State News
BIA overseeing land consolidation effort
del.icio.us
Digg
NewsVine
FarkABERDEEN (AP) — The Bureau of Indian Affairs' regional office here is overseeing a project to buy small tracts of reservation land that tribes will own and manage for the good of all tribal members.
Sometimes, more than 1,000 people own a parcel of 100 or so acres, which creates bookkeeping nightmares for tribes and for the BIA, said Jim Geffre of BIA's Great Plains Regional Office in Aberdeen, which oversees South Dakota, North Dakota and Nebraska.
"It's costing a lot of federal dollars to manage all these small land interests owned by Indians," Geffre, coordinator of the Indian land consolidation effort, said. "‘Consolidation will reduce administrative costs."
The situation grew more complicated in the past century as landowners died and willed their property to several descendants, who in turn died and willed their interest to even more descendants.
The idea is to buy the land from the multiple owners and transfer titles to the tribes who would manage the land in the best interest of all tribal members, Geffre said.
Land will be purchased at fair market value from willing sellers only.
Chickasaw Nation Industries of Ada, Okla., has the contract with BIA's Aberdeen office to complete the job, which is expected to take years. Chickasaw has hired 28 people from the Aberdeen area for the work.
The opinions above are from readers of rapidcityjournal.com and in no way represent the views of the Rapid City Journal or Lee Enterprises.
Rapidcityjournal.com provides this community forum for readers to exchange ideas and opinions on the news of the day. Passionate views, pointed criticism and critical thinking are welcome. Name-calling, crude language and personal abuse are not welcome. Moderators will monitor comments with an eye toward maintaining a high level of civility in this forum. Our comment policy explains the rules of the road for registered commenters.
If you don't see your comment, perhaps...
Terms of Use | Privacy Policy