American Indian tribal leaders are recommending endorsement of new federal rules on the placement of Indian land into tax-exempt federal trust, despite serious objections to some of the provisions. Tribes are happy that the new regulations, passed in the final days of the Clinton administration, establish clear-cut standards and timelines for the process. But they are upset that the regulations would make it harder for them to put land off their reservations into trust.

The Bush administration is reviewing the new regulations, along with countless others that were passed at the end of the Clinton administration. The land trust regulations will take effect March 17 unless the Department of Interior decides to modify or scrap them. Federal trust status removes the land from tax rolls and exempts it from zoning controls and other regulations.

It is designed to help tribes recoup some of the land they lost in the late 19th century and early 20th century, when the government’s allotment policy cost tribes two-thirds of their land. About 8 percent has been reacquired. Tribes made wealthy by gambling interests have stepped up their purchases of land on and off their reservations in recent years, leading to conflicts with local communities. Sometimes, those conflicts arise when tribes seek to place casinos on the land; in other situations, local communities resist tax-exempt commercial development that they say would sap their tax base.

Peninsula Daily News, February 25, 2001 Section C