OPA

WASHINGTON -- Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton today paid tribute to the courageous men and women from the Department of the Interior who participated in the Gulf Coast Hurricane Relief effort last year. One hundred and twenty men and women representing thirteen departments and bureaus were chosen to represent the more than six thousand DOI employees who worked tirelessly to bring relief to the devastated citizens of the Gulf Coast Region. The Office of the Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs and the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) had five employees, representing more than five hundred BIA employees, who received certificates of appreciation by Secretary Norton at a ceremony held at 1:00 pm in the Sydney Yates Auditorium at the Department's headquarters.

"I'm extremely proud of the way our BIA employees pulled together and made things happen in a positive way," said W. Patrick Ragsdale, Director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. "Today we honor their initiative, courage and commitment to the task of helping others in their times of need."

The Gulf Coast Hurricane Recognition Recipients from the BIA that attended the ceremony were: John Philben, Phoenix, Ariz.; Stuart Ott, Herndon, Va.; Bruce Maytubby, Anadarko, Okla.; David Johnson, Anadarko, Okla.; and David Nicholas, Nashville, Tenn. Those unable to attend were: Erik LaRose, Phoenix. Ariz.; Jimmy Beb, Choctaw, Miss.; Tony Recker, Nashville, Tenn.; David Bodoni, Gallup, N.M.; and Steve Lafriniere, Mahnomen, Minn.

The BIA's Eastern Region, headquartered in Nashville, Tenn., and Choctaw Agency in Philadelphia, Miss., coordinated recovery efforts with tribal governments in the states of Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana. The Mississippi Choctaw, who saw the eye of Hurricane Katrina pass over them, were the hardest hit. BIA employees mobilized to arrange for fresh water to be trucked in from Arkansas, utilized agency road equipment to help clear debris from roadways, explored ways to bring in supplies of ice, fuel and food, and assigned law enforcement personnel to protect lives and property. The BIA Office of Law Enforcement

Services (OLES) provided a Mobile Command Vehicle and Emergency Response Task Force (ERT) to assist Choctaw police with their recovery efforts. BIA Law Enforcement officers patrolled some of the most devastated areas including Louisiana's St. Bernard Parish.

BIA forestry and firefighters were some of the first responders. They provided chainsaws and heavy equipment to clear fallen trees and other debris from the roads in order for trucks to bring in much-needed supplies to the region.

The Director of the BIA directly oversees the day-to-day activities of the agency that provides services to individual American Indians and Alaska Natives from the federally recognized tribes. The Director administers all laws governing non-education portions of Indian Affairs, provides leadership and direction for BIA employees, and oversees and monitors the work of the BIA regional offices, agencies and field offices. The Director also shares authority and responsibility for the management of tribal and individual Indian trust funds with the Special Trustee for American Indians, and oversees the Bureau's Land Consolidation Center, the agency's nationwide program to consolidate fractionated interests in Indian lands.

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WASHINGTON – President Bush has proposed a $2.2 billion budget for the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) for Fiscal Year 2007. The budget reflects the President’s emphasis on fiscal discipline while continuing the Interior Department’s commitment to trust reform, greater accountability at BIA-funded schools, economic development, public safety and tribal self-determination. The President’s proposal increases funding for trust management, education management, tribal energy development, law enforcement programs and support costs for contracting Tribes.

“The President’s 2007 budget request focuses on the BIA’s core mission areas – trust and education – while continuing to support tribal self-determination,” said Interior Associate Deputy Secretary James E. Cason. “We have worked in consultation with tribal leaders to develop a BIA budget that more accurately reflects their needs and priorities.”

The Fiscal Year 2007 budget request for Operation of Indian Programs (OIP) is $1.97 billion, an increase of $4.4 million over the Fiscal Year 2006 enacted amount.

To improve trust management, the Fiscal Year 2007 budget request includes an increase of $11.5 million for BIA to meet the requirements outlined in the Department’s Fiduciary Trust Model (FTM) while continuing to implement trust reform initiatives. The increase includes $3.0 million critical to reducing the probate caseload of just over 24,000 cases and $6.5 million to implement recommendations of the FTM to eliminate cadastral survey backlogs and reduce survey costs. Funding will support a Certified Federal Surveyor program to train BIA employees to become certified surveyors and maintain the Public Lands Survey system.

This also includes $2.0 million for Indian energy resource development as outlined in the Energy Policy Act of 2005 comprised of $1.4 million for grants to Indian Tribes for energy development activities, such as inventorying energy resources, conducting development feasibility studies, establishing tribal energy resource agreements, providing training and developing tribal energy codes and $600,000 for BIA oversight in approving tribal energy resource agreements and providing technical assistance.

