Washington - The US government announced yesterday its largest voluntary transfer of land back to Native Americans in over a century, returning some 33,600 hectares (84,000 acres) to the Ute tribe of Utah.
"Today we're doing the right thing," the Energy Secretary, Mr Bill Richardson, said as he attended a signing ceremony at Fort Duchesne, on the Ute Indian tribe reservation.
McCook, the Ute tribe leader, also welcomed the agreement. "In 1882 the United States identified lands in eastern Utah that were to remain tribal property for all time. Regrettably, this promise, like so many given to the tribe over the years, proved to be false."