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In 1934, Congress
began ending the federal allotment policy and an order issued by the
Secretary of the Interior on November 5, 1935 stopped the withdrawal
status of the reservation lands belonging to the Confederated Tribes
of the Colville Reservation.
Twenty two years
later, in 1956, in recognition of the federal government’s past
failed policies, about 800,000 acres of Colville Reservation lands were
returned to tribal ownership.
Today, the Colville
Indian Reservation consists of acreage held in trust for the Colville
Confederation and individual tribal members and land owned by others
in non-trust or fee land status.
The Colville Business
Council has set in place a policy to purchase lands put up for sale
that are located with the boundaries of the reservation and unallotted
lands outside the reservation based on funds available through yearly
tribal fiscal budgets.
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Standing L to
R Suzanne Ustah Circle, Mary Ustah
Michael Ustah, Louise Morely Ustah: Front Row
Naomi Circle, Noreen Circl, Madeline Wapato, Shirly
Ustah Palmer 1927 Wapato Mission |
Convent
at St. Mary's Mission 1913 |
One of monumental
goals of the Colville tribal government is to own all Colville Indian
Reservation lands. Presently, over 200,000 acres are not owned by the
Colville Confederation and thousands of those acres are in agricultural
production by non-Colville tribal members.
In 1997 and 1998,
the Colville Confederation celebrated the 125th Anniversary of the Colville
Indian Reservation in recognition of 125 years of survival with a prayer
to our Creator that some day when we, the Confederated Tribes of the
Colville Reservation, a confederation of First Americans, will hold
all of our lands in trust for our people, we will truly be able to claim
this beautiful nation as ours once again.
Based on the Confederated
Tribes of the Colville Reservation Socio-Economic Report of 1981. All
Rights Reserved.
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