On Dec. 4 an action was taken against Crow Creek tribal land near my district that shook the absolute foundations of Indian law all the way back to the 1800s. Yet, few people were in the small room in Highmore, S.D. to see this monumental action and few other tribes even know it has taken place. Any tribe with land should shutter with the magnitude of what this precedent could mean for themselves or their individual tribal members.

The Internal Revenue Service collected against 7,100 acres – 11 square miles – of Indian owned land in Hyde County, S.D. This particular parcel was part of the original Crow Creek treaty boundaries, but the treaty was subsequently broken and this land was sold to LeMaster. Interestingly enough, our tribe was able to use settlement money from another federal land taking to purchase this land back in 1998.

My issue is not with the IRS action itself but rather with the system that our tribe and all other tribes find themselves under. The actions of a handful of people are being used to take the property of 3,000 tribal members. Where else in America is that even a possibility?

The land tenure system in place asks us as tribes to place land in “trust” with the federal government. We are told that the government will look after our best interests and utilize the land to its utmost capabilities. But, as tribes, we know this is not true. Just two weeks ago we saw this same guardian have to dispense $3.4 billion to tribes because that trust was broken, not only broken but we as tribes had to wait 13 years for a resolution.

We are also told that once in the system the government will look at interceders with a jaundice eye and the land will not be able to be condemned or taken. But just a quick drive around the Crow Creek Reservation you can see huge transmission lines and the Big Bend Dam which have taken incredible amounts of land that seem to prove this principle otherwise. Where was the federal government when their other agencies stepped within our borders to take this land?

The federal agencies involved in this current action will tell you that the LeMaster land was never brought under this “trust responsibility” and the land remained as “tribal fee.” When should the government step away from the original obligation to uphold the treaty boundaries? Their great idea of land policy has left us with reservation lands that are labyrinths of complicated property interests, jurisdictional issues and taxation problems. Their policy has created checker-boarded islands that as tribal members we merely have to tolerate because Dawes’ idea just did not work out.

The federal government’s “trust” has definite limits and if those limits are exceeded they will allow other pieces of government to take action within the reservation boundaries. And, every tribe that has a piece of land should take notice or they too could have a new 11 square mile hole to drive past within their boundaries.

– Duane St. John
Crow Creek Tribal Council
Big Bend Community, S.D.