NEW TOWN, N.D. (AP) – The federal government is preparing to return 48 square miles of land to the Three Affiliated Tribes, but tribal officials disagree on who should get the property.
The land is excess property that was taken when Garrison Dam was built in the mid-1900s, and its return has been in the works since former Tribal Chairman Tex Hall made a formal request in 2004. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is preparing to transfer 30,500 acres of land around Lake Sakakawea to the tribe this year.
Tribal historian and elder Marilyn Hudson told The Bismarck Tribune that the land should go to the families from whom it was taken, not to the tribe. Hudson’s grandmother lost about 160 acres of land to the dam project in the 1940s.
“The land needs to go back to the original owners. That was always the effort of this,” Hudson said. “If the Corps can’t give it back to the original owners or their heirs, they should keep it for the people of the United States.”
Tribal Chairman Mark Fox said a legal interpretation of the Fort Berthold Minerals Restoration Act of 1984 – the federal law allowing for the land transfer – indicates that the acreage go to the tribe.
“The intended use would be for recreation and economic development, including tourism, and enjoyment by many,” he said.
The land transfer will be initiated when the Corps receives the $250,000 it requested to implement it, according to Larry Janis, the agency’s chief of recreation and natural resources. The transfer will not include any recreation sites on federal land, nor any wildlife management areas overseen by the state Game and Fish Department, he said.
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Information from: Bismarck Tribune, http://www.bismarcktribune.com