed uses, the lands must remain wild and keep their scenic and natural character. The Secretary of the Interior must protect these lands from fire, disease, insects, trespass, erosion, overgrazing, pollution, and other damaging uses and may get help from the Secretary of Agriculture. Federal programs available to other tribes may be used here if they match the purposes of the law. The Secretary may access these lands to manage and preserve Grand Canyon National Park, and tribe members keep their right to visit sacred places and gather traditional resources on public lands not covered by this law. People now grazing under a federal permit in the Raintank Allotment may continue, but permits cannot be renewed after the period ending ten years from January 3, 1975, when use rights transfer to the tribe under the same terms. The tribe is also allowed to use about 95,300 acres inside Grand Canyon National Park marked as “Havasupai Use Lands” for grazing and traditional purposes under reasonable rules. Finally, Congress recognizes that any other rights or claims to lands not put in trust or covered here are ended.