Whose landSauk, Meskwaki, Ioway and Missouria lands

Northeast Missouri / Southeast Iowa

USADissected till plains and tallgrass prairie on the Mississippi border

Whose land: Sauk, Meskwaki, Ioway and Missouria lands. Dissected till plains and tallgrass prairie on the Mississippi border. Northeast Missouri and Southeast Iowa ask you to learn the removal history before you look at any listing.

Land standing · qualitative, never scored

Sauk (Sac), Meskwaki (Fox) and Ioway land, taken by treaty cession and removal, not unceded in law. In 1824 the Sauk and Foxes and the Ioway each quit-claimed their claims in Missouri between the Mississippi and Missouri rivers, which takes in Schuyler, Scotland and Clark. After the Black Hawk War the 1832 treaty took the Iowa land reaching 50 miles west from the Mississippi along the Missouri line (Lee, Van Buren and part of Davis), and in 1842 the Sauk and Meskwaki ceded every remaining claim west of the Mississippi and were removed. Dancing Rabbit's own acknowledgement also names the Osage, Otoe-Missouria and Illini as original peoples of northeast Missouri. The Meskwaki came back and bought land with their own money in 1857, at Tama, a county far from here. The living nations include the Meskwaki Nation (the Sac & Fox Tribe of the Mississippi in Iowa), the Sac and Fox Nation in Oklahoma, the Sac & Fox Nation of Missouri in Kansas and Nebraska, whose own history says its people were removed to northeast Missouri, and the Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska and the Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma

Sources for this row (1)
  • In the 1824 treaty the Sauk and Fox tribes gave up their claims to lands within the state of Missouri between the Mississippi and Missouri rivers; the page names the Sac & Fox Nation of Missouri in Kansas and Nebraska, the Sac & Fox Nation of Oklahoma and the Sac & Fox Tribe of the Mississippi in Iowa as successors. Treaty with the Sauk and Foxes, 1824 (Kappler) (opens in a new tab)
TenureFee simple under two state regimes that must not be blurred. Missouri bars aliens and foreign businesses from agricultural land once aggregate foreign ownership passes one percent of the state's farm acreage (RSMo 442.571) and restricts corporate farming, with an exemption for educational, religious or charitable nonprofits (RSMo 350.015). Iowa bars nonresident aliens, foreign businesses and foreign governments from agricultural land with listed exceptions (Iowa Code 9I.3), and restricts corporate, LLC and trust holders under chapter 9H, with an exception for nonprofit corporations (9H.4). The communities here hold land in common through nonprofit land trusts: Dancing Rabbit's 280 acres, bought in 1997, are leased to members as warrens, not sold; Red Earth Farms is a 76-acre community land trust; Sandhill is a 168-acre nonprofit land project
Arriving in good faithNot as a lone buyer arriving on price. The community's own history lists affordable land with no zoning and no building codes among its land-search criteria, and arriving on price repeats that founding move: not there. The ways in that could be verified are slow and run through people, and all three are in Scotland County, Missouri. Dancing Rabbit asks for a visit first, usually at least a week, then a letter of intent, a community survey and an interview, then six months as a resident before a membership application, and members lease land from the land trust. Sandhill's process is a visitor form, a call, group consensus, 14 days on the farm and a year of residency, generally 18 to 24 months in all, and it is looking for families with children and people who want to farm. Red Earth Farms takes scheduled visitors only, from May to October, and makes your letter available to everyone in the community before you come. No Nation's page opened for this entry offers settlers a route in; any relationship with them is theirs to open, not the arriving community's to claim
Sources for this row (1)
What it asksHold the removal in the same sentence as the arrival, and do not repeat the founding move named above. Where arriving would mean buying around neighbours in a farming country with an ageing population, or landing as a lone buyer chasing low prices rather than joining a community that already holds land in common, the honest answer is not there. What it asks is to join existing covenants and work rotations, to keep the removals named, as Dancing Rabbit's acknowledgement does for the peoples it lists, and to say plainly, as Dancing Rabbit's acknowledgement does, that the name and the land carry a history still being worked out
Sources for this row (1)

Where the answer is not here

  • Buying around neighbours in a farming country with an ageing population, or landing as a lone buyer chasing low prices rather than joining a community that already holds land in common.

