Oregon tribe gets control of 18,600 acres of forest land.
S. 5440 — Grand Ronde Land Transfer Act of 2026 · Filed by Jeff Merkley (D-OR) · 1 cosponsor · Introduced Sep 17, 2026 · Referred to committee
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What it does
The bill moves about 18,628 acres of federal forest land to the Interior Department. The Interior Department will hold it in trust for the Grand Ronde tribe. The land becomes part of the Grand Ronde Reservation. The tribe will manage the land. The public can still hunt, fish, and recreate there. The tribe cannot use the land for gaming.
Who it affects
The Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon gain control. The public keeps hunting and fishing rights forever. The federal government keeps some oversight of timber sales.
One thing to notice
The tribe manages the land, but public hunting and fishing rights stay permanent. The tribe cannot build casinos, and unprocessed log sale rules stay in effect.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
1 cosponsor: 1 Democrats.
- Sep 17, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Sep 17, 2026 — Referred to Senate Committee on Indian Affairs · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Words to know
- trust — The federal government holds and manages land for a tribe.
- reservation — Land set aside by the federal government for a Native American tribe.
- gaming — Gambling or casinos.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (5,220 characters) on Oct 3, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
As of — page rendered 2026-10-20.
“Oregon tribe gets control of 18,600 acres of forest land.” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/s5440/simple Report an error
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