Forestry

Bois Forte Band of Chippewa Tribal Government: Department of Natural Resources

Allotment Information

GENERAL HISTORY OF ALLOTTED LANDS ON

BOIS FORTE

The Federal Dawes Act of 1887 began the allocation of from 40 to 160 acre individual allotments to Indians living on reservations in the U.S. Some reservations have many more allotments than others and some (Red Lake for instance) have none. At one time, probably around the turn of the 20th century, nearly all 103,000 acres were allotted at Bois Forte. The lands were usually 80 acres and allotted to the adult Indians on the reservation.

 

The Nelson Act of 1889 authorized the cutting of dead and down timber and harvest activities beginning around the turn of the century involved selling timber on allotted lands. Some large timber sales involving almost 50 allotments were completed during the 1930's and 1940's. Also, during this time many allotment owners took their land out of "Trust" status and placed them in "Fee" status with the Bureau's approval. This meant that the lands were now subject to taxation by the county and state. Some allotment owners sold both their land and timber after it was placed in this "Fee" status. This is the reason many of the allotments ended up in either Boise Cascade or Potlatch Ownership; some lands became State of Minnesota Tax Forfeiture Land and is now managed by the County.

 

Originally allotments were owned by only one owner, but over the course of 120 plus years some allotments have as many as 400 heirs due to probate and court settlements and all the current owners may have different percentages of ownership. Since the 1960’s the number of allotments on Bois Forte has remained relatively stable with the owners discouraged from taking the allotments out of trust status. Trust status means that the Bois Forte Band with the assistance of the Bureau of Indian Affairs manage and protect the allotments for the benefit of the Individual Indian owners.

 

Indian owners of allotted land hold an undivided interest in those lands. This means that they own a percentage of interest in the entire 80 acres and do not own some small portion of the land. When the Band wishes to manage the timber resource, or management activity, on an allotment, greater than 50% permission of the Indian Owners whose percentage is still in trust is required prior to conducting the activity. Non-Indian owners on an allotment do not have a say in how it is to be managed, but they do receive their representative portion of the revenue. Monies are collected by Forestry and sent to a national lockbox system the B.I.A. has set up to insure timely payments to allotment heirs.  From the lockbox the monies are deposited in a special account in the U.S. Treasury.  As the management activity is completed, the monies (minus 10 percent forest management deduction) are dispersed to the Indian (thru Office of Special Trustee, Individual Indian Money accounts) and Non-Indian owners. When not all the heirs can be located, the money stays in a special "escrow" account, which earns interest, until they are found.

Many allotments have both Trust percentages and Fee percentages due to Non- Indian heirs failing to pay taxes. Indian heirs are not required to pay taxes on trust land, but Non-Indian heirs are required to.   During a Management activity such as a timber sale the land stays in the heir's ownership.

What is an Allotment?

Date: August 2006