First Nations Celebrating the Return of Their Lands: Part 1 of a Multi-part Series

Today, there are 574 federally recognized Native American nations in the United States alone. Over the centuries since occupation, they struggled to reclaim their land and rights lost to injustices. Thankfully, there is an ongoing campaign to return stolen land back into the hands of Native American communities using a variety of ways, including land buy-back programs, land donations from private owners, conservation leverage, political advocacy, community engagement, and cultural revitalization efforts. To date, the combined efforts of the Native Americans and the US federal government have restored the ownership of more than 3 million acres of land to First-People communities across 15 states. On today’s show, we will talk about indigenous groups as they celebrate the return of some of their ancestral homelands.

For more than a century, the Ojibwe people of the Leech Lake Band, Minnesota, USA, have worked tirelessly to reclaim their ancestral homeland, which they inhabited since the mid-to-late 1700’s. On June 28, 2024, the efforts paid off. The 11,778 acres of Chippewa National Forest land was officially returned to them. The restoration of this land will allow the Leech Lake Ojibwe community to address critical housing needs, expand their access to wild rice beds, and help improve the relationship with the federal government. This was also a great success for the Ojibwe in preserving their culture and traditions for the future generations.

On April 1st, 2022, after being displaced for over 350 years, the Rappahannock Indigenous People officially reclaimed 465 acres of sacred land at Fones Cliffs along the Rappahannock River in Richmond County, Virginia, USA, the home of their ancestors. Rappahannock country has a population of over 7000, with more than 500 members registered on the tribal roll. With the return of the Fones Cliffs, the Rappahannock plans to enshrine their return to the River program by building a replica of their 16th century pre-colonial village and build trails for public access. This will be used to train their youth in traditional river knowledge and practices, and educate the public about the culture, traditions and lives of their ancestors.

One hundred and forty years after the tragedy, and after intense lobbying, on October 21, 2019, the City of Eureka returned the remaining 200 acres of land on Tuluwat Island to the Wiyot people, after it had returned 60 acres in 2006 and 45 acres in 2004. Although Tuluwat Island is relatively small, the City of Eureka’s action is significant in righting the wrongs and healing the trauma that the United States has inflicted on the Wiyot people. For the Wiyot, Tuluwat is more than an ancestral homeland: it’s a cultural and spiritual center. The return of this parcel of land will allow the Wiyot people to rebuild their community after centuries of dispossession.