[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 245 (Wednesday, December 22, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 71814-71816]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-33117]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Indian Affairs


Final Determination Against Federal Acknowledgment of the Yuchi 
Tribal Organization

AGENCY: Bureau of Indian Affairs, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of Final Determination.

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SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given that the Assistant Secretary--Indian 
Affairs declines to acknowledge that the Yuchi Tribal Organization, 
P.O. Box 1803, Sapulpa, Oklahoma 74067, exists as an Indian tribe 
within the meaning of Federal law. This notice is based on the 
determination that the group does not satisfy one of the criteria set 
forth in 25 CFR 83.7, namely 83.7(f), and therefore does not meet the 
requirements for a government-to-government relationship with the 
United States. Pursuant to 25 CFR 83.10(l)(2), this notice is published 
in accordance with authority delegated by the Secretary of the Interior 
to the Assistant Secretary--Indian Affairs by 209 DM 8.

DATES: This determination is final and will become effective 90 days 
after its publication in the Federal Register, unless a request for 
reconsideration is filed by the petitioner or any interested party with 
the Interior Board of Indian Appeals no later than 90 days after 
publication.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: R. Lee Fleming, Chief, Branch of 
Acknowledgment and Research, (202) 208-3592. A request for a copy of 
the report which summarizes the evidence and analyses that are the 
basis for this Final Determination should be addressed to the Bureau of 
Indian Affairs, Branch of Acknowledgment and Research, 1849 C Street 
NW, Mailstop 4660-MIB, Washington, D.C. 20240.


[[Page 71815]]


SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: A notice of the Proposed Finding to decline 
to acknowledge the Yuchi Tribal Organization (YTO) was published in the 
Federal Register on October 24, 1995 (60 FR 54506). The Proposed 
Finding concluded that the YTO did not meet criterion 83.7(f) of the 
acknowledgment regulations. The requirement of criterion 83.7(f) is 
that the membership of a petitioning group be composed ``principally of 
persons who are not members of any acknowledged North American Indian 
tribe'' (25 CFR 83.7(f)). The Proposed Finding concluded that the YTO 
failed to meet this criterion because almost all of its members are 
also enrolled members in a federally-recognized tribe, the Muscogee 
(Creek) Nation (MCN).
    The acknowledgment regulations provide, however, for an exception 
in which a petitioner may be acknowledged even though its members are 
predominantly members of a federally-recognized tribe. In order to 
benefit from this exception, a petitioner must demonstrate that it 
satisfies three conditions: that it has functioned throughout history 
as an autonomous tribal entity, that its members do not maintain a 
bilateral political relationship with the acknowledged tribe, and that 
its members have provided written confirmation of their membership in 
the petitioning group (25 CFR 83.7(f)). The Proposed Finding concluded 
that the YTO did not meet any of these three conditions, and thus did 
not qualify for the exception to the basic requirement of criterion 
83.7(f).
    The YTO petition for Federal acknowledgment was evaluated under the 
section of the acknowledgment regulations (25 CFR 83.10(e)) which 
provides for an expedited Proposed Finding on a single criterion when 
the documented petition and the petitioner's response to the 
preliminary technical assistance review of the petition by the Bureau 
of Indian Affairs (BIA) indicates that there is little or no evidence 
that the petitioner can meet criterion 83.7(f). An expedited Proposed 
Finding is made after the petitioner has responded to the BIA's 
technical assistance review of the petition and before the petition is 
placed under ``active consideration'' (25 CFR 83.10(e)). Under the 
regulations (25 CFR 83.5(c), 83.6), the petitioner has the burden of 
establishing that it is entitled to be acknowledged as existing as an 
Indian tribe. The petitioner's failure to meet any one of the mandatory 
criteria in section 83.7 results in a finding against acknowledgment 
(25 CFR 83.10(m)). If the Assistant Secretary's review of the petition 
finds that the evidence ``clearly establishes'' that the group does not 
meet one of the mandatory criteria in paragraphs 83.7(e), (f), or (g), 
the Assistant Secretary shall issue an expedited Proposed Finding 
denying acknowledgment (25 CFR 83.10(e)(1)).
    Publication of the expedited Proposed Finding gives notice that the 
petition is now under ``active consideration'' (25 CFR 83.10(f)), and 
starts the process and time periods established in paragraphs 83.10(h) 
through (l). The expedited Proposed Finding limits the inquiry for the 
Final Determination to a single criterion. In response to an expedited 
Proposed Finding, the petitioner or third parties must provide evidence 
for the Final Determination that the petitioner meets the criterion in 
question under the ``reasonable likelihood of the validity of the 
facts'' standard (25 CFR 83.6(d)), the standard which applies to the 
evaluation of petitions under active consideration. The ultimate burden 
of establishing that the petitioner is entitled to be acknowledged as 
an Indian tribe always remains on the petitioner. This Final 
Determination on the YTO petition is issued based on the conclusion 
that neither the YTO nor the third parties have shown that the YTO 
meets criterion 83.7(f) under the ``reasonable likelihood of the 
validity of the facts'' standard. Because the petitioner and third 
parties did not provide sufficient evidence that the petitioner meets 
criterion 83.7(f) under this standard, it was not necessary for the BIA 
to undertake a full evaluation of the YTO petition under all seven of 
the mandatory criteria.
    This Final Determination is based upon an evaluation of all the 
materials utilized for preparation of the Proposed Finding, the 
information submitted by the petitioner in response to the Proposed 
Finding and in response to third party comments, the public comments on 
the Proposed Finding, and the evidence collected by the BIA staff for 
evaluation purposes. The YTO and two members of the public submitted 
timely comments on the Proposed Finding. The YTO also submitted a 
timely response to the public comments. Neither the comments of the 
petitioner nor the public comments disputed the basic conclusion of the 
Proposed Finding that almost all YTO members are also enrolled members 
of a federally-recognized tribe. None of these comments demonstrated, 
or even attempted to demonstrate, that the petitioner satisfies all 
three conditions necessary to achieve an exception to the basic 
requirement of criterion 83.7(f). A review of the comments on the 
Proposed Finding reveals that the YTO petitioner and the public 
commenters have offered no evidence and no arguments which refute or 
revise the Proposed Finding.
    The YTO petitioner represents only a portion of a larger Yuchi 
ethnic group, and this Final Determination applies to this petitioner 
rather than to all the ethnic Yuchi. Independent scholars have 
estimated the current population of ethnic Yuchi at about 2,000 
persons, while a 1956 list of the Yuchi included 1,299 names. The 
Proposed Finding was based on an evaluation of a membership list 
submitted by the YTO which contained 165 names. Neither the petitioner 
nor the public commenters disputed the conclusion of the Proposed 
Finding that 92 percent of these individuals were enrolled members of 
the MCN. This Final Determination is based on an evaluation of a 
revised membership list submitted by the YTO which contains 327 names. 
The BIA compared the names on the membership list of the YTO to the 
names in the citizenship database of the MCN. The evidence indicates 
that 278 of the 327 individuals on the YTO membership list, or 85 
percent of them, are members of the MCN. The evidence also indicates 
that 93 percent of YTO adults are MCN members. These data reveal that 
the membership of the YTO petitioner is composed principally of members 
of a federally-recognized tribe.
    The provisions of criterion 83.7(f) provide an exception to the 
basic requirement of the criterion if the petitioner can demonstrate 
that, despite the inclusion of its members on the MCN roll, it meets 
three conditions. The petitioner and commenters have not demonstrated 
that the YTO is a politically autonomous entity at present, as required 
by the first condition. The petitioner's leaders have conceded that the 
YTO is not the governing body of a Yuchi tribe. The petitioner and 
commenters have not challenged the conclusion of the Proposed Finding 
on the second condition that YTO members have a bilateral political 
relationship with the MCN because of the reciprocal consent involved in 
applying for MCN membership and being accepted as members by the MCN. 
Also, the evidence indicates that individual YTO members have 
participated extensively in the MCN political and judicial systems 
since 1962, which confirms the existence of a bilateral political 
relationship between YTO members and a recognized tribe. The petitioner 
and commenters have not claimed that the YTO has met the third 
condition of providing written confirmation from its members of their 
intention to belong to

