The Nation has completed the purchase of 1,240 acres of mixed-grass rangeland lying between two existing tracts of Tribal trust land, including roughly four miles of creek frontage and the cottonwood gallery along it.
The parcel had been in non-Indian ownership since the allotment era. The seller, a family that had run cattle on it for three generations, approached the Land Office directly and gave the Nation the first opportunity to buy.
“This is not a small thing,” the Land Director said. “Those two pieces have been looking at each other across somebody else’s fence line for a hundred years.”
What happens next
The Nation will apply to place the parcel into trust status, a process that typically takes two to four years. In the meantime:
- The existing grazing lease runs through the end of the 2027 season and will be honored.
- The Wildlife Department will begin bird and plant surveys of the creek bottom this fall.
- Access for enrolled members to gather along the creek will open once survey work is complete and boundaries are posted. Watch this page.
The purchase was funded through the Nation’s land acquisition fund, which is capitalized annually from a fixed share of enterprise revenue. No general fund dollars were used.