§539m–3 Pueblo Rights and Interests in the Area

Summary

Grants the Pueblo several specific rights and interests in the Area. The Pueblo gets free access for traditional or cultural uses unless those uses conflict with the Wilderness Act as it stood on February 20, 2003, or with federal wildlife protection laws. The Area must stay a national forest and wilderness in perpetuity. The Pueblo has a role in how the Area is managed, including the power to agree or refuse new uses, to be consulted about changes or management, and to use dispute resolution. The Pueblo alone, under its customs and laws, controls who from the Pueblo and other federally recognized tribes may use the Area for traditional or cultural purposes. Additional related rights are listed in the other referenced sections. For other kinds of uses, the Secretary continues to manage access. If Congress, after February 20, 2003, later allows a use that was previously banned or blocks Pueblo access in whole or in part, the United States must pay the Pueblo as if the Pueblo owned the land and the government took it by eminent domain, and the usual legal limits are ignored when figuring payment. Any payment under this rule does not change the ending of claims described in section 539m–8.