OPA

Surrounded by more than 35 Cowlitz Indians from the State of Washington, Assistant Secretary - Indian Affairs Kevin Gover today signed the final determination to federally acknowledge their tribe. With 1,482 members, the tribe is located in southwestern Washington state. Historically its villages ranged a distance of 60 miles from the source to the mouth of the Cowlitz River, with an important center at the well-known landmark of the Cowlitz Indian Mission.

The tribe submitted a request for Federal acknowledgment to the Bureau of Indian Affairs on September 17, 1975. After the Federal Acknowledgment Project was established in 1978, the CIT's petition was transferred to it for evaluation under the Federal acknowledgment regulations (25 CFR Part 83).

Today, the Cowlitz Indian Tribe is an amalgamated group, combining descendants of the Salishspeaking Lower Cowlitz Indians and the Sahaptin-speaking Upper Cowlitz, or Taidnapam, Indians. Its representatives took part in the Chehalis River Treaty negotiations with Governor Isaac Ingalls Stephens in 1855, but refused to sign the proposed treaty because the Cowlitz Indians did not consent to be transferred away from their traditional territory to a federally established reservation. During the Indian War of 1855-1856, many of the Cowlitz supported the American troops. In subsequent years, agents of the Office of Indian Affairs recorded the tribe's members on census and other records, but the tribe continued to refuse placement on a reservation. Between 1855 and the end of the 19th century, such chiefs as Kiskox, Henry Cheholtz, Atwin Stockum, and Captain Peter were well-known leaders.

In 1904, the surviving traditional chiefs, in cooperation with younger members of the tribe, began the process of filing a claim against the Federal government for compensation for the taking of its land. This claim was finally resolved by an Indian Claims Commission judgment award in 1973. This award has not yet been disbursed, awaiting determination of the tribe's acknowledgment status.

In 1910, the tribe reorganized itself with elected officers and a board of directors. In 1919, Bureau of Indian Affairs special agent Charles F. Roblin wrote:

The Cowlitz tribe was a powerful tribe, . . . . They were independent, fearless and aggressive; and they refused to subordinate themselves to the white man by entering into a treaty with him. Their descendants have the same qualities which placed their ancestors in the position of leaders. They have been progressive and industrious, and there are very few of the present representatives of the tribe who are not in good circumstances. They have homesteaded lands, made good homes, raised families much above the average, are in good standing in the communities in which they live.

For many years after the structure was formalized in 1912, the chairman was chosen alternately from descendants of the Lower Cowlitz and descendants of the Upper Cowlitz. Through time, it has been called the Cowlitz Tribal Organization, the Cowlitz Tribe of Indians, and, since 1973, the Cowlitz Indian Tribe.

The tribe received a positive proposed finding in 1997, which today's final determination upholds. The decision becomes effective in 90 days providing there is no appeal filed before the Interior Board of Indian Appeals (IBIA).

Assistant Secretary - Indian Affairs, Kevin Gover has approved immediate distribution of $108 million to build roads and bridges on Indian lands proposed by the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21) Regulatory Negotiations Committee. The Assistant Secretary also set into motion a process for distributing the remaining funds within 45 days.

This funding process came out of a negotiated rulemaking started almost a year ago with the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Federal Highway Administration and representatives from Tribal governments under the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21). TEA-21 provides for the federal government to enter negotiated rulemaking with tribal representatives to develop new regulations and funding formula for FY 2000 and following years, for road and bridge construction.

"I am pleased to see the Committee making progress on the funding for FY 2000. I am encouraged by this recent breakthrough in the negotiation process. I will continue to support the work of those dedicated tribal and federal members to providing me with a final formula and regulations that will help to strengthen the transportation program for all tribes," said the Assistant Secretary.

At the January 2000 monthly negotiated rulemaking committee meeting, Tribal committee members presented a consensus proposal that the Secretary of the Interior use the existing relative need formula for FY 2000 distributions. The full committee accepted the proposal by a consensus and presented it to the Assistant Secretary. Based on his consideration of and acceptance of the consensus proposal, Assistant Secretary Gover submitted a temporary rule for publication in the Federal Register to allow distribution of FY 2000 funds for construction and transportation activities in Indian country.

"The successful effort of the TEA-21 Regulatory Negotiations Committee in reaching consensus and publication of the temporary rule in the Federal Register was a team effort. It was not just one tribe, but was the team effort of the small, medium, and large tribes that made it successful," stated Pete Red Tomahawk, Tribal Co-chair of the TEA-21 Regulatory Negotiations Committee, and a member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe.

