OPA

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Department of the Interior today announced two important steps in the ongoing commitment to fulfilling this nation’s trust responsibilities to Native Americans. Today, Interior announced the publication of a draft plan and a request for comment on implementing the potential Cobell Land Consolidation Program. Additionally, Interior announced that the first meeting of the Commission established to undertake a forward-looking, comprehensive evaluation of Interior’s trust management of Native American trust funds is set for the first week of March.

“Interior’s continued rapport and outreach through consultations with Indian Country are crucial components to accomplishing truly open government-to-government communication,” said Deputy Secretary of the Interior David J. Hayes. “We are thankful for the participation of all of the tribal leaders as we continue to move forward with this landmark program in a manner that incorporates tribal priorities and promotes tribal participation in reducing land fractionation in a timely and efficient way.”

The Cobell Land Consolidation Program will not be implemented until all court approvals are final; however, Interior has prepared the draft plan to continue the tribal consultation on the development of the program. In May, 2011, the District Court allowed representatives of the United States to communicate with Cobell class regarding to the land consolidation component of the settlement. Since then, Interior has conducted seven regional government-to-government tribal consultations on the issues.

In accordance with the $3.4 billion Cobell Settlement, a $1.9 billion land consolidation fund is to be used to purchase fractionated interests in trust from willing sellers to benefit tribal communities and aid in land consolidation. Up to $60 million of the $1.9 billion will be set aside to provide scholarships for post secondary higher education and vocational training for American Indians and Alaska Natives.

Today’s publication in the Federal Register opens a 45-day comment period on the draft implementation plan that seeks to remedy the proliferation of thousands of new trust accounts caused by the increasing subdivision or “fractionation” of trust and restricted fee land interests through succeeding generations. The draft implementation plan proposes a voluntary buy-back and consolidation of fractionated trust and restricted fee land interests that would occur over a 10-year period after the Cobell Settlement becomes final.

Deputy Secretary Hayes also announced that the first meeting of the National Commission on Indian Trust Administration and Reform is scheduled for March 1-2, 2012 in at the Interior Department in Washington, D.C. The March meeting will mark the first time the five recently named members of the Commission will meet to move forward on their comprehensive evaluation of Interior’s management and administration of the trust assets, as well as recommendations for improvement.

“Building upon the progress made with the historic Cobell Settlement, this commission will help usher in a new era of trust administration,” added Hayes. “Our trust administration must be more transparent, responsive, customer-friendly and accountable in managing these substantial funds and assets.”

More information on the Cobell Trust Land Consolidation Program can be found at: www.doi.gov/cobell.

The Cobell Land Consolidation Draft Plan can be found here.

The public notice of the National Commission on Indian Trust Administration and Reform can be found here.

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WASHINGTON – President Obama’s Fiscal Year 2013 budget request for Indian Affairs, which includes the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE), is $2.5 billion – a $4.6 million decrease below the FY 2012 enacted level. The proposed budget maintains the President’s commitment to meeting the government’s responsibilities to the 566 Federally recognized American Indian and Alaska Native Tribes, while holding the line on fiscal responsibility and improving government efficiency.

“The budget request maintains President Obama’s commitment to strengthening tribal nations by making targeted increases in Indian Affairs programs that support tribal self-determination in managing BIA-funded programs, increase public safety in tribal communities by strengthening police capabilities, improve the administration of tribal land, mineral, timber and other trust resources and advance Indian education,” said Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk. “Indian Affairs is sensitive to the need for achieving greater results at a lower cost, and the proposed budget reflects the tough choices that will make us more cost efficient in carrying out our missions.”

Strengthening Tribal Nations Initiative

The Strengthening Tribal Nations Initiative is a comprehensive, multi-year effort to advance the President’s commitments to American Indians and Alaska Natives to improve conditions throughout Indian Country. The FY 2013 budget request continues the initiative, which was the result of meetings with tribal leaders in 2009, 2010, and 2011. The request includes $43.8 million in targeted program increases for this initiative in the areas of Advancing Nation-to-Nation Relationships (+$12.3 million), Protecting Indian Country (+$11.0 million), Improving Trust Land Management (+$15.4 million) and Advancing Indian Education (+$5.2 million).

Advancing Nation-to-Nation Relationships

Under Advancing Nation-to-Nation Relationships, the FY 2013 budget request for Contract Support is $228.0 million – an $8.8 million increase over the FY 2012 enacted level. Contract Support enables a Tribe operating BIA-funded programs to meet administrative costs without decreasing program funds. It is a key factor in the decision a Tribe makes to assume responsibility for operating a Federal program, and is considered by many Tribes as their top priority. The budget includes an increase of $3.5 million for Indian Land and Water Claim Settlements including funds to continue work on the Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project.

