OPA

WASHINGTON – Associate Deputy Secretary James E. Cason today announced that the Department of the Interior declined to acknowledge that the groups known as the Eastern Pequot Indians of Connecticut (EP) and the Paucatuck Eastern Pequot Indians of Connecticut (PEP) are Indian tribes within the meaning of Federal law. The Reconsidered Final Determination concluded that the Eastern Pequot Indians of Connecticut and the Paucatuck Eastern Indians Pequot of Connecticut did not meet two of seven mandatory requirements for Federal acknowledgment under 25 CFR Part 83, and therefore, did not meet the requirements for acknowledging a government-to-government relationship with the United States.

This decision reversed the June 24, 2002, Final Determinations to acknowledge the two petitioners, EP and PEP, as one group, known as the Historical Eastern Pequot Tribe. The State of Connecticut, the towns of Ledyard, North Stonington, and Preston, Connecticut, and a group known as the Wiquapaug Eastern Pequot Tribe challenged the Final Determinations before the Interior Board of Indian Appeals.

On May 12, 2005, the Interior Board of Indian Appeals vacated and remanded the Final Determinations to the Assistant Secretary - Indian Affairs for reconsideration, rejecting the use of state recognition of the Historical Eastern Pequot Tribe as evidence for criterion 83.7(b) “community” and 83.7(c) “political authority and influence” as defined in the regulations under 83.1. In response to the decision of the Interior Board of Indian Appeals, the Department reevaluated the specific state relationship with the Eastern Pequot to determine if it provided evidence of social interaction or political influence within the Eastern Pequot.

The reconsidered Final Determination found that the petitioners did not meet criterion 83.7(b), because of the division of the historical Eastern Pequot into two groups in the early 1980s. The two separate communities after the early 1980s are not the same community that existed before that time. Neither petitioner represented the entire Eastern Pequot group. The petitioners also did not meet criterion 83.7(c), because there was insufficient evidence of political authority or influence for the period 1913-1973. Also, since the division in 1983, the two groups did not meet criterion 83.7(c).

The Reconsidered Final Determination is final and effective for the Department of the Interior upon the date of publication of a notice, in the Federal Register, pursuant to 25 CFR § 83.11(h)(3).

WASHINGTON – Associate Deputy Secretary James E. Cason announced that the Department of the Interior declined to acknowledge the Schaghticoke Tribal Nation as an Indian tribe within the meaning of Federal law. This Reconsidered Final Determination concluded that the Schaghticoke Tribal Nation did not meet two of the seven mandatory requirements for Federal acknowledgment under 25 CFR Part 83, and therefore, the Department declines to acknowledge a government-to-government relationship between the United States and the Schaghticoke Tribal Nation.

On February 5, 2004, the Department of the Interior published in the Federal Register, a notice of the Final Determination to acknowledge the Schaghticoke Tribal Nation. The State of Connecticut, the Kent School Corp., Connecticut Light & Power Company, the towns of Kent, Danbury, Bethel, New Fairfield, Newton, Ridgefield, Stamford, Greenwich, Sherman, Westport, Wilton, Weston, and the Housatonic Valley Council of Elected Officials, the Cogswell family group, and a group known as the Schaghticoke Indian Tribe challenged that decision before the Interior Board of Indian Appeals.

On May 12, 2005, the Interior Board of Indian Appeals vacated and remanded the Final Determination to the Assistant Secretary - Indian Affairs for reconsideration. The Interior Board of Indian Appeals rejected the general use of state recognition in the Final Determination as evidence for criterion 83.7(b) “community” and 83.7(c) “political influence or authority.” In response, the Department reevaluated the specific relationship between the State of Connecticut and the Schaghticoke Tribal Nation to determine if it provided evidence of social interaction or political influence within the Schaghticoke Tribal Nation. The conclusion of the reevaluation is that it did not provide such evidence.

Under criterion 83.7(b), community, the petitioner provided sufficient evidence from colonial times to 1920 and 1967 to 1996. The petitioner did not meet criterion 83.7(b), because there was insufficient evidence for the periods 1920-1967 and 1997 to the present. Under criterion 83.7(c), political authority or influence, the petitioner provided sufficient evidence from historical times to 1801. The petitioner did not meet criterion 83.7(c), because there was insufficient evidence for the periods 1801-1875, 1885-1967, and 1997 to the present. The Schaghticoke Tribal Nation petitioner failed these criteria from 1997 to the present because numerous Schaghticoke Indians refused to be members of the Schaghticoke Tribal Nation.

