Pulaski County Judge Barry Hyde has sent a letter to the Bureau of Indian Affairs asking them to turn down a request from the Quapaw Tribe.
The tribe submitted an application asking that 160 acres of land adjacent to the Little Rock Port Authority's industrial park be given federal trust status. In his letter dated Monday, Hyde says the tribe has not demonstrated the need for federal designation with its plan to use the land for agriculture.
Local and state officials have raised concerns that granting the federal trust would exempt the land from local and state laws and free the Quapaw to open a casino.
The Quapaw Tribe bought the land after finding graves dating back hundreds of years to when the tribe was in Arkansas.
