Coeur D’Alenes On Land-Buying Spree Tribe Wants To Expand Ownership On Reservation

The Coeur d’Alene Indians are buying land in a big way, intent on expanding what might be called their Incredible Shrinking Homeland.

The tribe, or individual members, own only 66,000 of the reservation’s 345,000 acres. From its leaders’ perspective, that limits their ability to govern - and the future of the tribe’s 1,600 members.

So the Coeur d’Alenes decided to put one-fourth of their casino’s profits, which are $3 million a year, into land purchases. That added dramatically to the one-tenth of timber sale profits already invested in land.

The tribe itself has 58,000 acres, more than half of it farmed. The balance is timber or grazing land.

The Coeur d’Alenes have bought about 1,000 acres in the last two years. Does the tribal council have an acreage goal in mind?

Chairman Ernie Stensgar answers the question with a smile.

Less cheerfully, he tells the history of his people, whose aboriginal lands stretched from Spokane’s West Plains to the Bitterroot Mountains, from Lake Pend Oreille down to the Clearwater country.

In 1873, the United States government and the tribe signed a treaty establishing a triangular reservation, centered on Plummer but taking in Post Falls, Coeur d’Alene and Cataldo. The tribe lost those traditional gathering places in 1889, when the federal government chopped off the top of the triangle.

Almost simultaneously, the government began enforcing an 1887 law allotting 160 acres to each Indian.

“The chiefs said, `How can you give us something we already have?’ But they did it,” Stensgar said last week.

“They opened the rest of the reservation up for homesteaders. They put a park at the south end of the lake.”

The allotments were confined to the west side of the reservation. Members of other tribes, the Spokanes and Pend Oreilles, were moved in.

“People would sell the land who had no social or economic ties to the reservation - what we deemed terrible was selling to non-Indians - and our right to govern, our right to look after the natural resources, was eroded.”

Some tribal members also sold their allotments. The 160-acre parcels were often divided into ever-smaller parcels as land was inherited, further making it vulnerable to sale.

In the 1960s, low-interest federal grants made it possible for the tribe to begin buying back land, Stensgar said. The tribe eventually forbade members to will land to non-Indians. (They’re advised how to write their wills so non-Indian spouses aren’t left homeless.) The big change in the tribe’s land fortunes came after 1993 when it opened a bingo hall. That has grown into a large casino with 400 employees.

Besides being plowed back into gaming, the money is spent on education, social services and land.

The highest priority is real estate that can earn income or has a special specific purpose, such as a site for the tribal wellness center. One 400-acre purchase will allow expansion of the casino complex into a resort.

Land adjacent to tribal property gets extra attention, said Norma Jean Louie of the tribe’s real estate office. All offers are reviewed by a land acquisition committee, which takes recommendations to the council for final approval.

The tribe gets plenty of offers of land - far more than it can afford, according to Stensgar. “People have this perception that the tribe has unlimited wealth.”

The Indians are shrewd about what they buy, said Dale Sines, an agent with Cougar Realty in St. Maries.

“They don’t overspend. They’re not going to give you the great big money,” said Sines, who has offered the tribe four or five parcels. “They do their homework.”

The tribe shows the greatest interest in ranch land that it can get for less than $1,000 an acre, Sines said. He noted that the tribe hired a consultant to twice check out the Gateway Marina, which was for sale in Harrison. The tribe passed on the deal, although the marina would allow it to expand further into the recreation business.

“It’s still available,” Sines said of the Gateway. “They’ve outwaited things before.”

Indians do not pay property taxes within reservation boundaries. Stensgar is aware that the purchase of non-Indian land cuts into the tax base, thus might cause resentment in Benewah and Kootenai counties.

“It’s an issue,” he said. “We’re watching the Nez Perce, our brothers to the south, butting heads with Clearwater County.”

He said the tribe has a good relationship with Benewah County commissioners, and it hopes to establish a similar relationship with Kootenai County, which includes a smaller part of the reservation. He noted that federal dollars, and increasingly tribal dollars, pay for services otherwise provided by the counties.

Benewah County hasn’t computed how much land goes off the tax rolls because the tribe or a Native American has bought it, Assessor Tina Schillinger said.

“I will start keeping track, just to know. Not that you could do anything about it,” she said.

“It’s been a big issue in other counties, but we haven’t heard a lot of discussion. I think we will.”

This sidebar appeared with the story: TURNING POINT Gambling haul The big change in the tribe’s land fortunes came after 1993 when it opened a bingo hall, which has grown into a large casino with 400 employees. Profits help finance education, social services and land purchases.