Hello, my name is Kevin Washburn, Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs at the Department
of the Interior and a member of the Chickasaw Nation of Oklahoma.
As part of the Cobell Settlement the Land Buy-Back Program for Tribal Nations was created.
I want to explain how you and Indian tribes can benefit from the Buy-Back Program.
As you may know, land fractionation is a serious problem in Indian Country.
Some relatively small parcels of land have hundreds of owners, each of whom owns only
a tiny fraction of the parcel of land.
For many of these owners, the land has very little value and some of these owners cannot
even be found.
The result is that we have land within Indian reservations that is virtually impossible
to use for any purpose because we cannot get the owners together to make a decision about
the land.
There are more than 245,000 such owners in Indian Country.
And there are more than 3 million of these fractionated interests,
spanning 150 Indian reservations.
In the Cobell settlement, President Obama and Congress decided to do something about
this serious problem afflicting Indian country.
In the settlement, Congress allocated 1.9 billion dollars
to buy back many of these fractional interests and
to restore them to tribal ownership.
Through the Buy-Back Program, we will be contacting many of the owners of fractionated interests
and offering to buy their interests back to restore them to the Indian tribe that governs
the reservation where the land sits.
The dollars made available to purchase fractional interests are not available
forever under the Cobell settlement, the money must go back to Treasury at the end of ten
years if it cannot be spent.
That's something we don't want to happen.
So what can you do to help?
If you are an individual Indian money account holder, you may be a fractionated interest
owner.
If so, I urge you to learn more about the program and consider participating.
If you have a friend or family member who is an owner, you can also help us educate
them about this program.
Under the Buy-Back Program, we will be offering many individual landowners the chance to be
paid fair market value for these interests.
The Program is purely voluntary, and that means that it is up to each owner
to decide whether to participate.
If the land is worth only pennies -- and some of them have little monetary value because
the interests are so little -- we will nevertheless make a base payment of $75 per offer, regardless
of the value of the land.
Numerous owners have received thousands of dollars, and a few have received more than
$100,000 for their interests.
Of course, most of the values are smaller than that and
the amount will be based on actual certified appraisals of the land at issue.
Perhaps best of all, this program will restore tribal sovereignty over Indian reservations.
Every fractionated interest of a parcel that we buy through this program will be returned
to the Indian tribe that governs the reservation where the land is located.
Let me repeat that: the land purchased will not go to the benefit
of the federal government.
It will be used to restore land to the tribe and the reservation.
One other important thing: For each sale, a portion of money will result
in a separate contribution to the Cobell Education Scholarship Fund, which could eventually total
up to 60 million dollars to help Indian students
with college.
This contribution is in addition to the amounts paid to individual sellers,
so it will not reduce the amount landowners receive for their interests.
If you are interested in getting more information and potentially selling your ownership interests
in your land so that they can be returned to your tribe,
please call the Trust Beneficiary Call Center today at (888)
678-6836.
Good information is also available on the Program's website:
www.doi.gov/buybackprogram.
The success of this Program is vitally important to the future of Indian Country.
Consolidating and returning these lands to tribes in trust has enormous potential to
improve tribal community resources by increasing home site locations, improving transportation
routes, spurring tribal economic development, and preserving traditional cultural or ceremonial
sites.
I believe strongly that this work can and will succeed, but only with the help of Indian
people.
Let's work together to strengthen tribal sovereignty by restoring tribal land bases.
Let's build stronger tribal economies by returning fractionated lands to tribes.
Let's embrace this incredible opportunity to make a difference for generations
to come.
Thank you for your help