Off-reservation trust land

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Map of the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota . The spotted areas on the map are often off-reservation trust land . Above the red block in the lower center is Mellette County .

Another map of South Dakota with the official borders of Rosebud. The trust lands are not shown on the map.

Historical map of the Dakota Territory , according to which Mellette County was part of the Rosebud Indian Reservation . (Referred to as "Upper Brule Indian Reservation" on the map)

Off-reservation trust land is a legal status from American land law. This is land that is formally owned by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), a division of the US Department of the Interior. But owners are Indian tribes or individual members of an Indian tribe. Formally, these properties are not within the boundaries of an Indian reservation, but outside the reservation boundaries. The BIA is a trustee ( trust ) and administers the property in the name of the Indians or Indian tribes. These areas are sometimes marked as Indian land on maps, but sometimes not. In Google Maps, for example, the areas are marked as such.

To understand off-reservation trust lands , one has to study the Dawes Act of 1887. There are also plots of land that also have this status but have nothing to do with this law. Mellette County South Dakota , which was originally part of the Rosebud Indian Reservation , will serve as an example . In 1910 the US Congress decided to open the county, along with what is now Jackson County and Bennett Counties, to white settlers. The US Congress thus reduced the area of ​​the Rosebud Reservation, as it was believed that the Indians were claiming far too much land. The measure had two main goals: on the one hand, the community structure of the Indians was to be broken and the Indians to be integrated into American society. The Indians should become farmers. As such, according to official opinion, they would need much less land than they claimed for their traditional, non-sedentary hunter-gatherer lifestyle. That same year the area was divided into parcels by surveyors Sam Chilton and Blaine Scrivenin. They rammed steel rods into the ground half a mile apart. They also reserved areas for future settlements and schools. Since the measure was legally considered an expropriation, which was prohibited by the constitution, individual Indians received 320 acres and children 160 acres. The rest of the area was raffled to white settlers under the Homestead Act . However, this land transfer was subject to conditions. The parcels became the property of the individual Indians only after 25 years. The US government acted as trustee. The land had to be cultivated by the owners in order to become their property. For various reasons, however, the Indians often did not manage their properties. The Indians themselves mostly resisted a life as a farmer. They saw the farm work as unworthy and restrictive. The areas were also often worthless from an agricultural point of view and did not produce any income. This also did not correspond to the legal opinion and the culture of the Sioux Indians, who knew no real estate. The Sioux moved through the area as nomads and knew no permanent settlements.

The land remained the property of the BIA, which only managed these areas in trust for the trunk. The owners of the areas are therefore often the Rosebud Sioux Tribe or are owned by individual members of the tribe, but they are not part of the Rosebud Reservation, therefore Off-reservation trust land.

A second possibility for the land to be granted this status is when a legally recognized tribe purchases land outside of its reservation. This is often done for the establishment of casinos, since games of chance are generally prohibited in the individual states of the USA. However, recognized tribes have an exceptional position due to their official status as "Independent Nation". They can enact their own laws and allow games of chance. However, since the reserves are in remote areas, the tribes try to acquire land in the vicinity of metropolitan areas and to open a game facility there. Since the BIA is not entered in the land title, it is also an off-reservation trust lands.

Just like Indian reservations, the off-reservation trust lands are not subject to the state in which they are located. These are federal government areas and have a status similar to Puerto Rico , Guam, and American Samoa , or Washington DC. Because of the patchwork quilt in some regions of the United States, administration is quite problematic. There are massive problems, especially in the area of ​​public safety and order, as it is often not clear who is actually responsible. Often the reservations have their own police units, which are only responsible for their own tribal members. There are also BIA police units of their own. The city, county, or state police force is responsible for areas not regulated by the BIA. The federal agency FBI is also responsible for the areas. The unclear circumstances make the fight against crime difficult. It doesn't look any better in the area of ​​the courts. Here, too, there are reservations that have their own judicial system. And finally, the unclear circumstances lead to tensions within the various population groups. In recent years there have been efforts to solve the problems. For example, the Obama administration made $ 2 billion available so that the tribes can buy land in these patchwork carpets to create closed areas. The state of South Dakota in particular finds it difficult to recognize these areas as Indian land. Disputes often end in the United States Supreme Court.

