Isleta Pueblo leaders welcomed Interior Secretary Sally Jewell and other top officials to the reservation on August 1, 2015. Photo from Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D-New Mexico) / Twitter
Interior Secretary Sally Jewell is heading to New Mexico on Friday for a major tribal land milestone. Jewell will join leaders of Isleta Pueblo for the signing of the tribe's land-into-trust application. According to the Bureau of Indian Affairs, it will be the largest single acquisition in history. The tribe owns several properties that could qualify for that distinction. One is the Comanche Ranch, a 100,000-plus-acre site that is being used for economic development and other purposes. A large acquisition will help the BIA meet its goal to place at least 500,000 acres in trust before President Barack Obama leaves office a year from now. Since 2009, the agency has approved applications totaling about 305,000 acres, former assistant secretary Kevin Washburn said at the National Congress of American Indians annual convention last October. Friday's ceremony takes place at the Old Courthouse at Isleta Pueblo.
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