MADISON CO. -- The Madison County Legislature chambers became the scene of a Native American celebration Monday, as the Stockbridge-Munsee band of Mohican Indians ended a land claim dispute with the State of New York. The tribe has agreed to drop its land claim in exchange for permission to build a casino in the Catskills.

Governor David Paterson told a standing room only crowd that the agreement ends 150 years of conflict. We are seeing a new day. Hopefully, what will be a catalyst for bringing many of these disputes to closure." Paterson said

After the revolutionary war, the band of Mohican Indians settled in the Stockbridge and Munnsville area of Madison County. In the 1800's, New York State evicted the tribe, and they settled in Wisconsin. In 1986, the Stockbridge-Munsee band filed a claim for 23-thousand acres that had been "illegally" taken from them

Under the agreement, the Stockbridge - Munsee band will acquire nearly two acres in Madison county for a park or memorial, and build a multi- million dollar casino in the Sullivan County Town of Thompson. The casino is expected to create thousands of jobs and spur outside development since it's expected to attract gamblers from the New York City area. As President of the Stockbridge-Munsee Community, Kimberly Vele told CNY Central's Jim Kenyon the tribe will pay taxes. "As part of our compact we have agreements that address all of the tax issues." Vele said, "With respect to sales to non-indians, I believe we would agree to collect state sales tax."

The agreement signed by Governor Paterson and tribal leaders must be approved by the federal Department of the Interior., and may be subject to legal challenges from environmentalists and other indian nations.

EARLIER COVERAGE:

The Governor announced a major land claim settlement agreement with a local tribe Monday, paving the way for an Indian-owned casino in the Catskills. The agreement is between the Stockbridge-Munsee Community, Band of Mohican Indians and the state.

The settlement agreement will end the Stockbridge-Munsee Tribe's claim to over 23,000 acres in Madison County by transferring rights to 1.84 acres of land in Madison County to the Stockbridge-Munsee.

The Tribe will also transfer 72 acres of land it owns to the Stockbridge Valley Central School District and 50 acres to Briggs & Stratton Power Products Group in Munnsville.

The Tribe will also replace the 23,000 acres it claims in Madison County for 330 acres in Sullivan County that the Tribe will convey to the Federal government, thus allowing the Sullivan County land to be taken into trust on behalf of the Tribe.

"Today's land claim settlement agreement represents decades of diligent effort and heroic patience on the part of the Stockbridge-Munsee Tribe through the years," Governor Paterson said. "Today we are signing a land claim settlement agreement that is beneficial to all parties."

The agreement now goes to the Secretary of the Interior for the final signature.

The Stockbridge-Munsee Community, Band of Mohican Indians, has a long history in the New York, pre-dating the British colonies. In the early 1700's, colonists expanding westward drove the Tribe from its ancestral lands. Several bands of Mohicans first re-settled at Stockbridge in western Massachusetts, where they resided until after the Revolutionary War.

In 1785, the Oneida Nation of New York invited the Stockbridge-Munsee to settle in its territory. This area became known as "New Stockbridge," with its title to those central New York lands confirmed under State and Federal law at the urging of the Oneida Nation. In the ensuing decades, settler expansion again forced the Stockbridge-Munsee from Central New York, and they were resettled on a reservation in Wisconsin, where they reside today.