Land buy-back program for Potawatomi tribe explained
Less than half of the land that lies within the boundaries of the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation Reservation is owned by the tribe or tribal members, but a new federal land buy-back program is being implemented to help open up more land for productive use.
“We were losing our land, and we had no control,” said Thomas Wabnum, Prairie Band Tribal Council Member about the new program.
The land buy-back program was created to solve the problem of “fractionation,” which is the extreme division of ownership in a parcel of land and is the byproduct of federal Indian policies of the late 19th century, according to the Office of the Special Trustee for American Indians.
Fractionation is the result of land being passed down from one generation to the next, with more and more heirs acquiring an undivided interest in the land. Heirs receive a percentage of the land as an inheritance and not a specific section or tract, it was reported.
“Without the government educating us on wills, today we have hundreds of interest owners on these allotments, or tracts, on the reservation,” Wabnum said. “And everyone is a co-owner. If we want to do anything on those lands, we have to get everyone’s approval. That causes a big problem for us because we can’t use that land. Many times the land remains idle and unused.”
According to the United States Department of Interior, there are approximately 150 locations in the country with fractionated tracts of land, with approximately 243,000 unique owners.
In late 2012, the Department of Interior initiated the Land Buy-Back Program for Tribal Nations as dictated by the Cobell Settlement agreement. Using the $1.9 billion settlement, tribal nations, including Prairie Band, are able to make offers to purchase fractional interests on tribal lands in trust from owners willing to sell.
Participation in the buy-back program is voluntary, and landowners can sell some or all of their fractional interests. All sellers receive fair market value, plus a base payment of $75 per offer, and they have 45 days to accept or decline the purchase offers.
Purchase offers were mailed out to landowners with lands located on the reservation and already in trust. The offers were mailed this spring and are due June 8.
Wabnum said that any lands sold will remain in trust, but ownership will be transferred to the tribe with jurisdiction over the land. Acquired land can be used by the tribe to build homes, community centers and businesses or for preservation.
Wabnum said that the Prairie Band tribe has a deep respect for their land.
“It was given to us by our creator and the great spirits,” he said. “That’s how He wanted us to live. That was our economy. That was our retirement and our 401K. That’s why land is so important to us. We feel the connection to take care of it. That is why it has been a big problem for us trying to acquire some of our allotted lands back. The trust is actually in the land. If we take care of the land, it takes care of us.”
The Potawatomi people originated from the Great Lakes area and settled on 20 to 25 million acres in that region. Through forced treaties with the government in the 19th century, the tribe was relocated several times until settling in Kansas.
“We bought land down here with our money,” Wabnum said.
Initially, the PBP reservation encompassed 900 square miles and included the towns of St. Marys, Rossville, Silver Lake and portions of Topeka. Today, it encompasses 121 square miles, running from 214th Road south to 118th Road and east to west from F Road to U.S. Highway 75. There are 77,440 acres located within the boundaries of the reservation.
Land owned by the Nation on the reservation includes 634 tracts totaling 32,641 acres through tribal allotments and owned individually by the Nation. Of that land, 31,022 acres lie on the reservation while 1,619 lie off of it.
The current boundaries of the reservation were established by the Dawes Act of 1887 with 77,440 acres. Wabnum said that by 1918, tribal ownership declined to 52,374 acres within the reservation boundaries, which continued to decline further to a low of 19,452 acres by 1983.
With the implementation of a tribal Land Acquisition Program, the Nation has, through the purchase of available lands, increased that number to 29,076 acres by 2004.
When tribal members first began occupying land in Kansas, there was no understanding of wills, probates and mineral rights, Wabnum said.
“People would take their land out of trust and borrow on it, and some people would lease it out or lose their land to non-Indians,” he said. “During World War I and World War II, soldiers took their land out of trust and didn’t know they would have to start paying taxes on it. They’d get back home and sell their land just so they could afford the back taxes. We kept losing more and more land, and all this happened under the care and protection of the United States federal government.”
Wabnum said that the tribe has set up its own land purchase program and, for many year, has been purchasing lands on the reservation and attempting to put them back into trust.
“The Nation has spent $12 million of its own funds in the last 10 years buying back land that is on the reservation,” he said. “We’ve started ever since we’ve had the casino. The profits from that have helped the tribe buy back Indian lands.”
Wabnum said that all the lands the tribe seeks to purchase are lands that lie within the current boundaries of the reservation, and he noted the cooperation of the Jackson County Commission.
“The current administration has told us that they aren’t going to appeal our purchases on the reservation because we’re going to get the land anyways,” he said. “If they help us in our economic development, we are, in turn, helping them.”
The tribe is also interested in purchasing land within the current boundaries of the reservation that is owned by non-Indians. Wabnum said that some landowners have approached the tribe over the years about selling the land, which is no longer in trust, to the tribe.
When land is purchased by the tribe, it isn’t automatically taken off the county tax roll and put into tribal trust. Wabnum said that process can take up to 10 years due to “red tape” within the Department of Interior and the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
To inform landowners about the new federal Land Buy-Back Program for Tribal Nations, informational sessions have been held this spring on the reservation and in Wisconsin where half of the owners of the PBP allotments reside.
Wabnum said he is passionate about helping landowners realize their rights as landowners.
“I don’t care if they sell to the tribe or not; I just want them to understand their land rights,” he said.
