Pit River Land Transfer Act of 2025

The bill would require the Secretary of the Interior to take approximately 583.79 acres of federal land managed by the Forest Service, known as the Four Corners Federal land, into trust for the benefit of the Pit River Tribe in California. The transfer would exclude about 20.03 acres of roads, highways, and public rights-of-way subject to existing easements. Once transferred, the land would become part of the Pit River Tribe Reservation and would be administered under the laws generally applicable to trust land held for tribes. The bill would require the Forest Service to deliver a complete survey of the land to the Secretary within 180 days of enactment, and it would prohibit any class II or class III gaming, as defined under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, on the land once it is taken into trust.

The Pit River Tribe, whose reservation land base would expand, and the U.S. Forest Service and Department of the Interior, which would carry out the survey and trust transfer. Local land users and any parties with existing easements over the excluded roads and rights-of-way are also affected.

For the Pit River Tribe, the transfer would add land to its reservation and place it under tribal trust status, affecting jurisdiction and land management. The gaming prohibition means the tribe could not use the newly trusted land for casino operations, limiting one potential economic use of the property.

The Secretary of the Interior would take the specified acreage into trust, relying on a map prepared by the Forest Service to define the boundaries of the "Proposed Land Conveyance." The Forest Service would first complete and deliver a survey of the land within 180 days of enactment. Once trust status is established, the land would be folded into the Pit River Tribe Reservation and managed under existing federal rules for Indian trust land, with the standing gaming prohibition enforced under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act's definitions.