25 USC § 1780c - Resolution of claims

(a) Extinguishments

Except as provided in subsection (b), in consideration of the benefits of the Settlement Agreement, and in recognition of the agreement of the Pueblo to the Settlement Agreement, all claims of the Pueblo against the United States (including any claim against an agency, officer, or instrumentality of the United States) are relinquished and extinguished, including—

(1) any claim to land based on aboriginal title, Indian title, or recognized title;

(2) any claim for damages or other judicial relief or for administrative remedies that were brought, or that were knowable and could have been brought, on or before the date of the Settlement Agreement;

(3) any claim relating to—

(A) any federally-administered land, including National Park System land, National Forest System land, Public land administered by the Bureau of Land Management, the Settlement Area Land, the Water System Land, the Northern Tier Land, and the Los Alamos Townsite Land; and

(B) any land owned by, or held for the benefit of, any Indian tribe other than the Pueblo; and

(4) any claim that was, or that could have been, asserted in the Pending Litigation.

(b) Exceptions

Nothing in this subchapter or the Settlement Agreement shall in any way extinguish or otherwise impair—

(1) the title of record of the Pueblo to land held by or for the benefit of the Pueblo, as identified in Appendix D to the Settlement Agreement, on or before September 27, 2006; and,

(2) the title of the Pueblo to the Pueblo de San Ildefonso Grant, including, as identified in Appendix D to the Settlement Agreement—

(A) the title found by the United States District Court for the District of New Mexico in the case styled United States v. Apodoca (Number 2031, equity: December 5, 1930) not to have been extinguished; and

(B) title to any land that has been reacquired by the Pueblo pursuant to the Act entitled “An Act to quiet the title to lands within Pueblo Indian land grants, and for other purposes”, approved June 7, 1924 (43 Stat. 636, chapter 331);

(3) the water rights of the Pueblo appurtenant to the land described in paragraphs (1) and (2); and

(4) any rights of the Pueblo or a member of the Pueblo under Federal law relating to religious or cultural access to, and use of, Federal land.

(c) Previous extinguishments unimpaired

Nothing in this subchapter affects any prior extinguishments of rights or claims of the Pueblo which may have occurred by operation of law.

(d) Boundaries and title unaffected

(1) Boundaries

Nothing in this subchapter affects the location of the boundaries of the Pueblo de San Ildefonso Grant.

(2) Rights, title, and interest

Nothing in this subchapter affects, ratifies, or confirms the right, title, or interest of the Pueblo in the land held by, or for the benefit of, the Pueblo, including the land described in Appendix D of the Settlement Agreement.

Source

(Pub. L. 109–286, § 5,Sept. 27, 2006, 120 Stat. 1220.)

References in Text

An Act to quiet the title to lands within Pueblo Indian land grants, and for other purposes, referred to in subsec. (b)(2)(B), is act June 7, 1924, ch. 331, 43 Stat. 636, known as the Pueblo Lands Act of 1924, which is set out as a note under section 331 of this title.