[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 237 (Wednesday, December 10, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 68942-68944]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-30575]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Indian Affairs


Office of Federal Acknowledgment; Final Determination Against 
Federal Acknowledgment of the Snohomish Tribe of Indians

AGENCY: Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of final determination.

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SUMMARY: Pursuant to section 83.10(m), notice is hereby given that the 
Assistant Secretary--Indian Affairs (AS-IA) declines to acknowledge a 
group known as the Snohomish Tribe of Indians (STI), c/o Mr. William 
Matheson, Suite 201, 144 Railroad Avenue, Edmunds, Washington 98020, as 
an Indian tribe within the meaning of Federal law. This notice is based 
on a determination that the petitioning group does not satisfy all 
seven of the criteria set forth in part 83 of title 25 of the Code of 
Federal Regulations (25 CFR part 83), specifically criteria 83.7(a), 
(b), (c), and (e), and therefore does not meet the requirements for a 
government-to-government relationship with the United States.

DATES: This determination is final and will become effective March 9, 
2004, pursuant to section 83.10(l)(4), unless a request for 
reconsideration is filed pursuant to section 83.11.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: R. Lee Fleming, Director, Office of 
Federal Acknowledgment, (202) 513-7650.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This notice is published in the exercise of 
authority delegated by the Secretary of the Interior to the AS-IA by 
209 DM 8.
    A notice of the proposed finding (PF) to decline to acknowledge the 
STI was published in the Federal Register on April 11, 1983 (48 FR 
15540-1).
    This final determination (FD) is made following a review of the 
STI's response to the PF, the public comments on the PF, and the STI's 
response to the public comments. It reaches conclusions based on a 
review and analysis of the existing record, incorporating the evidence 
considered for the PF, and new evidence in the form of documentation 
and arguments received from the petitioner and third parties. This 
notice is based on a determination that the group does not satisfy all 
seven mandatory criteria for acknowledgment at sections 83.7 (a)-(g).
    Criterion 83.7(a): Criterion 83.7(a) requires that the petitioner 
be identified as an American Indian entity on a substantially 
continuous basis since 1900. The petitioner has not demonstrated that 
it meets the requirements before 1950. The petitioner claims that its 
mostly off-reservation ancestors were part of the historical Snohomish 
tribe primarily based at the Tulalip Reservation and remained so until 
1935, when the historical Snohomish tribe and other tribes at this 
reservation reorganized as the Tulalip Tribes of the Tulalip 
Reservation under the Indian Reorganization Act (IRA). Available 
evidence, however, shows that the petitioner's ancestors were not part 
of the historical Snohomish tribe. Thus, identifications of the 
historical Snohomish tribe on the Tulalip Reservation before 1935 did 
not constitute identifications for the petitioner. In addition, there 
was no identification of an off-reservation group of STI ancestors 
between 1900 and 1935.
    References to a claims organization called the ``Snohomish Tribe of 
Indians,'' which included a few of the STI's off-reservation ancestors, 
occurred in the available evidence only in 1917. The organization was 
referred to as a Snohomish Indian entity only by a few of its members 
and a lawyer hired as its spokesperson, which is not evidence within 
the meaning of 83.7(a). External observers did not identify this group 
as an American Indian entity. Some of the petitioner's off-reservation 
ancestors were part of another claims organization called the 
``Snohomish Tribe of Indians'' that existed from 1926 to 1935. This 
organization's membership included reservation Snohomish, off-
reservation ancestors of the petitioning group, and other non-
reservation Snohomish descendants. External observers identified this 
group mainly in its capacity as a claims organization that represented 
individuals with Indian ancestry. Thus identifications of the 1926 
Snohomish claims organization did not constitute identifications of a 
predecessor group of the petitioner. The 1926 Snohomish claims 
organization ceased to exist in 1935.
    There are no available identifications as an entity of a separate 
group of the petitioner's ancestors from 1935 to 1949, when the 
petitioner claims such an entity existed following the reorganization 
of the Tulalip Tribes of the Tulalip Reservation under the IRA. The 
evidence shows that the petitioner has not been identified as an 
American

[[Page 68943]]

