Historic tribal land could be rejoined

LAKE COUNTY – Federal and tribal officials strongly support the national Land Buy Back program but some Lake County landowners are concerned that this might be a distraction from bigger issues.

In what some are labeling an historic event, the recent visit to Tribal Council by Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell and Senator Jon Tester left residents of the Mission Valley questioning the ultimate goal of federal officials.

“I am fearful of what is happening behind the scenes,” said Chris Grier, of Saint Ignatius. “With current water compact negotiations, the tribal land buyback program, as well as the current CSKT suit filed attempting to claim ownership of water and land due to violations of the homestead act, I am afraid the federal government is attempting to take what I and my family have worked for and I will be left with no recourse.”

But Tester said the federal government is simply honoring treaty obligations and promoting economic development.

“I appreciate Secretary Jewell re-affirming our federal trust responsibility to tribes and Indian beneficiaries,” Tester said. “Good work is being done in Indian Country, but tribes must have the tools they need to strengthen their economies and meet health and education needs.

“I am deeply concerned that our government is catering to what is considered a sovereign government with its own representation and it forces the question as to where my representation lies as an American citizen residing within a reservation,” said Grier, who owns a ranch. “My elected officials are failing my family by choosing not to represent my interests.”

Tester, Jewel and Tribal leaders tried to identify problems and possible solutions with the federal Land Buy Back Program that affects tribes across the country.

“We are making it our responsibility to ensure that all Indian country receives a fair shake,” Jewell said. “We are focused on providing economic opportunities to include education, job creation and most of all to fix the wrongdoings with all the tools at our disposal.”

The program went into force about eight months ago, said Jewel, who chairs the White House Council on Native American Affairs.

Part of the reason for the program is due to tribal members dying with no written instruction regarding the disbursement of their property, Jewel said.

Additional funds have become available and tribal landowners can expect to start receiving more generous offers from their tribes starting Sept. 5, said Jewel.

“Our largest concern is that residents won’t open the envelope notifying them of the offer to purchase and will fail to respond within the 45-day period,” said CSKT Tribal Chairman Ron Trahan. “If they fail to respond then we just continue down the list of land parcels.”

Jewell stressed her support of tribal government and recognizing treaties.

“It is the intention of the Department of Interior, the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Government to see this program to completion over the next 10 years,” Jewell said.

One BIA official reported that more than $95 million has been paid out since the start of the program and more than 250,000 acres has been returned to tribal trusts across the Unites States.

“The CSKT reservation is where we lay our real groundwork,” Tester said. “This tribe will be the leader in the movement forward. We look forward to bringing visibility to what is possible.”

Tester’s staff members said they are aware of the community’s tension regarding the ongoing Water Compact negotiations. They said community members should not believe the tribes and federal government have suspicious motives behind starting the buy back program in the Mission Valley.

“The CSKT tribal counsel has proven itself to be well organized on previous issues,” said Marnee Banks, Tester’s Communications Director. “It came down to pure numbers of fractured parcels of land and the CSKT reservation is a significant candidate for this program due to the pure size of land parcels that meet our criteria in comparison to other tribes in the United States.”

The program is a continuation of the previous tribal Cobell Settlement that addressed the mismanagement of tribal funds, she said.

Tribal program officials will make offers on parcels of land within the CSKT reservation.

“It is the program’s intention to connect the land that is currently in small acreages, attach it to neighboring parcels as it once historically was recorded and again place them into CSKT tribal trust status for the tribe to utilize in a manner that will benefit the tribe as a whole as well as its members,” Banks said.

Non-native land owners who own their land parcels will not qualify for the Land Buy Back Program due to land moving into fee simple status, she said.