This Reconsidered Final Determination is final and effective for the Department of the Interior upon the date of publication of a notice in the Federal Register, pursuant to 25 CFR § 83.11(h)(3).

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of the Interior, Indian Affairs announces the Indian Energy Opportunity Roundtable: Tribes, Companies and Government Explore Oil and Gas Possibilities. The half-day event, which will be held in Denver, CO on October 18, 2005, is cosponsored by the Department’s Office of Indian Energy and Economic Development and the Domestic Petroleum Council. The Roundtable is being held to gather all interested stakeholders to discuss the development of the vast energy resources owned by American Indian tribes. It is estimated that 37 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and 5 billion barrels of oil lie under tribal lands.

“We look forward to gathering together to discuss the possibilities of collaborations that will be good for the tribes and good for America,” said Bob Middleton, Director, Office of Indian Energy and Economic Development. “Our Trust responsibility for natural resources is one of the most critical functions performed by the Federal government in fulfilling the treaties and other agreements established with American Indian tribes.”

The event will bring together private, public and tribal entities to discuss the opportunities tribes have for developing their oil and gas reserves. Some of the featured speakers include the following: Nicholas Sinatra, Deputy Associate Director, Intergovernmental Affairs, The White House; Stephen Manydeeds, Division Chief, Division of Energy and Mineral Resources, Department of the Interior; Willam J. Barret, Chairman and CEO of Bill Barrett Corporation; Bruce Valdez, Executive Director, Southern Ute Indian Tribe Growth Fund; and Jim Abercrombie, Senior Vice President, Onshore West Operations, Dominion Exploration and Production.

Speakers will address several topics, including: A View from the White House; The Resource Potential in Indian Country, Successful Indian Energy Development, and Energy Business Models: Indian Country Legal and Tax Considerations. Those presentations will be followed by a roundtable discussion featuring various leaders in the area of energy exploration and development from private, public and tribal entities.

The Office of Indian Energy and Economic Development was created by the Department of the Interior to act as its lead office to assist tribes and individuals with the exploration, development and management of energy resources found on their lands. The Domestic Petroleum Council is the largest association of independent natural gas and oil exploration and development companies in the United States.

What: Indian Energy Opportunity Roundtable: Tribes, Companies and Governments Explore Oil and Gas Possibilities

When: October 18, 2005 1:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m. with a reception to follow

Where: Grand Hyatt Denver, CO 1750 Welton Street Denver, CO

CREDENTIALS: This invitation is extended to working media representatives, who are required to display sanctioned media credentials for admittance to the event.

WASHINGTON – Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) Director W. Patrick Ragsdale today announced that BIA Special Agent Leonard Merriam, an enrolled member of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians of Michigan, is now a graduate of the Federal Bureau of Investigation National Academy (FBINA). Merriam, who works in the Bureau’s Office of Law Enforcement Services (OLES) in Washington, D.C., joins a select group of BIA law enforcement officers who are also graduates of the Academy. The graduation ceremony took place on September 16 at the FBINA campus in Quantico, Va.

“I congratulate BIA Special Agent Leonard Merriam upon his graduation from the FBI National Academy,” Ragsdale said. “The Bureau of Indian Affairs can be proud to add him to its complement of officers who have completed this rigorous training program.”

Christopher B. Chaney, OLES Deputy Bureau Director, noted that Merriam is the seventh current BIA law enforcement employee to have successfully completed FBINA training. “Special Agent Merriam’s accomplishment is a rare honor, and reflects the high quality personnel we have in the Office of Law Enforcement Services,” Chaney said.

Merriam was among the 247 law enforcement officers from 48 states, the District of Columbia, 21 international countries, four military organizations, and four Federal civilian organizations who comprised the 222nd session of the National Academy. The 10-week program provides students with advanced investigative, management and fitness training by FBI Academy instructional staff, Special Agents and internationally recognized law enforcement experts.

“The training at the FBI National Academy was among the most academically and physically demanding that I have ever received,” Merriam said. “I am pleased to be able to apply what I have learned to my work in BIA law enforcement.”

Special Agent Merriam was born in Ann Arbor, Mich. After graduating from Dexter High School, he attended Lake Superior State University in Sault Ste. Marie where he majored in Criminal Justice with a minor in Corrections. During this period, he interned as a conservation officer with the Bureau’s Michigan Agency in Sault Ste. Marie. In addition, his family’s tradition of working as tribal commercial fishermen, which he also did to help pay for his education, sparked his interest in Conservation Law Enforcement.

