SITN maintains archival documentation showing ancestral land relationships through federally issued land patents and related records, including Department of Interior and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Indian land patents.
These records demonstrate:
Indigenous land ownership and stewardship
Continuous family occupancy tied to specific locations
Federal acknowledgment of Indigenous individuals and families as landholders
BLM land patents are preserved as primary-source historical evidence of Indigenous land tenure and continuity prior to and following removal-era policies.