The Sandia Mountains, as seen from Sandia Pueblo in New Mexico. Photo from Sandia Pueblo
President Barack Obama signed S.611, the Sandia Pueblo Settlement Technical Amendment Act, into law on Monday. The bill finalizes a land swap between Sandia Pueblo in New Mexico and the U.S. Forest Service. The tribe will transfer about 230 acres to Cibola National Forest. In exchange, the tribe will receive 700 acres of federal land. This property is adjacent to the reservation and to land previously purchased by the tribe. The Senate passed the bill in March. The House passed the same version on May 28. The swap has been in the works since the passage of the T'uf Shur Bien Preservation Trust Area Act in 2003. That law settled a land claim by creating a federally-protected area where the tribe exercises jurisdiction and retains other measures of control.
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