In 1995, after graduating with a Bachelors of Science degree in Criminal Justice and Conservation Law Enforcement, Merriam served his tribe as a police officer until 1997 when he joined the Sault Ste. Marie city police force. In November 1999, Merriam became a Special Agent with the Michigan Agency, where he worked until January 2003, when he transferred to the OLES headquarters office in D.C.

The Office of Law Enforcement and Security carries out its mission to improve law enforcement services and preserve public safety in Indian country through six district offices and by supporting, through funding and/or training, over 170 tribally operated police departments and directly operating 31 police departments, as well as funding 59 tribally operated detention facilities and directly operating 22 detention facilities, across the country, by coordinating homeland security support on Federal Indian lands, and by providing training and professional development through the Indian Police Academy in Artesia, N.M.

WASHINGTON – Associate Deputy Secretary James E. Cason announced today that the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) Eastern Regional Office in Nashville, Tenn., has approved under 25 CFR 151 a request by local officials of Madison County and Oneida County in the state of New York to extend the comment period for state and local governments on a land-into-trust application from the Oneida Indian Nation. The Bureau granted a 60-day extension of time to submit comments on the tribe’s application which is comprised of three groups of land parcels.

After the BIA had received the Oneida Indian Nation’s request on September 20, 2005, and in accordance with 25 CFR 151.10, the Eastern Regional Office provided notification to state and local governments having regulatory jurisdiction over the land of their opportunity to provide written comments within a 30-day timeframe as to the acquisition’s potential impact on their regulatory jurisdiction, real property taxes and special assessments.

The original comment periods on Group 1 and Group 2 lands ran from September 26 to October 26, 2005, and from November 1 to November 30, 2005, respectively. The BIA notice further specified that an extension of 10 to 30 days in which to submit comments may be granted provided written justification was received within the initial comment period.

The BIA has granted Madison County and Oneida County officials a 60-day extension of time to submit comments on the acquisition of Group 1 and Group 2 lands until the close of business on December 27, 2005, and January 29, 2006, respectively. The BIA also will soon provide formal notice of the extension of the comment period for Group 3 lands from November 1 until the close of business on March 1, 2006.

On April 5, 2005, the Oneida Indian Nation submitted to the BIA Eastern Regional Office their request for the fee-to-trust transfer of restricted lands within the Oneida Reservation totaling 17,193 acres in the two counties. The request was the result of the March 29, 2005, United States Supreme Court decision in City of Sherrill v. Oneida Indian Nation wherein the Court noted that the tribe had an available procedure under 25 USC 465 and 25 CFR 151 for acquiring land into trust that takes into account local jurisdictional concerns.

WASHINGTON – Interior Associate Deputy Secretary James E. Cason will appear November 1 at the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) 62nd Annual Convention in Tulsa, Okla. The NCAI convention is the oldest and largest annual meeting of American Indian and Alaska Native tribal leaders held in the United States.

Cason will discuss Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) programs and policy initiatives including trust reform, the proposed restructuring of the Office of Indian Education Programs (OIEP), the national search for a new OIEP Director and the implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act in BIA-funded schools, and the Bureau’s Fiscal Year 2006 budget outlook.

WHO: James E. Cason, Associate Deputy Secretary, U.S. Department of the Interior.

WHAT: Associate Deputy Secretary Cason will speak on BIA programs and policy at the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) 62nd Annual Convention.

WHEN: 11:00 a.m. (local time) on Tuesday, November 1, 2005.

WHERE: Tulsa Convention Center, Hall C, 100 Civic Center, Tulsa, Okla. Phone: (918) 596-7177.

CREDENTIALS: This invitation is extended to working media representatives, who are required to display sanctioned media credentials for admittance to the event.

WASHINGTON – Associate Deputy Secretary James E. Cason today announced that the Department of the Interior has declined to acknowledge that a group known as the St. Francis/Sokoki Band of Abenaki located in and around Swanton, Vt., is an Indian tribe within the meaning of Federal law. The petitioning group did not demonstrate that it meets all seven mandatory criteria for Federal acknowledgment as an Indian tribe under Part 83 of Title 25 of the United States Code of Federal Regulations (25 CFR Part 83), “Procedures for Establishing that an American Indian Group Exists as an Indian Tribe.”

