Editing Indian Reorganization Act (section)

===Implementation and results===
The act slowed the practice of allotting communal tribal lands to individual tribal members. It did not restore to Indians land that had already been patented to individuals. However, much land at that time was still unallotted or allotted to an individual but still held in trust for that individual by the U.S. government.  Because the Act did not disturb existing private ownership of Indian reservation lands, it left reservations as a [[Checkerboarding (land)|checkerboard]] of tribal or individual trust and fee land, which remains the case today.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2015-07-01 |title=Indian Lands Decisions {{!}} U.S. Department of the Interior |url=https://www.doi.gov/ocl/hearings/112/IndianLandsDecisions_091312 |access-date=2024-05-26 |website=www.doi.gov |language=en}}</ref>

However, the Act also allowed the U.S. to purchase some of the fee land and restore it to tribal trust status.  Due to the Act and other federal courts and government actions, more than two million acres (8,000&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>) of land were returned to various tribes in the first 20 years after passage.<ref>{{Cite web |title="self determination without termination" |url=https://www.whitehousehistory.org/self-determination-without-termination |access-date=2024-05-27 |website=WHHA (en-US) |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Indian Reorganization Act of June 18 |url=https://www.webpages.uidaho.edu/~rfrey/329indian_reorganization.htm |access-date=2024-05-27 |website=www.webpages.uidaho.edu}}</ref>

In 1954, the [[United States Department of the Interior]] (DOI) began implementing the [[Indian termination policy|termination]] and relocation phases of the Act, which had been added by Congress. These provisions resulted from the continuing interest of some members of Congress in having American Indians assimilate into the majority society. Among other effects, termination resulted in the legal dismantling of 61 tribal nations within the United States and ending their recognized relationships with the federal government. This also ended the eligibility of the tribal nations and their members for various government programs to assist American Indians.<ref>Canby, William (2004). ''American Indian Law'', p. 24. {{ISBN|0-314-14640-7}}</ref> Of the "Dismantled Tribes" 46 regained their legal status as indigenous communities.{{citation needed|date=June 2016}}