The Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatomi Indians, also known as the Gun Lake Tribe, has filed a land-into-trust application for 176.6 acres, The Allegan County News reported.

The tribe uses the land for its non-profit Jijak Foundation. The site was previously owned by a Christian youth camp that paid no local taxes.

However, Hopkins Township plans to impose property taxes on the land. The tribe is appealing to the Michigan Tax Tribunal but filed the application to protect the site from future taxation efforts.

“Essentially we want all of our land in trust to be dedicated in perpetuity in preservation of our culture,” Vice Chairman Ed Pigeon told the paper.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs has asked Hopkins Township for comments about the application.

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Tribe denied tax break, seeks Jijak land trust (The Allegan County News 5/8)