HELENA, Mont. (AP) — The U.S. government has made offers worth a total of $298 million to nearly 4,000 landowners on the Crow Indian reservation to buy their fractionated parcels and turn them over to the tribe.

The nationwide buyback program is voluntary and the second phase of the $3.4 billion Cobell class-action lawsuit settlement over mismanaged royalties that were held in trust for Indian landowners by the government.