117 STAT. 1272
PUBLIC LAW 108–108—NOV. 10, 2003 (H) The land exchange and construction of this educational village will benefit the American public by preserving Cherokee traditions and fostering a vibrant, modern, and well-educated Indian nation. (I) The land exchange will also reunify tribal reservation lands now separated between the Big Cove Community and the balance of the Qualla Boundary, reestablishing the territorial integrity of the Eastern Band. (J) The Ravensford tract contains no threatened species or endangered species listed pursuant to the Endangered Species Act of 1973. The 218-acre Yellow Face tract has a number of listed threatened species and endangered species and a higher appraised value than the 143-acre Ravensford tract. (K) The American public will benefit from the Eastern Band’s commitment to mitigate any impacts on natural and cultural resources on the Ravensford tract, by among other things reducing the requested acreage from 168 to 143 acres. (L) The Congress and the Department of the Interior have approved land exchanges in the past when the benefits to the public and requesting party are clear, as they are in this case. (2) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this section are the following: (A) To acquire the Yellow Face tract for protection by the National Park Service, in order to preserve the Waterrock Knob area’s spectacular views, endangered species and high altitude wetland seeps from encroachment by housing development, for the benefit and enjoyment of the American public. (B) To transfer the Ravensford tract, to be held in trust by the United States for the benefit of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, in order to provide for an education facility that promotes the cultural integrity of the Eastern Band and to reunify two Cherokee communities that were historically contiguous, while mitigating any impacts on natural and cultural resources on the tract. (C) To promote cooperative activities and partnerships between the Eastern band and the National Park Service within the Eastern Band’s ancestral homelands. (c) LAND EXCHANGE.— (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of the Interior (‘‘Secretary’’) shall exchange the Ravensford tract, currently in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the Blue Ridge Parkway, for the Yellow Face tract adjacent to the Waterrock Knob Visitor Center on the Blue Ridge Parkway. (2) TREATMENT OF EXCHANGED LANDS.—Effective upon receipt by the Secretary of a deed or deeds satisfactory to the Secretary for the lands comprising the Yellow Face tract (as described in subsection (3)) to the United States, all right, title, and interest of the United States in and to the Ravensford tract (as described in subsection (4)), including all improvements and appurtenances, are declared to be held in trust by the United States for the benefit of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians as part of the Cherokee Indian Reservation.
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