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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Rowdie" data-source="post: 86993" data-attributes="member: 272">As the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers moves toward returning 30,500 acres of land taken as part of the Garrison Dam reservoir, debate is growing on who should be on the receiving end.Marilyn Hudson, longtime Three Affiliated Tribes historian and elder, says the excess land around Lake Sakakawea should not go to the tribe, but to the families it was taken from in the first place.The transfer from the corps to the Department of Interior and in turn to the tribe as trust land could happen this year, said corps spokesman Larry Janis. It’s been in the works for more than a decade, after a request from then-tribal chairman Tex Hall.But Hudson, whose grandmother Many Dances lost half of her 320-acre allotment to the dam back in the ‘40s, says the corps is doing the right thing the wrong way.“The land needs to go back to the original owners. That was always the effort of this,” she said. “If the corps can’t give it back to the original owners or their heirs, they should keep it for the people of the United States.”Tribal chairman Mark Fox said, in general, the law provides for the return of land only to the tribes."The intended use would be for recreation and economic development, including tourism, and enjoyment by many," Fox said.         AdvertisementPauseCurrent Time 0:00/Duration Time 0:00Remaining Time -0:00Stream TypeLIVELoaded: 0%Progress: 0%0:00Fullscreen00:00UnmutePlayback Rate<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"></li> </ul>1Subtitles<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">subtitles off</li> </ul>Captions<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">captions off</li> </ul>Chapters<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Chapters</li> </ul>Janis, the corps’ chief of recreation and natural resources, said the transfer will be initiated when the agency receives the $250,000 it requested to implement it. Janis said the transfer will not include any recreation sites on corps land, nor any Wildlife Management Areas managed by the state Game and Fish Department.A series of public meetings in 2014 found overwhelming sentiment mirroring Hudson’s by tribal members, who just want their family land restored or left as is.Terry Fleck, chairman of the Friends of Lake Sakakawea advocacy group, said the corps’ process and reasoning has been inscrutable and he predicts a daunting process lies ahead.“This is as delicate a process as they’ve been in. I don’t envy the one who has to communicate this to the people of North Dakota,” Fleck said.Janis said the corps identified excess lands, but doesn’t plan to conduct an on-ground survey. Fleck said that emphasizes the difficulty people will have trying to figure out if the corps land between them and the lake has suddenly become tribal trust land.“What lands are these and who’s charged with the responsibility of ensuring recreation and all that goes with it? The corps? The tribes? The Bureau of Indian affairs?” said Fleck, adding it was clear from tribal members' public comments that Hudson speaks for many. “The tribal people don’t want it."</blockquote>

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