As part of the on-going effort to implement trust reform, the Department will consult with Tribes this spring and propose regulations and legislation addressing needed technical corrections and administrative improvements for implementing trust reform, which will continue to improve services to Indian trust beneficiaries.

The Fiscal Year 2007 budget request proposes an increase of $19.0 million to fully fund indirect support costs for contracting Tribes to encourage tribal contracting and promote progress in achieving Indian self-determination.

The request for elementary and secondary school operations for Fiscal Year 2007 is $536.0 million to support 184 BIA-funded schools and dormitories serving almost 48,000 students and resident-only boarders. The request represents a continued commitment to the future of American Indian youth and supports the President’s commitment to “leave no child behind.”

Included is an increase of $2.5 million to meet the objectives of a program improvement and accountability plan developed by the BIA with Tribes and tribal school boards to improve the effectiveness of the education services provided by the BIA school system. This plan is designed to help schools meet their adequate yearly progress requirements under the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. The increase will support the realignment of education offices in the field and in headquarters to a more centrally coordinated organization to provide the oversight capacity necessary to promote progress in student achievement and strengthen accountability in all schools.

The budget request also includes an increase of $630,000 for education programs for juveniles temporarily detained in BIA-funded juvenile detention centers to reduce recidivism by enabling them to stay current with their academic instruction.

The Fiscal Year 2007 budget request for post-secondary education totals $103.2 million and includes funding for grants to 24 tribal colleges and universities and two BIA owned and operated institutions – Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence, Kan., and the Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute in Albuquerque, N.M. The request continues funding for tribal and BIA scholarships and for operating grants to 24 tribally operated colleges and universities at the 2006 enacted levels.

The OIP request includes $213.7 million for public safety and justice in Indian country, including increases of $1.8 million to expand law enforcement programs in areas where violent crime is most severe and $2.7 million for operating costs at detention facilities built with U.S. Department of Justice funds which will be certified for occupancy in 2007.

The Fiscal Year 2007 budget request for Construction is $215.0 million.

The 2007 budget request for school construction and repair is $157.4 million. While $49.3 million below the 2006 enacted level, the budget funds new projects while allowing the program to focus on completion of schools already funded. The request proposes $36.5 million for replacement school construction to complete funding for the Muckleshoot Tribal School in Washington State and fully fund the Dennehotso Boarding School in Arizona, schools next in priority on the Replacement School Construction Priority List.

In addition, the 2007 budget request proposes $26.9 million for a new budget subactivity, Replacement Facility Construction, to fund replacement of individual buildings on school campuses when entire new school facilities are not needed. This new subactivity is established in response to the recommendations of the Interior Department Inspector General’s report on the use of Facility Improvement and Repair (FI&R) funds. The 2007 request will fund the replacement of four buildings.

In September 2004, the Inspector General issued its report documenting poor conditions at BIA owned detention facilities. The Bureau responded to the IG’s report by expanding its detention center construction program. The Fiscal Year 2007 budget request continues improvement of detention facility conditions by maintaining a budget of $8.1 million for detention center facility and repair. This will fund four major and several smaller FI&R projects to bring Indian detention centers up to national standards.

The 2007 budget request for Indian Land and Water Claim Settlements is $33.9 million and includes $22.3 million for two new settlements. The Snake River Water Rights Act of 2004 requires that the Interior Department provide the Nez Perce Tribe and the State of Idaho $170.9 million over seven years to fund water supply, habitat restoration and other purposes. The BIA portion of the settlement is $95.8 million over seven years. The 2007 BIA budget request includes $14.8 million for payments to the Nez Perce Tribe Water and Fisheries Fund, Nez Perce Tribe Salmon and Clearwater River Basins Habitat Account and Nez Perce Tribe Domestic Water Supply Fund.

The settlement request also includes $7.5 million for the first of two payments for the Rocky Boy’s Water Systems Operation, Maintenance, and Replacement Trust Fund. The total authorization of the trust fund is $15.0 million. Reductions for the Colorado Ute, Zuni, and Quinault Indian Nation land and water settlements, which will be completed or almost completed in 2006, total $23.1 million, offsetting the increase requested for the new settlements.

