[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 25 (Tuesday, February 6, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Pages 4476-4477]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-1822]



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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Indian Affairs


Final Determination Against Federal Acknowledgment of the 
Ramapough Mountain Indians, 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 declines to acknowledge that the Ramapough Mountain 
Indians, Inc. (RMI), c/o Mr. Ronald Van Dunk, 200 Rte. 17 So., P.O. Box 
478, Mahwah, New Jersey 07430-0478, exists as an Indian tribe within 
the meaning of Federal law. This notice is based on a determination 
that the group does not satisfy three of the criteria set forth in 25 
CFR 83.7, namely: 83.7(b), 83.7(c), and 83.7(e).

DATES: This determination is final and is effective May 6, 1996, 
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 decline to acknowledge the 
Ramapough Mountain Indians, Inc. was published in the Federal Register 
on December 8, 1993 (58 FR 64662, Dec. 8, 1993). The original 180-day 
period provided for in the regulations for comment on the Proposed 
Finding closed April 6, 1994. At the petitioner's request, it was 
extended until October 7, 1994; again until April 7, 1995; and again 
until May 8, 1995. The 60-day period provided for in the regulations 
(25 CFR Part 83.10(k)) for the petitioner to respond to third-party 
comments ended July 10, 1995. This determination is made following a 
review of the Ramapough Mountain Indians, Inc.'s response to the 
Proposed Finding to decline to acknowledge, of the public comments on 
the Proposed Finding to decline to acknowledge, and of the Ramapough 
Mountain Indians, Inc.'s response to the public comments.
    The Proposed Finding to decline to acknowledge the Ramapough 
Mountain Indians, Inc. was issued under the 1978 Federal acknowledgment 
regulations (43 FR 39361-39364, Sept. 5, 1978). On April 22, 1994, the 
Ramapough Mountain Indians, Inc., requested that the final 
determination be issued under the 1994 revised Federal acknowledgment 
regulations. This Final Determination is issued under the revised 
regulations.
    This determination is final and will become effective 90 days from 
the date of publication, unless a request for reconsideration is filed 
pursuant to Sec. 83.11. 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)).
    Because of changes in the revised regulations and new evidence 
located by the Government's researchers, the conclusions for this Final 
Determination are slightly different from those reached in the Proposed 
Finding under criteria 83.7(a), 83.7(b), and 83.7(c). The Proposed 
Finding determined that the RMI did not meet criterion 83.7(a). There 
was no evidence that the petitioning group had been identified ``from 
historical times until the present on a substantially continuous basis, 
as `American Indian' or `aboriginal''' (25 CFR 83.7(a), 1978). The 1994 
revision of the 25 CFR Part 83 regulations was designed to reduce the 
burden of proof on petitioners. Identification as an Indian entity by 
external observers from first sustained contact with non-Indians until 
1900 is no longer required by criterion 83.7(a). Under the 1994 
regulations, the RMI meets criterion 83.7(a), identification by 
external observers as an American Indian entity, for the period since 
1900. This finding is based upon a determination by the Assistant 
Secretary--Indian Affairs that consistent scholarly and popular 
identification of a group as a tri-racial isolate believed to have an 
American Indian component shall constitute evidence for identification 
of the group as an American Indian entity.
    The Proposed Finding determined that the petitioner's ancestral 
group did show community for the period 1870-1950, based on extensive 
endogamy and geographical residential concentration. 

[[Page 4477]]
However, under the 1978 regulations, this was not adequate to meet 
criterion 83.7(b), as the 1978 wording required that there be a 
distinct ``community viewed as American Indian'' [emphasis added]. This 
wording was removed in the 1994 revision of criterion 83.7(b), which 
now requires only the existence of a distinct community. The 
regulations continue to require, under both criteria 83.7(b) and 
83.7(c), that a petitioning group show continuity from the time of 
first sustained contact with non-Indians until the present.
    Under the provisions of the revised regulations, the Ramapough 
Mountain Indians, Inc. has been found to meet criteria 83.7(b) and 
83.7(c) for a limited period of time, from 1870 until about 1950. No 
new evidence concerning criterion 83.7(c) was submitted for the final 
determination. However, under a provision of the 1994 revised 
regulations that was designed to reduce the burden of proof on 
petitioners, it is automatically assumed that when a group meets 
criterion 83.7(b) with a sufficient level of evidence (endogamy of 
greater than 50 percent; geographically proximate residence of greater 
than 50 percent, etc.), it also will have met criterion 83.7(c) for the 
same period of time. Based on this linkage between the two criteria, it 
is determined that the Ramapough Mountain Indians, Inc. has met 
criterion 83.7(c) for the period 1870-1950.
    The modifications under the revised regulations do not change the 
ultimate finding concerning criteria 83.7(b) and 83.7(c), however, 
since the requirement of continuous existence as a social community 
(83.7(b)) and continuous exercise of political influence or authority 
over the group's members (83.7(c)), from the time of first sustained 
contact of the historical tribe, or tribes which amalgamated and 
functioned as a single political entity, with non-Indians until the 
present, remains in force. Meeting a criterion for a limited period is 
not sufficient to meet the criterion overall, because of the 
requirement of continuous existence. No adequate evidence has been 
submitted to show the continuous existence of a community from first 
sustained contact with non-Indians until 1870, or from 1950 to the 
present. Therefore, the petitioner does not meet criterion 83.7(b). No 
new evidence was submitted to show the continuous exercise of political 
influence or authority within the group from first sustained contact 
with non-Indians until 1870, or from 1950 to the present. Therefore, 
the petitioner does not meet criterion 83.7(c).
    The Proposed Finding concluded that, ``No evidence was found to 
substantially demonstrate Indian ancestry for the RMI membership which 
was derived from a historic tribe. It also could not be established 
that there is any Indian ancestry from isolated Indian individuals, and 
there is virtually no documentary evidence from historical records for 
such ancestry.'' No new evidence was submitted pertaining to criterion 
83.7(e), descent of the petitioner's membership from a historical 
Indian tribe, or from tribes which amalgamated and functioned as a 
single political unit. The petitioner's response presented a re-
analysis of the same evidence considered in the Proposed Finding to 
decline to acknowledge. The conclusion that the origins and parentage 
of the earliest generation of the petitioner's documented ancestors 
remain unknown is not changed in this final determination. Therefore, 
the Ramapough Mountain Indians, Inc., does not meet criterion 83.7(e).
Ada E. Deer,
Assistant Secretary--Indian Affairs.
[FR Doc. 96-1822 Filed 2-5-96; 8:45 am]
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