Umatilla signs letter of support for federal land transfer legislation, with intention of transferring “Old Town” to CTUIR
By Griffin Beach on Monday, February 23rd, 2026 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories
UMATILLA – The Umatilla City Council approved a resolution during its Feb. 17 meeting to sign a letter of support for the Tri-Cities Shoreline Reconveyance, a federal legislative effort to return Columbia River shoreline ownership to local and tribal entities.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers acquired portions of Columbia River shoreline for flood control in the mid-20th century, and since then local governments have entered into leases to maintain those lands, but the letter of support notes that the maintenance is “increasingly impractical” for a small municipality.
The U.S. Congress had previously acknowledged the appropriateness of local ownership of those lands in the 1996 Water Resources Development Act to authorize shoreline transfers, but through the years the process outlined in that Act proved to be difficult in practice.
The Reconveyance proposed would allow that process to be more streamlined and cost-effective with a no-cost transfer model.
Umatilla is hoping to transfer the “Old Town” land along the river to the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR), who per the Treaty of 1855 hold first refusal rights for any federal land transfers.
Umatilla City Manager David Stockdale said a proposed memorandum of agreement with CTUIR would facilitate a collaborative division of land, ensuring properties are moved into the most appropriate local ownership.
“Similar to what you saw with the (Columbia Development Authority) although that process took significantly longer than I think this would take,” said Stockdale.
The agreement would also allow Umatilla to work with the CTUIR on additional lands (referenced in the map above) to see if it was viable to add additional lands to the legislation, including the Umatilla Marina and Umatilla River shoreline properties that are owned by the USACE but leased to Umatilla. The Umatilla School District also has a lease agreement with the USACE for the Umatilla River shoreline land that includes the Umatilla High School football field.
If those additional lands are added to the legislation the current leases would shift to CTUIR.
Map of USACE lands in Umatilla from 2-17-2026 Umatilla City Council packet.
