The Department of Interior recently reversed a Trump administration ruling that a portion of the Missouri River on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation belongs to the state of North Dakota. Previously, the ownership of the land belonging to the Three Affiliated Tribes (Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara) was upheld through the 1825 and 1851 Treaties, Executive Orders, a decision by Interior’s Board of Land Appeals in 1979 and Solicitor legal opinions in 1936 and 2017.
Removing the MHA Nation’s rights to the land was decided in 2020 by former Solicitor Daniel Jorjani. In a statement, MHA Tribal Chairman Mark Fox said, “Prior to the false Jorjani opinion, the U.S. government had consistently affirmed MHA Nation’s property rights to the minerals below the Missouri River numerous times throughout history. We are pleased the federal government has chosen to follow the law and withdraw the false Jorjani opinion which sought to illegally take away the MHA Nation’s property rights to the Missouri River bed within the Fort Berthold Reservation. This is the right decision.”
Fox continued, “I call on officials of the state of North Dakota to respect and accept the Department of Interior’s rightful decision here, and to stand down on their efforts to take for themselves that which has for centuries belonged to our people.”
Department of Interior Principal Deputy Solicitor Robert T. Anderson issued a withdrawal of the Trump administration M-37056 Opinion, issued on May 26, 2020. It states, “The previous administration’s M-Opinion overturned decades of existing precedent holding that the Missouri riverbed belonged to the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation. Today’s action will allow us to review the matter and ensure the Interior Department is upholding its trust and treaty obligations in accordance with the law.”
National Congress of American Indians President Fawn Sharp commented, “The MHA Nation’s rights to the Missouri River riverbed minerals have been reaffirmed through a history of longstanding, well-settled and still applicable legal precedents, and there should be no question as to the validity of the Nation’s claims.”
MHA Tribal Member and former MHA Times Editor Vonnie Alberts noted, “Our people have waited so long for this. It’s been in black and white all along, but overlooked by the previous administration for others’ personal gain.”
