Law Commons^™

Mediating Our Future: The Role Of The Land Buy-Back Program In Rebuilding Confidence And Strengthening Trust Between Tribal Nations And The United States Government, Brieann West

Journal of the National Association of Administrative Law Judiciary

The role that government regulatory agencies like the Department of Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs played in enforcing Native American land leasing and land rights issues has changed substantially over the past five years. Current changes include, empowering American Indian tribes to exercise autonomy over tribal land leases, and the introduction of the Land Buy-Back program. Despite these positive strides, several questions remain; including, how reuniting previously divided allotments of land and placing them in trust will impact the current trust relationship? Should tribes have more say over which fractionated land allotments receive purchase offers and how these lands will …