Basis: Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage: history (the community's own account of its land search) (opens in a new tab); Treaty with the Sauk and Foxes, 1824 (Kappler) (opens in a new tab)

First conversations

Public bodies and protocols to read first. Pointers, not introductions.

Host nation or community

Community already there

Network or association

These are pointers to public bodies. None of them has agreed to be contacted, and none is a person. Read first; ask how they want to be approached; never assume.

Further sources for this entry (22)

Assembled from public sources and checked on 2026-10-05. No nation or community named here has reviewed this entry.

How to arrive in Northeast Missouri / Southeast Iowa

Where arriving in a place would harm the community already there, the honest answer is not to go.

Every region in this tool is already someone’s home.

What living here asks of you

Northeast Missouri and Southeast Iowa ask you to learn the removal history before you look at any listing. The Sauk, Meskwaki and Ioway quit-claimed the Missouri side in 1824, lost the Iowa land within about 50 miles of the Mississippi in 1832 and every remaining Iowa claim in 1842. Dancing Rabbit's own history says its founders searched for land with no zoning, no building codes and a low price, and its land acknowledgement now names that legacy; for a lone buyer arriving on price, the honest answer here is not there. The doors that exist are slow: Sandhill's process runs 18 to 24 months, Dancing Rabbit asks for a visit, then six months of residency, and members lease from a land trust rather than buy. Two states mean two foreign-ownership regimes: Iowa bars nonresident aliens from buying agricultural land, and Missouri caps foreign ownership of agricultural land at one percent of the state's total, with review by its department of agriculture.

Source: Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage, History (the community's own account of how it chose this land); Iowa Code §9I.3; Revised Statutes of Missouri §442.571 (opens in a new tab)

Place · around the reference point, 100 km

Dissected till plains and tallgrass prairie on the Mississippi border

Where it sits
In the Central Tallgrass prairie, and partly the Central US forest-grasslands transition.
Where the water goes
Des Moines, Skunk and Salt, with the Chariton (Missouri River) to the west. Drains to Gulf of Mexico, by way of the Mississippi and the Missouri.

Ecoregions: RESOLVE Ecoregions 2017 (CC BY 4.0), computed within 100 km of the region's reference point, not its footprint. Watershed named from the region dossier and checked against Natural Earth rivers.

A descriptive label written for this tool. The names of peoples and places belong under Whose land.

