[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 104 (Wednesday, May 31, 1995)]
[Notices]
[Pages 28426-28427]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-13172]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Indian Affairs--Proposed Finding For Federal
Acknowledgment of Huron Potawatomi, Inc.
AGENCY: Bureau of Indian Affairs, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of proposed finding.
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SUMMARY: Pursuant to 25 CFR 83.10(h), notice is hereby given that the
Assistant Secretary--Indian Affairs (Assistant Secretary) proposes to
acknowledge that Huron Potawatomi, Inc., 2221 1 \1/2\ Mile Road,
Fulton, Michigan 49052, exists as an Indian tribe within the meaning of
Federal law. This notice is based on a determination that the tribe
satisfies all of the criteria set forth in 25 CFR 83.7 as modified by
25 CFR 83.8, and, therefore, meets the requirements for a government-
to-government relationship with the United States.
DATES: As provided by 25 CFR 83.10(i), any individual or organization
wishing to challenge the proposed finding may submit arguments and
evidence to support or rebut the evidence relied upon. This material
must be submitted within 180 calendar days from the date of publication
of this notice. As stated in the regulations, 25 CFR 83.10(i),
interested and informed parties who submit arguments and evidence to
the Assistant Secretary must also provide copies of their submissions
to the petitioner.
ADDRESSES: Comments on the proposed finding and/or request for a copy
of the report of evidence should be addressed to the Office of the
Assistant Secretary, 1849 C Street, NW., Washington, DC 20240,
Attention: Branch of Acknowledgment and Research. Mailstop 2611-MIB.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Holly Reckord, Chief, Branch of
Acknowledgment and Research, (202) 208-3592.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This notice is published in the exercise of
authority delegated by the Secretary of the Interior to the Assistant
Secretary by 209 DM 8.
The petitioner, also known as the Nottawaseppi Huron Potawatomi
Band, consists of descendants of the historical Potawatomi tribe of
Michigan. Its members are descendants specifically of the Potawatomi of
Huron, a band which signed treaties with the Federal Government from
the Treaty of Greenville in 1795 through the Articles Supplementary to
the Treaty of Chicago in 1833. After the War of 1812, this group moved
from the Detroit area to the Nottawaseppi Reserve, established by the
Federal treaty of 1821, in southwestern Michigan. Because of these
treaties, the petitioner meets the requirements of Sec. 83.8 as having
unambiguous previous Federal acknowledgment and has been considered
under the modifications of Sec. 83.7 that are prescribed by Sec. 83.8.
The date of the last treaty, 1833, has been used as the date of latest
Federal acknowledgment for purposes of this finding to enable the
petitioner to proceed under the provisions of Sec. 83.8. Because the
petitioner had already completed documentation of the petition before
the present regulations became effective, it was not necessary to
determine if there was a later date of unambiguous Federal
acknowledgment.
Between 1833 and 1840, the petitioner's ancestors continued to
reside on the Nottawaseppi Reserve. In 1840, the ancestors of the
petitioner either avoided attempts of the Federal Government to remove
the Potawatomi to Kansas or returned to Michigan within a few years
after removal. The community was reestablished by 1842. Huron
Potawatomi, Inc. is centered at the Pine Creek Indian Reservation in
Calhoun County, Michigan. This 120-acre tract of land was purchased by
the founders of the community in 1845 with Federal annuity monies and
placed in trust with the State of Michigan, in which status it has
remained until the present day. During the second half of the 19th
century, the original population was augmented by the migration into
the settlement of a few additional Michigan Potawatomi families, which
was in accordance with the traditionally permeable boundaries of
Potawatomi villages.
From the date of its reestablishment (1842) until the present, the
petitioner's community has consistently been identified as a settlement
of Michigan Potawatomi in Federal, state, and local documents, which
include Federal census records, Bureau of Indian Affairs census records
and annuity rolls, county realty records and vital records, Methodist
Indian mission records, and local histories. No ethnicity for the
community other than Potawatomi has been suggested by any scholar or
observer. The identification is as the same tribal entity that was
previously acknowledged or as a portion that has evolved from that
entity. Therefore, we conclude that the petitioner meets criterion
83.7(a) as modified by criterion 83.8(d).
The petitioner presented evidence that it maintained usage of the
Potawatomi language and had a level of in-group or culturally
appropriate patterned out-group marriages to other Michigan Indians of
over 50 percent of total marriages from 1842 through 1960. At least
through 1934, the petitioner had over 50 percent of the group's
population resident at or near the Pine Creek site, thus meeting the
requirements of criterion 83.7(b), for community up to 1960 under the
provisions of Sec. 83.7(b)(2).
Although since the Depression, to the present, younger members of
the group have moved off the reservation site in search of housing and
employment, there emerged a defined pattern of migration to specific
locations in Michigan. Evidence indicates that the emigrants not only
maintain close social and kinship ties with the central Pine Creek
settlement area, but also maintain close social and kinship ties among
the five external settlement areas. Thus, we conclude that the
petitioner meets criterion 83.7(b) as modified by section 83.8(d),
which requires a showing that the group constitutes a distinct,
cohesive community at present.
Because the Huron Potawatomi meet the requirements of the community
criterion 83.7(b) between 1833 and 1934 [[Page 28427]] by showing a
sufficient level of evidence under 83.7(b)(2), pursuant to 83.7(c)(3)
they also meet criterion 83.7(c) for that time period. Between 1833 and
1840 (the date the Federal Government attempted to remove all
Potawatomi on the Nottawaseppi Reserve to Kansas), anecdotes and
reminiscences of pioneer settlers mention leaders and chiefs of the
Potawatomi of Huron on the Nottawaseppi Reserve, and the Potawatomi of
Huron continued during this period of time to collect Federal annuities
under the Treaty of 1807. From 1842 through the present day, the Pine
Creek settlement, which is incorporated as Huron Potawatomi, Inc., the
petitioner, has had an unbroken sequence of documented leadership.
