Senator and Chairwoman discussed the pending land exchange between the U.S. Forest Service and the Yavapai-Apache Nation
WASHINGTON – Arizona senior Senator Kyrsten Sinema met with Yavapai-Apache Nation Chairwoman Tanya Lewis to discuss how to solve local challenges and priorities for the Nation. Specifically, the Senator offered to help encourage the U.S. Forest Service to complete its pending land exchange with the Yavapai-Apache Nation.
“The land exchange between the Yavapai-Apache Nation and the U.S. Forest Service benefits everyone in the region – strengthening economic opportunities, fueling good-paying jobs, and restoring land to the Nation for housing and community development,” said Sinema.
The proposed land exchange would help restore ancestral lands to the Yavapai and Apache people and provide important and ecologically valuable lands to the Forest Service.
The land exchange would return approximately 3,200 acres of federal lands along the Yavapai-Apache Reservation border and add these lands to the Nation’s existing reservation in Camp Verde. In exchange, the Nation would provide roughly 4,780 acres of land to the Forest Service owned by the Nation within four National Forests – Prescott, Coconino, Kaibab, and Apache Sitgreaves.
The exchange will benefit the Forest Service, Nation, and Town of Camp Verde. It restores lands to the Nation needed for housing and economic development and creates new job opportunities in the region. During her meeting with Chairwoman Lewis, Sinema offered to help encourage the U.S. Forest Service to complete the pending land exchange to achieve this priority for the Nation.