URL: https://www.indianz.com/News/archives/001604.asp

Wednesday, September 24, 2003

The U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday passed a bill requiring the National Park Service to swap land with the Eastern Band of Cherokees of North Carolina.

The tribe will exchange 218 acres of its land for 168 acres within the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The tribe needs the land to build a new school for Cherokee children.

Conservation groups oppose the bill, saying the tribal land is worth far less than the park parcel. They also say the bill shortcuts the public comment process since NPS was still reviewing the swap.

The bill was sponsored by Rep. Charles Taylor (R-N.C.), chairman of the House Interior Appropriations subcommittee. There is no companion legislation in the Senate.

Get the Story:
Land swap legislation clears hurdle in U.S. House (The Asheville Citizen Times 9/24)

Get the Bill:
Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians Land Exchange Act of 2002 (H.R.1409)

Relevant Links:
Cherokee Land Exchange - http://www.npslandexchange.com
Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians - http://www.cherokee-nc.com
Great Smoky Mountains National Park - http://www.nps.gov/grsm/index.htm
National Parks Conservation Association - http://www.eparks.org

Related Stories:
Taylor says Eastern Cherokee land more valuable (9/17)
Parks group says Cherokee land swap not worth it (9/15)
NPS holding meetings on Eastern Cherokee land swap (07/10)
Cherokee swap site home to rare species, artifacts (7/7)
NPS to hold public meetings on Cherokee land swap (6/30)
NPS doesn't oppose Eastern Cherokee land swap (6/19)
House committee to consider tribal bills (6/18)
Tribal school project on 'endangered' parks list (01/15)
Indian man resigning from Park Service (12/10)
NPS manager to quit over Cherokee swap (10/04)
Yellowstone bison death toll mounts (5/23)
Group cites tribal transfer as danger to park (3/26)
Cherokee tribe urges land swap (2/13) Get the Story:
Land swap legislation clears hurdle in U.S. House (The Asheville Citizen Times 9/24)

All stories in the Indianz.Com Archive are available for publishing under a Creative Commons License: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)