After the reestablishment of the community at Pine Creek in 1842,
the band continued to choose traditional chiefs through 1934. From 1934
through 1970, the leadership was by a committee closely associated with
the Methodist Indian mission on the Pine Creek reservation. In 1970,
the petitioner incorporated and has since been administered by an
elected chairman and council. These leaders regularly represented the
group in its interaction with the Bureau of Indian Affairs and to the
public, as well as supervising internal reservation activities.
Therefore, we conclude that the petitioner meets criterion 83.7(c) as
modified by criterion 83.8(d).
The petitioning group has provided a copy of its governing
document, which describes its membership criteria. Thus, we conclude
that the petitioner meets criterion 83.7(d).
With the exception of one adopted child, all of the 819 members on
the petitioner's 1994 membership list have been documented to descend
from persons listed on the 1904 Taggart Roll, compiled by the Bureau of
Indian Affairs in connection with the issuance of Potawatomi annuity
payments under Federal treaties. Thus we conclude that the petitioner
meets criterion 83.7(e).
A portion of the membership of Huron Potawatomi, Inc. (171
individuals)--persons who had dual ancestry from both the Huron
Potawatomi and the Pokagon Potawatomi--was determined to be dually
enrolled with the Pokagon Potawatomi Band (aka Potawatomi of Michigan
and Indiana, Inc.), which was federally acknowledged through the
legislative process in 1994, while the petition from Huron Potawatomi,
Inc., was being evaluated through the administrative process. At the
time the Huron Potawatomi, Inc. membership roll was compiled and
submitted, the Pokagon Potawatomi were not federally acknowledged.
Neither the Huron nor the Pokagon constitutions prohibit dual
enrollment with other unacknowledged Indian groups. The proportion of
individuals enrolled in a recognized tribe (21 percent in the Pokagon
Potawatomi and five percent in other tribes) is small enough that the
Huron Potawatomi membership is not principally composed of persons who
are members of an acknowledged North American Indian tribe. Therefore,
we find that the petitioner meets criterion 83.7(f) within the purpose
of the regulation, which is designed to prevent the splintering and
break-up of federally acknowledged tribes through the Federal
acknowledgment process.
No evidence was found that the petitioner or its members are the
subject of congressional legislation which has expressly terminated or
forbidden the Federal relationship. Therefore, we find that the
petitioner meets criterion 83.7(g).
In October 1994, 126 Taggart Roll descendants who have dual
ancestry in both the Huron Potawatomi and in the Potawatomi settlement
centered around Bradley and Salem in Allegan County, Michigan, notified
the Bureau of Indian Affairs that they wish to have their names removed
from the Huron Potawatomi, Inc. membership list in order to be part of
the petition for Federal acknowledgment of the Match-e-be-nash-she-wish
Potawatomi Band (#9A). Removal of these 126 individuals from the
petitioner's membership does not affect the ability of the petitioner
to meet the mandatory criteria of the Federal acknowledgment
regulations.
Based on this preliminary factual determination, we conclude that
the Huron Potawatomi, Inc. should be granted Federal acknowledgment
under 25 CFR part 83.
As provided by 25 CFR 83.10(h) of the revised regulations, a report
summarizing the evidence, reasoning, and analyses that are the basis
for the proposed decision will be provided to the petitioner and
interested parties, and is available to other parties upon written
request. Comments on the proposed finding and/or requests for a copy of
the report of evidence should be addressed to the Office of the
Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Indian Affairs, 1849 C Street, NW.,
Washington, DC 20240, Attention; Branch of Acknowledgment and Research,
Mailstop 2611--MIB. Third parties must simultaneously supply copies of
their comments to the petitioner in order for them to be considered by
the Department of the Interior.
During the response period, the Assistant Secretary shall provide
technical advice concerning the proposed finding and shall make
available to the petitioner in a timely fashion any records used for
the proposed finding not already held by the petitioner, to the extent
allowable by Federal law (83.10(j)(1)). In addition, the Assistant
Secretary shall, if requested by the petitioner or any interested
party, hold a formal meeting for the purpose of inquiring into the
reasoning, analyses, and factual bases for the proposed finding. The
proceedings of this meeting shall be on the record. The meeting record
shall be available to any participating party and become part of the
record considered by the Assistant Secretary in reaching a final
determination (83.10(j)(2)).
If third party comments are received during the regular response
period, the petitioner shall have a minimum of 60 days to respond to
these comments. This period may be extended at the Assistant
Secretary's discretion if warranted by the nature and extent of the
comments (83.10(k)).
At the end of the response periods the Assistant Secretary shall
consider the written arguments and evidence submitted during the
response periods and issue a final determination. The Assistant
Secretary shall consult with the petitioner and interested parties to
determine an equitable timeframe for preparation of the final
determination and notify the petitioner and interested parties of the
date such consideration begins. The Assistant Secretary may conduct any
necessary additional research and may request additional information
from the petitioner and third parties. A summary of the final
determination will be published in the Federal Register within 60 days
from the date on which the consideration of the written arguments and
evidence rebutting or supporting the proposed finding begins, as
provided in 25 CFR 83.10(l)(2).
Ada E. Deer,
Assistant Secretary--Indian Affairs.
[FR Doc. 95-13172 Filed 5-30-95; 8:45 am]
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