About PDA
Public domain allotments or “Indian homesteads” are individual parcels of land held in trust by the federal government for California Indian people. Due to the history of non-ratification of treaties in California (1850s-early 1900s), many California Indian people were dispossessed of their lands, and public domain allotments are some of the only landholdings California Indian people have. Under the federal policy of termination, many California tribes saw their government-to-government relationship terminated in the 1950s and 1960s, leaving many California Indian people without federal recognition. These remaining public domain allotments are some of the only formal recognition of allottees’ identity as aboriginal people of California.