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Tahlequah, OK - Leaders of the Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw, Chickasaw and Seminole Nations have endorsed a proposed bill that would reform legislation that applies only and unfairly to the individual Indian allotted lands of the Five Tribes eastern Oklahoma. The tribes have asked Oklahoma's congressional delegation to introduce the bill to Congress this session.

Several pieces of existing legislation, including the Stigler Act of 1947 or the "1947 Act", have helped to strip Indian title from most of the restricted land in eastern Oklahoma. "The good land is already gone," said Perry Beaver, Principal Chief of the Creek Nation. "We're just trying to save what is left."

Those members of the Five Tribes who have managed to retain their land must hire private attorneys to initiate probate or deed approval actions in the state court in order to pass title to restricted lands, which makes the sale and probate of their property complex and costly. As a result, thousands of acres of Indian lands in eastern Oklahoma have gone unprobated for years, making effective land management and in some cases impossible.

The reforms would "give the allotted lands of the Five Tribes the same kinds of protection that other tribes have in Oklahoma and the rest of the United States," said Chad Smith, Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation. "It would be one of the most significant pieces of legislation passed for the Five Tribes in the past 50 years."

Cherokee Nation associate general counsel David Mullon Jr. concurs. "This reform serves only to alleviate abusive land practices against the Indian citizens of the Five Tribes, practices that have gone on for over half a century," he said. "It doesn't affect any other tribes. The reform doesn't limit or diminish the sovereignty of any Indian nation. If passed, it will finally ensure our people that their lands are protected to some degree of certainty and facilitate clearing up the enormous backlog of unprobated Indian estates," said Mullon.

"This reform will help generations of Indians," said Beaver. "It will protect my children, and my children's children."