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B-186373 1 (1980-12-30)

handle is hein.gao/gaobaditl0001 and id is 1 raw text is: 





                             THE  COMPTROLLER GENERAL
DECISION                     OF   THE    UNITED       STATES
                             VWASHINGTON, 0. C. 20548




FILE:  B-186373                     DATE:  December 30, 1980

MATTER OF: Indian Grazing Privileges on the Garrison
               Dam Project

DIGEST:   Public Law 87-695, 76 Stat. 594 (1962), permits
          the Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold
          Reservation to graze livestock without charge on
          the former Indian lands acquired by the United
          States in connection with the Garrison Dam project.
          This privilege is limited to lands which were
          actually acquired from Indians and does not extend
          to lands that were acquired from non-Indians.


     The Chief Counsel of the Army's Office of the Chief of
 Engineers has requested our opinion on whether Indian grazing
 rights at the Garrison Dam project extend to lands which were
 acquired from non-Indians as well as to lands acquired from
 Indians.

     The Flood Control Act of December 22, 1944, 58 Stat. 887,
 established a comprehensive plan for the improvement of the
 Missouri River Basin and authorized the Secretary of the Army to
 acquire all lands necessary for the project. Most of the needed
 land lay within Indian reservations, and these lands were acquired
 from a number of Indian tribes, under varying terms worked out in
 several different statutes. Generally, the tribes were granted
 permission to continue to graze stock on the land. However,
 grazing privileges were not granted to the Three Affiliated
 Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation when their land was ac-
 quired for the Garrison Dam project in 1949. Pub. L. No. 81-437,
 63 Stat. 1026. This omission was corrected by Public Law 87-695
 (September 25, 1962), 76 Stat. 594, which extended grazing privi-
 leges to the Three Affiliated Tribes.

     Not all of the project land which lay within reservations
was owned by Indians.  Some of the land was owned by non-Indians,
who had acquired it from Indians through direct purchase, tax
sales, etc.  A question has arisen in connection with Indian
grazing privileges as to whether the privilege is limited to land
actually acquired from Indians or whether it extends to project
lands within a reservation that were acquired from non-Indians.

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