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Title 25, IndiansRelease 119-110

§2203 Adoption of Land Consolidation Plan with Approval of Secretary

Title 25 › CHAPTER 24 — INDIAN LAND CONSOLIDATION › § 2203

Last updated Sep 22, 2026|Official source

Summary

Tribes, through their governing body and with the Secretary’s approval, may make plans to sell or swap tribal land to end fractional ownership or to bring land together. The tribe must get a price within 10% of the fair market value as set by the Secretary unless a special rule applies. If land values differ in a swap, cash can be added to even them out. Money from sales or cash equalizing swaps must be used only to buy more land. The Secretary will keep each tribe’s sale money in a separate trust account and will only release it to buy land. A tribe can keep mineral rights, and the Secretary will help value those rights when figuring fair market value. The Secretary must sign the papers to transfer land unless he finds the sale or swap is not in the tribe’s best interest or does not follow the approved plan. The Secretary may approve transfers for less than fair market value only for homesites held in trust for the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma on December 17, 1991, and only if those homesites are the ones listed in the Cherokee Nation’s land consolidation plan approved on February 6, 1987.

Full Legal Text

Title 25, §2203

Indians, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Statement of purpose; sales or exchanges: terms and conditions
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any tribe, acting through its governing body, is authorized, with the approval of the Secretary to adopt a land consolidation plan providing for the sale or exchange of any tribal lands or interest in lands for the purpose of eliminating undivided fractional interests in Indian trust or restricted lands or consolidating its tribal landholdings: Provided, That—
(1)except as provided by subsection (c), the sale price or exchange value received by the tribe for land or interests in land covered by this section shall be no less than within 10 per centum of the fair market value as determined by the Secretary;
(2)if the tribal land involved in an exchange is of greater or lesser value than the land for which it is being exchanged, the tribe may accept or give cash in such exchange in order to equalize the values of the property exchanged;
(3)any proceeds from the sale of land or interests in land or proceeds received by the tribe to equalize an exchange made pursuant to this section shall be used exclusively for the purchase of other land or interests in land;
(4)the Secretary shall maintain a separate trust account for each tribe selling or exchanging land pursuant to this section consisting of the proceeds of the land sales and exchanges and shall release such funds only for the purpose of buying lands under this section; and
(5)any tribe may retain the mineral rights to such sold or exchanged lands and the Secretary shall assist such tribe in determining the value of such mineral rights and shall take such value into consideration in determining the fair market value of such lands.
(b)Conveyancing requirement; specific findings for nonexecution
The Secretary must execute such instrument of conveyance needed to effectuate a sale or exchange of tribal lands made pursuant to an approved tribal land consolidation plan unless he makes a specific finding that such sale or exchange is not in the best interest of the tribe or is not in compliance with the tribal land consolidation plan.
(c)Below market value conveyance of Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma homesites
The Secretary may execute instruments of conveyance for less than fair market value to effectuate the transfer of lands used as homesites held, on December 17, 1991, by the United States in trust for the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma. Only the lands used as homesites, and described in the land consolidation plan of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma approved by the Secretary on February 6, 1987, shall be subject to this subsection.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Amendments

1991—Subsec. (a)(1). Pub. L. 102–238, § 3(1), substituted “(1) except as provided by subsection (c), the sale price” for “(1) the sale price”. Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 102–238, § 3(2), added subsec. (c). 1984—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 98–608 amended subsec. (a) generally, substituting “: Provided, That—” for period at end and inserting five numbered pars., thereby correcting errors originally contained in this section as enacted by Pub. L. 97–459, the text of which had a portion of section 204 appearing in section 206 (classified to section 2205 of this title) as the result of inadvertent error in the execution of committee

Amendments

(see

House Report No. 97–908

, Sept. 30, 1982) to the bill. Pub. L. 97–459 enacted subsec. (a) as ending with “tribal landholdings.”, and included portion of section 204 containing proviso and five numbered pars. within text of section 206. Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 98–608 included subsec. (b) within this section and substituted a period for the dash after “tribal land consolidation plan”, thereby correcting errors originally contained in this section as enacted by Pub. L. 97–459, which, as the result of inadvertent error in the execution of committee

Amendments

(see

House Report No. 97–908

, Sept. 30, 1982) to the bill, enacted subsec. (b) as part of section 206(b) of Pub. L. 97–459 and ended it with “tribal land consolidation plan—”.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

25 U.S.C. § 2203

Title 25, Indians

Last Updated

Sep 22, 2026

Release point: 119-110