Winnebago Tribe celebrates return of land taken along the Missouri River

Missouri River in Cass County. (Courtesy of the Nebraska State Patrol)

LINCOLN — The Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska is celebrating the righting of a five-decade-old wrong.

The U.S. Senate unanimously passed a bill last week that will return about 1,600 acres of land to the tribe along the Missouri River that was taken illegally in the 1970s for a proposed recreation project.

“That was pretty exciting news. We held a victory celebration the day it passed — brought drums out, sang some victory songs ,” said Winnebago tribal spokesman Garen Coons.

“It was a good remembrance of the long, hard fight the tribe had to go through,” he added.

Another celebration is planned after President Joe Biden signs the bill into law.

The Winnebago Reservation, north of Omaha, originally sat exclusively on the west bank of the Missouri River, according to the Treaty of 1865. But the river’s channel later shifted westward, and some tribal land, including the 1,600 acres involved, now sit on the Iowa side of the river.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, as part of a proposed recreation project, acquired the 1,600 acres in the 1970s via eminent domain, which triggered years of legal battles.

Coons said that since 2017, bills have been introduced in Congress to return the property to the tribe but have languished.

This year, a bill introduced by U.S. Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., finally got over the finish line.

“I look forward to seeing this bill signed into law,” Fischer said in a press release.

The Senate bill was co-sponsored by Sen. Pete Ricketts, R-Neb., and Iowa Sens. Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst. The House version of the bill was sponsored by U.S. Rep. Randy Feenstra, R-Iowa, and co-sponsored by Nebraska Reps. Adrian Smith, Mike Flood and Don Bacon.

The land, which had been managed by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, will remain as conservation land, according to Coons. The only difference is that those wishing to hunt on the property must now obtain a tribal hunting permit.

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