The purpose of 25 CFR Part 83 is to provide a means to acknowledge Indian tribes that have continuous social and political existence and to determine whether the group descends from a historical Indian tribe or tribes. Federal acknowledgment of a group as an Indian tribe establishes a government-to-government relationship between the United States and an Indian tribe and is a prerequisite for the offering of services by the Department’s Bureau of Indian Affairs to Indian tribes.

The petitioning group did not meet criteria 83.7(a), (b), (c) and (e) of the acknowledgment regulations. Under criterion 83.7(a), the petitioner did not demonstrate that it was identified as an Indian entity on a “substantially continuous” basis for 75 years, from 1900 to 1975. The evidence in the record revealed that the petitioner has been identified on a substantially continuous basis only since it formed its organization in the mid-1970s. Under criterion 83.7(b), the petitioner did not demonstrate that “a predominant portion of the petitioning group comprised a distinct community” on a substantially continuous basis from first sustained contact with non-Indians to the present. Under criterion 83.7(c), the petitioner did not demonstrate that it had maintained “political influence or authority” over its members as an autonomous entity from first sustained contact with non-Indians to the present. Under criterion 83.7(e), the petitioner did not demonstrate that its membership consisted of individuals who descended from a historical Indian tribe or tribes that combined and functioned as a single autonomous political entity.

The record further revealed that the petitioner is not the same as the historical Western Abenaki tribe that was recorded in the Missisquoi River area during the Colonial era. This group eventually retreated north across the border to Canada, where they were joined by a number of refugee Indians from the various Colonial wars. These Indians were eventually incorporated into the larger Abenaki group, which eventually settled on the St. Francis (also called “Odanak”) Reservation near Pierreville, Quebec, in Canada.

The petitioning group did meet criteria 83.7(d), (f), and (g) of the acknowledgment regulations by demonstrating that it has a governing document, that its membership is not principally composed of members of an acknowledged North American Indian tribe, and that neither the petitioner nor its members are the subject of congressional legislation that has expressly terminated or forbidden the Federal relationship.

The Notice of Proposed Finding on the St. Francis/Sokoki Band of Abenaki of Vermont will be published in the Federal Register. As provided by 25 CFR Part 83.10(i), the petitioner or any individual or organization wishing to challenge or support the proposed finding shall have 180 days after the notice’s publication date to submit arguments and evidence to rebut or support the proposed finding before any final determination is issued.

PALA, Calif. – During a visit to the Pala Indian Reservation in Southern California today, Interior Associate Deputy Secretary James E. Cason announced that the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) has completed the transfer of 18 acres of land from a former United States Air Force base located near the City of San Bernadino, Calif., to the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians, a federally recognized Serrano tribe headquartered in Patton, Calif. Cason was in attendance at a signing ceremony for the final transaction in a process that has returned to the San Manuel tribe lands that were a part of its ancestral land base. He was joined at the event by San Manuel Vice Chairman Henry Duro, San Manuel tribal officials and other officials from the Department of the Interior.

“I congratulate the United States Air Force, the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians for their hard work and determination,” Cason said. “Through consultation, cooperation and communication, they have effectively brought the long and complicated process of transferring these surplus Federal lands to a successful conclusion.”

The area where the 200-member San Manuel tribe is located is known as the Inland Empire. Although home to the Serrano people for centuries, the region’s non-Indian population came first from Spain, then Mexico. In January 1891, Congress authorized the establishment of a 25-acre reservation for the tribe located at the base of McKinley Mountain in the San Bernadino Mountain Range. A major geological feature of the San Manuel Reservation is the web of fault lines that runs through it, including the San Andreas Fault which extends under the tribe’s administrative offices. The new land is better suited for the tribe’s needs and will support its efforts to contribute to the local economy.

“This is a joyous day for the San Manuel people,” Duro said. “We have waited a long time to reclaim these parts of our ancestral lands so that we can develop our tribal economy and participate in the revitalization of the Inland Empire region.”

Today’s ceremony capped a process that started 10 years ago when the San Manuel tribe sought to acquire portions of the Norton Air Force Base after its closing in 1994. The Air Force agreed to a no-cost transfer of three parcels of the surplus Federal property, which includes the Air Combat Camera facility and other, smaller buildings, for the tribe’s benefit in accordance with the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949.

Although the parcels received a waiver of fair market value, the transaction has not been without cost to the tribe. The tribe has already renovated one building, using it as a training facility for tribal and local fire and safety personnel, but the Air Combat Camera facility will require significant investment to render it useable. The lands are being transferred through the BIA under the authority of the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act of 1975.

