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- By Chez Oxendine
- Real Estate
A new draft of the 2026 Farm Bill would make permanent federal restrictions preventing the return of Fort Reno to the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes, renewing a long‑running dispute over ownership and federal stewardship of the historic site.
The House Agriculture Committee advanced the Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2026 on a 34‑17 vote earlier this month. The bill includes language that would remove the expiration date on a prohibition blocking the U.S. Department of Agriculture from transferring the 9,500‑acre Fort Reno property.
The restriction has appeared in multiple farm bills since 2002. Rep. Frank Lucas, R‑Okla., whose district includes Fort Reno, has argued that the tribes’ claims were resolved through earlier federal settlements and that USDA research at the site should continue.
Cheyenne and Arapaho Gov. Reggie Wassana challenged that position in testimony submitted to the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies. Wassana wrote that Fort Reno “sits on land taken from the Cheyenne and Arapaho by federal action,” and that returning it would “acknowledge and remedy that dispossession.”
Wassana pointed to a Department of the Interior opinion concluding the tribes hold a “credible, equitable claim” to acreage not included in the 1965 Indian Claims Commission settlement.
“This land was carved out to be returned to the tribes after military use,” he wrote.
Wassana urged Congress to authorize a formal study of the tribes’ claims and to pass legislation enabling the transfer of Fort Reno back to the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes.
“Returning Fort Reno to the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes is a concrete, lawful, and moral step Congress can take to repair historical wrongs,” he wrote.
