BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — Several American Indian tribes in the Dakotas are eligible for a federal program to return land on reservations to tribal control.
The buyback program was initiated by the Obama administration and has already spent $1.2 billion to purchase parcels of land with multiple owners and transfer them to tribal governments.
The Interior Department has announced a plan for doling out the remaining $540 million.
Tribes eligible in the Dakotas are the Three Affiliated Tribes and four Sioux tribes — Standing Rock, Spirit Lake, Cheyenne River and Rosebud.
The buyback program resulted from a lawsuit that alleged U.S. officials for decades mismanaged trust money held on behalf of hundreds of thousands of Indians.