The BIA 2007 budget request reflects the President’s commitment to fiscal discipline by including reductions in programs in consideration of several critical factors, such as a lack of performance accountability, duplication of other Federal or State programs and implementation of management efficiencies or program priority reassessments. These reductions include the endangered species program ($984,000), agriculture-noxious weeds program ($1.1 million), Johnson-O’Malley grants ($16.4 million), welfare assistance ($11.0 million), road maintenance ($2.6 million), community fire protection ($1.2 million) and water management and planning ($1.9 million).

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WASHINGTON – The Department of the Interior, as part of the implementation of its Fiduciary Trust Model (FTM) to improve and reform the management of Indian trust for the benefit of all Indian beneficiaries, will hold the first of three tribal consultation meetings on revising DOI Indian trust management regulations on February 14-15, 2006, in Albuquerque, N.M. The meeting will take place both days at the Hotel Albuquerque at Old Town starting at 8:00 a.m. (local time).

The Department has submitted the following draft proposals of new and revised trust management regulations to tribal leaders for discussion at the upcoming meeting and to gather their input and comments:

• Probate of Indian Estates (25 CFR 15; 43 CFR 4)
• Tribal Probate Codes (25 CFR 18) [New]
• Life Estates and Future Interests (25 CFR 179)
• Title (25 CFR 150)
• Conveyances of Trust and Restricted Land, Removal of Trust or Restricted Status (25 CFR 152)
• Fees for Service [New]
• Trust Fund Accounting and Appeals [New]
• Whereabouts Unknown and Unclaimed Moneys [New]

The intent of this initiative is to clarify existing regulations and to create new regulations to improve services to Indian trust beneficiaries, facilitate productive use of Indian lands, promote consolidation and reduce fractionation of Indian trust asset interests, and incorporate changes to the probate process under the American Indian Probate Act of 2004 (P.L. 108-374).

Information on the locations and dates of the remaining consultation meetings will be announced in coming weeks.

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WASHINGTON – U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke announced today the completion of a historic interagency memorandum of agreement (MOA) between 12 federal agencies for expanded participation by federal agencies in the 477-Demonstration Project (“477-initiative”). The MOA is a key requirement identified in amendments provided under the Indian Employment, Training, and Related Services Consolidation Act of 2017, Public Law 115-93, as signed by President Donald Trump on December 18, 2017. The 477-initiative was initially created by Public Law 102-477, the Indian Employment, Training and Related Services Demonstration Act of 1992, 25 U.S.C. section 3401 et seq., which allows federally recognized Tribes to integrate employment and training-related, formula-funded federal grants into a single plan with a single budget and single reporting system to improve effectiveness of those services, reduce joblessness in Indian communities, while reducing administrative, reporting, and accounting costs.

“Tribal prosperity starts with a skilled workforce,” said Secretary Zinke. “Bringing federal agencies together to create job-training programs in Indian Country seems like a no-brainer, but it took the leadership of President Donald J. Trump to make this happen. This new agreement will streamline key processes across our government, allowing for the flexibility needed to best fit tribal industries and economies. Every American Indian should have a path to success through the dignity of work - that is the American Dream.”

“I thank Secretary Zinke for his leadership in expanding federal participation in the 477-initiative,” said Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Tara Mac Lean Sweeney. “The Bureau of Indian Affairs, Division of Workforce Development is proudly committed to streamlining the administration of the 477-initiative because job training is an essential component in how Native families gain access to economic security. We look forward to closely working with the other 11 federal agencies to make tribal economies robust.”

Since the inception of the 477 Demonstration Project, the Bureau of Indian Affairs has served as the lead agency for implementation. The Division of Workforce Development within the BIA Office of Indian Services will continue to spearhead the implementation of the 2017 amendments and the responsibilities outlined in the MOA. More than 220 Tribes utilize the 477-initiative to streamline the administration of tribal job training programs.

List of participating federal agencies since 1992:

• Department of Education
• Department of Health and Human Services
• Department of the Interior
• Department of Labor

List of additional participating federal agencies since 2017:

• Department of Agriculture
• Department of Commerce
• Department of Energy
• Department of Homeland Security
• Department of Housing and Urban Development
• Department of Justice
• Department of Transportation
• Department of Veteran Affairs

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WASHINGTON – Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) Director W. Patrick Ragsdale today announced that the BIA Winnebago (Nebr.) Agency Fire and Fuels Management Group was honored March 7 at the Department of the Interior National Fire Center’s 2006 National Fire Plan Awards ceremony held in Phoenix, Ariz. National Fire Plan awards are given annually in recognition of outstanding accomplishments related to the implementation of the Department’s National Fire Plan (NFP). The Winnebago Agency Fire and Fuels Management Group received the 2006 Award for Excellence in Hazardous Fuels Reduction.

