What is the Indian Land Consolidation Act?
The Indian Land Consolidation Act (ILCA) is a United States federal law enacted in 1983 to help Native Americans in South Carolina and other states break up fractionated, or divided, individual Indian land allotments and restore them to tribal ownership. The ILCA allows Native Americans to consolidate multiple allotments, purchased with trust funds, into a single land base of beneficial and productive use. The primary purpose of the ILCA was to help Native Americans in South Carolina become economically independent by increasing the value of their land, thus allowing the tribes to access capital and create job opportunities. This was accomplished by enabling the tribes to transfer their fractionated allotments and preferred land uses to a single tribal or individual buyer. This allowed Native Americans to develop their land holdings through agricultural or business endeavors, while preserving the traditional use of the land. The ILCA also gave the tribes the ability to reclaim culturally or spiritually significant sites that had become fractionated. In doing so, the tribes could protect culturally important places for the community, as well as bring in economic benefit through potential tourism and development around these sites. The Indian Land Consolidation Act has been successful in helping Native American tribes in South Carolina reclaim control of their fractionated allotments and put them to beneficial and productive use. By providing access to capital and creating job opportunities, the ILCA has been an important part of helping the Native Americans in South Carolina become economically independent.
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