Executive Order 8696—Transfer of Certain Lands From the Secretary of Agriculture to the Secretary of the Interior

NEW MEXICO

Whereas certain lands, together with the improvements thereon, have been acquired by the United States in connection with the Cuba-Rio Puerco Project, LU-NM-38-22-1, in Valencia and Bernalillo Counties, New Mexico, under authority of Title III of the Bankhead-Jones Farm Tenant Act, approved July 22, 1937 (50 Stat. 522, 525); and

Whereas it appears that the transfer of jurisdiction over such lands from the Secretary of Agriculture to the Secretary of the Interior for administrative purposes would be in the public interest:

Now, Therefore, by virtue of and pursuant to the authority vested in me by section 32(c) of Title III of the Bankhead-Jones Farm Tenant Act, and upon recommendation of the Secretary of Agriculture, it is hereby ordered that jurisdiction over the hereinafter-described lands, together with the improvements thereon, acquired by the United States in connection with the Cuba-Rio Puerco Project, LU-NM-38-22-1, be, and it is hereby, transferred from the Secretary of Agriculture to the Secretary of the Interior; and the Secretary of the Interior is hereby authorized to administer such lands, through the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, for the exclusive use of the Pueblo Indians, under such conditions of use and administration as will best carry out the purposes of the land-conservation and land-utilization program for which such lands were acquired:

VALENCIA AND BERNALILLO COUNTIES, NEW MEXICO

New Mexico Principal Meridian

Tps. 7, 8 and 9 N., Rs. 1, 2 and 3 W., those parts lying within the Antonio Sedillo Grant as described by Plat and Survey approved by the Court of Private Land Claims July 15, 1901.

FRANKLIN D ROOSEVELT

The White House,
February 28, 1941.