“I congratulate all the members of the Winnebago Agency Fire and Fuels Management Group on receiving this National Fire Plan award,” Ragsdale said. “Their leadership, teamwork, partnership-building skills, innovation and commitment to excellence ensured that their hazardous fuel reduction and native grasslands enhancement project for the Santee Sioux Nation would be a success.”

The Fire and Fuels Management Group was honored for its work on the ST-Bar Ranch Fuels Reduction/Range Rehabilitation Project, whose long-term goal is the restoration of the mid-grass prairie ecosystem on the Santee Sioux Indian Reservation in northeastern Nebraska. Starting in June 2001, the agency has worked closely with the Santee Sioux Nation to significantly reduce non-native floras which have flourished over the past 100 years on the tribe’s 115,000-acre reservation at the expense of native prairie grasslands and are a source of fuel conducive to conflagration fires.

The Winnebago Agency, which was responsible for overall management and direction of the project, worked with the Santee Sioux tribal community and other affected tribes and BIA and state agencies in Nebraska and South Dakota. The assembled team included representatives from the Santee Sioux Nation, Omaha Tribe and Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska and the Yankton Sioux Tribe, Rosebud Sioux Tribe, Lower Brule Sioux Tribe, Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe and Crow Creek Sioux Tribe of South Dakota, as well as the BIA agencies serving those tribes, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service, the Bureau of Land Management and the Nebraska State-chartered Natural Resources Conservation District.

Led by the Fire and Fuels Management staff, the ST-Bar Ranch project team set out to accomplish the goal of enhancing the productivity of the Santee Sioux reservation’s native rangeland for livestock and wildlife production through hazardous fuel reduction while restoring the balance to its mid-grass prairie ecosystem. The team was able to train and employ tribal members in the elimination of hazardous fuels and utilize local businesses to support fuel reduction crews thereby bringing economic benefits to the tribal communities involved.

The projected long-term outcomes for the project include increased wildland fire safety to the public and firefighters, reduced risk of unwanted fires to communities, infrastructure and resources, strengthened rural economic sustainability, increased public education about the importance of hazardous fuel reduction activities, improved resiliency and sustainability of wildland ecosystems, fewer lands severely degraded by wildland fires and reduced cost to the Federal government for wildfire suppression and rehabilitation.

Introduced in 2000, the Department of the Interior’s National Fire Plan is a 10-year comprehensive strategy to suppress wildland fires and rehabilitate fire-damaged areas. The STBar Ranch Fuels Reduction/Range Rehabilitation Project employed three of the four primary goals of the Plan: Reduce hazardous fuel, restore fire-adapted ecosystems and promote community assistance for accomplishing these goals. For more information about the National Fire Plan, visit www.fireplan.gov.

Note to Editors: The photo of the Winnebago Agency Fire and Fuels Management Group receiving its 2006 NFP Excellence in Hazardous Fuels Reduction award that accompanies this release may be viewed at www.doi.gov.

WASHINGTON – The Department of the Interior will hold a tribal consultation meeting on draft DOI Indian trust management regulations on March 29, 2006, at the Doubletree Hotel, Lloyd Center in Portland, Ore., starting at 8:00 a.m. (local time). The consultation meetings are a component of the Department’s implementation of its Fiduciary Trust Model to improve and reform Indian trust management for the benefit of all Indian beneficiaries.

The Department has provided a draft of the proposed trust management regulations to tribal leaders. At the upcoming meeting, tribal leaders and other attendees will have an opportunity to provide comments on the following draft rules:

• Probate of Indian Estates (25 CFR 15; 43 CFR 4)
• Tribal Probate Codes (25 CFR 18) [New]
• Life Estates and Future Interests (25 CFR 179)
• Land Records and Title Documents (25 CFR 150)
• Conveyances of Trust and Restricted Land, Removal of Trust or Restricted Status (25 CFR 152)

The intent of this initiative is to clarify existing regulations and create new regulations to improve services to Indian trust beneficiaries, facilitate productive use of Indian lands, promote consolidation and reduce fractionation of Indian trust asset interests and incorporate changes to the probate process under the American Indian Probate Reform Act of 2004 (P.L. 108-374).

WHEN: Wednesday, March 29 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (local time)

WHERE: Doubletree Hotel, Lloyd Center, 1000 N.E. Multnomah St., Portland, Ore. Phone: 1-800-996-0510

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WASHINGTON – The Department of the Interior’s Office of Indian Gaming Management (OIGM) will hold a series of tribal consultation meetings on the development of proposed regulations to establish standards for implementing Section 20 of IGRA, the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988 (25 USC 2701-2721). The meetings will take place in Uncasville, Conn., Albuquerque, N.M., Sacramento, Calif., and Minneapolis, Minn., starting on March 30, 2006.

