I do not know the details but if the land is inside your lands pass tribal laws on land use and management use Eminent domain for the betterment of the community... I know if a developers want to change that checker board of land they get it done... I do not know details but I know governments local, state and federal can take land if needed with compensation... I think Indian tribes can too... I am telling you those debit cards put the money in the hands of the people...
Well.... Let's just say the tribes have a special relationship with the US government. Eminent domain does not apply to Indian reservation land or Indian trust land. The checkerboard effect was a direct result of the Dawes Act and subsequent legislation designed to circumvent treaty obligations and break up the possibility of a tribe actually gaining international recognition as a nation. The original Great Sioux Reservation would have been just that if left alone - breaking it up by individual ownership allowed non-Indians to acquire substantial amounts of Native territory.
The allotment system worked in tandem with the rancheria system - no group, band or tribal entity could acquire enough land, or enough good land, or enough contiguous land to establish a prosperous, self-sufficient nation. The original 1851 Shasta treaty gave the tribe an area approximately the size of Leichtenstein with good timber, mineral, water and other resources, with a possible port outlet via the Klamath River. This treaty wasn't ratified...and one might see the problem to the US if large reservations such as this proposed one achieved self-sufficiency.
Money issues... oy vey! It's a nice idea to let each individual have a share of tribal funds, if they didn't have so many government strings attached. Without the government's 'help', it might be possible for many impoverished tribes to dig themselves out of it - stores, businesses, manufacturing, all sorts of enterprises could be viable and prosperous. The general funds of most tribes are a deep dark mystery to tribal members for the most part! For example, we would like to put a grocery store on the rez. It's a food desert here. The amazing paperwork and hoop-jumping we have to do for this to happen is nothing short of Herculean. I have hopes for the new BIA head - being a Pueblo, she has first hand experience from this end - but we'll have to see how far she can get. The last Indian to try was Eli Parker...and it didn't go well!