Web links

• Bureau of Indian Affairs, Official Website (English)
• Map of Rosebud Reservation and off-reservation trust country (English)
• 900 F. 2d 1164 - Rosebud Sioux Tribe v. State of South Dakota (English)
• United States Supreme Court ROSEBUD SIOUX TRIBE v. KNEIP, (1977) (English)
• Trust Land on the website of the National Conference of State Legislatures; accessed on May 13, 2020

See also

• United States Indian Policy , Indian Reorganization Act
• Termination , Indian Self Determination Act
• Driving out the Indians

Individual evidence

1. ↑ In the United States there are three types of reserved federal lands: military, public, and Indian. A federal Indian reservation is an area of ​​land reserved for a tribe or tribes under treaty or other agreement with the United States, executive order, or federal statute or administrative action as permanent tribal homelands, and where the federal government holds title to the land in trust on behalf of the tribe.
2. ^ National Congress of American Indians and Google Partner to Map Tribal Lands
3. ↑ The effort to shift the Indian from a hunting life to that of farming was the chief feature of the Indian policy framed by the government. In 1887 the Allotment Act was passed. Under this law the reservation was to be broken up and the land divided into individual allotments. Each adult Indian was to receive 320 acres, and each child received 160 acres. The Indian could live on it and farm it but he could not sell or mortgage it, and when he died it was bequeathed to his heirs. ( Memento of the original from September 13, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
4. ^ The relationship between federally recognized tribes and the United States is one between sovereigns, i. e., between a government and a government. This “government-to-government” principle, which is grounded in the United States Constitution, has helped to shape the long history of relations between the federal government and these tribal nations.
5. ↑ Furthermore, federally recognized tribes possess both the right and the authority to regulate activities on their lands independently from state government control. They can enact and enforce stricter or more lenient laws and regulations than those of the surrounding or neighboring state (s) wherein they are located.
6. ^ New BIA policy concerning “off-reservation” gaming lands acquisitions.
7. ↑ Because the Constitution vested the legislative Branch with plenary power over Indian affairs, states have no authority over tribal Governments unless Expressly authorized by Congress. While federally recognized tribes are generally not subordinate to states, they can have a government-to-government relationship with these other sovereigns, as well.
8. ↑ Federal Indian reservations are generally exempt from state jurisdiction, including taxation, except when Congress specifically authorizes such jurisdiction.
9. ↑ “Previous policies of allotment, assimilation and virtual moratoriums on restoring tribal homelands continue to have profound negative impacts on tribal communities. During this administration, tribes have demonstrated that the restoration of tribal homelands promotes safe and prosperous communities for current and future generations, ”said Acting Assistant Secretary - Indian Affairs Lawrence S. Roberts. “Tribal leaders across Indian Country continue to place a high priority on restoring tribal homelands. We are fully committed to placing half a million acres of land into trust during this Administration as a step in the direction of correcting misguided policies of previous administrations. ”
10. ^ The Buy-Back Program implements the land consolidation component of the Cobell Settlement, which provided $ 1.9 billion to purchase fractional interests in trust or restricted land from willing sellers at fair market value within 10 years.
11. ^ Secretary Jewell Announces Obama Administration's Largest Land into Trust Acquisition for Tribal Nations
12. ↑ There are approximately 245,000 owners of nearly three million fractional interests across Indian Country who are eligible to participate in the Buy-Back Program. Since it began making offers in December 2013, the program has paid more than $ 740 million to individual landowners and restored the equivalent of nearly 1.5 million acres of land to tribal governments.
13. ↑ 900 F. 2d 1164 - Rosebud Sioux Tribe v. State of South Dakota
14. ↑ The question before this court is whether South Dakota currently has civil and criminal jurisdiction over highways running through Indian land in the state.
15. ^ Rosebud Sioux Tribe, 709 F.Supp.
16. ↑ Rosebud Sioux Tribe v. Kneip, 430 US 584
17. ↑ Washington v. Confederated Bands & Tribes of the Yakima Indian Nation, 439 US 463, 479 & n. 23, 99 S.Ct. 740, 750 & n. 23, 58 L.Ed.2d 740 (1979)