[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]
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