Dept. of Interior makes recommendation on Land Trust
By
Susan Campbell
Story Created:
Feb 15, 2008 at 6:18 PM EDT
Story Updated:
Feb 17, 2008 at 12:36 AM EDT
February 22 is a big day for all parties involved with the Oneida Land Trust Application.
That's because the Department of the Interior will be making a recommendation about the status of the land that the nation owns. There are four parties involved in the land claim dispute.
Oneida County, Madison County, The State of New York, and the Oneida Nation - they've all been invited to Washington DC on Feb 22 to hear what the Department of the Interior has to say about whether land owned by the Oneida Nation should go into trust.
What that means is that the 17,000 acres in question - in Oneida and Madison counties - could be protected by the federal government, and therefore, tax exempt.
And even though a recommendation will be made by the Department of the Interior Oneida County Executive Anthony Picente says the issue is still far from being resolved.
"To wish it to not be an issue, and that no land goes into trust, I don't know that that is possible at this point since we've traveled down this road so long," said Picente. "It's not something that one way or another we're going to walk out of there next week that we know, ok, this is the route we're going."
County Executive Picente also says that no matter what the decision, it promises to be a historic one, for both the state and federal governments.
Oneida Nation officials declined to comment, but a spokesperson did say that nobody from the nation will make the trip to Washington, DC. next week.
Most Popular