United States HR 8616: Caja del Rio Protection Act

Bill Text

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119TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION H. R. 8616
To establish the Caja del Rio Special Management Area and Caja del Rio
National Conservation Area in the State of New Mexico, and for other
purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
APRIL 30, 2026
Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ introduced the following bill; which was referred to
the Committee on Natural Resources
A BILL
To establish the Caja del Rio Special Management Area
and Caja del Rio National Conservation Area in the
State of New Mexico, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 3
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 4
‘‘Caja del Rio Protection Act’’. 5
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 6
this Act is as follows: 7
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
Sec. 2. Definitions.
TITLE I—CAJA DEL RIO SPECIAL MANAGEMENT AREA
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Sec. 101. Establishment of the Caja del Rio Special Management Area.
Sec. 102. Management of the Special Management Area.
TITLE II—CAJA DEL RIO NATIONAL CONSERVATION AREA
Sec. 201. Establishment of the Caja del Rio National Conservation Area.
Sec. 202. Management of the Conservation Area.
Sec. 203. Land exchanges.
TITLE III—GENERAL PROVISIONS
Sec. 301. Management of Covered Areas.
Sec. 302. Tribal contracting and protected rights.
Sec. 303. Effect.
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 1
In this Act: 2
(1) CONSERVATION AREA.—The term ‘‘Con-3
servation Area’’ means the Caja del Rio National 4
Conservation Area established by section 201(a)(1). 5
(2) COVERED AREA.—The term ‘‘covered area’’ 6
means each of— 7
(A) the Conservation Area; and 8
(B) the Special Management Area. 9
(3) DECOMMISSION.—The term ‘‘decommis-10
sion,’’ with respect to a road, means— 11
(A) reestablishing native vegetation on the 12
road; 13
(B) effectively blocking the road to vehic-14
ular traffic, where feasible; and 15
(C) developing and implementing an effec-16
tive monitoring and response plan for invasive 17
species and vehicular traffic incursions. 18
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(4) ECOLOGICAL RESTORATION.—The term ‘‘ec-1
ological restoration’’ has the meaning given the term 2
‘‘restoration’’ in section 4 of the Southwest Forest 3
Health and Wildfire Prevention Act of 2004 (16 4
U.S.C. 6703). 5
(5) INDIAN LAND.—The term ‘‘Indian land’’ 6
has the meaning given the term ‘‘Indian lands’’ in 7
section 4 of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (25 8
U.S.C. 2703). 9
(6) INDIAN TRIBE.—The term ‘‘Indian Tribe’’ 10
means the governing body of any Indian or Alaska 11
Native tribe, band, nation, pueblo, village, commu-12
nity, component band, or component reservation in-13
dividually identified (including parenthetically) in 14
the list published most recently as of the date of en-15
actment of this Act pursuant to section 104 of the 16
Federally Recognized Indian Tribe List Act of 1994 17
(25 U.S.C. 5131). 18
(7) INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE.—The term ‘‘In-19
digenous knowledge’’ has the meaning given the 20
term in section 219.19 of title 36, Code of Federal 21
Regulations (or a successor regulation). 22
(8) INTERESTED INDIAN TRIBE.—The term 23
‘‘interested Indian Tribe’’, with respect to the cov-24
ered area, means an Indian Tribe with— 25
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(A) historic, precontact, cultural, or reli-1
gious connections to the public land within the 2
covered area; 3
(B) a former reservation located within the 4
covered area; or 5
(C) treaty rights or other reserved rights 6
associated with the covered area. 7
(9) LAND GRANT-MERCED.—The term ‘‘land 8
grant-merced’’ means a community land grant 9
issued under the laws or customs of the Government 10
of Spain or Mexico that— 11
(A) is recognized under New Mexico Stat-12
utes Chapter 49, Articles 1 and 4 (or a suc-13
cessor statute); 14
(B) has a record of traditional historic use 15
in the covered area; or 16
(C) has a patented exterior boundary that 17
is or was previously located on or adjacent to 18
the covered area. 19
(10) MAP.—The term ‘‘Map’’ means the map 20
entitled ‘‘The Caja del Rio Special management 21
Area and National Conservation Area’’ and dated 22
April 20, 2026. 23
(11) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ 24
means— 25
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(A) in title I, the Secretary of Agriculture; 1
(B) in title II, the Secretary of the Inte-2
rior; and 3
(C) in this section and title III— 4
(i) the Secretary of the Interior