The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) has finally processed the paperwork required to place 14 parcels totaling 132 acres of land "in trust" for the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians.

A detailed legal notice appearing on pages 14-15 in Section 2 of this week’s Enterprise is the final hurdle required for the land to be officially added to the tribe’s reservation. All of the land is in Suttons Bay Township in or around Peshawbestown.

“Really, nothing’s going to change as the result of this notice being published,” explained tribal attorney Bill Rastetter. The tribal government has owned the land for more than a decade in some cases – and much of the land has been off of local tax rolls for years, he said.

“After years of frustration and the tribal government raising the issue with the BIA in Washington,” Rastetter said, “the Michigan Agency of the BIA has finally pulled these parcels out of the administrative black hole they’ve been in for years, and is taking the actions they should have taken years ago to put these tribal lands in trust for the tribe.”

Of the 2,369 acres of land owned by the Grand Traverse Band in five counties, only 733 acres were held in trust by the federal government as part of the tribal reservation. Of the 2,369 acres owned by the tribe, 734 acres are in Leelanau County – primarily in Peshawbestown and its vicinity – with only 482 acres in Leelanau County “in trust.”

That total will increase to 614 acres in federal trust for the tribe in Leelanau County following publication of the BIA notice.

“This does not represent any more land actually acquired by the tribe,” Rastetter explained. “In fact, the tribe has not budgeted funds for land acquisition for a number of years now.”

The tribe’s largest land holdings are in Grand Traverse County, where the GTB owns 1,169 acres – most of that at the Grand Traverse Resort and Spa in Acme Township. Some 27 acres of tribal “trust” land in Whitewater Township in Grand Traverse County is the site of the GTB’s Turtle Creek Casino.

Suttons Bay Township years ago took action to remove most of the land from local property tax rolls as part of the complex and long-delayed BIA process. Rastetter said it was likely that within a few months several more parcels would be added to the list for transfer to trust status as the process moves forward.