A 175-year-old injustice took a step toward repair when Illinois Governor JB Pritzker signed a law transferring Shabbona Lake State Recreation Area — 1,500 acres in north-central Illinois — to the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation. The land had been promised to the tribe’s leader in an 1829 C.E. treaty, taken by the federal government when tribal members left to visit family in Kansas, and sold to white settlers. Now, it’s going home.
At a glance
- Land Back Illinois: The transfer marks one of the most concrete Land Back milestones in the Midwest, returning 1,500 acres of north-central Illinois to tribal stewardship roughly two centuries after they were taken.
- Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation: The nation, based in Mayetta, Kansas, became the first federally recognized Native American nation in Illinois less than a year before this transfer — making the land return a swift and significant follow-up to that recognition.
- Public access preserved: The park will remain open to the public, with the state of Illinois continuing to provide maintenance, meaning visitors can still access the 150 campsites and park facilities that draw roughly 500,000 people each year.
A treaty kept, then broken
In 1829 C.E., the U.S. government signed a treaty ceding a 1,280-acre reservation to Chief Shab-eh-nay, a leader of the Potawatomi people. No subsequent treaty or legal action altered that agreement.
But when Shab-eh-nay and members of his community traveled to Kansas to visit relatives, federal officials declared the land abandoned and sold it to white settlers. The dispossession was not the result of war or negotiation — it was opportunism, carried out while the chief was simply away.
The land transferred under the new law is not identical to Shab-eh-nay’s original reservation. The boundaries of that original territory now include privately owned parcels, a golf course, and a county forest preserve. Unwinding all of those ownership claims would have led to years of litigation. The state and the nation chose a path that was achievable — and still meaningful.
Years of quiet, persistent work
The transfer didn’t happen overnight. Nation chairman Joseph “Zeke” Rupnick spent years making the trip from Mayetta, Kansas, to Illinois — meeting with local governments, speaking with neighbors, and helping the community recover after storms by sending equipment from the nation’s resources.
Many local residents worried that the transfer would change the park in ways that would disrupt their lives. Rupnick addressed those concerns directly and consistently. He told Illinois lawmakers that a casino made little sense given the number of state-sanctioned gambling venues already in the region. He didn’t rule out a hotel, noting that the park — 68 miles west of Chicago — draws half a million visitors annually and has no lodging nearby.
That kind of sustained, relationship-based diplomacy is part of what made the transfer possible. “This moment reflects the power of collaboration and the shared desire to build a future rooted in justice and respect,” Rupnick said after the signing. “Illinois has shown true courage and vision by leading the way in the Land Back movement, demonstrating that healing and reconciliation are possible.”
What this means for the Land Back movement
Land Back — the broad movement to return Indigenous lands to Indigenous stewardship — has gained significant momentum in recent years, with transfers happening at the federal, state, and municipal levels across the U.S. and other countries. Illinois’s action adds to that momentum with a legally binding state law, not just a symbolic gesture.
The transfer also comes in the wake of Illinois formally recognizing the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation as a federally recognized nation within the state — a recognition that itself came less than a year before the land transfer. The sequence matters: recognition, then return. Both were necessary.
Globally, Indigenous land rights advocates have long documented the connection between land stewardship and ecological health. Research consistently shows that Indigenous-managed lands tend to have higher biodiversity than comparable areas under other forms of management. Shabbona Lake State Recreation Area, which sits in a region of Illinois with significant natural habitat, may benefit from that stewardship history.
Still, this is one transfer of one parcel. The original treaty territory encompassed more land than what was returned, and the broader history of Potawatomi dispossession across the Great Lakes region — including forced removal and the loss of millions of acres — remains largely unaddressed. The law is a step. The road is long.
A park that belongs to everyone — and to its first people
One of the most striking aspects of this agreement is what it doesn’t change for the general public. The park stays open. The campsites remain. The trails are still there. The 500,000 annual visitors can keep coming.
What changes is who holds the title — and what that means for the people who were told, 175 years ago, that this land was theirs.
“We are proud to once again call this land home,” Rupnick said.
That sentence carries everything: the loss, the persistence, and — finally — the return. Illinois didn’t erase what happened. But it chose to do something real about it, and that choice will outlast the politics that made it possible.
Read more
For more on this story, see: NBC Chicago
For more from Good News for Humankind, see:
- Indigenous land rights: 160 million hectares recognized ahead of COP30
- Renewables now make up at least 49% of global power capacity
- The Good News for Humankind archive on indigenous rights
About this article
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