Indianz.Com > News > ‘Fractionation just spirals unless you stop it’: Tribes call for more land consolidation funding
‘Fractionation just spirals unless you stop it’
Tribes call for more land consolidation funding
Wednesday, January 31, 2024
Indianz.Com
WASHINGTON, D.C. —
The Biden administration was a no-show at a hearing called to examine the future of land consolidation efforts in Indian Country. But tribes stepped up with an important message.
Darryl LaCounte, the director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, was scheduled to testify in the nation’s capital about the need to address the loss of land on reservations. But he was unable to make it due to illness, the Republican leader of the House Subcommittee on Indian and Insular Affairs said on Tuesday morning.
“I will state that I am disappointed in BIA’s absence, as their involvement in these discussions is critical to finding workable solutions,” said Rep. Harriet Hageman (R-Wyoming), a new member of the U.S. Congress.
“So hopefully we will have the opportunity to engage them before too much more time passes,” said Hageman.
Despite the absence of a key government official, tribal and Indian leaders were still able to impress upon lawmakers about the importance of land consolidation. They called on Congress for more money and more resources to ensure that their homelands stay in their hands, as promised by treaties, existing laws and other government-to-government agreements. “More funding is needed,” Chairwoman Victoria Kitcheyan of the Winnebago Tribe told the legislative panel. “And I would say we need to expand the scope of of how we reacquire the land.” “In Winnebago — like many other reservations — there were many ways that we lost the land,” Kitcheyan said, citing the need for additional money to acquire expensive farming properties that are going up for sale on her tribe’s reservation in Nebraska. “That’s our situation,” the chairwoman continued. “And so there’s these massive acreages that the tribe can’t afford to buy, but are also once in a lifetime opportunities. Beyond just the fractionation and all the things we’ve covered today, there are many other ways that this land came out of the tribe’s hands.”We’re holding a Subcommittee on Indian and Insular Affairs oversight hearing examining the opportunities and challenges of land consolidation in Indian country.
— House Committee on Natural Resources (@NatResources) January 30, 2024
Tune in here➡️ https://t.co/RzG0z1ptPJ pic.twitter.com/yu65PScmzS
Budget Justification: Indian Land Consolidation – PDF
Cris Stainbrook, the president of the Indian Land Tenure Foundation, amplified the message. While some tribes have been utilizing their own funds to buy interests on their reservations for several decades, he argued that their work will never be able to match the gains of the Cobell program.
“Well, the reality of it is, this situation is going to get much worse unless actions are taken and taken over a period of time,” testified Stainbrook, whose non-profit is headquartered in Minnesota. “I think what the program ended up demonstrating is that yes, you can do large-scale purchases back to the tribes, but the tribes aren’t even in the ballpark when it comes to being able to do that on the scale that needs to be done.”
“Only the federal government is at that place,” said Stainbrook.
At the beginning of the hearing, Hageman acknowledged the harmful impact of allotment on tribal nations, a problem she said continues to be felt today. She also stressed that fractionation diminishes economic, social and other opportunities on reservations.
“Fractionated lands are another barrier to development because generally a majority interest is needed to make land use decisions,” said Hagemen, who as an attorney in Wyoming has experience with federal bureaucracy.
“If an allotment has 50 or 100 co-owners, it can be unaffordable and logistically prohibitive to gain a majority interest agreement. As a result, adjacent tribally-controlled land can remain undeveloped, and individual Indian landowners do not receive the benefits.”
The same report, however, contained information that Hageman said was concerning. At the start of the program in 2012, more the 2.9 million fractional interests were identified as purchasable. But now that the effort has concluded, there are still 2.4 million fractional interests remaining, a figure that a key Democrat also highlighted as worrisome. “That’s 5.6 million acres, with an estimated value of several billion dollars,” said Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez (D-New Mexico), the ranking member of the House Subcommittee on Indian and Insular Affairs. She pointed out how fractionation has created an intense workload for the federal government. “The BIA estimated that, as of fiscal year 2023, it had a backlog of more than 32,000 inheritance cases for these lands,” said Leger Fernandez, who otherwise has supported the agency’s request for more funding to address the issue.The Cobell Settlement closed a dark chapter in our history, and paved the way for a stronger relationship between Indian country and the Department.
— Bryan Newland (@AsstSecNewland) December 4, 2023
As a result of that settlement, we’ve worked with Tribes to restore 3 million acres of land to tribal ownership. https://t.co/nuGinXqDE6
House Subcommittee on Indian and Insular Affairs Notice
Examining the Opportunities and Challenges of Land Consolidation in Indian Country (January 30, 2024)
Related Stories
Search
Filed Under
Tags
More Headlines
AUDIO: Strengthening the Nation-to-Nation Relationship at 2024 White House Tribal Nations Summit
AUDIO: Investing in Indian Country at 2024 White House Tribal Nations Summit
VIDEO: Secretary Deb Haaland at 2024 White House Tribal Nations Summit
Native America Calling: Native trans advocates prepare for looming restrictions
Secretary Haaland opens White House Tribal Nations Summit
NAFOA: 5 Things You Need to Know this Week
President Biden announces Carlisle Federal Indian Boarding School National Monument
White House releases fact sheet for 2024 White House Tribal Nations Summit
Chuck Hoskin: Cherokee Nation carries on the tradition of giving
Native America Calling: Native MMIW advocates use their skills to seek answers
Native America Calling: The near future for White House-tribal relations
Arizona Mirror: Hearing addresses crisis of missing and murdered relatives
Alaska Beacon: U.S. Capitol tree features Tlingit language
Daily Montanan: County loses ruling in reservation law enforcement fight
VIDEO: Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) calls for release of Leonard Peltier
More Headlines
AUDIO: Investing in Indian Country at 2024 White House Tribal Nations Summit
VIDEO: Secretary Deb Haaland at 2024 White House Tribal Nations Summit
Native America Calling: Native trans advocates prepare for looming restrictions
Secretary Haaland opens White House Tribal Nations Summit
NAFOA: 5 Things You Need to Know this Week
President Biden announces Carlisle Federal Indian Boarding School National Monument
White House releases fact sheet for 2024 White House Tribal Nations Summit
Chuck Hoskin: Cherokee Nation carries on the tradition of giving
Native America Calling: Native MMIW advocates use their skills to seek answers
Native America Calling: The near future for White House-tribal relations
Arizona Mirror: Hearing addresses crisis of missing and murdered relatives
Alaska Beacon: U.S. Capitol tree features Tlingit language
Daily Montanan: County loses ruling in reservation law enforcement fight
VIDEO: Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) calls for release of Leonard Peltier
More Headlines