Indian entity from 1900 to 1949 (49 years) and has been identified as 
an American Indian entity only since 1950, when it originally formed to 
pursue claims before the Indian Claims Commission (ICC). Therefore, the 
petitioner does not meet the requirements of criterion 83.7(a).
    Criterion 83.7(b): The petitioner has not demonstrated that it 
meets the requirements of criterion 83.7(b), which requires that a 
predominant portion of the petitioning group comprises a distinct 
community and has existed as a community from first sustained contact 
with non-Indians until the present. In its response to the PF, the 
petitioner submitted documents pertaining to activities from 1855 until 
1999. The newly-submitted documents demonstrated some additional 
informal social relationships among the petitioner's ancestors on the 
Quimper Peninsula in Washington State, as well as some additional 
interaction between some STI ancestors and non-STI Indian households in 
the Sultan, Washington, area in the late 19th century. However, the 
evidence submitted by the petitioner, in conjunction with the other 
evidence in the record, does not demonstrate community as defined under 
criterion 83.7(b) at any time from first sustained contact with non-
Indians to the present.
    The petitioner's members largely descend from a number of mid- and 
late-19th century marriages between Indian women and non-Indian men. 
Few subsequent marriages have occurred either among members of STI or 
between members of STI and other groups with Indian ancestry, and thus 
the group lacks the kinship ties that such marriages create.
    The petitioner has not demonstrated that a significant number of 
its ancestors maintained relationships with the historical Snohomish 
tribe located on the Tulalip Reservation, or with other Snohomish 
descendants living off the Tulalip Reservation prior to the formation 
of the 1926 Snohomish claims organization. This claims organization 
also included non-Snohomish Indian descendants who are ancestors of 
many of the current petitioner's members.
    Interviews and affidavits submitted by the petitioner provide no 
evidence for community among the petitioner's members from 1935 to 
1999. Interviews conducted by the Department in 2003 indicate that most 
current members do not regularly interact with each other outside of 
events sponsored by the formal STI organization. The evidence does not 
demonstrate that the petitioner has existed as a community historically 
or presently. Therefore, the petitioner has not met criterion 83.7(b).
    Criterion 83.7(c): Criterion 83.7(c) requires that the petitioner 
has maintained political influence or authority over its members as an 
autonomous entity from first sustained contact with non-Indians to the 
present. A review of the available evidence does not demonstrate that 
the petitioner has met the requirements of this criterion at any time. 
The petitioner claims that its off-reservation ancestors were part of 
the historical Snohomish tribe until 1935, and that reservation and 
off-reservation Snohomish leaders worked with each other until that 
year. The available evidence does not show that such political 
cooperation took place between the petitioner's off-reservation 
ancestors and the reservation Snohomish before 1926. In addition, the 
evidence does not demonstrate any separate political leadership, formal 
or informal, existed for any separate off-reservation group of the 
petitioner's ancestors before 1917. Some of the petitioner's ancestors 
were part of a 1917 claims organization called the ``Snohomish Tribe of 
Indians,'' which was described in the available evidence for that year 
only and had no connection to the reservation Snohomish. The available 
evidence does not demonstrate that this 1917 organization exercised 
political leadership or authority over petitioner's ancestors.
    Many of the petitioner's ancestors also were part of the 1926 
Snohomish claims organization, which included both reservation and non-
reservation Snohomish, including some of the STI ancestors. This 
organization had few functions beyond seeking claims for Indians of 
Snohomish descent, and did not represent a formalization of the tribal 
political structure for the historical Snohomish tribe. During the time 
the 1926 Snohomish claims group existed, the reservation Snohomish 
continued to have their own political organization and authority. There 
is no available evidence that this 1926 Snohomish claims organization 
exerted any political influence over an actual off-reservation entity 
of the petitioner's ancestors. The 1926 Snohomish claims organization 
ceased to appear in the available evidence in 1935, after the group 
lost its claims suit. Therefore, the available evidence does not 
demonstrate that the petitioner has met the requirements of 83.7(c) 
from first sustained contact with non-Indians to 1935.
    There is no evidence in the record to demonstrate that the 1926 
Snohomish claims organization continued after 1935. From 1935 until 
1950, there is no available evidence to demonstrate that the petitioner 
maintained any type of political organization, formal or informal. In 
1950, the petitioner formed the ``Snohomish Tribe of Indians'' in order 
to pursue claims before the ICC. There is no available evidence to 
support the petitioner's contention that the 1950 organization was a 
continuance of the 1926 Snohomish claims organization. Unlike the 
earlier organization, the 1950 organization was composed almost 
entirely of off-reservation STI ancestors. The group's leadership 
concentrated their energy on the claims lawsuit, with some additional 
discussion and concern over hunting and fishing rights. The group's 
leadership also joined some ``intertribal'' organizations. The group 
continued to pursue the claims issue, which was eventually settled in 
the late 1960's. The leadership pursued obtaining land for a 
reservation in 1970, and filed a petition for Federal acknowledgment in 
1975. Between 1983 and 2003, the group's leaders have continued to 
pursue Federal acknowledgment and appear to have become somewhat more 
active in advocating on behalf of some members. However, the evidence 
presented by the petitioner has not demonstrated that the leadership 
maintained a bilateral relationship with the majority of the group, or 
that most of the members were involved in or knowledgeable about the 
group's political processes. The evidence does not demonstrate that the 
actions taken by the leadership were of importance to the majority of 
the group. The available evidence does not demonstrate that the 
petitioner maintained political authority or influence over its members 
since its formation in 1950. Therefore, the petitioner does not meet 
the requirements of criterion 83.7(c).
    Criterion 83.7(d): The petitioner's 1978 constitution and by-laws 
and 1978 enrollment ordinance were found sufficient to meet the 
requirements of 83.7(d) in the PF. The Department obtained a copy of 
the petitioner's governing documents amended and certified on September 
18, 1994, which describe its membership criteria and current governing 
procedures. Because the petitioner has a constitution and an enrollment 
ordinance, certified by its governing body, that describe its 
membership criteria and the procedures through which it governs its 
affairs and its members, the petitioner meets the requirements of 
criterion 83.7(d).
    Criterion 83.7(e): The PF found that the STI did not meet criterion 
83.7(e)(1) because a significant percentage of STI

