This bill settles the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community's land claims by providing a $\$33.9$ million payment in exchange for extinguishing all claims to previously transferred reservation lands, thereby clearing title for current non-tribal landowners.
Gary Peters
Senator
MI
This Act settles historical land claims of the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community regarding uncompensated transfers of reservation lands to the State of Michigan. It provides the Community with a $33.9 million payment as just compensation for the lost "Reservation Swamp Lands" and "Reservation Canal Lands." In exchange, the bill extinguishes all future claims by the Community to those specific lands, thereby confirming clear title for current non-Indian landowners. The settlement also prohibits the use of these funds for gaming purposes.
Land Claim Settlement Offers Keweenaw Bay Tribe $33.9 Million, Clears Titles for Michigan Landowners
This bill, the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community Land Claim Settlement Act of 2025, is essentially a massive, final property settlement. It aims to resolve a decades-long dispute over land within the L'Anse Indian Reservation in Michigan. Specifically, the US government transferred thousands of acres of reservation land—dubbed "Reservation Swamp Lands" and "Reservation Canal Lands"—to the State of Michigan between 1852 and 1937 without compensating the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community (KBIC). This Act acknowledges that historical wrong and seeks to close the book on the issue by authorizing a one-time payment of $33.9 million to the KBIC (Sec. 5).
The Price of Clarity: $33.9 Million
For the KBIC, this settlement is a financial acknowledgment that the US government took their land without the just compensation required by the Fifth Amendment (Sec. 2). The payment of $33.9 million is authorized to be appropriated for fiscal year 2026 and transferred to the Community as soon as possible (Sec. 5). The Tribe can use this money for pretty much any lawful purpose, including governmental services, economic development, and land acquisition—the kind of things that help a community grow and invest in its future (Sec. 5.B).
What It Means for Homeowners and Property Titles
The other main purpose of this bill is to clear the title for every current landowner who lives on those disputed parcels. Think of it like this: if you bought a house years ago, and there’s a historical claim that the original sale wasn't right, that claim creates a 'cloud' on your title. It makes selling, refinancing, or even developing your property a legal nightmare. This Act permanently extinguishes all claims the KBIC or its members might have to the Reservation Swamp Lands and Canal Lands (Sec. 3.B, Sec. 6). The minute the Tribe receives the $33.9 million, those titles are officially clear, providing absolute legal certainty to the current, non-Indian owners who acquired the land in good faith (Sec. 2).
The Trade-Off: No Land, No Casinos
While the settlement provides significant compensation, it comes with two major, permanent trade-offs for the KBIC. First, the Tribe gives up all legal standing to ever pursue a claim against the US, the State of Michigan, or any current landowner regarding the title, use, or occupancy of those specific lands (Sec. 3.C). The land is gone for good.
Second, the bill contains strict language regarding gaming. The KBIC is explicitly prohibited from using any of the $33.9 million settlement funds to acquire land for gaming purposes (Sec. 5.B). Furthermore, the Secretary of the Interior is blocked from taking any land into trust for the KBIC if the land is intended for gaming (Sec. 7). This effectively prevents the Tribe from using this settlement as seed money for future casino development, a common and crucial economic driver for many tribal nations. It’s a specific limitation on how the Tribe can exercise its economic sovereignty using the compensation funds—a detail worth noting as the Tribe seeks to rebuild its economic base after this historical loss.