Federal government may soon return tribal land to Douglas Indian Association
The federal government may soon return a traditional subsistence site connected to Douglas Island to its original tribal owners.
Mayflower Island is a small, 3-acre island adjacent to Douglas Harbor and Sandy Beach. It’s connected to Douglas via a short road and sits near the site of the former Douglas Indian Village, which Douglas’ city government burned in 1962. The City and Borough of Juneau formally apologized for the burning last fall.
At a Juneau Assembly lands, housing and economic development committee meeting earlier this week, members gave initial approval for a plan that would acquire the island from the federal government and then give it to the Douglas Indian Association. DIA officials did not respond to a request for comment.
Dan Bleidorn, the city’s lands and resources manager, said this is a plan that has been years in the making.
“This is on the list of 2025 Assembly goals for community wellness and public safety. The goal states to ‘support Douglas Indian Association’s efforts to acquire Mayflower Island,” he said.
The island once served as a traditional subsistence site and yielded a herring run and spawn used by the Douglas Indian Village. The DIA is currently in the process of building a cultural learning center at the former site of the village.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, the property has been under the federal government’s stewardship since 1890. The island was originally reserved for the U.S. Navy to use as a naval station. But, in 1948, it was transferred to the Federal Bureau of Mines, which built a mineral laboratory on the site to process ore samples for research.
The BLM took over the property in 1996 when Congress closed the Bureau of Mines. The U.S. Coast Guard also used the site under an agreement with the BLM, but that ended in 2023.
Bleidorn said the actual property transfer is likely still a few years out. But the Assembly’s approval is the next step in moving that process along. The resolution will still need to come before the Assembly for final approval.