The Land Buy-Back Program for Tribal Nations

was created to implement the land consolidation

component of the Cobell Settlement Agreement.

This Agreement provided a $1.9 billion fund to purchase fractionated interests in trust or restricted land from willing sellers, at fair market value, within a 10-year period.

The Land Buy-Back Program for Tribal Nations

was created to implement the land consolidation

component of the Cobell Settlement Agreement.

This Agreement provided a $1.9 billion fund to purchase fractionated interests in trust or restricted land from willing sellers, at fair market value, within a 10-year period.

The Dawes Act authorized the President

of the United States to survey Indian tribal land

and divide it into allotments for individual Indians.

Effects of this policy can still be felt today

in the resulting fractionation of trust land.

Every year, land goes out of trust simply because fractionated interests are passed on to non-Indian heirs.

The Buy-Back Program will help stop this loss of Indian lands by transferring those interests to the tribe, forever preventing further fractionation.

The Buy-Back Program will purchase fractional trust

or restricted lands for the purposes of land consolidation.

Willing sellers can choose to sell some, all, or none

of their fractional land interests. Participation in the Program

 is strictly voluntary.

Fair Market Value will determine the amount

that an owner will be offered for their share

of interest in a fractionated tract.

The Program will provide landowners with a base payment

of $75 per offer, based on estimates for the time and effort required for individual landowners to proceed through the acquisition process and to facilitate sales.

Contact the Trust Beneficiary Call Center,

a centralized location for asking questions

and receiving timely responses.