Washington : Government Printing Office
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| Chap. 423 | Yakima Indian Reservation. Consolidation of lands. |
| Chap. 423 | 393 |
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That (a) for the purpose of effecting consolidations of land, situated within the Yakima Indian Reservation in the State of Washington, between the Yakima Tribes of Indians and individual members of the tribes and other Indians, for the mutual benefit of the tribes and the individual members thereof, the Secretary of the Interior is authorized in his discretion to—
(1) purchase for the Yakima Tribes, with tribal funds of such tribes on deposit in the United States Treasury, or otherwise, any lands held by individual members of the Yakima Tribes and other Indians under trust patent or other restrictions against alienation including lands in heirship status, within the Yakima Indian Reservation, including interests therein or improvements thereon, water rights, and surface rights;
(2) sell to individual members of the Yakima Tribes any tribal trust lands within such reservation, including lands, interests, improvements, and rights acquired for the tribes under this Act; and
(3) exchange any tribal trust lands within such reservation, including lands, interests, improvements, and rights acquired for the tribes under this Act, for lands situated within such reservation which are held by individual members of the tribes and other Indians under trust patent or other restrictions against alienation including lands in heirship status.
(b) The Secretary shall obtain the advice and consent of the Yakima Tribal Council before entering into any such transaction. The terms and conditions of any such transaction, including the price at which any land is so purchased or sold and the valuation of any lands so
exchanged, shall be mutually agreed upon by the Secretary, the Yakima Tribal Council, and the individual Indian or Indians concerned. Any such exchange of tribal lands for lands held by individual members of the Yakima Tribes or other Indians, and for lands in heirship status, shall be effected on the basis of approximately equal consideration with due allowance for the value of improvements in determining the value of such lands.
(a) Title to lands, interests, improvements, or rights so acquired by the Secretary for the Yakima Tribes through purchase or exchange shall be held by the United States in trust for the Yakima Tribes. Title to tribal trust lands, interests, improvements, or rights sold by the Secretary to individual members of the Yakima Tribes or exchanged by the Secretary for lands held under trust patent or other restrictions against alienation by individual members of the tribes and other Indians or for lands in heirship status shall be held by the United States in trust for the individual Indian or Indians concerned.
(b) Sums derived from the sale of tribal trust lands, interests, improvements, and rights shall be credited to the tribal funds of the Yakima Tribes.
(a) No transaction entered into under this Act shall affect, without the consent of the lessee, any lease of lands, interests, improvements, or rights involved in such transaction, or any right of the lessee with respect to extension or renewal of such lease, which is in existence at the time such transaction is entered into.
(b) Nothing in this Act shall affect the existing status of any lands, interests, improvements, or rights with respect to taxation.
The Secretary is authorized to prescribe such regulations as may be necessary to carry out the purposes of this Act.
Approved, July 28, 1955.
