Buying a home near Indigenous lands in the US?

M

Moderately Lethal

Other Christian
Is it possible to buy a home near Indigenous American (aka Native American formerly know as "American Indian") land these days?( Indigenous land does not necessarily mean "reservation", by the way.)
Currently I can work from home and do not necessarily have to go to a city every day (albeit it's good to remain no more than 1.5 hours drive away from a major town/city)
Reasons:
1. I would like to live near beautiful nature.
2. Want to be left alone.
3. I would like to survive the next SHTF scenario (that is likely to be much worse than the Covid-19 pandemic was). (The government is less likely to target those areas, I assume)
4. I do not want to live anywhere near a trailer park or a section 8 housing project (I probably won't need to explain why).

Indigenous lands happen to be some of the most beautiful parts of each state they located in. For instance, did you know that not all of Arizona is a barren desert? Some northern parts get surprisingly lots of rainfall -they are green, lush, mostly forested areas. (Yes, most of these nicer nicer parts are Indigenous lands)

In some other states I visited in the 2010s (California, Oregon ,Washington, Idaho, Wyoming, Montana etc) Indigenous lands were also stunning. Yes, I prefer the Western half of the US, in general.

Also, interacted with several members of nations (tribes) in several states - some were very friendly, some very reserved - but never experienced outright hostility from any of them.

I see myself as a modern version of the original "pioneers" in the 1800s American frontier, "Mountain men" and "trappers"...the first Europeans in the American West -who were left alone and often respected by the indigenous tribes. Most of them married and had families with Indigenous women.

It may be too late for me to start a family(I am in my early 40s), albeit have not given up hope completely yet. In the US the only ladies showing genuine interest in me were either first generations Latina immigrants (mostly mestizas from central America) or Indigenous American ladies (mostly from the "poorer" nations). While I am able to speak Spanish, I would rather choose a wife from the latter group. My future children may be able to actually become enrolled citizens of the nation and actually have a future in the US. (respected by the federal government, access to scholarships and other federal funds, tax exemptions, benefit from DEI hires etc). Plus Indigenous culture is something I respect and find very interesting.
(Without doxxing myself, I am 6feet3", in shape. Reserved but not socially awkward. Have good game and handle social situations ok)

Land and home prices going up all over the US, so quickly trying to by something reasonable while I still can.
 
Last edited:
Crime can be really bad in and around certain Indian reservations. I've heard lots of bad stories. Do your homework first.

Not sure how much crime data is available for those, since they're essentially self policed. But you could probably find out by asking the locals.
 
mountainaire said:
Crime can be really bad in and around certain Indian reservations. I've heard lots of bad stories. Do your homework first.

Not sure how much crime data is available for those, since they're essentially self policed. But you could probably find out by asking the locals.
Click to expand...
I am aware of that. I remember having a long chat with a friendly officer from a local tribal police force. He was quiet open about the problems in his area and the recorded local crime rates.
Having said that - it varies from tribe to tribe and place to place. Some are quiet dangerous, some are safer than your own bedroom.
 
Moderately Lethal said:
Reasons:
1. I would like to live near beautiful nature.
2. Want to be left alone.
3. I would like to survive the next SHTF scenario (that is likely to be much worse than the Covid-19 pandemic was). (The government is less likely to target those areas, I assume)
4. I do not want to live anywhere near a trailer park or a section 8 housing project (I probably won't need to explain why).
Click to expand...
1. Lots of that. Some reservations have old carve-outs of pre-settled land that is regular private property available for you to buy.
2. You'll generally be left alone. You may love it, but you will truly be isolated even if you marry into a tribe. You'll never have a Certificate of Indian Blood, so your health care, etc, will come largely from white man sources. Not sure if BIA hospitals accept normie insurance. They are the only source of medical care in big chunks of land, if I understand where you are considering. You'll certainly get emergency care (seen that first hand), but routine stuff I just don't know. It might be worth looking into. You have a great deal of experience so far, but are you familiar with the term "who's 'we,' kimosabe?"
3. 6 years ago, I would've agreed with you completely. COVID changed that. One small tribe went so far as to completely quarantine their land. Nobody in, nobody out. Logistical drops happened at the tribal gate, and that was it. The Navajo Nation had highway checkpoints at times in the middle of nowhere, but even outside of the cities that are logistical hubs (those didn't last long, but they happened). I never thought their people would put up with it, but they sure did. Maybe it came down to "the feds are paying the bills, so we have to comply with their rules" kind of logic. They do practice medicine man cures, but when those don't work, it is off to the white man hospital for chemo. CV did hit the tribes hard, I believe because of co-mortality rates. My shop is directly under a helicopter line of flight from one reservation to the major hospitals, and there were nightly flights, sometimes several, at peak CV. I'm not trying to argue CV lunacy here, just stating facts.
4. BIA housing subdivisions: Some are ok, if the tribe is actively managed by good leaders. Others, not so - Section 8 on steroids, complete with holes in the walls so horses can stick their necks in to drink out of the bathtub. Decades ago, the Wind River Rez in Wyoming was famous for beat up mobile homes and such houses. That may have changed.