Protecting Indian Country

The FY 2013 budget request for BIA Law Enforcement is $353.9 million with targeted increases of $11.0 million over the 2012 enacted level for Law Enforcement Operations, Detention Center Operations and Tribal Courts. The 2013 budget request for Law Enforcement Operations builds on increases from previous years with a $3.5 million increase from 2012, for a total of $189.7 million, for Criminal Investigations and Police Services to enable the BIA to continue improving its recruitment and hiring efforts for law enforcement officers and detention center staff, including veterans.

The request includes $88.2 million for Detention Center Operations, a program increase of $6.5 million, for staffing, training and equipment to increase capacity to hold and process detainees and to fund operations at newly constructed detention facilities opening in 2012 and 2013. The request includes $24.6 million for Tribal Courts, an increase of $1.0 million above the 2012 enacted level, to support the enhanced capabilities given to tribal courts in the Tribal Law and Order Act of 2009.

The funding also supports the expansion of a successful pilot program launched in 2010 to reduce crime on four reservations with high violent crime rates. The targeted, intense community-safety pilot program resulted in a combined reduction in violent crime of 35 percent – far exceeding goals and expectations. Two additional reservations with high crime rates will be added to this initiative in 2012.

Improving Trust Land Management

The BIA’s trust programs assist Federally recognized Tribes in the management, development and protection of Indian trust land and natural resources on 56 million surface acres and 57 million acres of subsurface mineral estates. As part of Interior’s commitment to breaking the logjam on taking land into trust to restore tribal homelands, the Department has undertaken the most substantial overhaul of the Federal fee-to-trust process in 50 years. As a result, between 2009 and 2011 the Department has processed 697 applications, resulting in the acquisition of more than 157,000 acres of land into trust on behalf of tribes and individual Indians.

The FY 2013 budget request supports Improving Trust Land Management through a program increase of $15.4 million for:

• Rights Protection Implementation (+$3.5 million) to support the implementation of Federal court orders resulting from decisions in off-reservation treaty rights litigation.
• Tribal Management Development Program (+$2.0 million) to support Tribes in the management of their on-reservation fish and game programs.
• Cooperative Landscape Development (+800,000) to support greater participation for the bureau and Tribes in the Landscape Conservation Cooperatives for a total program of $1.0 million.
• Invasive Species (+$500,000) to support tribal programs that control, manage, and eradicate harmful plant and animal species from reservations.
• Forestry Programs (+$1.0 million) that develop, maintain, and enhance tribal forest resources.
• Trust Services (+$5.5 million) to support the BIA’s responsibilities in the areas of trust services, probate and land titles and records as well as the Department’s trust reform improvement efforts, and to support the objectives of the Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement signed in February 2010.
• Litigation Support/Attorney Fees (+$1.5 million) to assist Tribes in protecting their tribal trust resources.
• Other Program Management Construction (+$550,000) for the Fort Peck Water System as a new water treatment plant facility is expected to become fully operational in 2012.

Advancing Indian Education

This initiative addresses the full spectrum of educational needs in Indian Country from elementary through post secondary and adult education, including a focus on critical safety and security issues at school facilities to ensure instructional environments are safe and nurturing for students, and an educational reform effort to increase student academic achievement in Bureau of Indian Education funded schools. The FY 2013 budget request for the Bureau of Indian Education is $796.1 million, an increase of $653,000 above the 2012 enacted level, with targeted increases for:

• Tribal Grant Support Costs (+$2.0 million) to help Tribes operating BIE-funded schools cover administrative and indirect costs. As with Contract Support, to which this is comparable, funding for this program is a top priority for Tribes.
• Tribal Colleges and Universities (+2.5 million) to support efforts to assist in the economic development of tribal communities as they offer resources and facilities to teach community members workplace skills and to support tribal plans for development.
• Scholarships (+$710,000) for the BIE’s Scholarships and Adult Education program and Special Higher Education Scholarships program to help adults obtain a GED, provide job skills training, and provide financial aid for Indian post secondary and graduate students pursuing degrees in professions that meet the needs of tribal communities.

