[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 245 (Thursday, December 21, 1995)]
[Notices]
[Pages 66315-66316]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-31075]



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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Indian Affairs


Final Determination for Federal Acknowledgment of the Huron 
Potawatomi, Inc.

Agency: Bureau of Indian Affairs, Interior.

Action: Notice of Final Determination.

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SUMMARY: This notice is published in the exercise of authority 
delegated by the Secretary of the Interior to the Assistant Secretary--
Indian Affairs (Assistant Secretary) by 209 DM 8.
    Pursuant to 25 CFR 83.10(m), notice is hereby given that the 
Assistant Secretary acknowledges that the Huron Potawatomi, Inc., 221 
1\1/2\ Mile Road, Fulton, Michigan 49052, exists as an Indian tribe 
within the meaning of Federal law. This notice is based on a 
determination that the group satisfies the criteria set forth in 25 CFR 
83.7 as modified by 25 CFR 83.8.

DATES: This determination is final and will become effective 90 days 
from publication of the Final Determination, pursuant to 25 CFR 83.10 
(l)(4), unless a request for reconsideration is filed pursuant to 25 
CFR 83.11.
    A notice of the Proposed Finding to acknowledge the Huron 
Potawatomi, Inc. (HPI) was published in the Federal Register on May 31, 
1995, 60 F.R. 104, 28426-28427. The 180-day period provided for in the 
regulations for comment on the Proposed Finding closed November 27, 
1995. No substantive third-party comments were received by the BIA. The 
only public comments received were two resolutions in support of the 
proposed finding. The petitioner waived the 60-day period provided for 
in the regulations (25 CFR Part 83.10(k)) for the petitioner to respond 
to third-party comments. This determination is made following a review 
of Huron Potawatomi, Inc.'s response to the Proposed Finding to 
acknowledge, which consisted of the submission of an updated membership 
list.
    The petitioner or any interested party may file a request for 
reconsideration of this determination with the Interior Board of 
Appeals (Sec. 83.11(a)(1)). The petitioner's or interested party's 
request must be received no later than 90 days after publication of the 
Assistant Secretary's determination in the Federal Register 
(Sec. 83.11(a)(2)).
    The final determination incorporates the proposed finding and the 
technical reports to the proposed finding. Under 25 CFR 83.8, Huron 
Potawatomi, Inc., also known as the Nottawaseppi Huron Potawatomi Band, 
was deemed to have had prior unambiguous Federal acknowledgment in 
1833, the date of the last treaty signed by the Potawatomi of Huron 
Band's chiefs. Between 1833 and 1840, the tribe's ancestors continued 
to reside on the Nottawaseppi Reserve. In 1840, the tribe's ancestors 
either avoided attempts of the Federal Government to remove the 
Potawatomi to Kansas or returned to Michigan within a few years after 
removal. The community was reestablished by 1842, and from that date 
until the present has consistently been identified as a settlement of 
Michigan Potawatomi in Federal, state, and local documents. Huron 
Potawatomi, Inc. meets criterion 83.7(a) as modified by criterion 
83.8(d).
    A geographical residential focus on the Pine Creek Indian 
Reservation in Calhoun County, Michigan, use of the Potatomi language 
as late as 1960, and a level of in-group or culturally appropriate 
patterned out-group marriages to other Michigan Indians from 1842 
through 1960 of more than 50 percent were evidence that the tribe met 
the requirements of criterion 83.7(b) for community up to 1960 under 
the provisions of 83.7(b)(2). Since 1960, the migration of the tribe's 
members off the Pine Creek Reservation to specific locations in 
Michigan was patterned. The outlying settlements not only maintained 
close social and kinship ties with the central Pine Creek settlement 
area, but also among the five external settlement areas. Huron 
Potawatomi, Inc. meets criterion 83.7(b) as modified by section 
83.8(d).
    Because Huron Potawatomi, Inc. met the requirements of criterion 
83.7(b) between 1833 and 1934 by showing a sufficient level of evidence 
under 83.7(b)(2), pursuant to 83.7(c)(3) they also met criterion 
83.7(c) for that time period. From 1934 through 1970, the leadership 
was by a committee closely associated with the Methodist Indian mission 
on the Pine Creek reservation. In 1970, the tribe incorporated and has 
since been administered by an elected chairman and council. Huron 
Potawatomi, Inc. meets criterion 83.7(c) as modified by criterion 
83.8(d).
    The tribe has provided a copy of its governing document, which 
describes its membership criteria. Huron Potawatomi, Inc. meets 
criterion 83.7(d).
    The 1994 membership list of the Huron Potawatomi, Inc. contained 
850 entries. The membership has been documented to descend from persons 
listed on the 1904 Taggart Roll, compiled by the Bureau of Indian 
Affairs in connection with the issuance of Potawatomi annuity payments 
under Federal treaties. The Proposed Finding concluded that the 1994 
HPI membership list, after eliminating deceased members and duplicate 
names, contained 819 actual living persons. The Proposed Finding noted 
the following items pertaining to the HPI membership: (1) That 171 of 
the HPI members were also, by ancestry, eligible for membership in the 
Pokagon Potawatomi Band; (2) that a small number of the HPI members 
were eligible for enrollment in other federally acknowledged tribes and 
that two large families appeared to be dually enrolled with the Saginaw 
Chippewa Indian Tribe; and (3) that 126 individuals on the February 18, 
1994, HPI membership list had notified the BIA that they wished to be 
part of the petition for Federal acknowledgment submitted by the Match-
e-be-nash-she-wish Pottawatomi Band, while about 150 others were 
eligible to be included in the membership of the Match-e-be-nash-she-
wish Pottawatomi Band if they so desired. Because of extensive 
intermarriage among American Indian tribes in Michigan, the above 
determinations contained overlaps: the same individual might be 
eligible for more than one of the enrollment options. The Proposed 
Finding concluded that if the persons who fell into the categories 
listed above chose to disenroll from HPI, their removal from the HPI 
membership would not adversely affect the ability of the Huron 
Potawatomi, Inc. to meet the mandatory criteria of the Federal 
acknowledgment regulations.
    The December 1, 1995, membership list submitted by Huron 
Potawatomi, Inc. used both the prior membership list dated June 27, 
1991 (numbers 1 through 849) and that dated February 15, 1994, as the 
basis for the changes submitted: it utilized the 1991 membership 
numbers, whereas the 1994 list did not include membership numbers, and 
added #850 for one individual (whose name was on the February 19, 1994, 
list). The December 1, 1995, HPI list represents the following changes 
from the February 18, 1994, HPI list: 11 former members were noted as 
deceased; 2 former members enrolled in the Grand Traverse Band; 42 
former members enrolled in the Pokagon 

