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OCTOBER 18, 2000

Along with a $23 million settlement, the House on Tuesday approved the transfer of more than 10,000 acres of public and national forest lands to Santo Domingo Pueblo in New Mexico.

The bill was introduced by Senator Pete Domenici (R-N.Mex) in July. It cleared the Senate last week and is now ready for White House approval.

The seemingly quick passage of the settlement bill betrays its long history. The bill was crafted after years of negotiations and it resolves the Pueblo's claims to over 52,000 acres of land.

One claim stems from the Pueblo Lands Act of 1924, a law designed to resolve land disputes of the 19 Pueblos in the state. In 1927, a specially created land board attempted to terminate Santo Domingo's ownership of about 27,000 acres of land, some of which overlapped with lands claimed by other parties.

But in 1991, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals said the land board failed to consider that the Pueblo could retain ownership to some of the disputed land.

A second claim involves a 1748 Spanish land grant to another 25,000 acres of land. The United States never confirmed it after the Mexican-American War and as a result, much of the land has fallen into the hands of federal agencies, the state, other tribes, and private landowners.

The final claim dates to 1951 and is still pending in the US Court of Claims. In the now-defunct Indian Claims Commission, the Pueblo asserted that the government mismanaged and misappropriated their land. (ICC Docket No. 355)

Of the $23 million approved by the bill, $8 million settles the Court of Claims suit. The remaining $15 million will be deposited into a trust fund over 3 consecutive years, which the tribe can use for education, economic development, youth and elderly programs, or other tribal purposes. The tribe isn't allowed to distribute money to tribal members on a per capita basis from the fund.

The tribe can use some of its settlement to buy land from the US Forest Service. The government will sell approximately 7,355 acres to the Pueblo for $3.7 million. Additionally, some 4,577 acres of Bureau of Land Management land will be transferred to the tribe.

Another Pueblo land claim, that of Sandia Pueblo, is still pending in the courts. A settlement agreement has been proposed, but has been met with resistance from private landowners.

Get the Bill:
A bill to settle the land claims of the Pueblo of Santo Domingo (S.2917)

Related Stories:
Bill would settle Pueblo's claims (Tribal Law 08/17)

Relevant Links:
Senator Pete Domenici - www.senate.gov/~domenici
Indian Land Areas Judicially Established 1978, from cases before the Indian Claims Commission - www.wes.army.mil/el/ccspt/natamap/tx_poly.html