(a) It is the Secretary's policy to acquire land in trust status through direct acquisition or transfer for individual Indians and Tribes to strengthen self-determination and sovereignty, ensure that every Tribe has protected homelands where its citizens can maintain their Tribal existence and way of life, and consolidate land ownership to strengthen Tribal governance over reservation lands and reduce checkerboarding. The Secretary retains discretion whether to acquire land in trust status where discretion is granted under Federal law. Land not held in trust or restricted status may only be acquired for an individual Indian or a Tribe in trust status when the acquisition is authorized by Federal law. No acquisition of land in trust status under these regulations, including a transfer of land already held in trust or restricted status, shall be valid unless the acquisition is approved by the Secretary.
(b) Subject to the provisions of Federal law authorizing trust land acquisitions, the Secretary may acquire land for a Tribe in trust status:
(1) When the land is located within the exterior boundaries of the Tribe's reservation or contiguous thereto;
(2) When the Tribe already owns an interest in the land; or
(3) When the Secretary determines that the acquisition of the land will further Tribal interests by establishing a Tribal land base or protecting Tribal homelands, protecting sacred sites or cultural resources and practices, establishing or maintaining conservation or environmental mitigation areas, consolidating land ownership, reducing checkerboarding, acquiring land lost through allotment, protecting treaty or subsistence rights, or facilitating Tribal self-determination, economic development, Indian housing, or for other reasons the Secretary determines will support Tribal welfare.
(c) Subject to the provisions contained in Federal law which authorize land acquisitions or holding land in trust or restricted status, the Secretary may acquire land in trust status for an individual Indian:
(1) When the land is located within the exterior boundaries of an Indian reservation, or contiguous thereto; or
(2) When the land is already in trust or restricted status.
Notes of Decisions
Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatomi Indians v. Patchak, 132 S. Ct. 2199 (2012).
· cites it 2× “” 25 CFR §151.3 (a)(3). And they require the Secretary to consider, in evaluating any acquisition, both “[t]he pur- poses for which the land will be used” and the “poten- tial conflicts of land use which may arise.”
Stand up for California v. State of Cal., 6 Cal. App. 5th 686 (Cal. Ct. App. 2016).
· cites it 4× “( 25 C.F.R. § 151.3 [“No acquisition of land in trust status, including a transfer of land already held in trust or restricted status, shall be valid unless the acquisition is approved by the Secretary.”
Sac & Fox Nation of Missouri v. Norton, 240 F.3d 1250 (10th Cir. 2001).
“25 C.F.R. § 151.3 (a). Notwithstanding the IRA and its implementing regulations, the Secretary concluded that his discretion regarding whether to acquire the Shriner Tract on behalf of the Wyandotte Tribe was curtailed by Pub.”
City of Lincoln v. United States Dep't of Interior, 229 F. Supp. 2d 1109 (D. Or. 2002).
· cites it 4× “The policy under which off-reservation land is to be acquired in trust status is set out at 25 C.F.R. § 151.3 , and includes: 1) whether the property is located within the reservation or adjacent to it, or within a tribal consolidation area; 2) whether the tribe already owns an…”
Upstate Citizens for Equality, Inc. v. United States, 841 F.3d 556 (2d Cir. 2016).
“This definition does not, however, purport to define the scope -of the agency’s ■ land-into-trust authority; indeed, the next section of the agency’s regulations acknowledges that “[l]and not held in trust or restricted status'may only be acquired for an individual Indian or a…”
Cachil Dehe Band of Wintun v. Ryan Zinke, 889 F.3d 584 (9th Cir. 2018).
“” 25 C.F.R. § 151.3 (a)(3). Among other things, the Secretary must specifically consider “[t]he need of the individual Indian or the tribe for additional land.”
Florida, Dep't of Bus. Reg. v. United States Dep't of the Interior, 768 F.2d 1248 (11th Cir. 1985).
· cites it 5× “In fact, their own allegations belie this contention, as they admit that the Secretary has congressional authorization for the acquisition, and that the Seminole Tribe had an interest in the land before the United States acquired title.”
Citizens Exposing Truth About Casinos v. Kempthorne, 492 F.3d 460 (D.C. Cir. 2007).
“” 25 C.F.R. § 151.3 (a)(3). The regulations, as well as the Secretary’s Guidelines on proclamation of reservations, define a “reservation” as “that area of land over which [the] tribe is recognized by the United States as having governmental jurisdiction.”
Stand Up for California! v. U.S. Dep't of the Interior, 919 F. Supp. 2d 51 (D.D.C. 2013).
“” 25 C.F.R. § 151.3 (a)(3). In considering an application for the acquisition of off-reservation trust land, the Secretary is required by DOI regulations to consider a number of factors, including “the existence of statutory authority for the acquisition and any limitations…”
Akiachak Native Cmty. v. United States Dep't of Interior, 935 F. Supp. 2d 195 (D.D.C. 2013).
· cites it 2× “at 3,460 (to be codified at 25 C.F.R. § 151.3 (c)). In proposing a nearly-identical amendment, the Secretary had explained that the revised language “would make no change in the current regulations and would continue the bar against taking Native land in Alaska in trust.”
Coomes v. Adkinson, 414 F. Supp. 975 (D.S.D. 1976).
· cites it 2× “25 C.F.R. § 151.3 entitled Objectives declares the purpose of 25 C.”
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