[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] ======================================================================= ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 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. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 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] BILLING CODE 4310-02-P