§3712 Indian participation in land management activities

Summary

The Secretary of the Interior must run farming and other land work on Indian agricultural land using the approved agricultural resource management plan and any integrated plan. The Secretary must follow tribal laws and ordinances about those lands unless following them would conflict with the United States’ trust duty to tribes. Unless a federal law stops it, the Secretary must obey tribal rules about the environment, historic and cultural sites, land use, and similar matters. The Secretary must help enforce those tribal rules, tell people or groups working on the land about them, and, if a tribe asks, have federal officials appear in tribal meetings. If a Department rule or policy conflicts with the management plan or a tribal law, the Secretary may set that rule aside unless doing so would violate a federal statute, a court order, or the Secretary’s trust duty. This does not waive the United States’ sovereign immunity, and tribal courts may not review the Secretary’s actions.