Status of Mineral Ownership Underlying the Missouri River within the Boundaries of the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation (North Dakota)

This memorandum, dated May 26, 2020, from the United States Department of the Interior (Office of the Solicitor) to the Assistant Secretary of US Indian Affairs and the Assistant Secretary of Land and Minerals Management rescinds the Solicitor’s January 18, 2017 opinion regarding mineral rights on the Fort Berthold Reservation and asserts that the state of North Dakota, not the Three Affiliated Tribes, is the legal owner of the submerged lands beneath the Missouri River. The Solicitor cites the “Historical Examination of the Missouri River within the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation, Precontact-1902” and his interpretation of laws and case precedent to support this opinion.https://commons.und.edu/indigenous-gov-docs/1184/thumbnail.jp