Little Shell Tribe gains lease to take over Montana park

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Montana officials have assigned the lease for Hell Creek State Park to the Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians. The Little Shell have been seeking to take over the remote, 337-acre (136-hectare) park since 2019. That’s the same year the tribe gained federal recognition following a decades-long bureaucratic struggle. It won’t assume management until the tribe’s operations plan is accepted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The park about 30 miles north of Jordan has been managed by the state since the 1960s. It has campsites, a boat launch, trails, staff housing and a maintenance building.