Federal officials have joined with the state of Arizona to begin fulfilling a settlement agreement that was reached with the Hopi Tribe nearly three decades ago. Officials on Friday filed condemnation documents to start transferring dozens of square miles of state land into trust for the Hopi. Tribal leaders called it a historic day. The Hopi Tribe has purchased private land and sought to take neighboring state lands into trust since the 1996 passage of the Navajo-Hopi Land Dispute Settlement Act. The goal is to eliminate the checkerboard of ownership that characterizes much of the lands used by the tribe for ranching in northeastern Arizona.
