Overview
- Gov. Tim Walz signed the enabling legislation on Wednesday, May 27, 2026, clearing the final legal hurdle for the University of Minnesota to begin returning about 3,400 acres to the Fond du Lac Band.
- The law transfers state parcels to the university regents and appropriates $1.3 million to defease outstanding bonds so the land no longer counts as state bond‑financed property.
- University and Fond du Lac leaders are negotiating a leaseback and operating agreement under which the university would continue research and manage the Cloquet Forestry Center under an initial 30‑year lease.
- The return implements a recommendation from the 2023 TRUTH Report after more than a century of federal allotment policies and logging that moved reservation land into non‑tribal hands and into university possession in 1909.
- Fond du Lac officials described the move as a long‑awaited reunion that restores access, cultural ties, and tribal stewardship of forest, wetlands and streams, and observers say it could shape future university‑tribal reparations and land restorations.