Indian Land and Water Claim Settlements

The FY 2013 budget request of $36.3 million for BIA Land and Water Claim Settlements will fund ongoing settlements to help deliver clean drinking water to Indian communities and provide certainty to water users across the West. The investments include:

• The seventh and final payment for the Nez Perce/Snake River Water Rights Settlement ($9.5 million).
• The fourth of five payments for the Shoshone-Paiute Tribes of the Duck Valley Reservation Settlement ($12.0 million).
• The fourth payment for the Navajo Nation Water Resources Development Trust Fund ($6.0 million).

The request also includes $7.8 million, a program increase of $3.4 million, for the Navajo Gallup Water Supply Project and $1.0 million for other smaller Indian land and water settlements.

Achieving Better Results at a Lower Cost

In accordance with President Obama’s February 2011 memorandum to Federal agencies entitled “Administrative Flexibility, Lower Costs, and Better Results for State, Local and Tribal Governments,” the FY 2013 budget request includes reductions and identifies efficiencies that can be achieved through horizontal consolidation, cost-cutting, realignments and program decreases. The request proposes to Achieve Better Results at a Lower Cost through: Improved Management (-$19.7 million) includes measures taken, and those anticipated in consultation with Tribes to ensure that their needs and priorities are addressed, to significantly reduce Indian Affairs program administrative costs. Realignment (+$1.3 million) includes an increase to reflect the transfer of the Indian Arts and Crafts Board from the Office of the Secretary to Indian Affairs, which would oversee the implementation of the Indian Arts and Crafts Act of 1990, as amended. Program Reductions in funding for:

• Law Enforcement Special Initiatives (-$2.6 million) reflecting reduced participation on collaborative activities such as intelligence sharing. • Information Resources Technology (-$6.1 million) due to standardization and consolidation of IT infrastructure.
• The Indian Student Equalization Program (ISEP) (-$4.5 million) to reflect a slight decline in student population.
• Replacement School Construction (-$17.8 million) as the program focuses on addressing improving conditions of existing school facilities.
• The Indian Guaranteed Loan Program (-$2.1 million) while being evaluated for effectiveness.

Indian Affairs’ responsibility to the Federally recognized American Indian and Alaska Native Tribes is rooted in Article I, Section 8, of the United States Constitution, treaties and Federal law. It is responsible for the management, development and protection of Indian trust land and natural resources, providing for public safety and justice in Indian Country, and promoting tribal self-determination and self-governance. Through the Bureau of Indian Education, it funds 183 elementary and secondary day and boarding schools, of which two-thirds are tribally operated, located on 64 reservations in 23 states serving 41,000 students. It also provides funding to 27 tribal colleges and universities and two tribal technical colleges, operates two post-secondary institutions of higher learning and provides higher education scholarships.

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WASHINGTON – Today, February 13, 2012, Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk will provide an overview of the Obama administration’s proposed fiscal year 2013 budget for the Indian Affairs in a 3 p.m. EST teleconference for news media representatives.

The telephone conference can be accessed by dialing 1-800-369-3172 and entering the code 11954. Following the presentation, there will be a question and answer session for news media reporters.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – As part of President Obama’s commitment to fulfilling this nation’s trust responsibilities to American Indians and Alaska Natives, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar will convene the first meeting of the Commission established to undertake a forward looking, comprehensive evaluation of Interior’s trust management.

The first meeting of the National Commission on Indian Trust Administration and Reform will be a two-day event held on Thursday and Friday, March 1-2, 2012, in Washington, DC. [Please note the new location in the details below.] Each day’s session will be held from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Attendance is open to the public, but limited space is available. Members of the public and media who wish to attend should RSVP to: trustcommission@ios.doi.gov.

The meeting will mark the first time the five recently-named members of the commission meet to move forward on their comprehensive evaluation of Interior’s management and administration of the nearly $4 billion in trust assets, as well as recommendations for improvement. Building upon the progress made with the historic Cobell Settlement, the reform commission will help usher in a new era of trust administration, stressing responsive, customer-friendly, accountable and transparent management of these substantial funds and assets.

The Commission website and meeting agenda is at:

http://www.doi.gov/cobell/commission/index.cfm

Information and images of the Commission members are at:

http://www.doi.gov/cobell/Commission-Bios.cfm

The public notice of the Commission is here.

