Yet these same lands are basically given to Potlatch and Champion. Who will be there when there are no forests except for a monoculture poppel and tree farms. You can't eat money. Lots of promises and no action. Two free lunches, some Kodak moments and immense budget cuts.
Indian policy has come far in America, there's no question.
Until almost the end of the 19th Century Indians were dealt with by the Department of War. Since then Indian people have been in the Department of Interior, we are the only humans in the Department of Interior treated as a natural resource. This is a problem in budget cuts. Literally we are fighting with ducks over appropriations. Right now in the international arena the U.S. State Department is opposing the classification of indigenous peoples under international law as peoples.