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Donna Loring is a Penobscot Nation Tribal Elder. She formerly served as a Penobscot Nation tribal representative to the Maine Legislature and advisor to Gov. Angus King and Gov. Janet Mills.
In 1980, the state of Maine entered into a historic agreement with the Penobscot and Passamaquoddy Tribes to settle legal claims to over two-thirds of Maine’s land mass. Called the Maine Indian Land Claims Settlement Act, it was billed as a compromise that would bring closure and pave the way for self-governance.
Instead, it became a legal mechanism that locked the tribes into state control, ensuring the state of Maine could retain its authority, wealth, and land — at virtually no cost.
The state walked away with a deal that served its interests, not the tribes’. Maine didn’t contribute a penny to the $81.5 million settlement. All the funds came from the federal government. And yet, Maine gained:
Legal peace from land claims that could have disrupted real estate and resource ownership across the state.
Continued jurisdiction over tribal lands and affairs.
Immunity from lawsuits over past land takings and injustices.
Power to block federal Indian laws from applying to the tribes unless the state agrees.
In exchange, the tribes received funding to repurchase a fraction of their original lands and were bound to a state-controlled legal framework unlike any other tribes in the country.
For centuries, Maine profited from tribal lands and resources — timber, hydroelectric power, shore rights — without consent or compensation. The state even established trust funds for the tribes’ using profits from these stolen lands, yet for over a century, the funds’ interest was never paid to the tribes. Instead, it was funneled to pay Indian agents, state employees who exercised paternalistic authority over tribal citizens.
Essentially, the state became wealthy while the tribes were rendered impoverished. Generations of tribal people were told they were dependent on welfare, when in truth, the so-called “assistance” came from the sale and lease of their own land.
Unlike every other federally recognized tribe in the United States, the tribes in Maine are not governed by federal Indian law. Instead, we remain under the authority of state law. This means when Congress updates protections for tribal nations — like the Clean Water Act, Indian Health Care Improvement Act and laws governing disaster response do not apply in Maine unless the state government agrees to allow them.
Time and again, Maine has refused. This has created a unique and unjust situation: Maine tribes are the only federally recognized tribes in the country that are routinely denied the benefits of federal Indian law.
Meanwhile, other tribal nations use those federal laws to build economies, open health centers, expand law enforcement jurisdiction, and manage natural resources. We must ask permission to do what other tribes are empowered to do by right.
Under the Settlement Act, the state kept broad legal and regulatory control over tribal lands. Maine retained the power to dictate what laws apply on reservations, what development can occur, and what federal protections the tribes can access.
This has allowed the state to continue treating tribal nations not as sovereign governments, but as municipalities or wards of the state — repeating the same paternalism that defined the 19th and 20th centuries.
The result? Continued barriers to self-determination, economic growth, and justice.
Despite the federal recognition of tribal sovereignty, the Settlement Act keeps Wabanaki Nations in a separate — and unequal — legal category. The tribes gave up the right to sue for past abuses or to reclaim lost resources. The state didn’t have to return land or pay for what it took. And it never had to apologize for centuries of harm.
I view this not as a settlement but as a strategic consolidation of power.
What was marketed as a fair resolution has become a tool of containment. The state of Maine continues to benefit from past injustices while using the 1980 settlement as a shield against progress.
The Wabanaki Nations deserve the same legal rights and recognition as every other tribe in the country. That means restoring access to federal laws, affirming tribal sovereignty, and ending the state’s veto power over our future.
Until that happens, Maine’s so-called “settlement” will remain a glaring symbol of imbalance — one that favors the state, while keeping tribal nations in legal and economic chains.
