BENA, MN- The Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe has achieved a historic milestone with the return of more than 11,000 acres of ancestral land. This transfer, involving 11,778 acres previously managed by the Chippewa National Forest, was finalized by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in June, marking the culmination of decades of effort by Leech Lake. The act reversed an illegal land seizure by the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs in the 1940s, which saw land transferred on the signature of the Secretary only, without any consent from the landowners.
The band held a commemorative ceremony to mark the historic transfer on Wednesday, July 17th. The event held at Bug-O-Nay-Ge-Shig school was the first of its kind for the band and believed to be “…the largest land return to a Tribal Nation within this century,” according to U.S. Under Secretary of Agriculture for Natural Resources and Environment, Homer Wilkes. Throughout the afternoon, community members were able to see maps of the returned land, hear the historical background of why the land was lost, and hear speeches from honored guests.
The ceremony represented the crowning achievement for many Tribal, State, and Federal staff members whose work expands back several decades; as well as the efforts of many Tribal community members who have since passed on and did not live to see the fruition of their work.
This land restoration, will let the Tribe address critical housing needs, expand access to wild rice beds, and help to restore the broken relationship between the Tribal and Federal government.
Those in attendance included: Under Secretary Wilkes, LLBO Tribal Council, LLBO staff, Cass County staff, State Government staff, Biden administration staff, U.S. Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs Bryan Newland, Cass County Commissioner Neal Gaalswyk, NCAI President Mark Macarro, Rachel Loeffler-Kemp (on behalf of U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar), U.S. Representative Betty McCollum and U.S. Senator Tina Smith. Smith and McCollum were the chief sponsors of the bill in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, respectively. Ojibwe Nation was in attendance as the drum group and Mike Smith Sr. oversaw the event as spiritual advisor.
Bryan Newland, who attended the event on behalf of United States Secretary of the Interior, Deb Haaland, spoke of the generational work that went into the land transfer and Indigenous determination in the face of adversity.
“When people are set on taking things from you, your land, your language, your right to vote, your right to participate in government–one of the things they count on is despair–that you give up–that you believe it’s inevitable. Because then they get their way and they get to take. But one of the things we see from Indian people in Indian country is an unwillingness to give up–to say: this might not be done this year, this might not be done in my lifetime, this might not be done in my children’s lifetime, but it’s going to get done- and that inspires hope.”
Not only in the people here on reservations but across the whole country, that no matter how bleak things might look that if you just continue to carry your ancestors’ work forward–things will be put right. That hope is a form of resistance,” said Newland.
Newlands speech echoed many of those who spoke in the afternoon, including MN Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan who signaled to the fact that it is not an accident this type of work gets done on the federal level, now that we have Tribal members on staff fighting for our rights. She also took time to emphasize that the phrase “land back” is more than just surface-level symbolism and is deeply representative of a collective effort to help restore Tribal Lands.
“We can not change the past, but we need to acknowledge it, I want to be very clear, Land back isn’t just a hashtag or something you see on a t-shirt, or a flag that is being flown–it is intentional, detailed, hard work that we do together, and it is work worth doing,” said Flanagan.
Leech Lake Band Chairman Faron Jackson Sr. who spoke to the crowd, thanked the large number of people who worked to get the act signed into law, honored the Tribal members who had previously worked on restoring Tribal lands and focused on what the land return means for the Tribe moving forward.
“We control less than 5% of our treaty-guaranteed homelands today. Dispossession of our homelands has limited access to our sacred places and cultural resources and aggravated social issues related to homelessness. With all of this land being returned, we’re going to have more available land to build homes for our members that are experiencing homelessness today,” Jackson said. “That’s a priority for the council—also the lack of economic development and poverty. Because of the illegal secretarial transfers, we’ve heard far too many stories of Leech Lake people returning to their family lands only to find a forest service gate and a padlock. Thanks to your work today–these stories will begin to change for the generations that come behind us. ”
An announcement that came out during the celebration was the confirmation of a new bill that Senator Tina Smith is sponsoring titled “Leech Lake Reservation Restoration Technical Corrections Act” which seeks to return an additional 4.3k+ acres that were discovered by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) during implementation of the original act. Smith said she “will not rest until that piece of work is done.”
For detailed information about the land transfer parcels, including the Decision Memo, FAQs, and an online StoryMap, visit the Chippewa National Forest website: https://www.fs.usda.gov/chippewa
For more information on S.616 – Leech Lake Reservation Restoration Technical Corrections Act of 2023, please visit: https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/senate-bill/616
Detailed maps of each parcel can be viewed here (pdf): https://www.leechlakenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/LLRRestorationAct_CongressionalMaps.pdf
Interactive Map: https://drmllbo.maps.arcgis.com/apps/instant/basic/index.html?appid=e36164c22abd4802aeda882ff1d14c78
