DURANT, Okla. – The Choctaw Nation is getting back to its roots – and some of those roots are right under our feet.

“We are going to reclaim our land base,” Chief Gary Batton said during his State of the Nation address at the tribe’s annual Labor Day Festival in September. “This last year, we acquired about 44,000 acres of land, and yes: We are reclaiming our homeland.”

The purchase of twin ranches in the Kiamichi foothills in late 2013 has tripled the land base of the Choctaw Nation. Batton said the tribe already employs nearly a dozen people on the ranchland, with plans to hire another 19.

“We’re going to go back to agriculture, that is part of our old ways,” Batton said. “We want to see what we can grow and what cattle we can raise, so we can help our tribal members go into agriculture.”

The Nation now has more than 500 cattle—mostly Angus—on the Winding Stair Ranch with plans for many more. Nearly that many calves are expected in the coming months.

Shannon McDaniel, Executive Director of Tribal Management, said these first steps are major mileposts on the tribe’s 20-year business development plan.

“It’s great to have this land and cattle, and to have means of employing tribal people on our own lands,” McDaniel said. “We’re providing a food source to Oklahoma and our people and it’s all at the direction of Chief Batton.”

The overall goals include planting and harvesting hay on some of the acreage, especially southern portions of the ranches. The cattle, hay, timber, and potential recreation will provide sustenance and profit for the ever-expanding economic base of the tribe.

With these ranches added to the tribal land base, the Choctaw Nation now holds close to 70,000 acres of ranch land and some 950 head of cattle. The newest acquisitions are located between Daisy and Hartshorne, mainly in Ti Valley, but the Choctaw Nation also operates ranches southeast of Idabel, east of Tvshka Homma and in Sawyer and Hugo.

In fact, the tribe also recently acquired 250 acres adjacent to the Tribal Services Complex on the west side of Hugo, which includes extensive working pens. This fits into long-range plans for the tribe to market its cattle, as well as a potential slaughterhouse that would bring in diverse local jobs.

McDaniel said the Choctaw Nation is forming partnerships with the University of Arkansas as well as Oklahoma State University to explore land use strategies and sustainable crops such as alfalfa hay. McDaniel is scheduled to be the keynote speaker at a land management conference hosted this month by the university in Fayetteville, Ark.

The Choctaw Nation has employed the services of a wildlife biologist and other visiting experts to gauge the usefulness of the 68.75 square miles of meadows, timbered hills and creek banks it has acquired.

The sprawling Winding Stair, which is actually two ranches bisected by the Indian Nation Turnpike, includes heavily timbered hills and valleys. The sheer size and diversity of landscapes fit well into the tribe’s long-range land management plan.

Jack Hicks, Director of Agriculture and Ranch Operations, together with new Ranch Manager Shane Sparks, oversee operations at Winding Stair. The main thoroughfare is a 17-mile path through the hills, where abundant wildlife and lush forests give a sense of what the first Choctaws must have seen when they arrived from the Trail of Tears nearly 200 years ago.

The headwaters of McGee Creek and several smaller tributaries flow from these Choctaw hills and some have been impounded as ponds. The Brushy-Peaceable Creek Watershed Project, partially funded by the U.S. government in the 1970s, forms one of the largest ponds at the site of a lodge that was included in the purchase.

The lodge sleeps 17 in large bedrooms and bunk-style group rooms with themes like “Indian territory,” “King Ranch,” and “Buck Fever.” Plans are in the works to rent out the lodge and provide outdoor recreational opportunities for youth groups and, potentially, the public.

The eastern portion of Winding Stair is likely to be used for hay production and managed recreation, with the western land to focus on cattle ranching operations. There are more than 100 miles of roads and 70 miles of outer fence at Winding Stair.

One of the gates along the 70-mile fence line at Winding Stair Ranch, now in the hands of the Choctaw Nation. (Photo by ZACH MAXWELL)