TRUST MATTERS

Department of the Interior 

Office of the Special Trustee 

for American Indians 

Fall 2008 

Volume 8, Issue 4 

Table of Contents 

 Advisory Board 

 Fractionation 

 Managing a Backlog 

 Planning for Transition 

 Debit Cards 

 Fiduciary Trust Officers 

 Assets Afire 

 Outreach Coverage 

The Advisory Board to the Special Trustee was established by statute with the 

American Indian Trust Fund Management Reform Act. The members of the 

Advisory Board help guide the progress of this unique trust. 

Chickasaw Nation Governor Bill Anoatubby has been a valued 

member of the Advisory Board for five years. His workload 

precludes him from continuing in this position. Special Trustee 

Ross Swimmer extends his thanks to Governor Anoatubby for 

input on issues that have been critical to improving the Indian 

trust. The Governor’s thoughtful participation in meetings and 

his leadership have been greatly appreciated. 

Special Trustee Swimmer asked Chairman Ron His Horse 

Is Thunder of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe to fill the 

vacancy on the Advisory Board. Chairman His Horse Is 

Thunder will attend his first Advisory Board meeting when 

it convenes in January 2009. 

The nine-member Advisory Board, with links to resumes 

of the members, may be viewed on the OST website at 

www.doi.gov/ost/about_ost/board.html. 

Mr. Bobby Brooks, Vice President and Property Manager , U.S. Trust, Bank of 

America 

Mr. David English, Fratcher Missouri Endowed Professor of Law, University 

of Missouri - Columbia 

Honorable Jim Gray, Principal Chief of the Osage Nation in Oklahoma 

Honorable Ron His Horse Is Thunder, Chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux 

Tribe 

Mr. Edward Holland, President and CEO, Chota Capital Company, LLC, and 

member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma 

Honorable Fred Matt, Former Chairman of the Confederated Tribes of SalishKootenai of the Flathead Reservation in Montana 

Honorable Richard Milanovich, Chairman of the Agua Caliente Band of 

Cahuilla Indians in California 

Mr. Loren "Bat" Pourier, Owner, Muddy Creek Oil and Gas, Inc., and 

member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe of South Dakota 

Ms. Helen Sanders, Chairman, Allottees Association and Affiliated Tribes of 

the Quinault Reservation, and member of the Chehalis Tribe of Washington 

Advisory Board Members

Fractionation Update 

Members of the Intertribal 

Monitoring Association 

(ITMA) have been working 

with tribes to generate solutions to the issue of fractionation, which happens 

when land is passed down 

over several generations 

and heirs receive smaller 

and smaller undivided interests in parcels of land. It is 

difficult for lands with fractionated ownership to be 

economically productive. 

ITMA will report outcomes 

from this summer’s meetings in the fall. The answer 

may be that there are 

multiple solutions, tailored 

to the needs of individual 

tribes and their members. 

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Governor Bill Anoatubby 

Chairman Ron His 

Horse Is Thunder 
Page 2 Trust Matters 

 Managing a Workload Backlog

At the request of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), 

John White, Trust Reform Officer, traveled to Portland, 

Oregon, in May 2008 to the Northwest Regional Office 

to work in conjunction 

with the Land Titles and 

Records Office (LTRO) 

manager, develop a plan 

to eliminate the LTRO’s 

workload backlog. 

The plan, which was 

provided to the Northwest Regional Office in 

August 2008, identifies 

the workload backlog 

by tasks. John used a 

tracking/projection tool 

to calculate time estimates to complete each task. The 

plan is being used to determine the number of federal 

contractors that will be needed at the LTRO to assist 

with eliminating the workload backlog. 

In addition, the plan proposes modifications to current 

Northwest Region business processes. If implemented, 

these modifications would help prevent future 

workload backlogs. 

 More Debit Card Benefits 

As of September 2008, any Individual Indian 

Money (IIM) account holder may apply for a Chase 

debit card. With a debit card, an account holder’s 

IIM funds are transferred directly into the individual’s debit card account. Those funds can be used 

immediately. 

