[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 127 (Wednesday, July 2, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 35830-35831]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-17281]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Indian Affairs


Plan for the Use and Distribution of the White Mountain Apache 
Tribe Indian Judgment Funds in Docket No. 22-H Before the United States 
Court of Federal Claims

AGENCY: Bureau of Indian Affairs, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given that the plan for the use and 
distribution of judgment funds awarded to the White Mountain Apache 
Tribe in Docket No. 22-H is effective as of April 29, 1997. 
Distribution of the funds in accordance with the plan shall be 
administered by the Special Trustee for American Indians through the 
Office of Trust Funds Management.


[[Page 35831]]


FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: Joe Weller, Office of Trust Funds Management, 
505 Marquette, NW, Suite 1000, Albuquerque, NM 87102, (505) 248-5723.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Act of October 19, 1973, as amended (25 
U.S.C. 1402 et seq.), requires that a plan be prepared and submitted to 
Congress for the use and distribution of funds appropriated to pay a 
judgment of the Indian Claims Commission or Court of Claims to any 
Indian tribe. Funds were appropriated on December 11, 1995, in 
satisfaction of the award granted to the White Mountain Apache Tribe 
before the United States Court of Federal Claims in Docket No. 22-H. 
The plan for the use and distribution of the funds, including 
supporting documents referenced by and incorporated therein, was 
submitted to Congress on December 10, 1996, with letters bearing the 
same date. The receipt of the letters by the Senate the House of 
Representatives was recorded in the Congressional Record published on 
January 10, 1997. The plan became effective on April 29, 1997, since a 
joint resolution disapproving it was not enacted. The General 
Provisions section shall be interpreted in conjunction with currently 
governing regulations with reference to limitations on distribution of 
funds for the use/benefit of minors and legal incompetents. Such 
restrictions may be found at 25 CFR Secs. 87.10, 115.4, and 115.5. The 
plan reads as follows:

Plan for the Use and Distribution of the White Mountain Apache Tribe 
Judgment Funds in Docket 22-H Before the United States Court of Federal 
Claims

    The funds appropriated on December 11, 1995, in satisfaction of the 
judgment granted to the White Mountain Apache Tribe in Docket 22-H by 
the United States Court of Federal Claims, less attorney fees and 
litigation expenses, and including all interest and investment income 
accrued, shall be used and distributed as herein provided:

Per Capita Aspect

    Eighty percent (80%) of the funds shall be distributed in the form 
of per capita payments by the Secretary of the Interior (hereinafter 
the ``Secretary'') in sums as equal as possible to all tribal members 
born on or prior to and living on the effective date of this plan, 
except that individuals who have received judgment fund per capita 
payments while enrolled with any other tribe shall be ineligible to 
participate in the distribution of Docket 22-H funds. The tribal 
governing body shall establish, with the approval of the Secretary, 
procedures and a deadline for the filing of applications for tribal 
enrollment. Such deadline shall not be established on a Saturday, 
Sunday or legal holiday.

Programming Aspect

    Twenty percent (20%) of the funds, and any amounts remaining from 
the per capita payments provided above, shall be used to establish a 
perpetual and permanent White Mountain Apache Land Restoration Fund 
(hereinafter referred to as the ``Fund''). The principal of the Fund 
shall never be expended. The Fund's investment income shall be used for 
the following types of land and water restoration projects:
    1. A portion of the fund may be used for fund administration in the 
form of an endowment governed by a Board of Directors who would 
recommend projects for funding, set policy direction for the fund, and 
made decisions regarding scholarships and internships with preferences 
given to projects which use funds to match outside grants and which 
promote the long term recovery of Apache lands and values.
    2. A permanent matching fund annually for federal, state, and 
private grants.
    3. Restoration projects may be conducted in a variety of locations 
across the Reservation, including the following:
    a. Riparian and cienega restoration, including fencing, development 
of alternative water resources for cattle and wildlife, erosion 
control, revegetation;
    b. Rangeland restoration, including irrigation, reseeding, and 
fencing;
    c. Ecological educational projects, including interpretive nature 
trails, community nature parks, curricula development for schools, and 
television programming;
    d. Ecosystems monitoring and research projects in the area of water 
quality and habitat;
    e. Plant and wildlife restoration, such as reintroduction of native 
species and elimination of exotics; and
    f. Cultural and language restoration, including recording and 
transmitting tribal elders' knowledge of ecosystems, such as place 
names, herbs, plans, and animals.
    4. Scholarships may be made available to tribal members who are 
college or university level juniors, seniors, or graduate students 
majoring in natural resources fields, and special intern programs to 
provide tribal members with unique opportunities to learn about and 
work in a range of natural resource fields on the Reservation.
    5. The investment income may also be used to develop and implement 
potential initiatives to protect and restore tribal lands and waters 
which emphasize the involvement of tribal elders and youth. Those 
initiatives may include stream and lake restoration projects; tribal 
youth training camp; ethnoecology project; tribal ecological research 
institute; adopt-a-stream program for local schools; oral history 
project; and ecotourism development program.

General Provisions

    The per capita shares of living, competent adults shall be paid 
directly to them. The per capita shares of deceased individual 
beneficiaries shall be determined and distributed in accordance with 43 
CFR, part 4, subpart D. Per capita shares of legal incompetents and 
minors shall be handled as provided in 25 U.S.C. 1403(b)(3).
    The Secretary, in arranging for the per capita payments to be made, 
shall withhold sufficient shares for individuals, whose eligibility may 
be in question. Those shares shall be held at interest in a separate 
Individual Indian Money (IIM) account, pending determination of an 
individual's enrollment appeal. The amount of any shares not used to 
pay successful appellants shall be available for use in the programming 
aspect of this plan.
    None of the funds distributed per capita or made available under 
this plan for programming shall be subject to Federal or State income 
taxes, nor shall such funds nor their availability be considered as 
income or resources nor otherwise utilized as the basis for denying or 
reducing the financial assistance or other benefits to which such 
household or member would otherwise be entitled under the Social 
Security Act or, except for per capita shares in excess of $2,000, any 
Federal or federally assisted programs.

    Dated: June 25, 1997.
Ada E. Deer,
Assistant Secretary--Indian Affairs.
[FR Doc. 97-17281 Filed 7-1-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-02-P