The way in · qualitative · not legal advice

What lawful entry involves, in order

Who may hold
Two different regimes sit on either side of one state line. Iowa: a nonresident alien (anyone who is neither a US citizen nor a lawful permanent resident), a foreign business or a foreign government, or its agent, trustee or fiduciary, may not purchase or otherwise acquire agricultural land, with listed exceptions: devise or descent (divest within two years), security interests, debt collection (sell within two years), research, and up to 320 acres for an immediate or pending non-farming use, to be converted within five years. Missouri: no alien or foreign business may acquire agricultural land if total aggregate alien and foreign ownership of agricultural acreage in the state exceeds one percent of the state's agricultural acreage; a sale goes to the director of agriculture for review only if no completed IRS Form W-9 is signed by the purchaser. Missouri Executive Order 24-01 of 2 January 2024 adds pre-closing submission and bars buyers who are citizens, residents or entities of a foreign adversary within 10 miles of a staffed military facility. Iowa Code 2026 ch. 9I, ss. 9I.1, 9I.3 and 9I.4; RSMo 442.571; Missouri Executive Order 24-01
How a group can hold
Nonprofit corporation (Iowa)Not-for-profit corporation (Missouri)Dancing Rabbit Land Trust
  • Nonprofit corporation (Iowa). Iowa's corporate-farming restriction on certain corporations, limited liability companies and trusts does not apply to agricultural land, including a leasehold, acquired by a nonprofit corporation as defined in section 9H.1(20)(a), a corporation under section 504.141 that is not a foreign corporation. Iowa Code 2026 ch. 9H, s. 9H.4(1)(c)
  • Not-for-profit corporation (Missouri). Missouri's corporate-farming restriction does not reach an interest acquired by an educational, religious or charitable not-for-profit or pro forma corporation or association. RSMo 350.015
  • Dancing Rabbit Land Trust. Dancing Rabbit's cost-of-living page lists the land trust (DRLT) among its co-ops and a lease fee for members leasing land, about 25 dollars a month for a 2,500 square foot leasehold: members lease from the land trust rather than own the ground. Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage, Cost of living
First claim
  • No statutory pre-emption right on ordinary farmland was found in the sources opened.
  • In Missouri, a sale or transfer of agricultural land goes to the director of agriculture for review only if no completed IRS Form W-9 is signed by the purchaser (RSMo 442.571(1)); proposed acquisitions are to be submitted to the department to test the one percent restriction (442.571(3)).
Direction
The Iowa Code chapter was amended by 2024 Acts chapters 1007 and 1090 (the 2026 Code shows the annual report repealed and online registration added), and Missouri added Executive Order 24-01 in January 2024; RSMo 442.571 itself shows an effective date of 28 August 2015. Whether the executive order stands under the present governor, and any 2026 session bills in either state, were not checked.tightening · as of 2026
  1. Go through a community's own visitor and membership process, not through the land market. Dancing Rabbit asks people to come first through its Visitor Program (one- or two-week sessions, applied for in advance); only after an in-person visit of usually at least a week can you write a letter of intent to its Membership and Residency Committee, which surveys the community, interviews you, and issues a recommendation that members have two weeks to comment on. A new resident signs a residency agreement and lives as a member for six months; residents may rent land but may not build or hold warren leases, and cannot buy or build a home. Low land prices and thin county rules are the pull that brings arrivals to this part of the Midwest: the framework names that pull as a displacement vector and does not treat it as a reason to come.
    Who decides: Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage, Membership and Residency CommitteeDancing Rabbit Ecovillage, How to Become a Resident / Member
  2. Before thinking about any parcel, decide which side of the state line it is on, since the two foreign-buyer regimes differ: in Iowa a nonresident alien, foreign business or foreign government may not acquire agricultural land, and in Missouri foreign ownership is capped at one percent of state agricultural acreage with Department of Agriculture review.
    Who decides: The county recorder and assessor; the state's department of agriculture (Missouri) or secretary of state registration (Iowa)Iowa Code 2026 ch. 9I; RSMo 442.571; Missouri Executive Order 24-01
  3. If a group wants to hold land, work out the holding body before any deed: a nonprofit corporation is exempt from Iowa's corporate-farming restriction (9H.4(1)(c)) and a charitable or educational not-for-profit is exempt from Missouri's (RSMo 350.015); Dancing Rabbit's members lease land from its land trust.
    Who decides: The founding group; a lawyer licensed in the state concernedIowa Code 2026 ch. 9H s. 9H.4; RSMo 350.015
What the law rules out
  • Iowa bars a nonresident alien, foreign business or foreign government from purchasing or otherwise acquiring agricultural land, and a person who acquires it in violation remains in violation for as long as the interest is held (Iowa Code 9I.3).
  • In Missouri, no alien or foreign business may acquire agricultural land once total aggregate alien and foreign ownership exceeds one percent of the state's agricultural acreage, and no person may hold such land as an agent, trustee or fiduciary for an alien or foreign business in violation of the Act (RSMo 442.571).
  • Under Missouri Executive Order 24-01 a citizen, resident or entity of a foreign adversary listed in 15 C.F.R. 7.4 may not acquire or own agricultural land within 10 miles of a staffed military facility.
Honest gaps
  • County zoning, building-permit and septic rules were not opened for any of the seven counties, so the zoning route is unknown; the county recorder, assessor and planning or sanitarian office hold them.
  • No statutory pre-emption holder was identified; nothing was opened on first-refusal rights in either state.
  • Whether Missouri Executive Order 24-01 remains in force under the present governor, and Missouri's 2026 legislative changes, were not checked.
  • The Missouri Department of Agriculture's rules for the review procedure were not opened.
  • The Dancing Rabbit membership text is the community's own process, not law; Sandhill Farm's page opened carries no visitor or membership route and is not used.
  • Dancing Rabbit's lease rate is its own published figure and may change; Bear Creek and other communities' lease terms were not opened.
  • Jefferson County, Iowa (Fairfield) lies inside the 100 km radius used elsewhere but outside the seven-county footprint and is not covered here.
None is shown.

