Oneida Indian Nation

What happened

The Oneida Indian Nation describes itself as an indigenous nation whose sacred and sovereign homelands are in Central New York. Its mission page says it consists of approximately 1,000 enrolled members and is headed by a federally recognized Representative, Ray Halbritter. Each of three clans chooses a representative to the Nation Council. Its three long-range goals are member growth, sovereignty and stability, and self-sufficiency, which it describes as including legal frameworks to protect sovereignty, treaty rights and intergovernmental relationships.

On land, the Nation's Governance page says that on May 16, 2013 the Nation, the State of New York and Madison and Oneida counties signed an agreement that officially ended all legal disputes over land, tax and gaming. The Nation says the agreement was passed by the New York legislature on June 22, 2013 and ratified by federal courts, and ties it to the 1794 Treaty of Canandaigua.

A federal source confirms a recent trust decision. In a Federal Register notice published March 1, 2023, the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs made a final determination on February 17, 2023 to acquire 269.543 acres within the Nation's reservation in Madison and Oneida counties in trust for the Nation for gaming and other purposes.

The Nation's own pages give no total of its trust or fee acreage. Figures of 18,000 and 25,000 acres have both been given.

Good to know. Not the same as the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin. The 2023 decision approved taking the land into trust once requirements were met; it does not show the transfer was finished.

Summarized with AI assistance from 4 sources and checked against their words; not yet reviewed by historians or by the nations. Report an error