SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois House approved legislation Monday night requiring land management agreements with the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation to include restrictions on gaming operations. The legislation follows a recent decision by the U.S. Department of the Interior to return parts of the Shab-eh-nay Reservation land in DeKalb County to trust for the tribe, after the U.S. government auctioned off the land illegally 175 years ago.
State Representative Brad Fritts said it was the best they could do.
“It was something that I wish had never passed in the beginning, but the constituents of this community, even though none of the bills that I had filed got out of rules with regards to this issue, that would have brought more people to the table in order to have this come forward and create a land management agreement that brings the community involved,” he said. “I really wish those would have come through.”
The returned land includes parts of Shabbona Lake State Park, named after the tribe’s chief. The approval of the bill came after Senate Bill 867 was signed into law last month, authorizing the transfer of approximately 1,500 acres of state park land to the tribe.
