More than 460 acres of land in Virginia has been returned to the Rappahannock Tribe, the Department of Interior announced.
Why it matters: The land, at Fones Cliffs, on the eastern side of the Rappahannock River in Virginia, is the ancestral home of the tribe and has long been considered a sacred site.
The big picture: The push to return the 465 acres is part of the Biden administration’s “America the Beautiful” initiative.
– The tribe’s reacquisition of the land was formally celebrated at community event on Friday attended by Interior Secretary Deb Haaland and Martha Williams, the principal deputy director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
– The site marks the place where the Rappahannock Tribe first encountered English settlers in the early 1600s, and also hosts one of the largest nesting bald eagle populations on the Atlantic coast, per the press release.
– The Rappahannock Tribe will own the land, which will be publicly accessible and “held with a permanent conservation easement,” per the press release, which added that there are plans to create trails and a replica of a 16th century village, “where Tribal members can educate the public about their history and Indigenous approaches to conservation.”
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465 acres of land in eastern Virginia has been returned to the Rappahannock Tribe, the Department of Interior announced, as part of the Biden administration's "America the Beautiful" initiative.
https://t.co/Rna2BCw8S2— Axios (@axios) April 3, 2022
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