"I think it's a monumental accomplishment that after 11 months of disagreement we came to a unanimous consensus for an interim funding distribution beneficial to all Tribes. I am confident that now that FY 2000 has been addressed, the TEA-21 Regulatory Negotiations Committee will come up with a funding distribution that is equitable and fair for all Tribes across the nation. Without consensus on the Tribal Committee members' proposal, FY 2000 funding would have been further delayed. This distribution solution is not perfect, but it allows for Tribal decision making this year while the Committee continues to work toward a permanent funding formula. Without a tribal solution, the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs would have decided this year's funding distribution," stated Alex Cabillo, TEA-21 Regulatory Negotiations Tribal Committee member and tribal member of the Hualapai Tribe.

The temporary rule published on February 15, 2000, allowed the Assistant Secretary to distribute one-half of FY 2000 allocated funds immediately upon publication of the temporary rule. The funds were distributed using the relative need funding formula from fiscal years 1998 and 1999. The rule also provided for a 30-day comment period on the funding formula for distribution of the second one-half of the FY 2000 funds. Following consideration of comments, the Assistant Secretary will publish a second temporary rule for distribution of the rest of the FY 2000 IRR funds. All funds should be distributed by the end of March 2000.

Assistant Secretary - Indian Affairs, Kevin Gover announces that there is currently $59 million dollars available in loan guaranty authority to assist tribal and individual economic development projects and business ventures through the Bureau of Indian Affairs' Indian Loan Guaranty Program.

In 1974, Congress passed the Indian Financing Act to stimulate economic development by increasing Indian entrepreneurship and employment through the establishment, acquisition or expansion of Indian-owned businesses. The Indian Loan Guaranty Program is funded with authority to guarantee payment of up to 90 percent of a loan given to eligible American Indians and Alaska Natives who own or will own 51 percent or more of a business enterprise.

"On Indian lands across the country, there are rampant social problems directly related to the lack of opportunity. Currently half of the American Indian workforce is without jobs. But when business and economic development come to a reservation, an amazing thing happens. The social problems Indians have been struggling with begin to get smaller" stated Gover.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs' Indian Guaranty Loan Program facilitates access to credit obtained through approved lending institutions by guaranteeing repayment up to 90 percent of the loan value, this stimulates the supply of capital for Indian owned businesses that otherwise may not get funds. Tribes are eligible for loans guaranteed up to $5.5 million dollars. Individuals are eligible for loans guaranteed up to $500,000 dollars. Each entity must meet a 20 percent equity requirement to be eligible.

Very often, when tribes try to improve the lives of their members, they are met with opposition from every possible source," said Gover. By providing the Indian Loan Guaranty Program the BIA is trying to tear down barriers and move quickly to assist in the creation and upgrading of economic development projects." The Bureau of Indian Affairs provides technical resources that are channeled into the most cost-effective projects, and BIA staff work with tribes and individuals to identify and eliminate internal barriers to sound business practices. A Bureau of Indian Affairs credit committee meets monthly and considers every completed application within 30 days of submission. The Office of Economic Development has produced a CD-ROM training and information program and has gathered Internet tools that can help prospective loan guaranty applicants to better understand the requirements for participating in the program and to help them prepare the application.

In the past, the Indian Loan Guaranty Program has helped finance Indian-owned businesses in construction, cattle ranching, commercial fishing, air charter services, convenience/grocery stores, hotels/conference centers, office buildings, manufacturing and many other businesses.

Tribes and individuals are encouraged to contact local lending institutions or their local Bureau of Indian Affairs office to begin the process of a loan guaranty under this program.

More information on the BIA Indian Loan Guaranty Program can be accessed from the BIA web site located at www.doi.gov/bureau-indian-affairs.html. Click on the link to Economic Development.

The Department of the Interior published a final rule on governing review of per capita distributions in the Federal Register. The new regulation establishes procedures for the submission, review and approval of tribal revenue allocation plans for the distribution of net gaming revenues from tribal gaming activities. Assistant Secretary -Indian Affairs Kevin Gover in announcing these regulations stated, "These new rules will provide clarity and guidance to tribal governments in meeting the mandates of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act."

The rule implements Section 11(b)(3) of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. The final regulation published March 17, 2000, is the result of an extensive process that began with the publication of a Proposed Rulemaking, published in the Federal Register in June, 1996 and an Extension of Comment Period published in March, 1997.

The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act includes a provision that mandates how net gaming revenues are to be used by the tribes. Section 2710(b)(2)(B) of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act lists the following authorized uses:

• fund tribal government operations and programs;
• provide for the general welfare of the Indian tribe and its members;
• promote tribal economic development;
• donate to charitable organizations, or
• help fund operations of local government agencies.

