ILTF: Cutting Through The Red Tape: An Indian Landowner's Guide

Upon invitation from the Indian Land Tenure Foundation, we performed much of the research and writing for their Message Runner Volume 5: Cutting Through the Red Tape. The primary purpose of this publication is to help Indian landowners effectively navigate the mountains of red tape that stand between them and individual or tribal control of their assets. Information about the forms in this publication was collected through interviews with federal employees, tribal land office staff, attorneys, appraisers, Indian landowners and others who work in the field of Indian land and asset management on a daily basis. All of them, to varying degrees, expressed frustration with this system, which is so heavily regulated, is so costly to administer, and continuously fails to serve its primary “customers”— Indian nations and landowners.