[[Page 66316]]
Potawatomi Band; and 132 (the 126 noted by the Proposed Finding plus 6 
more) former members enrolled in the Match-e-be-nash-she-wish 
Pottawatomi Band. These withdrawals fell well within the parameters 
predicted by the Proposed Finding. Since the Proposed Finding, fifty-
eight persons carried on the 1991 and 1994 HPI lists relinquished their 
membership in Huron Potawatomi, Inc. in order to remain enrolled in the 
Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe. These relinquishments resolved any 
problem caused by dual enrollment in another federally-recognized 
tribe. Huron Potawatomi, Inc. did not add any members between the 
February 18, 1994, and December 1, 1995, membership lists: none of the 
births to tribal members that occurred in the interim met the 
constitutional requirements for voting membership at age 18. These 
deductions should have given, based on the 1994 roll, a net membership 
for Huron Potawatomi, Inc., of 606 individuals. The list dated December 
1, 1995, contained 602 names. The discrepancy of four persons was 
clarified by an addendum to the membership roll sent by the HPI on 
December 12, 1995. The addendum identified three names that were on the 
tribe's deceased list, but had been overlooked. The fourth person was 
identified as member on the roll who has the same name as a person on 
the deceased member list. Huron Potawatomi, Inc. meets criterion 
83.7(e).
    Huron Potawatomi, Inc. is not principally composed of persons who 
are members of another acknowledged North American Indian tribe. Huron 
Potawatomi, Inc. meets criterion 83.7(f).
    No evidence was found that Huron Potawatomi, Inc. or its members 
are the subject of congressional legislation which has expressly 
terminated or forbidden the Federal relationship. Huron Potawatomi, 
Inc. meets criterion 83.7(g).
Ada E. Deer,
Assistant Secretary--Indian Affairs.
[FR Doc. 95-31075 Filed 12-20-95; 8:45 am]
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