U.S. Department of the Interior Recognizes Tribe’s Legal Homeland in Southwestern New Mexico
Akela, New Mexico (November 23, 2011)— The Fort Sill Chiricahua Warm Springs Apache Tribe (Fort Sill Apache Tribe) today applauded the decision of U.S. Department of Interior Assistant Secretary Larry Echo Hawk to grant the Tribe a Reservation Proclamation for its legally-defined homeland in Luna County, New Mexico, 125 years after its predecessors were forcibly removed from their homeland and imprisoned.

A Reservation Proclamation was formally approved by the Department on November 16, 2011.

When the renowned Apache leader Geronimo surrendered to the United States in 1886, it was on the condition that he and his people would return to their homeland in two years. Instead, the Chiricahua and Warm Springs Apache Tribes were held as prisoners of war for 27 years, far from their aboriginal homeland in New Mexico and Arizona. Long seeking to return, the...