Now there are a larger 

number of ATMs at 

which to use your debit 

card. In addition to 

ATMs showing the 

Chase and Allpoint logos, Chase has added 

access to Washington Mutual (WaMu) and 

corporate 7/11 store ATMs. (ATMs at franchise 

7/11 stores are not included. Further guidance will 

be made available to identify corporate store 

locations.) 

More good news awaits account holders who 

choose to obtain a debit card because the fee 

structure has been revised. 

• Each card holder may obtain one free replacement card a year. This is lowered from a $5 fee 

to replace a card. 

• Balance inquiry fees at ATMs have been 

reduced from 75 cents to 45 cents per inquiry. 

(Phone inquiries continue to be free.) 

• Each card holder is allowed one free withdrawal 

for each deposit to their account. This carries 

over for one month. For example, if two 

deposits are made to an account in a month, 

two withdrawals are free. If the card holder only 

makes one withdrawal that month, the second 

free withdrawal will still be available during the 

following month, in addition to free withdrawals for new deposits that month. 

• Card holders have the new option of paying 

bills online (there is a 75 cent fee per transaction). 

To apply for a debit card, contact your Fiduciary 

Trust Officer or call the Trust Beneficiary Call Center, toll free, at 1-888-678-6836. For more 

information, visit the OST website at http://

www.doi.gov/ost/iim/debit.html. Applicants must 

reside in the United States. 

Note: When you provide enrollment information, please 

include all requested data in order to participate. 

With the national election concluded, 

OST is developing transition documents to 

assist the next administration. In addition 

to the operational history, a plan for the 

future direction of the Indian trust will be 

part of the information provided. 

Planning for Transition 
Volume 8, Issue 4 Page 3 

Always brainstorming new ways to locate Individual Indian Money (IIM) account holders, the 

Pacific Region Fiduciary Trust Officer and her 

staff decided to attend cultural events at local 

universities. They started this outreach effort by attending a powwow 

at Stanford University. 

Students, professors, dancers, 

vendors, and others all came to the 

Office of the Special Trustee for 

American Indians’ (OST) booth 

for information. The staff, having 

partnered with a BIA Realty 

Specialist, provided answers about 

trust assets and trust lands. 

After this two day event, the staff 

had collected over ten pages of 

sign-in sheets and 20 completed 

forms for Whereabouts Unknown, who are IIM 

account holders without current name and address 

information on file. 

The FTO and her team are calling other 

universities in order to participate in their 

Indian programs and to let them know 

about the OST office in Sacramento. 

Find your FTO by visiting the OST 

website and accessing either the map or 

the list at http://www.doi.gov/ost/

information/individual/finder.html. 

For more information, call the Trust 

Beneficiary Call Center, toll free, at 

1-888-678-6836. The TBCC operates six 

days a week—Monday through Friday 

from 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. and Saturday 

from 8:00 a.m. to noon, Mountain Time. 

Trust Assets Afire 

Seeing wildfire in Indian Country is both 

frightening and fascinating. When fire 

threatens life, property or cultural resources, 

the results can be tragic. When wildfire is 

not a threat, it can be fascinating and an 

effective process for restoring and sustaining 

cultural landscapes. That is why federal 

agencies work with tribes to ensure there is 

a plan to address wildland fire when it is 

desired as a management action or when 

suppression is needed to protect trust assets 

and Indian communities. 

The 2001 Federal Wildland Fire Management Policy mandates that a fire management plan be in place for every burnable 

acre. Because fire can be so controversial 

in the public’s eye, most tribal councils or 

their natural resource planning staffs are 

involved in the development of fire 

management plans. 

Burning landscapes is not new to Indian 

people; indigenous use of fire was practiced 

extensively for a variety of purposes. Today, 

reintroduction of fire to restore cultural 

landscapes is more science-based. Fire 

management specialists have extensive 

training and education in prescribed fire, 

wildfire suppression, and the use of wildfire 

to meet resource benefits. All these skill sets 

are required to assure trust assets are 

managed and protected and tribal resource 

objectives are met. 

