Tribal Co-Management on Ceded Lands: A New Era?

Contributor Roles

Adam Eno, J.D. 2024, Lewis & Clark Law School.

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Tulsa Law Review

Journal Abbreviation

Tulsa L.R.

Abstract

Native American tribes transferred more than two billion acres of land to the United States over a century and a half, as the federal government acquired land for white settlement. The land cessions left the tribes with just 2.6% of their homelands. Most of the land ceded was eventually settled, but a significant portion remained unsettled and is now managed as federal public lands under the supervision of various federal agencies. Today, the U.S. has some 640 million acres of federal land, about 28% of the country’s total land area. The Biden administration took significant, unprecedented steps to involve tribes in the management of their ceded lands. The implementation of these initiatives may revolutionize public land management, although the process of instituting tribal consultation and co-management is still underway.

This article explains the recent efforts at co-management, highlighting several onthe-ground initiatives. We maintain that a proper interpretation of the land cession agreements—consistent with judicial canons of construction for federal agreements with tribes—would conclude that the tribal conveyances to the U.S. included an implicit promise that ceded lands that failed to achieve the settlement purpose would be managed with tribal participation, in order to ensure the protection of important tribal cultural, subsistence, and economic resources. Although the Biden initiatives are a welcome beginning to fulfilling this neglected promise, since they merely implement what should be seen as an implicit servitude demanding a tribal voice, they should not be reversible by a subsequent administration.

First Page

91

Last Page

126

Publication Date

2025

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