Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson announced today that the Oglala Tribe of the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota has been given approximately 1,600 acres of excess Government land within the reservation boundaries. Notice of the transfer, under the Federal Property and Administration Services Act as amended earlier this year, is being published in the Federal Register.
Title to the land will be held by the Secretary of the Interior in trust for the tribe.
The 17 tracts making up the total had been purchased at various times for use by Bureau of Indian Affairs' schools on the reservation. The land provided both pasture and garden areas needed for agricultural courses taught in the schools until the mid-1950.
The property, which was declared excess to the needs of the Bureau, will be administered in the same way as other tribal land held in trust for the benefit and use of the tribe.
