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 Program involves collaboration with Interior, tribes, and individuals - to reduce the number of fractional interests in tracts of trust or restricted lands.

Fractionated tracts are defined as any tract with more than one landowner.

Interior holds in trust more than 56 million acres for tribes and individual American Indians.

This land is held in more than 200,000 tracts, of which about 93,500 (on approximately 150 reservations) contain fractional ownership interests subject to purchase by the Buy-Back Program.

Approximately 90% of the fractionated lands available to purchase are in 40 of the 150 locations.

Fractional Interests