Cris Stainbrook: March 9 speaker for the “Lessons of our Land” speaker series at UM

The “Lessons of our Land” speaker series will reach a midpoint on March 9 when Cris Stainbrook, president of the Indian Land Tenure Foundation in Little Canada, Minn., arrives in Montana for a 4 p.m. presentation. The presentation at the Payne Family Native American Center on the University of Montana campus is free and open to the public.

Stainbrook, an Oglala Lakota, will address Indian land consolidation issues and the American Indian Probate Act concerns for landowners across Indian Country from 4 to 5:15 p.m. Wednesday, March 9, in Payne Family Native American Center Room 105.

The U.S. Department of the Interior manages 56 million acres of trust land for American Indians, including tribes and land allotted to individuals. The Secretary of the Interior must approve nearly all land use decisions, such as selling, leasing or business development. That process often hinders land use and management, Stainbrook said. He said many Indian landowners cannot even locate their lands, and land management decisions are commonly made without their consent.

He will address how Indian trust lands are passed from one generation to the next and speak about national policy issues related to trust lands. He also will address the issue of putting private, or fee lands, into federal trust status.

The speaker series continues March 23 and March 30, featuring Elouise Cobell, lead plaintiff in the Cobell v. Salazar lawsuit, and Julie Cajune, executive director of the Center for American Indian Policy and Applied Research at Salish Kootenai College.

The series is sponsored by the Indian Land Tenure Foundation, a community-based, nonprofit organization focused on the recovery, management and control of American Indian lands by Indian people. For more information, visit https://iltf.org , call Jodi Rave at 503-798-2212or e-mail jodi.rave@umontana.edu .

Jodi Rave