North Dakota Trust Lands Completion Act of 2025

Key Points

• North Dakota can trade state-owned land inside Indian reservations for federal land elsewhere in the state. This resolves a longstanding checkerboard pattern of land ownership that complicates management for both the state and Tribes.
• Once the state gives up land inside a reservation, the federal government will hold that land in trust for the Tribe that requested it. The land then becomes part of the reservation, giving Tribes greater control over territory within their own borders.
• The lands being swapped must be worth about the same amount. Professional appraisers will determine values, and if there is a gap, it can be settled with a cash payment or tracked through a ledger account that must be balanced within a few years.
• People who currently have grazing permits or leases on affected land are protected. Their existing agreements stay in force for the rest of their terms, and the bill preserves base property qualifications for federal grazing permits.
• Certain sensitive federal lands are excluded from the swaps, including military reservations, national conservation lands, areas of critical environmental concern, and land within or designated for conservation purposes.

Votes

No votes have been recorded for this legislation yet.