Context, not adviceOrientation from public sources, not legal advice. Check current law with a local professional before acting. Sources: Iowa Code 2026 ch. 9I, ss. 9I.1, 9I.3 and 9I.4; RSMo 442.571; Missouri Executive Order 24-01, Iowa Code 2026 ch. 9I, s. 9I.1(7); RSMo 442.571, Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage, How to Become a Resident / Member, Iowa Code 2026 ch. 9H, s. 9H.4(1)(c), RSMo 350.015, Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage, Cost of living, Iowa Code 2026 ch. 9I; RSMo 442.571; Missouri Executive Order 24-01, Iowa Code 2026 ch. 9H s. 9H.4; RSMo 350.015. Verified 5 October 2026 · confidence in this entry: medium.

Climate and water context

Climate class (Köppen-Geiger)

1961–1990Dfa, Cold, no dry season, hot summerShare of the footprint: Dfa 100%
1991–2020Dfa, Cold, no dry season, hot summerShare of the footprint: Dfa 100%
2041–2070 SSP2-4.5 · projectionDfa, Cold, no dry season, hot summerShare of the footprint: Dfa 100%
2071–2099 SSP2-4.5 · projectionDfa, Cold, no dry season, hot summerShare of the footprint: Dfa 94.3%, Cfa 5.7%

Shares are the fraction of the footprint land area in each class at 1 km; sea and no-data cells are excluded.

Source: Beck et al. 2023, Köppen-Geiger maps at 1 km · CC BY 4.0

Water (WRI Aqueduct classes, as published)

Water stress, baselineLow (<10%)Demand to supply ratio 0.014
Water stress, 2050 business as usual · projectionLow (<10%)Demand to supply ratio 0.019
Drought riskMedium (0.4-0.6)
Interannual variabilityMedium - High (0.50-0.75)
Seasonal variabilityLow - Medium (0.33-0.66)
Groundwater table trendInsignificant Trend
Riverine flood riskLow - Medium (1 in 1,000 to 2 in 1,000)

WRI Aqueduct 4.0 indicators in WRI's own classes; this project does not combine or rescale them.

Source: WRI Aqueduct 4.0 · CC BY 4.0

Where legal and cost questions come first

These are the questions a community has to be able to answer in a place: who may hold the land, how a group can hold it together, and what it costs. Read them as context for a conversation with the people already there, not as a verdict on the place.

Legal and ownership

Foreign ownership
restricted Two regimes. Iowa Code ch. 9I: a nonresident alien, foreign business or foreign government may not acquire agricultural land (exceptions include devise or descent, security interests, research, and up to 320 acres for an immediate non-farming use); 'nonresident alien' excludes US citizens and lawful permanent residents. Missouri RSMo 442.571: no alien or foreign business may acquire agricultural land if aggregate foreign ownership exceeds one percent of the state's agricultural acreage; sales go to the Department of Agriculture for review unless the purchaser signs an IRS Form W-9. Missouri Executive Order 24-01 (2 Jan 2024) adds pre-acquisition submission and a bar on foreign-adversary buyers within 10 miles of a staffed military facility.
Collective ownership path
Iowa: an Iowa-incorporated nonprofit corporation is exempt from the corporate-farming bar (Code 9H.4(1)(c)). Missouri: an educational, religious or charitable not-for-profit corporation is exempt from the corporate-farming bar (RSMo 350.015). In practice the established communities use a nonprofit community land trust that leases plots (Dancing Rabbit Land Trust, Bear Creek Community Land Trust).
Several households on one holding
with conditions
Residency needed to buy
residency required in some cases
Where building is decided
UNVERIFIED for all seven counties: county zoning, building-permit and septic rules were not opened. Dancing Rabbit's own history says it searched in the 1990s for 'no zoning, no building codes'; that is not a current finding. Check each parcel with the county recorder, assessor and planning or sanitarian office.
Key restriction
Two state foreign-ownership regimes apply side by side along one border: Iowa's outright bar on agricultural-land acquisition by nonresident aliens, foreign businesses and foreign governments (Code 9I.3), and Missouri's one-percent aggregate cap with Department of Agriculture review (RSMo 442.571) plus Executive Order 24-01. Do not blur them.
Legal direction
tightening Iowa Code 2026 annotations show chapter 9I amended by 2024 Acts ch. 1007 (online registration, report repealed) and ch. 1090. Missouri added Executive Order 24-01 in January 2024; RSMo 442.571 itself was last amended in 2015 as of 4 Oct 2026 (revisor.mo.gov shows effective 28 Aug 2015). Whether the order stands under the current governor, and any 2026 session bills, were not checked.

