House Subcommittee for Indigenous Peoples takes up legislation

• H.R.4059, a bill to take about 2,560 acres in southern California into trust for the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians. The property is currently managed by the Bureau of Land Management. The tribe would be barred from engaging in gaming on the lands.

• H.R.4495, a bill to authorize the Indian Health Service to acquire private land to facilitate access to the Desert Sage Youth Wellness Center, a youth treatment facility in Hemet, California.

• H.R.4888, a bill to amend the Grand Ronde Reservation Act in order to address lands held in trust in Oregon for the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde. The bill includes a gaming prohibition.

• H.R.5153, the Indian Buffalo Management Act. The bill establishes a program within the Department of the Interior to assist tribes and tribal organizations with the protection, conservation and fostering of buffalo herds.

“For hundreds of years, the American buffalo was central to the culture, spiritual wellbeing, and livelihoods of our nation’s Indigenous peoples,” said Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska), who introduced the bipartisan bill in November. “The tragic decimation of these iconic animals remains one of the darkest chapters in America’s history, and we must be doing all that we can to reverse the damage done not only to the American buffalo, but to the way of life of Native peoples across our country."