[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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