Looking Back at a Historic Day for the Bois Forte Band

It is important to realize that a significant percent of the land within our reservation boundary isn’t actually owned by us — it is like a checkerboard of parcels with different owners. Long ago, when our people were put onto reservations, the Allotment Act resulted in non-Indians receiving ownership of allotted parcels of land within the reservation boundaries. Also, a lot of our reservation is forestland that holds a vast amount of timber, and so the timber industry saw a financial opportunity. They bargained, traded goods and offered money to tribal members and others who were willing to part with their land.

So getting our land back was a big push for this tribal council. Before The Conservation Fund acquired this property in 2020, we actually met with the owners of PotlatchDeltic to try to work out a way to make that happen on our own. We got a team together and started looking at the map. Even by strategically purchasing parcels near the borders of our reservation and roads, we were looking at spending millions of dollars and only being able to buy 100 acres at a time.

Then I was contacted by Kim Berns-Melhus, Minnesota State Director for The Conservation Fund. The Conservation Fund had recently acquired the PotlatchDeltic property, and she and her colleagues came to Bois Forte to meet with us and discuss how we could work together to restore our ownership the portion of land within our reservation. It took a lot of work to get to where we are today. A lot of dedication on the part of our partners — The Conservation Fund, the Indian Land Tenure Foundation, and the tribal council, our staff — lots of people played a part.

The result is the largest reacquisition in the state of Minnesota and in the country ever. We are making history! This is historic not just for Bois Forte, but also for all of Indian Country, because we have acquired and restored over 28,000 acres for our 3,500 members. This was accomplished through the help of the Indian Land Capital Company, a subsidiary of the Indian Land Tenure Foundation that could offer our Tribe a low interest loan that will be paid back from revenues received on the land. After this purchase, the Bois Forte Band now holds nearly 65,000 acres (approximately 58%) of the Nett Lake sector of the Bois Fort Reservation.  The purchase will also add 524 acres of land to tribal ownership on the Band’s Deer Creek sector. All totaled, the 28,089 acres restores to us 21% of the total land base within the Nett Lake and Deer Creek sectors within the Bois Forte Reservation.

I want to say chi miigwech to express my gratitude to everyone who made this possible. This result would never have happened without the partnerships and collaborations we have developed. That is our goal at Bois Forte — to lead through creating partnerships and collaborations.

We are proud and humbled to be able to bring this land back to our people. Our ancestors are looking down upon us and they are very happy because this land is now coming back. The tribal council is dedicated to ensuring that this land is here for the next seven generations to come, because this is for our children, our children’s children and the future of Bois Forte.