[[Page 71816]]

the petitioning group. The evidence indicates that such confirmation 
can be implied for only a small minority of YTO members. Thus, the YTO 
petitioner does not meet any of the three conditions which provide an 
exception to the basic requirement of criterion 83.7(f).
    The comments on the Proposed Finding have offered no basis for 
reversing the Proposed Finding on the petition for Federal 
acknowledgment of the YTO. The evidence reveals that the petitioner 
fails to meet the requirement of criterion 83.7(f) that it be composed 
principally of individuals who are not members of a federally-
recognized tribe. The evidence does not show that the petitioner meets 
all three of the conditions necessary to achieve an exception to the 
essential requirement of criterion 83.7(f). Neither the petitioner nor 
the commenters have demonstrated, by the standard of a ``reasonable 
likelihood of the validity of the facts,'' that the YTO meets the 
requirements of criterion 83.7(f). Therefore, the Proposed Finding is 
affirmed. Under 25 CFR 83.10(m), because the Yuchi Tribal Organization 
fails to meet criterion 83.7(f), a mandatory requirement for Federal 
acknowledgment, the Assistant Secretary--Indian Affairs declines to 
acknowledge that the YTO is an Indian tribe.
    This determination is final and will become effective 90 days after 
the date of its publication in the Federal Register (25 CFR 
83.10(l)(4)), unless a request for reconsideration of this 
determination is filed by the petitioner or any interested party with 
the Interior Board of Indian Appeals (IBIA) pursuant to 25 CFR 83.11. 
The request for reconsideration by the petitioner or interested party 
must be received by the IBIA no later than 90 days after publication of 
this determination in the Federal Register (25 CFR 83.11(a)(2)).

    Dated: December 15, 1999.
Kevin Gover,
Assistant Secretary--Indian Affairs.
[FR Doc. 99-33117 Filed 12-22-99; 8:45 am]
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