Whenever trust assets are involved, the 

Office of the Special Trustee for American 

Indians (OST) is paying attention. To learn 

more about protecting tribal assets, contact 

Dalan Romero, with Fire Operations for the 

BIA at the National Interagency Fire Center, 

on 208-387-5372. 

Fiduciary Trust Officer Goes to School 

Application of a prescribed fire to reduce fuel loading 

and wildfire potential around cultural grounds on the 

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Reaching Beneficiaries Through Media Coverage 

Fiduciary Trust Officer (FTO) Tim LaPointe, Great 

Lakes Agency, had important messages for Individual Indian Money (IIM) account holders. In September, Tim participated in outreach events in Chicago 

and Milwaukee. Along 

with Regional Trust 

Administrator (RTA) 

Cathy Rugen, Rocky 

Mountain Region, and 

RTA Jim James, Great 

Plains and Eastern 

Regions, Tim met with 

tribal elders and individual beneficiaries 

during the events. 

Working alongside 

BIA personnel, the 

focus was to answer 

beneficiaries’ questions about the Indian trust. Tim 

had the help of the media to get his messages across. 

Office of the Special Trustee for American Indians 

(OST) personnel were interviewed by reporters from 

local tribal and general newspapers and radio stations. 

Good media coverage made a difference in North 

Dakota in October when OST, partnering with the 

First Nations Development Institute, a Native nonprofit organization, presented financial management 

workshops. Oil production, which is on the rise in 

North Dakota, has translated into more income for 

tribal members. The Tribal government of the Three 

Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation 

invited trust specialists with the Office of the Special 

Trustee for American Indians (OST) to provide 

training on the topic of fundamental personal financial skills and concepts to members of the tribe. 

Working with FTO 

Austin Gillette, Fort 

Berthold Agency, and 

FTO James Cordry, 

Rosebud Agency, the 

media helped OST 

spread the word. 

Radio and television interviews, as well as public 

service announcements, aired in San Francisco when 

FTO Diana Wuerth, Pacific Region, and her staff 

partnered with the Association of American Indians, 

Inc., Friendship 

House in the Mission District to 

reach the Bay area 

audience. According to the 2000 

census, California, 

with over 100 

tribes, is the state 

with the largest 

population of 

American Indians. 

A significant number of American 

Indians live in the 

San Francisco area. 

Ken Wilson, a Tribal Liaison from the Bureau of 

Land Management, joined staff at the OST booth. 

Ken answered beneficiaries’ questions about federal 

and Indian lands. Providing answers to beneficiaries 

and finding IIM account holders are 

high among OST’s 

goals. 

More outreach 

occurred in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in October 

when OST staffed a 

booth at the National Urban Indian 

Family Coalition 

2008 National Conference. Additional events are being planned. Find 

out what the FTO in your area is planning. The complete list of FTOs is available on the OST website at 

http://www.doi.gov/ost/information/individual/

finder.html. Just access your location on the handy 

map. 

To learn more about media coverage of OST events, 

please call OST’s Office of External Affairs at 

202-208-4289. 

OST Account Technician Melissa 

Riley (right) assisting Whereabouts 

Unknown account holders at the 

Rosebud Fair and Wacipi, Rosebud, 

South Dakota. 

Shawn Spruce (left) , a trainer with First Nations, performed a 

Financial Literacy learning exercise with a Three Affiliated Tribal 

member at Twin Buttes, North Dakota. 

Left to right: Kevin Sanders, BIA Social 

Services Officer, FTO Diana Wuerth, 

Special Trustee Swimmer, Accounting 

Technician La Homa Savala, RTA Jim 

James, Accounts Maintenance Technician Nathanael Grinnell at the Pacific 

Region’s San Francisco outreach. 

Special Trustee Swimmer (right) and FTO 

Diana Wuerth (second from left) answer 

beneficiaries’ questions.