Section 20 provides that federally recognized Indian tribes cannot conduct class II or class III gaming on lands acquired in trust after October 17, 1988, unless one of several exceptions applies. The proposed rule will establish the criteria that will be considered by the Department to determine whether a parcel of land acquired in trust after that date qualifies under any of the exceptions listed in 25 USC 2719.

The Department will conduct tribal consultation sessions to receive input on the proposed draft regulations on the following dates (all times are local time):

Thursday, March 30: 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

Mohegan Sun Casino and Resort, 1 Mohegan Sun Blvd., Uncasville, Conn.

Wednesday, April 5: 2:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Albuquerque Convention Center, San Miguel Rm. 330 Tijeras N.W., Albuquerque, N.M.

Tuesday, April 18: 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

Radisson Hotel Sacramento, 500 Leisure Lane, Sacramento, Calif.

Thursday, April 20: 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

Crown Plaza, 2200 Freeway Blvd., Minneapolis, Minn.

Comments on the proposed draft regulations also may be mailed or hand-delivered to the Office of Indian Gaming Management at 1849 C Street, N.W., MS-3657-MIB, Washington, D.C. 20240 by April 20, 2006.

The Office of Indian Gaming Management oversees the Secretary’s responsibilities under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (P.L. 100-497). The OIGM develops policy guidelines on land acquisition requests for gaming, tribal/state compacts, per capita distribution plans, Secretarial approval of trust asset and gaming-related contracts, and Secretarial procedures for class III gaming. The OIGM also reviews and approves fee-to-trust applications and leases, coordinates with other federal agencies on gaming taxation, provides compliance to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), conducts training and technical assistance for tribes and federal personnel and reviews financing/accounting issues related to agreements.

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A block of sleeping rooms will be reserved for persons attending the consultation. Call the hotel at (800) 996-0510 to make a reservation.

WASHINGTON – Interior Associate Deputy Secretary James E. Cason today issued a proposed finding to acknowledge the Mashpee Wampanoag Indian Tribal Council, Incorporated, (Mashpee) as an Indian tribe. The 1,462-member tribe is located in Barnstable County, Cape Cod, Mass.

The Federal acknowledgment regulations (25 CFR Part 83) require that a petitioning group meet seven mandatory criteria for the Department to find that a tribe has continuous existence. The evidence reviewed for this proposed finding showed that the Mashpee petitioner met all of the criteria under 83.7(a) through (g).

Under criterion 83.7(a), external observers identified the petitioner and its ancestors as an American Indian entity of Mashpee Wampanoag Indians on a substantially continuous basis from 1900 to the present.

Under criterion 83.7(b), the evidence demonstrates that the current group and its ancestors maintained a community distinct from that of other populations near the town of Mashpee, Mass., since the 1600s. The petitioner also provided evidence to show that consistent social interactions and relationships have existed among the group since that time to the present.

Under criterion 83.7(c), the evidence shows that the current group and its ancestors maintained political authority or influence over its members as an autonomous entity since first sustained contact. The exercise of political authority has taken many forms including political control of the town of Mashpee by the group to 1974 and by having an incorporated council to the present.

Under criterion 83.7(d), the petitioner presented a copy of its governing document and its membership criteria.

Under criterion 83.7(e), the petitioner submitted a membership list that identified 1,462 members and documented that about 88 percent of its current members have ancestors who were a part of the historical Mashpee tribe enumerated in a State report by John Milton Earle in 1861. Based on precedents in previous findings, this is sufficient to meet the requirements of 83.7(e).

Under criterion 83.7(f), the petitioner demonstrated that its membership is composed principally of persons who are not members of any federally acknowledged North American Indian tribe.

Under criterion 83.7(g), the evidence demonstrates that neither the petitioner nor its members are the subject of congressional legislation that has expressly terminated or forbidden the Federal relationship.

The petitioner, interested parties and the general public have 180 days from the date of publication of the Notice of Proposed Finding in the Federal Register to provide comments to the Department. This proposed finding is based on the evidence available at this time and may be changed or modified by new evidence or analysis available for the Final Determination.

This evaluation has been considered under time-frames set by a court-approved negotiated settlement agreement, which did not otherwise affect the Department’s standard review of the evidence or the mandatory criteria.

Visit https://www.bia.gov/as-ia/ofa to view the proposed finding.