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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Buyback program offers $25 million to private landowners on Colville Reservation

Members of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation have received offers of $25 million to sell their ownership in private lands on the reservation back to the tribe’s government.

The money is coming from a federal buy-back program for tribal nations. The program targets parcels with “fractionalized ownership,” which is a widespread problem on American Indian reservations.

Many Indian-owned parcels on the Colville Reservation in north-central Washington have dozens or even hundreds of property owners, which makes is difficult to do anything on the land, including develop it. As the land was passed down to heirs over several generations, the number of owners kept growing.

The U.S. Department of Interior is working with tribes as part of a $1.9 billion program to buy land parcels owned by multiple Indian owners and turn them over to tribal governments. The Coeur d’Alene Tribe went through a similar buyback program in 2014.

The buyback program targets willing sellers. So far, 4,600 landowners on the Colville Reservation have received purchase offers, which must be accepted by Jan. 26.

Money for the land buyback program comes from a $3.4 billion settlement of a class-action suit filed by the late Elouise Cobell, of Browning, Montana. The lawsuit accused the Interior Department of mismanaging trust money held by the government for hundreds of thousands of Indian landowners. The suit was settled four years ago.