Interior Department reaffirms status of tribe’s reservation

BOSTON (AP) — A Massachusetts tribe’s long-disputed reservation was reaffirmed by the Biden administration on Wednesday. The decision by the U.S. Interior Department confirmed the status of the Mashpee Wampanoag Indian Tribe’s Reservation, Tribe Chairman Brian Weeden said in a written statement. The decision means the tribe’s reservation has remained in federally protected trust status since the reservation land was first placed in trust in November, 2015. Weeden called the decision “a momentous day for the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe.” The tribe traces its ancestry to the Native Americans that shared a fall harvest meal with the Pilgrims in 1621.