PBP buy-back program nets 3,161 acres of land

The Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation has acquired 3,161 acres in undivided interests on the reservation through the tribe’s land buy-back program, it has been reported.

Steve Duryea, tribal land planner, announced that, as of this month, Prairie Band had purchased those acres utilizing $4,966,327 in federal funds as part of the Cobell Settlement.

In 2012, the U.S. Department of Interior initiated the Land Buy-Back Program for Tribal Nations as dictated by the settlement agreement. Using the $1.9 billion settlement, tribal nations, including Prairie Band, have been able to make offers to purchase fractional interests on tribal lands in trust from owners willing to sell.

This spring, offers were made to landowners to sell some of all or their fractional interest on lands located within the reservation boundaries. The program is completely voluntary.

Fractionation occurs when land is passed down from one generation to the next with more and more heirs acquiring an undivided interested in the land. Heirs sometimes receive a percentage of the land as an inheritance and not a specific section or tract, it was reported.

With fractionation, it is not uncommon for dozens or hundreds of people to co-own a tract of land, it was reported. Many times these lands remain unused because the co-owners cannot agree how to use the land. 

The acres purchased by tribes through the buy-back program are located on the reservation and already in trust. No properties were taken off the county’s tax roll as the result of the buy-back program, it was reported.

The acquired acres can be used by the tribe to build homes, community centers and businesses or for preservation.

Prior to the buy-back program, the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation of Mayetta owned 634 tracts of land totaling 32,641 acres. Of that land, 31,022 acres are located on the reservation while 1,619 acres are located off of it.