News from Inchon Country
Indian tribes buy
back thousands
of acres of land
By Timberly Ross
Associated Press Waiter
OM AHA, Nebraska — N a
tive A m erican tribes tired o f
waiting for the U.S. government
to honor centuries-old treaties
are buying back land where their
ancestors lived and putting it in
federal trust.
N ative A m ericans say the
purchases will help protect their
culture and way o f life by pre
serving burial grounds and ar
eas where sacred rituals are held.
They also provide land for farm
ing, timber and other efforts to
make the tribes self-sustaining.
Tribes put more than 840,000
acres— or roughly the equivalent
o f the state o f Rhode Island—
into trust from 1998 to 2007,
according to inform ation The
Associated Press obtained from
the federal Bureau o f Indian Af
fairs under the Freedom o f In
form ation A c t
Those buying back land in
clude the Winnebago, w ho have
put more than 700 acres in east
ern Nebraska in federal trust in
the past five years, and the Paw
nee, w ho have 1,600 acres o f
trust land in Oklahoma. Land
held in federal trust is exempt
from local and state laws and
taxes, but subject to m ost fed
eral laws.
T h ree tribes have b o u g h t
land around Bear Butte in South
Dakota’s Black Hills to keep it
from developers eager to cater
to the bikers w ho ro a r in to
Sturgis every year for a raucous
road rally. A bout 17 tribes from
the Dakotas, Nebraska, Wyo
ming, M ontana and Oklahoma
still use the m ountain for reli
gious ceremonies.
Emily White H at, a m em ber
o f S outh D a k o ta ’s R osebud
Sioux, said the struggle to pro
tect the land is about “preserva
tion o f our culture, our way o f
life and our traditions.”
“All o f it is connected,” she
said. “W ith your land, you have
that relationship to the culture.”
O ther members o f the Rose
bud Sioux, such as president
Rodney Bordeaux, believe the
tribes shouldn’t have to buy the
land back because it was illegally
taken. B ut they also recognize
that without such purchases, the
land won’t be protected.
N o one knows how m uch
land the federal governm ent
p ro m is e d N a tiv e A m e ric an
tribes in treaties dating to the late
1700s, said G ary G arrison, a
spokesman for the federal Bu
reau o f Indian Affairs. T he gov
ernm ent changed the term s o f
the treaties over the centuries to
make property available to set
tlers and give rights-of-way to
railroads and telegraph compa
nies.
President Barack O bam a’s
adm inistration has pro p o sed
spending $2 billion to buy back
and consolidate tribal land bro
ken up in previous generations.
T he program would pay indi
vidual members for land inter
ests divided among their relatives
and return the land to tribal con
trol. But it w ould not buy land
from people outside the tribes.
Today, 562 federally recog
nized tribes have m ore than 55
million acres held in trust, ac
cording to the bureau. Several
states and local governments are
fighting efforts to add to that
number, saying the federal gov
ernm ent doesn’t have the au
u
thority to take land— and tax rev
enue— from states.
In N ew York, for example,
the state and two counties filed a
federal lawsuit in 2008 to block
the U.S. D epartm ent o f Interior
from putting about 13,000 acres
into trust for the Oneida Tribe.
In September, a judge threw out
their claims.
Putting land in trust creates a
burden for local governm ents
because they m ust still provide
services such as sewer and water
even though they can’t collect
taxes on the property, said Elaine
Willmah, a m em ber o f the Citi
zens Equal Rights Alliance and
administrator for H obart, a sub
urb o f G reen Bay, Wisconsin.
H obart relies mostly on property
taxes to pay for police, water and
other services, but the village o f
about 5,900 lost about a third o f
its land to a trust set up for the
state’s O neida Tribe, W illman
said.
So far, H obart has been able
Nevada court
OKs removing
mother’s rights
in custody case
C A R S O N C IT Y , N ev.
(A P) — T h e N e v a d a S u
prem e C ourt has u pheld the
te rm in a tio n o f a m o th e r’s
parental rights to a 4-year-old
daughter w ho is p a rt A m eri
can Indian.
Justices ruled on D ec. 24
th at term inating the rights o f
the girl’s n on-Indian m other,
D aw n McKay, did n o t violate
the federal Indian Child Wel
fare A ct and E xisting Indian
Fam ily D octrine.
T h e law and doctrine re
quire courts to use a beyond-
a-reasonable-doubt standard
before rem oving an Indian
child from parents.
T he court said the m other
was fo u n d to be a chronic
m arijuana and m etham phet
am ine user.
Additionally, the N evada
D ivision o f Child and Fam
ily Service couldn’t find the
A m erican Indian father.
Justices said the child had
b o n d ed w ith foster parents,
w ho plan to adopt h e r and
teach h e r Indian heritage.
Page 9
Spilyay Tymoo
December 31, 2 0 0 9
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On the Net:
Federal Bureau of Indian
Affairs: www.bia.gov
White Earth Land
Recovery Project:
http:/ nativeharvest.com/
Indian Land Tenure
Foundation:
www.indianlandtenure.org/
Citizens Equal Rights
Alliance:
www.citizensalliance.org/
to control spending and avoid
cuts in services or raising taxes,
W illman said. Village leaders
hope taxes on a planned 603-
acre commercial developm ent
will eventually help make up for
the lost money.
T he nonprofit W hite E arth
L an d R ecovery P ro je c t has
bought back or been gifted hun
dreds o f acres in northwestern
Minnesota since it was created
in the late 1980s. T h e W hite
E arth tribe uses the land to har
vest rice, farm and p roduce
m aple syrup. M em bers have
hope o f one day being self-sus
taining again.
W inona LaDuke, who started
the W hite E arth project, said
buying property is expensive, but
it’s the quickest and easiest way
for tribes to regain control o f
their land.
Tribal membership has been
growing thanks to higher birth
rates, longer life spans and m ore
relaxed qualifications for m em
bership, and that has created a
greater need for land for hous
ing, com m unity services and
economic development.
“I f the tribes were to pursue
return o f the land in the courts
it would be years before any ac
tion could result in m ore tribal
land ... and the people simply
c a n n o t w a it,” said C ris
Stainbrook, o f the Little Canada,
M innesota-based Indian Land
Tenure Foundation.
Thirty to 40 tribes are mak
ing enough money from casinos
to buy back land, but they also
have to put money into social
programs, education and health
care fo r their m em bers, said
Robert J. Miller, a professor at
the Lewis & Clark Law School
in Portland, Oregon, w ho spe
cializes in tribal issues.
“Tribes just have so m any
things on their plate,” he said.
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