II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 622
To amend the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe Reservation Restoration Act
to provide for the transfer of additional Federal land to the Leech
Lake Band of Ojibwe, and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
FEBRUARY18, 2025
Ms. S
MITH(for herself and Ms. KLOBUCHAR) introduced the following bill;
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs
A BILL
To amend the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe Reservation Res-
toration Act to provide for the transfer of additional
Federal land to the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, and
for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Leech Lake Reserva-4
tion Restoration Amendments Act of 2025’’. 5
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SEC. 2. TRANSFER OF ADDITIONAL FEDERAL LAND TO THE 1
LEECH LAKE BAND OF OJIBWE. 2
(a) F
INDINGS.—Section 2(a)(5) of the Leech Lake 3
Band of Ojibwe Reservation Restoration Act (Public Law 4
116–255; 134 Stat. 1140) is amended by striking sub-5
paragraph (B) and inserting the following: 6
‘‘(B) does not intend immediately to mod-7
ify the use of the Federal land.’’. 8
(b) I
NCLUSION OFADDITIONALFEDERALLAND.— 9
Section 2 of the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe Reservation 10
Restoration Act (Public Law 116–255; 134 Stat. 1139) 11
is amended— 12
(1) in subsection (b)(1)— 13
(A) in subparagraph (A)— 14
(i) by striking ‘‘means the approxi-15
mately’’ and inserting ‘‘means— 16
‘‘(i) the approximately’’; 17
(ii) in clause (i) (as so designated), by 18
striking the period at the end and inserting 19
‘‘; and’’; and 20
(iii) by adding at the end the fol-21
lowing: 22
‘‘(ii) any other land managed by the 23
Secretary, through the Chief of the Forest 24
Service, located in the Chippewa National 25
Forest in Cass County, Minnesota, which 26
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records maintained by the Bureau of In-1
dian Affairs show was sold without the 2
unanimous consent of the rightful land-3
owners.’’; and 4
(B) in subparagraph (B)— 5
(i) by redesignating clauses (i) and 6
(ii) as clauses (ii) and (iii), respectively; 7
and 8
(ii) by inserting before clause (ii) (as 9
so redesignated) the following: 10
‘‘(i) any land transferred pursuant to 11
an agreement entered into between the 12
Secretary and the Tribe under subsection 13
(c)(2);’’; 14
(2) in subsection (c)— 15
(A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘para-16
graph (2)’’ and inserting ‘‘paragraphs (2) and 17
(3)’’; 18
(B) by redesignating paragraph (2) as 19
paragraph (3); and 20
(C) by inserting after paragraph (1) the 21
following: 22
‘‘(2) A
GREEMENT.— 23
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—On agreement be-24
tween the Secretary and the Tribe, the Sec-25
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retary shall substitute, for purposes of the 1
transfer under paragraph (1), alternative Na-2
tional Forest System land located in Cass 3
County, Minnesota, on an acre-for-acre basis, 4
for those parcels of Federal land to be trans-5
ferred under that paragraph in a manner that 6
avoids in-holdings and provides a preference for 7
land adjacent to or near existing Leech Lake 8
trust lands and lands of cultural importance to 9
the Tribe, to the maximum extent practicable. 10
‘‘(B) F
REQUENCY OF TRANSFERS .—Pursu-11
ant to an agreement entered into under sub-12
paragraph (A), the Secretary may transfer land 13
to the Secretary of the Interior on a rolling 14
basis as that land is identified and surveys are 15
completed.’’; and 16
(3) in subsection (d)— 17
(A) in paragraph (1)— 18
(i) in subparagraph (A), by inserting 19
‘‘described in subsection (b)(1)(A)(i)’’ after 20
‘‘Federal land’’; and 21
(ii) in subparagraph (B), in the mat-22
ter preceding clause (i), by striking ‘‘sub-23
mit a map and legal description of the 24
Federal land’’ and inserting ‘‘submit maps 25
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and legal descriptions of the Federal land 1
transferred pursuant to paragraphs (1) 2
and (2) of subsection (c), as applicable,’’; 3
(B) in paragraph (2)— 4
(i) by striking ‘‘map and legal descrip-5
tion’’ and inserting ‘‘maps and legal de-6
scriptions’’; and 7
(ii) by striking ‘‘map or legal descrip-8
tion’’ and inserting ‘‘maps or legal descrip-9
tions’’; and 10
(C) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘map 11
and legal description’’ and inserting ‘‘maps and 12
legal descriptions’’. 13
(c) R
EAFFIRMATION.—Congress reaffirms the appli-14
cability of section 97A.151 of the Minnesota Statutes, in-15
cluding the settlement agreement ratified by that section, 16
for purposes of ensuring that the hunting, fishing, and 17
recreation rights of non-Tribal members remain un-18
changed by the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe Reservation 19
Restoration Act (Public Law 116–255; 134 Stat. 1139) 20
and the amendments made to that Act by this section. 21
(d) I
MPLEMENTATION.—In implementing the amend-22
ments made by this section, the Secretary of Agriculture, 23
acting through the Chief of the Forest Service, shall pro-24
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vide for public engagement and comment in accordance 1
with applicable laws (including regulations). 2
Æ
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