The Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians purchased back 2,000 acres of deeply historically significant land in Oregon in January.
A Wabanaki food sovereignty group secured a no-strings-attached land deal to buy 245 acres of farm and forest in Maine in January.
1,327 acres were acquired by the The Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians in Maine in February.
680 acres were returned by the US Fish and Wildlife Service to the Spirit Lake Nation in North Dakota in February.
Shabbona Lake State Recreation Area (approx. 1500 acres) was returned to the management of Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation in Illinois in March.
The Fort Wayne Burial Mound (a half-acre site) in Michigan was returned to the control of Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi in April.
312 hectares (770 acres) of Vancouver Island were returned to joint ownership of the Lyackson First Nation and Cowichan Tribes in May, though I think this is the land title transfer ruling that is facing legal challenges from non-Indigenous Metro Vancouver area property owners.
47,000 acres of the Blue Creek watershed of the Klamath River in California was reclaimed by the Yurok Tribe in June.
351 acres of Monument Mountain in Massachusetts were reclaimed by the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of the Mohican Nation in August.
50 acres were purchased by the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band to be put into their Land Trust in California in September.
17,030 acres were reclaimed by the Tule River Indian Tribe in California in October.
53 hectares (130 acres) were purchased back by Ngāti Toa Rangatira Māori on the North Island of Aotearoa in October.
80 hectares (194 acres) were returned to the Snuneymuxw First Nation by the Canadian government due to a ruling on treaty obligations in October.
900,000 hectares (2,223,000 acres) of land and sea were formally given over to Wuthathi, Guugu Yimidhirr, and Yiithuwarra traditional owner groups in Far North Queensland in Australia in October.
900 acres were returned to the Southern Sierra Miwuk Nation in California in December.
New Zealand courts and Crown government agreed that 3068 hectares (7581 acres) of land should be returned to the control of the descendants of the original Māori owners, as well as a $420 million compensation payment, in Aotearoa in December.
The Penobscot Nation is working with the Trust for Public Land in an ongoing process to reclaim 30,000 acres of land in Maine. I am not sure if this is part of the same process that involved the Appalachian Mountain Club transferring 1,700 acres of land into Penobscot Nation control in September, but that happened too. First Light is a cool and fascinating organization coordinating and fundraising for Land Back projects in Wabanaki lands.
Added up, it doesn’t come to a lot, really. But it’s a reminder that it’s happening, that it keeps happening, and that organizations exist that are fighting for land return and environmental justice. Even if the federal governments are antagonistic, even though a lot of bad things are happening, state, local, and private actions are more powerful than they seem. And if you make regular donations to environmental protection groups, I encourage you to choose ones mentioned here that work with tribes and support land back policies!
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