Keweenaw Bay Indian Community Land Claim Settlement Act of 2025

This Act may be cited as the “Keweenaw Bay Indian Community Land Claim Settlement Act of 2025”.

Congress finds that—

(1) the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community is a federally recognized Indian Tribe residing on the L’Anse Indian Reservation in Baraga County in the Upper Peninsula of the State of Michigan;

(2) the Community is a successor in interest to the Treaty with the Chippewa Indians of the Mississippi and Lake Superior, made and concluded at La Pointe of Lake Superior October 4, 1842 (7 Stat. 591) (referred to in this section as the “1842 Treaty”), which, among other things, guaranteed the usufructuary rights of the Community over a large area of land that was ceded to the United States, until such time that those usufructuary rights were properly and legally extinguished;

(3) the Community is also a successor in interest to the Treaty with the Chippewa Indians of Lake Superior and the Mississippi, made and concluded at La Pointe September 30, 1854 (10 Stat. 1109) (referred to in this section as the “1854 Treaty”);

(4) article 2, paragraph 1 of the 1854 Treaty created the L’Anse Indian Reservation as a permanent reservation;

(5) pursuant to article 13 of the 1854 Treaty, the 1854 Treaty became “obligatory on the contracting parties” when ratified by the President and the Senate on January 10, 1855;

(6) in 1850, Congress enacted the Act of September 28, 1850 (sections 2479 through 2481 of the Revised Statutes (43 U.S.C. 982 through 984)) (commonly known and referred to in this section as the “Swamp Land Act”), which authorized the State of Arkansas and other States, including the State of Michigan, to “construct the necessary levees and drains to reclaim” certain unsold “swamp and overflowed lands, made unfit thereby for cultivation” and stating that those lands “shall remain unsold at the passage of this act”;

(7) following enactment of the Swamp Land Act, the State claimed thousands of acres of swamp land in the State pursuant to that Act;

(8) between 1893 and 1937, the General Land Office patented 2,743 acres of land to the State that were located within the exterior boundaries of the Reservation;

(9) the right of the Community to use and occupy the unsold land within the Reservation had not been extinguished when the United States patented the Reservation Swamp Lands to the State;

(10) in 1852, Congress enacted the Act of August 26, 1852 (10 Stat. 35, chapter 92) (referred to in this section as the “Canal Land Act”), to facilitate the building of the Sault Ste. Marie Canal at the Falls of the St. Mary’s River, to connect Lake Superior to Lake Huron;

(11) pursuant to the Canal Land Act, the United States granted the State the right to select 750,000 acres of unsold public land within the State to defray the cost of construction of the Sault Ste. Marie Canal;

(12) the State identified and selected, among other land, a minimum of 1,333.25 and up to 2,720 acres within the exterior boundaries of the Reservation;

(13) the Department of the Interior approved the land selections of the State, including the Reservation Canal Lands, after ratification of the 1854 Treaty;

(14) the Secretary noted that the approval described in paragraph (13) was “subject to any valid interfering rights”;

(15) the 1854 Treaty set apart from the public domain all unsold land within the Reservation to the Community as of September 30, 1854, which preceded the date on which the State established legally effective title to the Reservation Canal Lands;

(16) the Community made claims to the Department of the Interior with respect to the Reservation Swamp Lands and the Reservation Canal Lands, providing legal analysis and ethnohistorical support for those claims;

(17) in December 2021, the Department of the Interior stated that “We have carefully reviewed pertinent documents, including the Tribe’s expert reports, and have determined that the Tribe’s claims to the Swamp Lands and Canal Lands have merit”;

(18) the United States, through the actions of the General Land Office, deprived the Community of the exclusive use and occupancy of the Reservation Swamp Lands and the Reservation Canal Lands within the Reservation, without just compensation as required under the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States;

(19) the loss of the Reservation Swamp Lands and the Reservation Canal Lands without just compensation has—

(A) impacted the exercise by the Community of cultural, religious, and subsistence rights on the land;

(B) caused a harmful disconnect between the Community and its land;

(C) impacted the ability of the Community to fully exercise its economy within the Reservation; and

(D) had a negative economic impact on the development of the economy of the Community;

(20) certain non-Indian individuals, entities, and local governments occupy land within the boundaries of the Reservation—

