Blackfeet Nation Chairman Harry Barnes. Photo from Facebook

The Blackfeet Nation of Montana is hosting Interior Secretary Sally Jewell on Tuesday.

According to a media advisory, Chairman Harry Barnes will participate in a signing ceremony for the Land Buy-Back Program for Tribal Nations in Browning in the afternoon. The reservation is one of the the target areas for the initiative, which pays individual Indian landowners for their fractional interests and transfers those parcels to tribal governments.

Since the program began in late 2013, individual Indians have received nearly $761.5 million for their interests as of April 22. The equivalent of nearly 1.5 million acres has been transferred to tribes as a result.

Tribes and individual Indians in Montana have been among the biggest beneficiaries. According to sales data, landowners on the Crow Reservation have accepted nearly $103 million, the second-highest purchase total so far. Transactions on the Flathead Reservation, the Fort Belknap Reservation, the Fort Peck Reservation and the Northern Cheyenne Reservation have brought another $154 million into the state.

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