Land buy-back program launched at Fort Belknap

Officials at Fort Belknap Indian Reservation are ready to launch a massive land buy-back program with funds allocated to the reservation under a federal lawsuit.

People on the reservation and throughout the United States own small parcels, sometimes less than a quarter acre, that the tribe hopes to buy back, consolidate and convert into useful property, said Margey Bell Azure, a realty specialist for the reservation’s Tribal Land Department.

The money was allocated to the tribe through the terms of a settlement in a federal lawsuit spearheaded by Elouise Cobell, a Blackfeet banker. The lawsuit...