(A) acquired ownership interests in the Reservation Swamp Lands and the Reservation Canal Lands in good faith; and

(B) have an interest in possessing clear title to that land;

(21) this Act allows the United States—

(A) to secure a fair and equitable settlement of past inequities suffered by the Community as a result of the actions of the United States that caused the taking of the Reservation Swamp Lands and the Reservation Canal Lands without just compensation; and

(B) to ensure protection of the ownership of the Reservation Swamp Lands and the Reservation Canal Lands by non-Indian occupants of the Reservation, through the settlement of the claims of the Community to that land, and through that action, the relief of any clouds on title;

(22) a settlement will allow the Community to receive just compensation and the local landowners to obtain clear title to land, without long and protracted litigation that would be both costly and detrimental to all involved; and

(23) this Act achieves both justice for the Community and security for current landowners through a restorative and non-confrontational process.

The purposes of this Act are—

(1) to acknowledge the uncompensated taking by the Federal Government of the Reservation Swamp Lands and the Reservation Canal Lands;

(2) to provide compensation to the Community for the uncompensated taking of the Reservation Swamp Lands and the Reservation Canal Lands by the Federal Government;

(3) to extinguish all claims by the Community to the Reservation Swamp Lands and the Reservation Canal Lands and to confirm the ownership by the current landowners of the Reservation Swamp Lands and the Reservation Canal Lands, who obtained that land in good faith;

(4) to extinguish all potential claims by the Community against the United States, the State, and current landowners concerning title to, use of, or occupancy of the Reservation Swamp Lands and the Reservation Canal Lands; and

(5) to authorize the Secretary—

(A) to compensate the Community; and

(B) to take any other action necessary to carry out this Act.

In this Act:

(1) Community.— The term Community means the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community.

(2) County.— The term County means Baraga County, Michigan.

(3) Reservation.— The term Reservation means the L’Anse Indian Reservation, located in—

(A) T. 51 N., R. 33 W.;

(B) T. 51 N., R. 32 W.;

(C) T. 50 N., R. 33 W., E1/2;

(D) T. 50 N., R. 32 W., W1/2; and

(E) that portion of T. 51 N., R. 31 W. lying west of Huron Bay.

(4) Reservation Canal Lands.— The term Reservation Canal Lands means the 1,333.25 to 2,720 acres of Community land located within the exterior boundaries of the Reservation that the Federal Government conveyed to the State pursuant to the Act of August 26, 1852 (10 Stat. 35, chapter 92).

(5) Reservation Swamp Lands.— The term Reservation Swamp Lands means the 2,743 acres of land located within the exterior boundaries of the Reservation that the Federal Government conveyed to the State between 1893 and 1937 pursuant to the Act of September 28, 1850 (sections 2479 through 2481 of the Revised Statutes (43 U.S.C. 982 through 984)) (commonly known as the “Swamp Land Act”).

(6) Secretary.— The term Secretary means the Secretary of the Interior.

(7) State.— The term State means the State of Michigan.

(a) Transfer of funds.— As soon as practicable after the date on which the amount authorized to be appropriated under subsection (c) is made available to the Secretary, the Secretary shall transfer $33,900,000 to the Community.

(b) Use of funds.—

(1) In general.— Subject to paragraph (2), the Community may use the amount received under subsection (a) for any lawful purpose, including—

(A) governmental services;

(B) economic development;

(C) natural resources protection; and

(D) land acquisition.

(2) Restriction on use of funds.— The community may not use the amount received under subsection (a) to acquire land for gaming purposes.

(c) Authorization of appropriations.— There is authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary to carry out subsection (a) $33,900,000 for fiscal year 2026, to remain available until expended.

(a) In general.— Effective on the date on which the Community receives the payment under section 5(a), all claims of the Community to the Reservation Swamp Lands and the Reservation Canal Lands owned by persons or entities other than the Community are extinguished.

(b) Clear title.— Effective on the date on which the Community receives the payment under section 5(a), the title of all current owners to the Reservation Swamp Lands and the Reservation Canal Lands is cleared of all preexisting rights held by the Community and any of the members of the Community.

Nothing in this Act authorizes—

(1) the Secretary to take land into trust for the benefit of the Community for gaming purposes; or

(2) the Community to use land acquired using amounts received under this Act for gaming purposes.