UKB files to more than double its Tahlequah land base with five new trust applications
Staff Reports | Giduwa Cherokee News
The United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians filed five applications with the U.S. Department of the Interior on April 7 to place 112 acres of land in Tahlequah into federal trust, which would expand the tribe’s land base from its current 76 acres to 188 acres.
The applications are filed under the federal fee-to-trust process, governed by the Department of the Interior. The land sits within the boundaries of the Cherokee Nation Reservation as defined under the McGirt v. Oklahoma framework. The UKB is a federally recognized tribe headquartered in Tahlequah. Interior holds authority over trust land decisions for federally recognized tribes.
UKB Principal Chief Jeff Wacoche said the applications rest on the legal record the tribe established over more than a decade of litigation.
“The Keetoowah people have fought for every acre of this land — in courtrooms, in Congress, and across generations,” Wacoche said. “The law is on our side. The courts have spoken. We anticipate an expeditious process to accept these lands into trust, as is our treaty-based right — affirmed by the Tenth Circuit and left intact by the Supreme Court.”
The five applications cover distinct parcels. The largest is Diamondhead Resort, a 63-acre recreational property the UKB recently purchased on the Illinois River. The resort operates lodging, camping, live music and floating trips and employs tribal and community workers. A 40-acre parcel south of the UKB’s existing complex, a 4.26-acre parcel between the tribe’s nutrition building and wellness center, and a 0.99-acre parcel housing the Echota Behavioral Health Administrative Building account for the remaining acreage. Two of the five parcels are contiguous with the tribe’s existing complex.
The applications follow a litigation record extending back more than two decades. The UKB first applied to Interior in 2004 to place its original 76-acre Tahlequah parcel into trust. Interior approved that application in 2011. The Cherokee Nation challenged the decision in federal court. U.S. District Judge Ronald A. White blocked the approval in 2017, ruling that Cherokee Nation consent was required before Interior could take land within its former reservation into trust for another tribe.
The UKB appealed. In September 2019, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned White’s decision, holding explicitly that federal law does not require Cherokee Nation consent and that the tribe’s treaty rights do not confer veto authority over UKB trust acquisitions within the reservation. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the Cherokee Nation’s challenge in June 2020, leaving the Tenth Circuit ruling intact and operative. The UKB signed the deed to the 76-acre parcel in December 2019.
In January 2026, the Interior Department’s Solicitor issued a memorandum opinion concluding that rights over the Cherokee Nation Reservation are equally shared by the UKB and the Cherokee Nation for certain regulatory purposes. On Feb. 28, 2026, a subsequent Interior Solicitor memorandum placed that opinion under Suspension Review. The opinion has not been reinstated, modified or revoked. Interior units are directed not to rely on it as authoritative without first consulting the Office of the Solicitor. The UKB is relying in part on an opinion Interior has instructed its own staff not to treat as binding.
UKB Attorney General Klint Cowan said Interior must still issue a final record of decision on the earlier opinion, which he said would give the tribe another opportunity to establish a casino on its reservation. The UKB operated a casino in Tahlequah from 1986 until its closure in August 2013 following litigation over a separate trust land application for the gaming site.
The Cherokee Nation disputed the new applications in a statement Tuesday.
“The Cherokee Nation, by treaty and consistently recognized by federal courts, is the sole tribal authority within the 7,000-square-mile Cherokee Nation Reservation as recognized by the McGirt decision and related cases,” a Cherokee Nation spokesperson said. “No application submitted by the UKB to encroach on our tribal land will ever change these facts.”
The Cherokee Nation’s claim of sole authority within the reservation is its stated position. No federal court decision naming another tribe as the basis for that exclusivity has been identified in the public record of this case. The Tenth Circuit’s 2019 ruling — the controlling authority on trust acquisitions — reached the opposite conclusion on the consent question.
Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. has previously described the UKB’s treaty claims as fabricated. “Fortunately, neither the Congress, the courts, nor the federal executive branch have agreed with the UKB’s phony narrative,” Hoskin said in an August 2025 statement.
Conflict — UKB and Cherokee Nation hold directly opposing claims to authority within the Cherokee Nation Reservation. The UKB asserts shared reservation rights affirmed by the Tenth Circuit and the January 2026 Interior Solicitor opinion. The Cherokee Nation asserts sole authority by treaty and federal court recognition. No federal determination resolving that conflict has been issued. Interior has not responded publicly to the five new applications as of this publication.