A view of Lake Quinault on the Quinault Nation in Washington. Photo by Tom Harpel / Flickr
The Land Buy-Back Program for Tribal Nations had reached two more reservations. According to the Interior Department, nearly 3,000 landowners on the Fort Hall Reservation in Idaho, home to the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes, and on the Quinault Nation in Washington are being offered more than $70 million for their fractional interests. “The Buy-Back Program is an exceptional opportunity that cannot be taken for granted,” said Deputy Secretary Michael Connor, the second-in-command at Interior. “I thank our tribal partners who are working diligently to ensure that significant education and outreach is being conducted across Indian County. We are committed to ensuring that landowners are given every opportunity to make informed decisions about the potential sale of their land at fair market value.” According to a July 1 chart, 536 landowners at Fort Hall received about $11 million in offers. They have until August 25 to decide whether to accept the money for their fractional interests. The chart does not information about offers at Quinauilt. But about 2,500 landowners there would have received about $69 million for their interests, based on the overall figure provided by Connor. The $3.4 billion settlement to the Indian trust fund lawsuit included $1.9 billion for the buy-back program. As of July 1, more than 34,000 landowners have accepted more than $753.5 million for their interests and the equivalent of nearly 1.5 million acres has been returned to tribes. H.R.4783, the law the implemented the settlement, requires the land consolidation fund to be spent in 10 years. The money will run out before the deadline if the rate of sales continues at the current pace. Secretary Sally Jewell has asked for options to extend land consolidation efforts beyond that deadline.
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