PENDLETON, Ore. (AP) — An American Indian tribe in Oregon will receive $20 million as part of a $429 million settlement between the U.S. government and 17 tribes.
The East Oregonian says the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation and others alleged that the federal government had mismanaged money and natural resources held in trust for the tribes.
Tribal spokesman Chuck Sams says the Umatilla tribes sued the federal government decades ago because it failed to properly compensate them for land-use easements for things like timber and agriculture.
Sams said no one knows, because of the federal government’s incomplete records, how much the tribes should be compensated. But he credited the Obama administration for its responsiveness.
