FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – February 4, 2022
NEW TOWN, ND — The Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation said it is pleased to see the Department of the Interior’s decision today to uphold the MHA Nation’s ownership of the Missouri Riverbed within the Fort Berthold Reservation. Interior Solicitor Robert Anderson issued a new M-Opinion today in favor of the Tribe and its longstanding property rights.
For thousands of years, the Missouri Riverbed, on what is now the Fort Berthold Reservation, has belonged to the MHA Nation. These rights have continually been upheld through legal precedent including the 1825 and 1851 Treaties, subsequent Executive Orders, a binding decision by Interior’s Board of Land Appeals in 1979, and Solicitor legal opinions in 1936 and 2017.
In 2020, former Solicitor Daniel Jorjani issued an outlier opinion that illegally sought to take away the MHA Nation’s ownership and to wrongfully award this property to the State of North Dakota. The Jorjani opinion spuriously upended this long-standing legal status quo and forced MHA Nation to file two federal lawsuits in Washington,
D.C. to protect its legitimate property interests. The statement below from MHA Nation Chairman Mark Fox may be quoted in-full or in-part.
“We are pleased the federal government has chosen to follow the law and once again reaffirm the MHA Nation’s ownership of the Missouri riverbed within the Fort Berthold Reservation. The Department of Interior has now corrected the grave injustice caused by the Jorjani Opinion and restored the federal government’s long- standing recognition that the Missouri riverbed within the Fort Berthold Reservation belongs to the MHA Nation. We look forward to working with the Department of Interior to implement the Solicitor Anderson’s Opinion and to protect the MHA Nation’s historic rights to the Missouri riverbed.”
Contact:
Lovell Overlie, MHA Nation Public Relations –
(701) 500-6337
MANDAN, HIDATSA & ARIKARA NATION
Three Affiliated Tribes * Fort Berthold Indian Reservation
Tribal Business Council
February 7, 2022
MHA Nation Tribal Members,
After a long battle to protect the MHA Nation’s Missouri Riverbed rights against encroachment by the state of North Dakota, on Friday, February 4, 2022, the Department of the Interior’s top lawyer, Solicitor Robert Anderson, issued an M-Opinion that once again reaffirmed the MHA Nation’s ownership of the Missouri Riverbed within the Fort Berthold Reservation. This is an important win for the MHA Nation’s sovereignty, property rights, and our continued path to self-sufficiency.
In 2020, former Department of Interior Solicitor Daniel Jorjani issued an opinion that illegally sought to take away the MHA Nation’s riverbed mineral ownership and to wrongfully award this property to the State of North Dakota. The Jorjani opinion upended our long-standing legal status quo and forced MHA Nation to file two federal lawsuits in Washington, D.C. to protect its legitimate property interests.
The Missouri Riverbed has belonged to the MHA Nation for the many centuries our people have lived along its banks. We are pleased the federal government has chosen to follow the law and once again reaffirm the MHA Nation’s ownership of the Missouri riverbed within the Fort Berthold Reservation. We look forward to working with the Department of Interior to implement Solicitor Anderson’s Opinion and to protect the MHA Nation’s historic rights to the Missouri riverbed.
I would like to thank MHA Nation tribal members, for your prayers, for sharing your stories of the river bottomlands that contributed to the history of our people’s time on the river and its importance to our culture. Thank you as well to the Tribal Business Council, and all our supporters who have stood with the MHA Nation in this very important battle. With our rights to our riverbed reaffirmed, you can rest assured that the MHA Nation will continue to protect our land, our property rights, our sovereignty, and our way of life.
Chairman Mark N. Fox
Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation
404 Frontage Road” New Town, North Dakota* 58763-9402
Phone: 701.627.4781 ” Ext.8112 * Fax: 701.627.3503
