§441n Lands Outside Gunnery Range; Exchange of Lands; Reservation of Mineral Rights; Grazing and Mineral Development Rights of Indians; Execution of Instruments; Trust Title

Summary

Certain Federal lands in and near the Badlands Air Force gunnery range can be given to the Oglala Sioux Tribe in exchange for two things: the United States keeping the right to use tribal land inside the park for park purposes (including managing fish and wildlife and building visitor and office facilities), and title to 3,115.63 acres of Oglala Sioux land in the gunnery range area that is not surplus to Air Force needs and is part of civil action number 859 W.D. in the U.S. District Court for the District of South Dakota. Tribal approval by the Oglala Sioux Tribal Council is required. Park rules may limit how the lands are used and may include protections for the black-footed ferret. Both the United States and the Tribe keep mineral rights in the lands they exchange. The Tribe’s right to graze animals and develop minerals, including oil and gas, on lands it owned before August 8, 1968, is not taken away by the United States’ park use rights. The Tribal Council and the Secretary may sign the papers needed for the exchange, and land the Tribe receives will be held in trust the same way other tribal trust lands are held.