Land Back in Minnesota

2009-Present

The nonprofit organization Makoce Ikikcupi (Land Recovery) have purchased two land parcels, one is 21 acres and the other is 20 acres, in Southern Minnesota. At each parcel they are constructing sustainable, off-grid villages for Indigenous people and families to live in and manage. They plan to have 10 more villages by 2050. 

Another example is the returning of the Upper Sioux Agency State Park in 2023 which contains many graves of Dakota people that were executed after the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862. Descendants of the people executed had to pay a fee to visit their graves. Activists organized with local government and State park agents, and all parties agreed to transfer the land the park lies on back to the Tribe. It will take a decade and an estimated $6 million to restore the land. 

One more example is the returning of 28,000 acres of land to the Bois-Forte band of the Chippewa in Minnesota in 2022. The land is an estimated 20% of the original land owned by the nation, and many say it is the largest "land-back deal" ever in U.S. history and also didn't require federal intervention. 

Other examples of land back include the 

Red Lake Nation getting two lots in Minneapolis, which will be used for community and treatment centers, and the

Camp Nenookaasi/Wall of Forgotten Natives.

Image credit: Makoce Ikikcupi (Land Recovery) – A Project of Reparative Justice