Tribal leaders gather to parse federal land settlement

Hundreds of land managers from more than 70 American Indian tribes across the country are in the Twin Cities this week to discuss implementing a landmark settlement with the federal government.

The class action settlement reached in 2009 called for the federal government to spend nearly two billion dollars on a land buyback program to return certain land interests to tribal governments. Because of the way the U.S. government managed Indian lands in the past, some parcels now have thousands of owners.

Cris Stainbrook of the Minnesota-based Indian Land Tenure Foundation says the work of tribal land managers is paying off.

"You'll see I think better management of Indian lands across the board and it's developing rapidly. And I think that bodes well for Indian Country," he said.

Land returned to tribes can be used for everything from development to farming, Stainbrook said.