MADISON, Wis. (AP) – The Ho-Chunk Nation will finally receive nearly 1,600 acres at the closed Badger Army Ammunition Plant.

U.S. Sen Tammy Baldwin announced the land transfer Friday. She’s been pushing to return the land to the tribe since she was first elected to Congress in 1988.

The Wisconsin State Journal reports that Baldwin held up the nomination of a top Interior Department appointee until he agreed to work with the Defense Department to resolve the matter.

Ho-Chunk leaders expressed gratitude, saying the land transfer had been held up by bureaucratic wrangling far too long.

The decommissioned plant covered over 7,300 acres. The rest of the site is going to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, with 3,400 acres, and 2,100 acres for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Dairy Forage Research Center.

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Information from: Wisconsin State Journal, http://www.madison.com/wsj