The ownership of what is rightfully ours must be respected.
We will always defend our land and property rights.
Since 1825, the U.S. Government has continuously declared that, within the Fort Berthold Reservation, the Missouri Riverbed and the minerals beneath it belong to the MHA Nation.
We Are People of the River
“The people of the MHA Nation have this belonging to that river. And so, if you read from Treaties to Executive Orders, there’s always a full intention and recognition by the federal government that these people belong along the river, and with that river. It is essential to who they are.”
— Chairman Mark Fox
Our Rights
George Catlin painting of a Hidatsa earth lodge village.
MHA Nation’s mineral property rights beneath the Missouri River have been documented in legal agreements over nearly two centuries. MHA Nation’s ability to be self-sufficient is dependent upon our treaty rights being honored and upheld.
“We are raised to believe that the Missouri River is a part of who we are. Our people are of this land and this water. The idea that the federal government wants to deny that this is our river and these are our rights, ignores the fact that my ancestors were born of the Missouri River. This is the home of the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara and we have always lived here.”
— Monica Mayer, Tribal Councilmember, MHA Nation
Ancestral Lands Taken and Destroyed
When the Garrison Dam was built, we lost a quarter of the land base of the Fort Berthold Reservation; 90 percent of our people were forced to relocate from their homes and villages on the Missouri River.
Following years of displacement that uprooted an entire way of life, our people work hard every day to re-establish their livelihoods with the resources we have left.