The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act provides that net revenues from any Class II or Class III gaming activities conducted or licensed by any Indian tribe may be used to make per capita payments to members of the Indian tribe only if the tribe prepares, and the Secretary approves, a revenue allocation plan. The plan should provide adequate funding to tribal government operations and programs, promote tribal economic development, and protect the interests of minors and other legally incompetent people who are entitled to receive any of the per capita payments. The tribes also must alert recipients that the per capita payments are subject to federal income tax.

Tribal Revenue Allocation Plans ( 25 C.F .R. Part 290)

Q: What is a tribal revenue allocation plan?

A: It is the document that describes how a tribe will distribute net revenues from any tribal gaming for tribal use and how it will make per capita payments to members.

Q: What is the purpose of this rule?

A: The purpose of this rule is to establish procedures for the submission, review and approval of a tribal revenue allocation plan used to distribute per capita payments to members from net gaming revenues from tribal gaming activities.

Q: Why is this rule necessary?

A The Secretary of the Interior is charged with the review and approval of tribal revenue allocation plans. This rule is necessary to establish a method for the submission, review and approval of tribal revenue allocation plans.

Q: Who must submit a tribal revenue allocation plan?

A: Any tribe that intends to make a per capita distribution from net gaming revenues to tribal members must submit a tribal revenue allocation plan.

Q: Is a tribe required to make per capita payments to its members from net gaming revenues?

A: Tribes are not required to make payments to tribal members from net gaming revenues, but if the tribe chooses to make per capita payments it must comply with the requirements of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act.

The Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs, Kevin Gover, today issued two proposed positive findings concerning petitions for Federal acknowledgment from the Eastern Pequot Indians and the Paucatuck Eastern Pequot Indians, both groups are headquartered in North Stonington, Connecticut.

Both petitioners meet the seven criteria for Federal acknowledgment under the federal regulations. (25 CFR Part 83) The positive proposed finding states that both petitioners are, singly and together, the continuation of a historically state-recognized tribe whose relationship with the State of Connecticut goes back to the early 1600's.

• The historical Eastern Pequot tribe has maintained a continuous historical government-to-government relationship with the State of Connecticut since colonial times;
• The historical Eastern Pequot tribe had a state reservation established in colonial times, and has retained its land area to the present;
• The historical Eastern Pequot tribe had members enumerated specifically as tribal members on he Federal Census, Special Indian Population Schedules, for 1900 and 1910.

The modem conflicts between the two have focused on their relationship with the State of Connecticut. The Eastern Pequot Indians of Connecticut have taken the position that there is only one tribe, but the Paucatuck Eastern Pequot Indians of Connecticut have taken the position that the ancestors of the other petitioner were not of Eastern Pequot ancestry and were never part of the tribe. The Department found that there was not sufficient information in the record to determine that there is only one tribe with two political factions.

The proposed positive findings for both petitioners do not prevent the Department, in the final determination stage, from recognizing a combined entity , or both petitioners, or either one of the current petitioners but not the other, or neither of the current petitioners, depending upon the evidence developed during the comment periods.

These are proposed findings based on available evidence. The next stage is a 180-day comment period during which petitioners and third parties may submit additional evidence and analysis. In addition to evidence and argument on the proposed findings in general, petitioners and interested parties, and informed parties may submit comments as to the Secretary's authority, under the circumstances of recent separation of the two petitioners, to acknowledge two tribes or only one tribe which encompasses them both as the continuation of the historic tribe. At the end of the 180 days, each petitioner will have 60 days in which to respond to comments from the other petitioner and third parties. The final determination will be based on both the new evidence submitted in response to the proposed finding and the original evidence used in formulating the proposed finding.

Deputy Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Hilda Manuel, has announced her resignation from government service effective April 7, 2000. Ms. Manuel, a member of the Tohono O'odham Nation, has worked at the BIA for ten years, including more than five years as Deputy Commissioner. She served two Assistant Secretary -Indian Affairs appointees. Ms. Manuel has provided strong leadership during some tumultuous times for the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

"Hilda Manuel has been down in the trenches with her sleeves rolled up dealing with some of the toughest issues that face this Department," Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt said. "Her hard work is greatly appreciated and we wish her every success in future endeavors."

"Few people know the burden of responsibility that a Deputy Commissioner bears, and Hilda carried that burden with great strength and integrity ," said Assistant Secretary -Indian Affairs Kevin Gover. "I believe there can be no finer tribute to a leader than to say that she made things better. Hilda made things better. I wish her great success and thank her for her service."