WASHINGTON -- Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today announced $8.4 million in grants to 131 American Indian tribes to support Tribal Historic Preservation Offices under the National Historic Preservation Act. The National Park Service awards grants to these tribes to assist in carrying out national historic preservation program responsibilities on tribal lands.
“The participation of American Indians in the national historic preservation program is a major step forward in how we tell the story of our land and its people,” Secretary Salazar said. “These grants will help tribes recount their histories that date back centuries before Europeans set foot on this continent. As they tell the story, all Americans can gain a greater appreciation of their rich traditions and cultures.”
Tribes can use the grants to fund projects such as nominations to the National Register of Historic Places, preservation education, architectural planning, historic structure reports, community preservation plans, and bricks-and-mortar repair to buildings. The grants are derived from revenues from federal oil leases on the Outer Continental Shelf and can help catalyze private and non-federal investment in historic preservation efforts nationwide.
“Increased attention to the preservation of significant tribal places, as well as tribal culture and tradition, is important to all Americans,” said National Park Service Director Jonathan B. Jarvis. “This grant program provides important funding to protect the cultures of the first Americans.”
For more information about the National Park Service tribal preservation programs and grants, please visit: http://www.nps.gov/history/hps/tribal/ 
Amounts made available are listed below.

FISCAL HEAR 2012
HISTORIC PRESERVATION FUND APPORTIONMENT TO INDIAN TRIBES Under Public Law 112-74

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk was awarded the 2012 Governmental Leadership Award from the National Congress of American Indians for his leadership on behalf of the tribal nations and his work building the foundation for a new era in nation-to-nation relations.

“I am very humbled and honored to receive this prestigious award,” said Assistant Secretary Echo Hawk. “The work we do at Indian Affairs is a rewarding experience in and of itself. It reminds me daily of my civic duty and loyalty towards my tribe, my people, my heritage, Indian Country and America. It also gives me great pleasure to see our youth doing great things in the classroom and being recognized for their tremendous efforts.”

The National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) held its 14th Annual Leadership Awards Ceremony on March 6, 2012.

The NCAI also honored the Bureau of Indian Education’s Wingate High School, N.M. team for its 2011-2012 Tribal Exchange competition. As part of a Bureau of Indian Education program to develop financial skills, the Wingate team built a mock stock portfolio. Their mock investments made $14,000 in eight weeks. The Wingate High School team receiving the award included Nigel Nakai, Kayla Platero, Alicia Billey, Frances Shorty and their Advisor Bruce Lewis.

The program aims at building the financial management skills that future Tribal officials will need to lead their nations in today’s increasingly complex global economy. Despite America’s diverse financial sector, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation noted that 44.5 percent of Native people are unbanked or underbanked - almost double the national rate. The U.S. Treasury Department reported in 2001 that 86 percent of tribal lands lacked a single financial institution, including a simple ATM.

In 2008, the NCAI launched a partnership with the Stock Market Game to develop the Tribal Exchange competition. The Exchange teaches valuable financial life skills and team building while facilitating inter-tribal connections for American Indian and Alaska Native students. The program is funded through a grant from the Bureau of Indian Education, which allows students attending BIE schools to participate in the program for free. More than 1,500 students have participated since the program’s inception.

“The awards given tonight acknowledge the tremendous efforts and attitudes we appreciate across Indian Country," said Jefferson Keel, the President of NCAI. “We need leadership that understands our needs so that Indian Country becomes stronger in years to come, leaders who are willing to devote a commitment to a more prosperous tomorrow—the honorees tonight all possess these needed attitudes.”

The Tribal Exchange is a 10-week program that runs through the fall semester and is open to Native students in grades four through twelve. Students are organized in teams of school clubs or classes. Teams are generally comprised of three to five students to ensure that all students play an important role in the decision-making processes of the game. Each team is given $100,000 in game money to invest in a stocks, bonds, and mutual funds. The game rules specify that each team must have at least two stocks and one bond or mutual fund in their portfolio to be eligible. The team that increases the value of the investment most by the end of the game period wins.

The Bureau of Indian Education has partnered with NCAI for the last three years to provide students with an experience of building a stock portfolio without being on Wall Street.

The Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs discharges the duties of the Secretary of the Interior with the authority and direct responsibility to strengthen the government-to-government relationship with the nation’s 566 federally recognized tribes, advocate policies that support Indian self-determination, protect and preserve Indian trust assets, and administer a wide array of laws, regulations and functions relating to American Indian and Alaska Native tribes, tribal members and individual trust beneficiaries. The Assistant Secretary oversees the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Bureau of Indian Education. For more information, visit www.indianaffairs.gov.

The Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs oversees the BIE which implements federal education laws such as the No Child Left Behind Act throughout the BIE school system. The bureau also serves post secondary students through higher education scholarships and support funding to 26 tribal colleges and universities and two tribal technical colleges. It also directly operates two post secondary institutions: Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence, Kan., and the Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute in Albuquerque, N.M.

