The Land Back movement seeks to restore Indigenous political authority over unceded ancestral lands.[7] Scholars from the Indigenous-run Yellowhead Institute at Toronto Metropolitan University describe it as a process of reclaiming Indigenous jurisdiction.[3] The NDN Collective describes it as synonymous with decolonization and dismantling white supremacy.[1] Land Back advocates for Indigenous rights, preserves languages and traditions, and works toward food sovereignty, decent housing, and a clean environment.[3]
The NDN Collective describes the Land Back campaign as a metanarrative that ties together many different Indigenous organizations similar to the Black Lives Matter campaign.[1] They say that the campaign enables decentralised Indigenous leadership and addresses structural racism faced by Indigenous people that is rooted in theft of their land.[1] Land Back emphasizes Indigenous groups’ physical and spiritual connection to their ancestral lands, and the importance of reviving the knowledge and practices that have sustained their people for generations.[9]
Land Back is a movement that advocates for the restoration of communal ownership of traditional and unceded Indigenous lands, while rejecting colonial concepts of real estate and private property.[7] Seeking the return of land is not solely driven by economic interest.[5] The intent is to reestablish important cultural ties between people and place, revitalize ancient cultural practices connected with the land, and restore Indigenous self-determination and sovereignty. [10] When Indigenous communities regain access to ancestral lands, they are empowered to re-engage with traditional foods, medicines, languages and cultural practices, and these activities promote community well-being and cultural continuity. [9][11]
In some cases Land Back promotes a land tax that seeks to collect revenue on people who are of non-indigenous origins.[12][13]
Methods
In some cases, land is directly returned to Indigenous people when private landowners, municipalities, or governments give the land back to Indigenous tribes. This may take the form of a simple transaction within the colonial real estate framework.[2] In other cases, the transfer of ownership of the land may not be feasible. Co-management of public lands has emerged as a means for Indigenous voices to be consulted concerning the stewardship and use of ancestral lands.[9]
The Land Back movement has witnessed numerous successful campaigns, culminating in the return of land to Indigenous stewardship.[19] The following are a number of notable examples, but this list is not comprehensive.
The Wiyot people have lived for thousands of years on Duluwat Island, in Humboldt Bay on California's northern coast.[2] In 2004 the Eureka City Council transferred land back to the Wiyot tribe, to add to land the Wiyot had purchased.[20] The council transferred another 60 acres (24ha) in 2006.[21]
The Mashpee Wampanoag have lived in Massachusetts and eastern Rhode Island for thousands of years. In 2007, about 300 acres (1.2km2) of Massachusetts land was put into trust as a reservation for the tribe. Since then, a legal battle has left the tribe's status—and claim to the land—in limbo.[2]
In 2019, the United Methodist Church gave 3 acres (1.2ha) of historic land back to the Wyandotte Nation of Oklahoma.[2] The US government in 1819 had promised the tribe 148,000 acres (600km2) of land in what is now Kansas City, Kansas. When 664 Wyandotte people arrived, the land had been given to someone else.[26]
In July 2020, an organization of self-identified Esselen descendants purchased a 1,200-acre ranch (4.9km2) near Big Sur, California, as part of a larger $4.5m deal. This acquisition, in historical Esselen lands, aims to protect old-growth forest and wildlife, and the Little Sur River.[27]
In August 2022, the Red Cliff Chippewa in northern Wisconsin had 1,500 acres (6.1km2) of land along the Lake Superior shoreline returned to them from the Bayfield County government. This came after the tribe signed a 2017 memorandum of understanding with the county, acknowledging the Red Cliff Chippewa's desire to see their reservation boundaries restored in full.[30]
In 2024, the Government of British Columbia transferred the title of more than 200 islands off Canada's west coast to the Haida people, recognizing the nation's aboriginal land title throughout Haida Gwaii.[32][33]
In June 2024, a years-long collaboration in land stewardship between The Nature Conservancy and the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community resulted in the restoration of 760 acres of forested land in Baraga County, Michigan, back into Indigenous hands.[34]
In late 2024, the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians received a Transformational Habitat Restoration and Coastal Resilience Grant from NOAA to acquire 187 acres in northern Leelanau County, Michigan, on the coast of Grand Traverse Bay. The site, once and now again known as Mashkiigaki, "the place of medicines," was central to villages established by the Grand Traverse Band's Ojibwe and Odawa predecessors.[35]
In June 2025, the land purchases to create the Blue Creek Salmon Sanctuary and Yurok Tribal Community Forest were completed. Western Rivers Conservancy helped finance the purchases and create the protected area in cooperation with the Yurok Tribe. The land will now be managed by the Yurok Tribe in what is said to be the largest land back conservation deal to date.[39]
1 2 3 Racehorse, Vanessa; Hohag, Anna (2023). "Achieving Climate Justice through Land Back: An Overview of Tribal Dispossession, Land Return Efforts, and Practical Mechanisms for #LandBack". Colorado Environmental Law Journal. 34 (2): 183 – via EBSCO Connect.
↑ Glendenning, Audrey; Nie, Martin; Mills, Monte (Summer 2023). "(Some) Land Back . . . Sort Of: The Transfer of Federal Public Lands to Indian Tribes since 1970". Natural Resources Journal. 63 (2): 200–282 – via EBSCO Connect.
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