If you marry into the right tribe, your children will be eligible for casino distributions, and they can be substantial. Plenty of good and bad with that. Some of the tribes are loaded and use the money to actively help their people. Tribal gov't and politics are a mystery.

I do wish you the best of luck and hope you keep us updated. NA in this region can be such pleasant people, genuinely humble and with a reserved, dry humor. Some NA resent the white man, you've probably seen that already, but most folk are kind if a little reserved.

As for NA independence: it really faded during CV. The tribes realized they are vulnerable to water shortages, power supply, medical care, etc. They were sure happy Uncle Sam was around and took much money for their compliance. "Sovereign Nation" talk seems to have cooled off.
 
Two places off the top of my head are Colville Reservation in Washington and Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota.

Colville is good cowboy country and the Indians are solid for the most part Omak has an amazing rodeo, find some youtube on it. But Colville is a nicer town.

Pine Ridge (Black Hills) is pretty good too, but those Cree peoples can be pretty wild so expect to see more negative things. But the Black Hills are awesome.

Both these areas are cheap as well.
 
The only real reason from what you metioned to live near tribal lands is to marry a Native. The rest do not make a lot of sense and most reservations are not located on beautiful lands, most are on quite bland and barren territories, you just hit tourist spots and you would have to pay tourist spot land prices in those nicer areas near a reservation or not.
Your best bet to mix with the natives is to get teaching credentials and move to teach on one, I think. Other than that the Natives want to be left alone themselves mostly, do not like outside world and can even be hostile in the vicinity of the reservation.
You probably would run into the most Natives to hang out with in Alaska.
Life is hard in most of those tribal areas, they got bad deals on their land, harsh climate, hard to get water and impossible to buy healthy food. Sure, you can find some touristy top dollar place like small Cherokee reservation near Smoky Mountains NP, with very nice vegetation and plenty of water, but you will have to pay top dollar for land. Reality elsewhere is a bit more bleak.
Forests on Apache reservation in Arizona are just a small fraction of Arizona forests, most forests in AZ are not reservation land. Apache-Sitgreaves NF, which is one of multiple NF in AZ, is just a name, it does not mean that its tribal land, most of it is not. You need to start studying maps showing land staus and land cover. You can buy land amd live close to Fort Apache or any other reservation but you will be living near other white or mexican people just like anywhere else, its the same life, same stuff, same trailer park types only less hardcore drinking than on the reservation itself.
On tribal land, need to pay for a permit to camp, often to just day use.
If your goal is beautiful wild landscape just buy land near National forests, parks or BLM, at least you get free access and camping on most of it
 
Last edited:
If you really have to be near a reservation you might look at area near Show Low. Can get inexpensive land in the junipers, not barren, but prepare to possibly haul water, just like most do on nearby reservations. This way you can be close to very large Navajo and Apache reservations, National forests and BLM land. Not that far from Flagstaff and even Phoenix. But it is really a regular life just like elsewhere. Lots of tourists. Apaches and Navajos are much friendlier than reservations up North. Being left alone in shtf not sure about that. In this case crime would explode and I would not want to be near tribal lands. Also during corona flu they convinced Natives that its not the vaxxines, remesdevir and ventilators were killing people but the flu, so the measures around tribal lands were truly draconian and there was hostiity even outside tribal lands and two tourists were shot and killed for visiting in 2020 on Navajo land. Even now, I know some guy was arrested for political social media posts right near Show Low, by fbi. To be really left alone the best bet is probably Alaska
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top