canceled

Date: October 12, 2016

Contact: [email protected]

(AS-IA) Nedra Darling 202-219-4152

Obama Administration Exceeds Ambitious Goal to Restore

500,000 Acres of Tribal Homelands Administration makes good on promise to place at least one half million acres of

land into trust for tribal nations, working to make tribal communities whole again

WASHINGTON – U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell and Principal Deputy Assistant

Secretary – Indian Affairs Lawrence S. “Larry” Roberts today announced that the Obama

Administration has exceeded its goal of placing half a million acres of tribal homelands into trust

for federally recognized tribes.

“Restoring tribal homelands has been a pillar of President Obama’s commitment to support tribal

self-determination and self-governance, empowering tribal leaders to build stronger, more

resilient communities,” Secretary Jewell said. “The Administration broke the logjam on trust

land applications in 2009 and has worked steadily, collaboratively and effectively to restore

Native lands that will help strengthen tribal economies and make their nations whole again.”

The 500,000 acre goal was surpassed Friday when President Obama signed into law the

bipartisan Nevada Native Nations Lands Act, which conveys more than 71,000 acres of Bureau

of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service lands to the U.S. Department of the Interior to

place into federal trust status for six Nevada tribes. The tribes will use their newly acquired lands

to expand housing, provide economic development opportunities and promote cultural activities

for and by their tribal members.

“Secretary Jewell announced early on a goal of restoring 500,000 acres to Indian Country by the

end of the Obama Administration and we view this as a meaningful start to correcting the

enormous loss of tribal homelands Indian Country has endured,” Principal Deputy Assistant

Secretary Roberts told tribal leaders at the opening session of the National Congress of American

Indians’ 73rd Annual Convention in Phoenix, AZ earlier this week.

Roberts further said, “I want to thank the Bureau of Indian Affairs Director Mike Black for his

implementation of this important policy, the Regional Directors and their staff for their hard

work to make it a reality. While our fee-to-trust process remains rigorous and tribes must expend

precious resources to address the Carcieri decision, tribes continue to prioritize the return of

their homelands, investing their own resources to ensure a land base for future generations.”

Restoring tribal homelands has been a key part of the Obama Administration's Indian Country

priorities, representing a shift from historic federal policy that previously resulted in tribes losing

millions of acres of land across the U.S. over several hundred years. Since 2009, the Bureau of

Indian Affairs has processed 2,265 individual trust applications and restored more than 542,000

acres of land into trust. And in partnership with tribes and agency staff at all levels, Indian

Affairs continues to process additional applications for land into trust.

As part of President Obama’s pledge to work nation-to-nation with tribal leaders to strengthen

their communities and build their economies, the Administration also has overhauled antiquated

leasing regulations to provide tribes greater control over their homelands and issued new

regulations to allow the Interior Department to accept land into trust for federally recognized

Alaska tribes, thereby advancing tribal sovereignty and closing a long-standing gap that had not

extended this eligibility to Alaska Natives.

The Secretary of the Interior is authorized by the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 to acquire

land into trust for federally recognized tribes. Lands held in federal Indian trust status, which

cannot be sold, alienated, or transferred to non-Indians or non-Natives, benefit their American

Indian and Alaska Native tribal owners through federal programs for business development,

housing, and environmental and cultural protection. Typical uses of trust land include

governmental operations, cultural activities, agricultural/forestry activities, housing, economic

development, social and community services, and health care and educational facilities.

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