6-25-15 ho chunk ancestral lands

BARABOO, Wis. (AP) — A Native American tribe is celebrating the legal land transfer of 1,553 acres near the Wisconsin River that once belonged to it.  The Ho-Chunk Nation will hold a public celebration on the site Friday afternoon, featuring a round dance and tours of the property. It also will include speeches by Ho-Chunk Nation President Jon Greendeer, U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin and Randy Poelma of the Ho-Chunk Nation’s Department of Environmental Health.  The land transfer was part of a Department of Defense legislative bill passed in December, more than 16 years after the Ho-Chunk Nation filed a claim for federal surplus lands.  The tribe plans to study the land and eventually develop a bison grazing area.