RAPID CITY, S.D. — The new trust reform bill proposed in the Senate is
flawed and not favorable to individual American Indians and land owners,
tribal leaders argue.
The Great Plains Tribal Chairmen’s Association members brought to the table
ideas that they argue will strengthen proposed Senate Bill 1439, or the
Indian Trust Reform Act of 2005, and will help tribes with large land
bases.
The bill will not settle everything related to trust reform or
reorganization; it is a settlement, a compromise, the tribal leaders said
— even a set-up for Indian tribes.
The bill has two elements: one to settle the nine-year-old Cobell v. Norton
lawsuit and another to reform the Interior Department’s trust methods.
Emotions run high over land, but to alleviate the financial burdens
involved, the trust reform bill allows for tribes to purchase or seize
small portions of fractionated property. The bittersweet taking of the land
returns to the tribes some of the land that was lost to the Allotment Act,
but removes portions of land from family ownership.
“They are using tribal government to take the land from the allottees,”
said Charles Colombe, president of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe.
The Allotment Act changes in 1934 produced a nightmare for Indian country
and for the BIA, and resulted in the fractionation of land. Today there can
be so many owners of a small parcel of land that one person may only own
the equivalent of a cupful of dirt, according to Pete Jones, attorney for
the Sisseton-Wahpeton Sioux Tribe.
“Culturally, we still have a piece of the land. It’s too small to build a
house or raise cattle, but it’s in the family,” said Cecilia Fire Thunder,
president of the Oglala Sioux Tribe.
A 1984 amendment gave powers to the tribes that constituted the taking of
land from the allottee. With so many owners of one parcel of land, probate
became cumbersome and expensive.
“It is not uncommon for probate to cost more than the value of the land,”
Jones said.
The Great Plains tribal leadership wants to see a change in the trust
reform bill that will more effectively deal with land fractionation.
Family members do not have the means to buy up additional small portions
from other family members like the non-Indian community does because
low-interest loans are not available to American Indians, Steve Emery,
attorney with the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, said.
A 40-acre parcel on the Lake Traverse Reservation in northeastern South
Dakota has 1,089 owners. With the formula used for payment of the land, one
of the owners will receive one cent every 177 years.
The owner with the least amount, under the formula, will receive $1 after
32,800 years.
“We need accountability of records, not just of accounts, and the money
should come down to the local level,” he said, noting that millions of
acres of land are going out of trust into fee patent because of the lack of
accountability. “Allottees never get a penny on it.”
Some say the solution to the trust issue and land fractionation is to put
the property back in the hands of the tribe.
When the tribes try to give the land back to the property owner, the
federal government claims it is unconstitutional. The land, the tribal
leaders said, rightfully belonged to the tribe in the first place.
The proposed bill also includes a provision that allows the Interior
secretary to purchase a parcel of land held by more than 20 owners at fair
market value plus an incentive bonus to sell.
“There is a broad division of opinions on this bill. The Great Plains
tribes are not opposed to trust reform; the issue is, how does it come
about?” Colombe remarked.
The Great Plains tribes mostly have large land bases with grazing, farming
and mineral leases that are affected by trust reform. The task force
submitted 50 provisions to be considered, but the proposed legislation,
introduced by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., does not
contain some of the provisions.
The tribal leaders charge that there is no provision to make Interior
adhere to trust standards. They also say the promotion of the assistant
secretary to undersecretary is not enough; the tribes wanted the position
to be a deputy secretary.
The association will meet again to formulate a unified position, with the
intent of submitting provisions for the legislation and submit a position
paper. Both Dorgan and McCain said the bill was open and input would be
welcomed.