Ms. Manuel led the Trust Reform effort at the BIA, working diligently to put into place the automated Trust Asset and Accounting Management System (TAAMS). She has been a champion of the BIA Law Enforcement Office. She has worked hard to put more Indian police in Indian Country to provide the adequate personnel backup so badly needed in the remote communities they protect.

Prior to her appointment as the Deputy Commissioner, Ms. Manuel served as the first Staff Director of the Indian Gaming Management Office. Ms. Manuel has also served as the Director, Office of Tribal Services, Chief of the Division of Tribal Government Services, and Chief of the Branch of Judicial Services.

The Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon (Tribes), Portland General Electric Company (PGE), and the U.S. Department of the Interior today approved an agreement providing for the Tribes and PGE to share the 408-megawatt Pelton Round Butte hydroelectric project near Madras, Ore. Before the signing of the agreement, Warm Springs tribal elder, Delvis Heath, provided a beautiful traditional blessing for the ceremony.

Members of Tribes overwhelmingly approved the agreement in a referendum election held on March 28, 2000.

Under the agreement, PGE and the Tribes will pursue a joint license from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). Last year they had filed competing license applications. The agreement is also subject to approval by the Oregon Public Utility Commission and FERC.

The Tribes will purchase portions of the project from PGE over a proposed 50-year license period. On December 31, 2001, the Tribes would acquire one-third interest. Twenty years later, the Tribes have the option to increase their share to 49.99 percent plus an additional option to increase their ownership to 50.01 percent by 2037. The Tribes would purchase all shares at net book value (initial investment minus depreciation). In turn, the proposal provides that PGE's current annual payments of approximately $10 million to the Tribes for use of Tribal lands and resources would cease on December 31, 2001. In lieu of those payments, the Tribes would earn revenues by marketing their share of the power output from the project.

PGE would continue to operate the project, which would be managed by a joint operating committee of PGE and the Tribes.

The Department of the Interior retains its authorities to provide conditions for the protection of the environment including tribal lands and resources in the new license from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, but agrees not to use those authorities to require additional payments to the Tribes, or to alter the relationship between PGE and the Tribes set forth in the agreement.

Olney Patt, Jr., Chairman of the Warm Springs Tribal Council said, "We are very pleased to have taken this step toward our goal of economic self-sufficiency and control of tribal resources that generate revenue. Sharing ownership of the dams with our new partners begins to achieve such control."

PGE General Manager of Hydro Operations Jim Wyatt said, "PGE is delighted to enter into this agreement with the Tribes, and we are very positive about our partnership and the future of our business relationship."

Interior Deputy Secretary David Hayes said, "Interior is pleased to support the Tribes and PGE in establishing this unique and historic relationship, which will provide multiple benefits to the Tribes, PGE, and the public."

Pelton Round Butte is the largest hydroelectric project located entirely in Oregon. Its generators convert the energy of Deschutes River water into 1.5 billion kilowatt-hours of electric power per year, enough to supply a city the size of Salem.

PGE, headquartered in Portland, is Oregon's largest electric utility. The Tribes are a federally recognized Indian Tribe with a reservation in north Central Oregon, covering 1,000 square miles (640,000 acres), 12 miles north of Madras.

Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Kevin Gover has reaffirmed the federal trust relationship between the United States and the King Salmon Tribe and the Shoonaq’ Tribe in Alaska and the Lower Lake Rancheria in California after finding that their government-to-government relationship with the U.S. has never been severed. “The King Salmon Tribe, the Shoonaq’ Tribe of Kodiak, and the Lower Lake Rancheria have been officially overlooked for many years by the Bureau of Indian Affairs even though their government-to-government relationship with the United States was never terminated,” Gover stated in his finding dated December 29, 2000, “I am pleased to correct this egregious oversight.” Due to administrative error, the BIA had for several years failed to place the three tribes on the list of federally recognized tribes it is required to publish annually in the Federal Register under the Federally Recognized Indian Tribes List Act (Pub. L. 103-454, 108 Stat. 4791, 4792). The list, entitled “Indian Entities Recognized and Eligible to Receive Services from the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs,” was last published on March 13, 2000.