Source: Iowa Code 2026 ch. 9I and 9H; RSMo 442.571 and 350.015; Missouri Executive Order 24-01 (opens in a new tab) · medium confidence

Known gaps. County zoning and building rules unverified; no statutory pre-emption right identified; Missouri 2026 legislative changes and the current status of EO 24-01 unverified; Jefferson County, Iowa (Fairfield) is inside the 100 km radius but outside the footprint.

Land cost

Price
7,040–25,260 USD per hectare (2025-2026)
Price band
10,000 to 20,000 EUR-equivalent per hectare
Price trajectory
stable NASS 2026 farm real estate: Iowa +3.2 percent, Missouri +4.0 percent (state, 2025 to 2026). ISU 1 Nov 2025 county estimates fell slightly from 2024 in all four footprint counties (Appanoose 6,840 to 6,679; Davis 7,761 to 7,735; Van Buren 8,471 to 8,438; Lee 10,271 to 10,222); Iowa statewide +0.7 percent.
Detail
Low end: Missouri average pasture value 2,850 USD/acre in 2026 (USDA NASS, July 2026), /0.404686 = 7,040 USD/ha. High end: Lee County, Iowa average farmland 10,222 USD/acre on 1 Nov 2025 (ISU Land Value Survey county estimate), = 25,260 USD/ha. Other anchors: Iowa farm real estate 10,100 USD/acre and Missouri 5,200 USD/acre (NASS 2026); Iowa counties 1 Nov 2025: Appanoose 6,679, Davis 7,735, Van Buren 8,438 USD/acre. No county-level Missouri values were found for Schuyler, Scotland or Clark. Documents: NASS Land Values 2026 Summary https://esmis.nal.usda.gov/sites/default/release-files/795999/land0726.pdf (Missouri pasture 2,850; farm real estate 5,200; Iowa 10,100); ISU county map as source_url. The two ends are different land classes (Missouri pasture, Iowa all-farmland average), so the band is a bracket, not a like-for-like range.

Source: USDA NASS Land Values 2026 Summary (31 Jul 2026); Iowa State University Land Value Survey 2025 (county estimates, released 9 Dec 2025) (opens in a new tab) · medium confidence

Known gaps. No Missouri county-level price series for the three Missouri counties; the low end is a statewide pasture benchmark, not a county figure; cash rents not retrieved.

Practical fit

Hospital access

Nearest hospital
14.5 km Scotland County Hospital, straight line from the region centre
Hospitals within 50 km
3
Hospitals within 100 km
20
60-minute proxy
within 60 minutes a straight-line proxy, not a road time

Geodesic km from region centroid to nearest OSM hospital, not a 60-minute road-network isochrone. The centroid may fall on a regional hub city (Oaxaca City, Santiago, Bolzano, Taos, Evora) rather than a target rural settlement site, so a low number can reflect centroid placement more than real rural-settlement access. V2 to refine via road-time isochrones.

Demographics

Population trend
declining Seven-county total 81,485 (Census 2010) to 77,567 (Census 2020), -4.8 percent; ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates sum to 76,874. Six of seven counties fell 2010-2020 (Schuyler -9.0, Clark -7.1, Lee -6.4, Van Buren -4.8, Appanoose -4.4, Scotland -2.6); Davis County rose 4.1 percent.
Median age
aging ACS 2020-2024 5-year median age: Van Buren 44.7, Lee 43.6, Appanoose 43.5, Clark 43.5, Schuyler 39.2, Scotland 36.5, Davis 36.3; ACS 2024 1-year comparators: United States 39.2, Iowa 39.0, Missouri 39.4.
Migration
not read No migration series was opened.
Rural density
very low density Census 2020: 9.2 persons/km2 over the seven counties (land area 8,418 km2); 6.2 without Lee County (Keokuk, Fort Madison); county range 4.2 (Scotland) to 25.0 (Lee). GHSL 2030 projection 9.7.

