Federal Indian Regulations

Fess Parker and the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians are seeking to take advantage of federal regulations that allow tribes to purchase land off their reservations and shelter it in federal trust with the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Conversion of private land to trust status allows tribes and developers like Parker to circumvent legitimate and established local and state environmental regulations and land-use laws. Annexing land into trust also removes it from the jurisdiction (and taxation) of the local government.

The fee-to-trust process was intended to help struggling tribes get on their feet—not as a shield for self-sufficient tribes and their non-tribal development partners.

Indian tribes and their members can purchase and own land in the same way as any other individual, but because of the benefits of trust status, they almost always seek to annex the land.