In the largest return of public land to First Nations in the continental United States in more than 100 years, the U.S. government is giving back 84,000 acres in northern Utah that it took from the Utes in 1916 to secure the rights to oil shale reserves.
Part of the deal is that the Utes have to contribute a percentage of any profits they derive from oil and natural gas production to the cleanup of a long-abandoned uranium site 120 km south of their reservation.