-DOI-

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary Larry Echo Hawk expressed his deepest condolences to the family and friends of the late Richard M. Milanovich, the Chairman of the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, praising him as a great American Indian leader who represented his people with heart and soul.

“The news of Chairman Milanovich’s passing has deeply touched all of us here at Interior and throughout Indian Country who knew him as a leader, friend or colleague,” said Echo Hawk. “He was one of the most down to earth and personable leaders that I have ever known. We honor him with our sincerest gratitude for all that he has contributed in service to his people, other tribal nations and to Indian Country at large.”

“He understood the tremendous value of education and completed undergraduate studies while maintaining a steadfast leadership presence in his tribe,” Echo Hawk said. “As a true leader, Chairman Milanovich possessed a humble outward demeanor and was a noble champion for his tribe and Indian Country. On behalf of all Indian Affairs employees, I want to extend our deepest sympathies and condolences.”

Chairman Milanovich served his people for 28 years, helping to make the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians one of the most well respected and forward thinking tribes in Indian Country. He was considered a wise teacher, an inspirational mentor, and most of all, a great friend to many. Chairman Milanovich strongly believed that the youth of Indian Country should understand the legal, political and economic struggles that laid the groundwork for today’s Indian Country. He believed that through studying our past as Native peoples, we can forge a progressive future for all American Indian and Alaska Native people and the generations to come.

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WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Department of the Interior today announced that there is a 15-day extension to the public comment period on the Cobell Land Consolidation Draft Plan. The public comment period will now end on April 3, 2012.

The Cobell Land Consolidation Program will not be implemented until all court approvals are final; however, Interior has prepared the draft plan to continue the tribal consultation on the development of the program.

In accordance with the $3.4 billion Cobell Settlement a $1.9 billion land consolidation fund is to be used to purchase fractionated interests in trust or restricted fee lands from willing sellers to benefit tribal communities and aid in land consolidation.

The initial publication in the Federal Register, on February 23, 2012, opened a 45-day comment period on the draft Cobell Land Consolidation Plan. The plan seeks to remedy the proliferation of thousands of new trust accounts caused by the increasing subdivision or “fractionation” of trust and restricted fee land interests through succeeding generations. The draft consolidation plan proposes a voluntary buy-back and consolidation of fractionated trust and restricted fee land interests that would occur over a 10-year period after the Cobell Settlement becomes final. This extension of 15-days will allow for more time due to numerous requests from Indian Country.

More information on the Cobell Trust Land Consolidation Program can be found at: http://www.doi.gov/cobell

The Cobell Land Consolidation Draft Plan can be found here.

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CATOOSA, Okla. – The Justice and Interior Departments today completed the first in a series of national level training courses, “Criminal Jurisdiction in Indian Country” (CJIC) to strengthen the ability of tribal and local law enforcement to participate in the investigation and enforcement of federal crimes in Indian country, fulfilling a key training requirement under the Tribal Law and Order Act of 2010 (TLOA).

Thirty-five class participants representing seven tribes from the surrounding region and one county sheriff’s office took part in the three-day CJIC training, which began on Monday. Topics included training in federal Indian law criminal jurisdiction, how to best serve sexual assault and domestic violence victims, as well as the investigation and enforcement of drug and firearm offenses.

The course, taught by the Justice Department’s National Indian Country Training Coordinator with Assistant U.S. Attorneys, fulfills one of the requirements for participating officers to receive a Special Law Enforcement Commission (SLEC) from the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

“The special law enforcement commission gives tribal police the ability to investigate and make arrests in federal cases,” said Leslie A. Hagen, National Indian Country Training Coordinator for the Justice Department’s Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys. “This authority, and the protections that go along with it, helps build the capacity of tribal law enforcement to keep their communities safe and strengthens federal and tribal partnerships for public safety.”

“TLOA paves the road for more tribal and federal collaboration to address federal crimes in Indian Country,” said Darren Cruzan, Deputy Director of the BIA’s Office of Justice Services. “Pivotal trainings like the SLEC demonstrate this administration’s commitment to strengthening the capabilities and partnerships of tribal and local law enforcement to fight crime across jurisdictional lines.”