[[Page 68944]]

members could not demonstrate Snohomish ancestry. Only 59 percent of 
STI's 836 members, descending from about 38 or 39 different family 
lines at the time of the PF, had documented descent from the historical 
Snohomish tribe.
    The PF found that the STI provided an official membership list, 
separately certified by the group's governing body, as required by 
83.7(e)(2). For the FD, the petitioner submitted a membership list, 
dated March 12, 1999, that identified 1,390 members and was virtually 
identical with the membership list used for the PF except for the 
addition of new members. The petitioner's governing body certified the 
updated membership list by resolution as required under criterion 
83.7(e)(2). After auditing the petitioner's membership files and 
correcting the discrepancies in the 1999 membership list, the current 
adjusted STI membership totaled 1,113.
    Based on new information submitted by the petitioner and the 
Tulalip Tribes of the Tulalip Reservation, or located by the 
Department, and other evidence in the record, the Department re-
evaluated the STI family lines for evidence of descent from the 
historical Snohomish tribe. Twenty of the STI family lines, identified 
as descending from the historical Snohomish tribe in the PF, remain 
unchanged. Two family lines not previously determined to demonstrate 
Snohomish ancestry now have been sufficiently documented to show 
descent from the historical Snohomish tribe, and two ``new'' family 
lines, originally considered as part of pre-existing STI family lines, 
also were found to demonstrate Snohomish descent.
    Based on the analysis described above, the evidence for this 
finding shows that 69 percent of the STI membership (763 of 1,113 
members) have documented descent from the historical Snohomish tribe. 
The petitioner has not demonstrated that the remaining 31 percent of 
its membership (350 of 1,113 members) are of Snohomish descent or are 
descended from other Indian tribes that had amalgamated with the 
petitioner's Snohomish ancestors at some point in history to form a 
separate and distinct entity. The evidence does not demonstrate that 
the petitioner as a whole descends from the historical Snohomish tribe. 
Therefore this FD concludes that the petitioner does not meet criterion 
83.7(e).
    Criterion 83.7(f): This FD affirms the conclusion of the PF that 
the petitioner is not principally composed of members of another 
acknowledged North American Indian tribe. Since the PF, the petitioner 
obtained enrollment statements from most of its members, who declared 
that they did not have membership in any other federally acknowledged 
tribe. Examination of the membership lists of federally recognized 
tribes in the area did not reveal any names of STI members.
    Criterion 83.7(g): This FD affirms the conclusion of the PF that 
neither the petitioner nor its members are the subject of congressional 
legislation that has expressly terminated or forbidden the Federal 
relationship.
    Under Section 83.10(m), the AS-IA is required to decline to 
acknowledge that a petitioner is an Indian tribe if it fails to satisfy 
any one of the criteria in Section 83.7. The petitioner did not submit 
evidence sufficient to meet criteria 83.7(a), (b), (c), and (e), and, 
therefore, does not satisfy the requirements for acknowledgment.
    This determination is final and will become effective 90 days from 
publication of this notice, unless a request for reconsideration is 
filed pursuant to section 83.11. The petitioner or any interested party 
may file a request for reconsideration of this determination with the 
Interior Board of Indian Appeals (section 83.11(a)(1)). The 
petitioner's or interested party's request must be received no later 
than March 9, 2004 of the AS-IA's determination in the Federal Register 
(section 83.11(a)(2)).

    Dated: December 2, 2003.
Aurene M. Martin,
Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary--Indian Affairs.
[FR Doc. 03-30575 Filed 12-9-03; 8:45 am]
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