Source: US Census Bureau 2010 and 2020 decennial counts (TIGERweb); ACS 2020-2024 5-year via Census Reporter (opens in a new tab) · high confidence

Known gaps. Migration flows, cause of decline, and farm-consolidation data not retrieved; the pre-research description of 'shrinking small towns' is supported by the county counts but town-level figures were not opened.

Field reality, water and soil

Water source control

Rights regime
Iowa: a permit is required to divert, store or withdraw water except for a nonregulated use under 25,000 gallons per day (Code 455B.268; definition in 455B.261). Missouri: major water users (100,000 gallons per day or more) must register with the Department of Natural Resources (RSMo 256.400, 256.410); other private-well and riparian rules not opened.
Rights holder
mixed
Single-entity control
not read Rural water associations (pre-research names Rathbun Regional Water Association) could not be verified; its website did not load. Ownership types and any dominant supplier per county were not established.
When water is short
Iowa Code 455B.266: on a local water shortage petition, drought forecast, governor's disaster proclamation or local crisis, the department may restrict uses in this order: water conveyed across state boundaries; recreational or aesthetic uses; irrigation of hay, corn, soybeans, oats, grain sorghum or wheat; irrigation of other crops; manufacturing. Missouri equivalent not opened.

Source: Iowa Code 2026 ch. 455B (Div. III, Part 4); RSMo 256.400 and 256.410 (opens in a new tab) · low confidence

Known gaps. Missouri drought priority and groundwater rules; rural water district structure; county-level water supply control all unverified.

Soil contamination

Known contamination
not read No in-footprint contamination finding was verified. Pre-research expected legacy agriculture (nitrate, atrazine); no nitrate or pesticide dataset for these counties was opened. Nearby: the Iowa Army Ammunition Plant, an EPA National Priorities List site since 1989 (explosives had contaminated surface water beyond the installation boundary, per the cited page), is in Des Moines County about 8 miles west of Burlington, outside the footprint and roughly 70 km from the region point.
Contamination register
partial register
Due-diligence burden
not read
Regulatory regime
Iowa: Iowa DNR contaminated-sites section with a public Contaminated Sites Database, and two state programs, the State Lead Program (567 IAC 105.100) and the Land Recycling Program (567 IAC 105.200). Missouri regime not opened.

Source: Iowa DNR, Contaminated Sites (iowadnr.gov, State Lead and Land Recycling programs; programs.iowadnr.gov database); Wikipedia, Iowa Army Ammunition Plant (EPA NPL listing, August 1989) (opens in a new tab) · low confidence

Known gaps. No parcel-level or county-level contamination data; Missouri register not opened; nitrate and atrazine in private wells for these counties not retrieved.

Climate buffering, state and trajectory

Buffering features (state)

Primary features
forest canopy
Altitude range
150-325
Buffering strength
low
Detail
Continental interior, 150 to 325 m (Global Solar Atlas elevation at 179 footprint points; mean 235 m), with no coast, mountains or large lake. Tree cover is only 23.5 percent of the footprint (Hansen, year 2000), so canopy buffering is patchy.

Trajectory under warming

Direction
buffering falling WorldClim 1970-2000 baseline BIO1 10.7 C over the footprint; CMIP6 SSP2-4.5 2041-2060 17-model mean 13.9 C (models 12.4 to 15.3). Rainfall extremes, flood and drought swings are the pre-research expectation and were not verified here.
Primary vulnerability
mean annual temperature rising about 3.3 C by 2041-2060 on a flat-to-dissected continental landscape; precipitation baseline 940 mm per year (WorldClim 1970-2000)

Source: WorldClim v2.1 baseline and CMIP6 SSP2-4.5 (computed); Global Solar Atlas elevation; Hansen GFC v1.11 (opens in a new tab) · medium confidence

Known gaps. Heavy-rain, flood and drought statistics from state climatologists not retrieved; NCA5 Midwest chapter host did not resolve.