Regulatory activity has ground to a halt at the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) but one pro-tribal action has made it over the finish line in the new Donald Trump era.

On Monday, Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum announced the return of 680 acres to the Spirit Lake Nation. The land, located in North Dakota, was taken from the tribe by the federal government more than six decades ago.

“This land transfer is a significant step toward strengthening tribal sovereignty and empowering the Spirit Lake Nation to use its trust lands for economic growth and community well-being,” Burgum, a former two-term governor of North Dakota, said in a news release.

According to the release, the BIA took the land from the tribe in 1959. The property was then transferred to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), another agency within the Department of the Interior, which Burgum now leads.

But while the land had once been used by the FWS to grow hay for bison at the White Horse Hill National Game Preserve, it was no longer needed by the agency. So the tribe began efforts to have the property returned to its control.

“The return of 680 acres to the Spirit Lake Tribe marks a historic victory and an important milestone in our healing and reconciliation journey,” Spirit Lake Chairperson Lonna Jackson-Street said on Monday.

The tribe’s journey to reclaim the property, in fact, goes back more than 120 years. The game preserve was initially established in 1904 as one of the first national parks in the United States.

But the land for the national park that later became the game preserve was taken without tribal consent. And it was named after an Army general who gained notoriety for massacres he ordered against Native people — including the ancestors of the Spirit Lake Nation.

“This land, fought for by our ancestors, symbolizes both our history and our present as Native American people,” Jackson-Street said. “For me, every acre returned is a testament to the dedication and efforts of our tribal leadership, both past and present, who have worked tirelessly to make this achievement possible.”

“This victory stands as a powerful reminder of our resilience and commitment to our future generations,” Jackson-Street added.

The tribe’s efforts include providing a more appropriate name for the game preserve. The late Spirit Lake elder, Demus McDonald, is given credit for coming up with Sunka Wakan Ska Paha, which means “White Horse Hill” in the Dakota language.

“There was a wagon trail, and a white stallion would be seen running through the trees,” McDonald told the FWS prior to his passing in December 2020. “Then it would disappear.”

But the name change didn’t come without a lot of work either. It took an act of Congress for the place that had once been known as Sullys Hill to finally reflect the tribe’s wishes.

“In 1904, the game preserve was named after General Alfred Sully,” Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-North Dakota) said as he supported the tribe’s healing and reconciliation journey.

“Unfortunately, General Sully gained notoriety by committing several massacres of Native Americans, most notably on September 3, 1863, in the Dakota Territory,” Cramer said on November 14, 2019. “As reprisal for the Dakota conflict of 1862, his troops destroyed a village of over 500 teepees that lodged the Yankton, Dakota, and Lakota people, killing hundreds of Native Americans.”

“Many of the descendants of his victims live on the very tribal lands that surround this hill,” Cramer noted at the time.

Cramer’s bill, the White Horse Hill National Game Preserve Designation Act [S.2099], became law a month later, during the 116th Congress, as part of an appropriations act. Burgum, who was serving as governor of North Dakota at the time, supported the legislation.

As he secured confirmation to be Secretary of the Interior in January, Burgum won bipartisan praise for his efforts to improve tribal-state relations in North Dakota. Apart from this week’s announcement, he hasn’t detailed his Indian Country agenda despite leading the federal agency with the most trust and treaty responsibilities.

“From the beginning, the Trump administration has been committed to fostering self-determination and expanding opportunities for tribal nations,” Burgum said on Monday. “By returning these lands, we are honoring the Spirit Lake Nation’s deep connection to their homeland and ensuring they have the resources needed to build a stronger future.”

According to Interior, the BIA will hold the 680 acres in trust for the tribe. The property, located in Benson County, is separate from the 994 acres that continue to used by the federal government for the White Horse Hill National Game Preserve, which is located entirely within reservation boundaries.

In December, the Spirit Lake council approved a resolution that authorizes the tribe to enter into a co-stewardship agreement with the Fish and Wildlife Service. The goal is to help manage the game preserve, a popular attraction that draws more than 80,000 visits every year.

“I would like to extend our gratitude to the Bureau of Indian Affairs, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the General Services Administration for their support in this process,” said Spirit Lake Chair Jackson-Street, thanking yet another federal agency that was involved.

Thank you, @SecretaryBurgum, for completing the transfer of hundreds of unused acres back to the Spirit Lake Tribe from @usfws. It is a recognition of tribal sovereignty and treaty rights. FWS has not used the land for grazing in decades, and it is only right that it be returned…

— Senator Kevin Cramer (@SenKevinCramer) March 18, 2025

The BIA otherwise has not advanced many significant regulatory actions since Donald Trump was sworn in as the 47th president of the United States on January 20. On the day he took office, Trump ordered an indefinite “freeze” on all rules, notices, guidance and other “substantive” decisions pending further review by his new administration.

Land acquisitions for tribes, like the one for the Spirit Lake Nation, are often — but not always — published in the Federal Register. Since Trump took office, only three significant regulatory actions have managed to make it to publication by the BIA.

The first was notice of Class III gaming compact extensions in California for the Picayune Rancheria of Chukchansi Indians, the Cher-Ae-Heights Indian Community of the Trinidad Rancheria and the Augustine Band of Cahuilla Indians. The notice was published on February 20.

The second was notice of a Class III gaming compact amendment for the Chitimacha Tribe in Louisiana. The notice was published on March 20.

Under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, the BIA is required to take action on a Class III gaming compact within 45 days of receipt in the agency’s central office in Washington, D.C. A controversy during the first Trump administration resulted in a months-long delay in publication for two tribes in Connecticut that was never fully explained.

The third substantive BIA regulatory action that has made it to the Federal Register is a liquor ordinance for the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community in Minnesota. The document is due to be published on Friday. [PDF: Public Inspection Document]

A fourth notice, published on February 28, announces a non-substantive “information collection” for student applications to Haskell Indian Nations University in Kansas and Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute in New Mexico. The Trump administration has terminated staff at both tribal colleges, a decision that tribes and Indian students say threatens their futures in a lawsuit filed earlier this month.

A fifth notice published in the Federal Register addressed a rule that had already been finalized during the Joe Biden administration. On February 13, the BIA delayed the effective date of new regulations governing the Federal Acknowledgment of American Indian Tribes.

The rule was supposed to take effect on February 14 after being published during the prior administration on January 15. The updated regulation is now slated take effect on Friday, barring additional actions.

Finally, the BIA on February 21 published a memorandum that President Trump himself already made public at the White House. With the memo, Trump directed Secretary Burgum to come up a plan to address federal recognition for the Lumbee Tribe within “90 days.” The deadline, if followed, would arrive at or around April 23.

Although Burgum was sworn in as the 55th Secretary of the Interior on January 31, his department is still without an Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs. Trump has nominated nominated Billy Kirkland, a citizen of the Navajo Nation, to serve in the political post but he has told associates that he doesn’t plan on relocating to the nation’s capital from his home in Georgia until the end of the current school year.

Burgum himself has not publicly commented on Kirkland’s nomination as Assistant Secretary. The Senate Committee on Indian Affairs has yet to announce a confirmation hearing.