“Congress finds the following:“(1) Since time immemorial, the Timbisha Shoshone Tribe has lived in portions of California and Nevada. The Tribe’s ancestral homeland includes the area that now comprises Death Valley National Park and other areas of California and Nevada now administered by the Bureau of Land Management.
“(2) Since 1936, the Tribe has lived and governed the affairs of the Tribe on approximately 40 acres of land near Furnace Creek in the Park.
“(3) The Tribe achieved Federal recognition in 1983 but does not have a land base within the Tribe’s ancestral homeland.
“(4) Since the Tribe commenced use and occupancy of the Furnace Creek area, the Tribe’s membership has grown. Tribal members have a desire and need for housing, government and administrative facilities, cultural facilities, and sustainable economic development to provide decent, safe, and healthy conditions for themselves and their families.
“(5) The interests of both the Tribe and the National Park Service would be enhanced by recognizing their coexistence on the same land and by establishing partnerships for compatible land uses and for the interpretation of the Tribe’s history and culture for visitors to the Park.
“(6) The interests of both the Tribe and the United States would be enhanced by the establishment of a land base for the Tribe and by further delineation of the rights and obligations of each with respect to the Furnace Creek area and to the Park as a whole.
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