By Annie Knox
...An updated lawsuit (click here) filed in November names House Speaker Mike Schultz as a defendant, along with more than a dozen other current and former state officials. The suit alleges Schultz worked with fellow state lawmakers and officials at SITLA and the Utah Department of Natural Resources to keep the land in state hands and to pass a new law “in retaliation” against the tribe.
The lawsuit contends Schultz, while House majority leader in 2019, threatened a trust lands employee, telling him, “sell it to the Tribe and see what happens to you.” That employee, Tim Donaldson, went on to become director of the Utah Land Trusts Protection and Advocacy Office.
In 2022, Donaldson filed a complaint alleging the sale process was rigged and was terminated from his job the following day, the lawsuit states.
The 2024 state law allows the Department of Natural Resources preferential treatment in the sale of other large blocks of school trust land topping more than 5,000 acres. Its sponsor, Rep. Casey Snider, R-Paradise, is also a defendant in the suit....
...An updated lawsuit (click here) filed in November names House Speaker Mike Schultz as a defendant, along with more than a dozen other current and former state officials. The suit alleges Schultz worked with fellow state lawmakers and officials at SITLA and the Utah Department of Natural Resources to keep the land in state hands and to pass a new law “in retaliation” against the tribe.
The lawsuit contends Schultz, while House majority leader in 2019, threatened a trust lands employee, telling him, “sell it to the Tribe and see what happens to you.” That employee, Tim Donaldson, went on to become director of the Utah Land Trusts Protection and Advocacy Office.
In 2022, Donaldson filed a complaint alleging the sale process was rigged and was terminated from his job the following day, the lawsuit states.
The 2024 state law allows the Department of Natural Resources preferential treatment in the sale of other large blocks of school trust land topping more than 5,000 acres. Its sponsor, Rep. Casey Snider, R-Paradise, is also a defendant in the suit....
By Jessica Kutz
Two years ago, the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, a Catholic congregation, had approached the Lac Du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, a part of the Ojibwe Nation, and the original caretakers of the land, with an unheard of proposition: Would they like a piece of their land back?
The question took the tribe by surprise, said Araia Breedlove, their public relations director. They had never had a private property owner offer up a piece of land, much less Catholic sisters. But after ironing out the details, the two parties were able to close the deal last Friday....
By Oliver Waite
...The first white people (click here) to encounter the Coeur d’Alene’s were French trappers and traders. It was one of these Frenchmen who found the tribe to be vastly experienced and skilled at trading, thus the name “Coeur d’Alene,”meaning “heart of the awl.”...
COEUR D’ALENE, Idaho – The Coeur d’Alene Tribe (click here) announced on Tuesday that 12,750 acres of land have been returned to Tribal ownership following their recent purchase from Stimson Lumber.
In the past two years, 42,000 acres of Tribal land have been re-acquired from Stimson Lumber....
In the past two years, 42,000 acres of Tribal land have been re-acquired from Stimson Lumber....