An SLEC allows those officers to enforce federal criminal statutes and federal hunting and fishing regulations in Indian Country. With the passage of the TLOA, primary responsibility for delivery of CJIC training shifted to the Department of Justice. Over the last several years, U.S. Attorney’s Offices across the country have begun to host regionally-based CJIC training in addition to the sessions hosted by BIA at its training academy. While the SLEC is still issued by BIA, Section 213 of TLOA states that tribal liaison duties shall include providing technical assistance and training regarding evidence gathering techniques and strategies to address victim and witness protection and conducting training sessions and seminars to certify special law enforcement commissions to tribal justice officials and other individuals and entities responsible for responding to Indian country crimes.

The BIA and Justice Department officials have been working together over the past year to create a new U.S. Attorney Office-led CJIC training curriculum. The National Indian Country Training Coordinator together with tribal liaisons and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kerry Jacobson of the District of Wyoming, John Tuchi of the District of Arizona, Glynette Carson-McNabb of the District of New Mexico, and Sarah Collins, of the District of South Dakota, developed the CJIC curriculum and are also assisting with the training sessions.

Participants in this week’s training include: The Cherokee Nation Marshal Service, Quapaw Tribal Marshal Service, Comanche Nation Police Department, Wyandotte Nation Police Department, Eastern Shawnee Police Department, the Osage Nation Police Department, the Chickasaw Lighthorse Police Department, and the Delaware County Sheriff’s Office. In addition to this week’s training hosted by the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma, future training is scheduled for April 4-6 at the Hopland Band of Pomo Indians in California. For more information on the national CJIC training program, contact Mark Decoteau, Deputy Chief of Training at the Indian Police Academy, Mark.Decoteau@bia.gov

This week’s training was also completed with the support and/or participation of the U.S. Attorney’s Offices in the Eastern, Western and Northern Districts of Oklahoma.

“We’re proud to host this first national training mandated by the Tribal Law and Order Act,” said Thomas Scott Woodward, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Oklahoma. “It is another excellent example of how the Departments of Justice and Interior are working more closely than ever with each other and with tribal governments to close jurisdictional gaps and strengthen the law enforcement partnerships that make communities safer.”

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WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk today announced he has issued a final determination (FD) regarding the petition of the Central Band of Cherokee (Petitioner #227) for federal recognition as an Indian tribe. The final determination found that the petitioner, located in Lawrenceburg, Tenn., did not meet the mandatory criteria for acknowledgment under the Code of Federal Regulations.

The March 23, 2012, ruling is consistent with the Assistant Secretary’s proposed finding, issued in August 2010, that recommended against acknowledgment because Petitioner #227 did not demonstrate that its members descend from a historical Indian tribe or historical Indian tribes that combined.

The evidence shows the petitioner, with 407 members on its 2007 membership list, is a voluntary association formed of individuals who claim but have not documented Indian ancestry. There is no evidence that Petitioner #227 existed under any name prior to its emergence in 2000 as the “Cherokees of Lawrence County, TN Sugar Creek Band of the Southeastern Cherokee Confederacy, Inc.” Under the regulations, the Department may not acknowledge associations, organizations, corporations, or groups of any character formed in recent times.

The petitioner claims its members are descendants of Cherokee Indians who remained in Tennessee after 1806 when the historical tribe ceded its lands by treaty, or from Indians who returned to “their traditional lands” in the area of Lawrence County, Tenn., after evading or escaping from the Cherokee removal in the late 1830s. There is no primary or reliable secondary evidence to validate these claims. Instead, the evidence shows that the group’s ancestors were consistently identified as non-Indians, primarily White settlers coming to Tennessee in the early and mid-1800s from disparate locations. At no time were they identified as Indians or living in an Indian community. The evidence submitted in response to the proposed finding does not support the petitioner’s claims about its origins and do not demonstrate that Petitioner #227’s members descend from a historical Indian tribe or tribes that combined.

The FD will become final and effective as provided in the regulations 90 days from publication in the Federal Register, unless a request for reconsideration is received by the Interior Board of Indian Appeals under the procedures set forth in Section 83.11 of the regulations within that time.

The Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs has responsibility for fulfilling the Interior Department’s trust responsibilities and promoting self-determination on behalf of the 566 federally recognized American Indian and Alaska Native tribal governments. The Assistant Secretary also oversees the Bureau of Indian Affairs, which is responsible for providing services to the tribes and their members, approximately 1.9 million individual American Indians and Alaska Natives, and the Office of Federal Acknowledgment, which administers the federal acknowledgment process.

The final determination and Federal Register notice will be posted to the Office of Federal Acknowledgment section of the Indian Affairs web site at: https://www.bia.gov/as-ia/ofa.