WASHINGTON – Interior Associate Deputy Secretary James E. Cason and Special Trustee for American Indians Ross O. Swimmer will speak tomorrow at Arizona State University College of Law’s Federal Trust Responsibility Conference at the ASU campus in Tempe, Ariz. Cason will speak on the Interior Department’s ongoing trust reform efforts. Swimmer will discuss future directions of the Federal-Indian trust relationship. The Federal Trust Responsibility Conference is sponsored by the College of Law’s Indian Legal Program, ASU’s American Indian Policy and Leadership Development Collaborative, the American Indian Law Center, Inc., and the University of New Mexico School of Law. Over 200 tribal officials, tribal attorneys and Federal officials are expected to attend.

WHO: James E. Cason, Associate Deputy Secretary, DOI Ross O. Swimmer, Special Trustee for American Indians, DOI

WHAT: Associate Deputy Secretary Cason will speak on the Department’s ongoing trust reform efforts and Special Trustee Swimmer will discuss future directions of the Federal-Indian trust relationship.

WHEN: Friday, December 2, 2005 (all times are local times): 9:00 a.m. – Associate Deputy Secretary James E. Cason 10:15 a.m. – Special Trustee for American Indians Ross O. Swimmer

WHERE: Arizona State University College of Law, Armstrong Hall, McAllister & Orange Streets (Southwest corner), W. R. Pedrick Great Hall, Tempe, Ariz.

CREDENTIALS: This invitation is extended to working media representatives.

WASHINGTON - Combatting a methamphetamine crisis in Indian Country and promoting higher academic achievement in Indian schools are key initiatives in President Bush's FY2008 budget for the Department of the Interior, Secretary Kempthorne said today.

"The President has proposed more than $30 million in targeted ·funding to help American Indian communities battle the rise of methamphetamine crime on reservations and improve educational opportunities for today's Indian youth," Kempthorne said. "These efforts are critically important to ensure that future generations of American Indians have safe and secure communities and that Indian students can fulfill their potential through education."

"Tribal leaders describe a methamphetamine crisis that has the potential to destroy an entire generation if action isn't taken," Kempthorne said. "They refer to it as the second smallpox epidemic and rank it as the number one public safety problem on their reservations." Organized crime and foreign drug cartels have taken advantage of the limited law enforcement presence on tribal lands to produce and distribute the drug, resulting in a violent crime rate in some communities that is ten to 20 times the national average.

"At one reservation particularly hard hit, an estimated 25 percent of babies are born addicted to methamphetamine," Kempthorne said. "We cannot ignore this tragedy. We must help Indian Country remove this scourge from its midst. We will stop these peddlers of poison."

The President has proposed a $16 million increase to fund the Bureau of Indian Affair's Safe Indian Communities Initiative, which will strengthen law enforcement capabilities on tribal lands by providing $5 million to hire and train additional law enforcement officers; $5 million to increase staff at Indian detention facilities and for training detention officers; and $6 million to provide specialized drug enforcement training for officers and public awareness campaigns about the dangers of methamphetamine use for tribal communities.

To raise the level of student performance in Bureau of Indian Education schools, the President's budget calls for an additional $15 million investment to improve Indian student academic achievement, a key goal of the No Child Left Behind Act. The BIE system has 184 schools that educate about 50,000 students.

"As one of only two federal school systems, our Bureau of Indian Education schools should be models of achieving the goals of the No Child Left Behind Act," Kempthorne said. "Yet, just 30 percent of our schools are meeting these goals. We must change course so Indian children receive the education they deserve."

The Initiative will provide enhancements and tools to help these schools raise the level of student performance and increase the number of schools achieving Adequate Yearly Progress under the No Child Left Behind Act. The initiative will provide targeted, intensive educational assistance to schools that have yet to achieve their Adequate Yearly Progress goals and provides additional funding for student transportation, education program management and information technology.

Included in the request is $5.3 million to fund a new program element, Education Program Enhancements, to use resources for specific initiatives, projects, and new activities associated with targeted improvements to educational instruction and learning. An increase of $4.25 million for student transportation will offset rising fuel costs and ensure that BIE school transportation continues to meet national and state standards.

An increase of $3.6 million for Education Program Management will establish positions for specialists dedicated to the administration and management of data, contracts and school finances. And an increase of $1.85 million will fund the Native American Student Information System, an information management tool that will support the BIE's efforts in improving student and school performance. More detailed information is in the FY2008 Interior Budget in Brief which is available online at: http://www.doi.gov/budget/2008/08Hilites/toc.html.