The Assistant Secretary found that the King Salmon Tribe of Alaska has existed and maintained a continuous Indian community from historic times, and that present-day tribal members are descendants of a group that had been forced to leave an earlier homesite destroyed during an eruption of Mount Katmai. The Assistant Secretary also found that the Shoonaq’ Tribe of Kodiak, Alaska, has maintained a continuous political organization since European contact, that the Council of the Shoonaq’ Tribe of Alaska has governed the historical Native community in and around the contemporary community of Kodiak, and that no other tribe has claimed the territory or the tribe’s membership. Congress acknowledged Kodiak as an historic Native village possessing claims to aboriginal title in the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA). In 1987, the Kodiak Tribal Council learned it had not been included on a list of federally recognized tribes published by the BIA in the Federal Register and requested the Secretary of the Interior to correct the list.

In the case of the Lower Lake Rancheria of California, the Assistant Secretary found that the tribe had not been made subject to the Rancheria Act (Pub. L. 85-671, 72 Stat. 619, as amended by Pub. L. 88-419, 78 Stat. 390), by which Congress terminated the federal government’s trust responsibility for dozens of California tribes during the 1950s, and that its tribal status has been continuously maintained by tribal members to the present day. With the Assistant Secretary’s action the number of federally recognized tribes now stands at 561, which also includes two tribes recognized under H.R. 5528, the Omnibus Indian Advancement Act (Pub. L. 106-568, 114 Stat. 2868) signed by President Clinton on December 28, 2000. The Loyal Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma, which since 1869 has been a culturally and linguistically separate entity within the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, was accorded federal recognition as an independent tribe. The Graton Rancheria of California, which had been terminated by the Rancheria Act, was restored to federal recognition status.

Contact information for the three reaffirmed tribes: The King Salmon Village Council, P.O. Box 68, King Salmon, Alaska 99613-0068, the Honorable Ralph Angasan, Sr., President; The Shoonaq’ Tribe of Kodiak, 713 East Rezanof Drive “B”, Kodiak, Alaska 99615, the Honorable Kenneth Parker, Chairman; and The Lower Lake Rancheria, 131 Lincoln Street, Healdsburg, California 95448, the Honorable Daniel D. Beltran, Chairman. For more information, contact Marilyn Heiman, Special Assistant to the Secretary for Alaska, U.S. Department of the Interior, at (907) 271-5485, fax: (907) 271-4102, or Nedra Darling, Director, Office of Public Affairs, Bureau of Indian Affairs, at (202) 208-3710, fax: (202) 501- 1516.

-BIA-

Effective April 2000, all remaining Individual Indian Monies (IIM) trust fund accounts have been converted to a new, automated Trust Fund Accounting System (TFAS). The implementation of this new accounting system at all BIA Regional Offices marks the completion of a significant component of the Secretary of the Interior’s Trust Management Improvement Project. TFAS is the responsibility of the Office of the Special Trustee for American Indians (OST).

"Every tribal and IIM account and all investments have now been converted to the same commercial trust fund accounting system that is used in many major banks nationwide," Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt said. "The completion of this effort is a credit to the efforts of OST and this milestone marks the Department's commitment to the implementation of comprehensive Indian trust fund reform."

The IIM trust fund accounts in the Southern Plains, Eastern Oklahoma, and Northwest Regions of BIA were the last to be converted from an antiquated accounting system to a commercial off-the-shelf system created and operated by SEI Investments, Inc., Oaks, Pennsylvania. The new system will provide basic receipt, accounting, investment, scheduled disbursing and reporting functions to account holders, functions that are common to commercial trust funds management systems.

SEI, a major industry provider of trust management systems, will operate the TFAS system, while the day-to-day trust fund accounting activities will continue to be performed by OST's Office of Trust Funds Management (OTFM). TFAS is the same basic system in use at more than 150 other major financial and investment institutions.

This conversion successfully completes an effort that began August 1998 at BIA's Western, Pacific and Alaska Region pilot sites. Since that initial work was conducted, over 262,000 IIM trust fund accounts have been converted to TFAS. This effort included manually examining, verifying and correcting the account data prior to conversion, and testing the validity and accuracy of the data once it was on the new system.

OTFM Director, Donna Erwin, whose office spearheaded the conversion effort is very satisfied with TFAS, "The utilization of this commercial trust system provides state-of-the-market software, and enables the government to participate with other private sector trust companies in future enhancements and products of the system."

Eventually, the functions of TFAS will be interfaced with an asset management system currently under development. BIA's Trust Asset and Accounting Management System (TAAMS) will be responsible for tracking the land title, lease, billing and accounts receivable information for improved asset management. The interface of TFAS and TAAMS will complete the information circle on account and asset management to tribes and IIM beneficiaries.

The conversion of the trust fund accounts to TFAS is one of eleven separate projects described in the revised (February 29, 2000) High Level Implementation Plan, the Department's framework to implement comprehensive trust reform.