TRUST MATTERS

Department of the Interior 

Office of the Special Trustee 

for American Indians 

Summer 2008 

Volume 8, Issue 3 

Table of Contents 

 Internet Reconnection 

 Fractionation Update 

 WAU Outreach 

 Social Services Training 

 Haskell Plans Anniversary 

 Debit Card Program 

 Bar Coded Trust Records 

 New Co-Located Offices 

 Deputy Chief Appraiser 

It has been more years than most employees want to think about but 

Internet access is once again available to the Office of the Special Trustee 

for American Indians (OST). OST employees are able to communicate 

via email to conduct business. 

In 2001, as a result of the Cobell lawsuit, the 

Department of the Interior was disconnected from 

the Internet. Parts of the Department were permitted to reconnect in 2002. However, five offices that 

work closely with Indian trust data remained off 

the Internet. On May 14, 2008, Judge Robertson, 

the presiding judge in the case, vacated a previous 

order, thus allowing those offices to reconnect. In 

addition to OST, other offices that resumed access to the Internet are 

the Office of the Solicitor, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Office of 

Hearing and Appeals, and the Office of Historical Trust Accounting. 

OST Chief Information Officer Bob McKenna 

explained, “IT security has changed significantly 

since the December 2001 court-ordered Internet 

disconnect. OST’s security incorporates advances 

in the IT industry. OST employs a full time Bureau 

Information Technology Security Officer, protects 

its IT resources with multiple firewalls, intrusion 

detection solutions are in place, and real-time 

monitoring of computer activity is happening.” 

Visit OST’s website, www.doi.gov/ost, for information updates. 

OST Reconnects to the Internet 

Fractionation Update 

Members of the Intertribal Monitoring Association (ITMA) have been reaching out to tribes and IIM account holders for 

recommendations and solutions to fractionation, which occurs as land passes from one generation to the next and more and 

more heirs acquire fractionated shares of undivided interests. Highly fractionated land is less economically productive due to 

the complications of multiple owners. 

In May, ITMA met with the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians and in June with the Council of Large Land Base Tribes. 

Additional sessions are being planned in the Northwest and Great Plains Regions and in Oklahoma. In the fall, ITMA will 

arrange a meeting to review options and make recommendations about this matter of significant importance to Indian 

Country. Please contact ITMA for meeting dates and locations and email your comments and suggestions to 

itma@itmatrustfunds.org or call the ITMA office at 505-247-1447. 

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Page 2 Trust Matters 

Updates Always Needed! 

Whereabouts Unknown Outreach 

OST refers to beneficiaries who do not have current 

contact information on file as “Whereabouts Unknown 

(WAU).” As of July 31, 2008, there were more than 

83,000 WAUs. OST wants to put money into the hands 

of the beneficiaries. Therefore, when beneficiaries don’t 

come to OST, OST goes out to find them! 

Finding WAUs is an important task of each Fiduciary 

Trust Officer (FTO). Events—sponsored or attended—

are one way they try to locate beneficiaries with out-ofdate contact information. 

For instance, recently, 

FTOs in the Pacific 

Region planned outreach events. In addition to finding WAUs, 

such efforts provide 

opportunities for beneficiaries to meet their 

FTOs and ask 

questions about 

their trust accounts. 

The staff of FTO Charles Jackson at the Warm Springs 

Agency in Oregon, part of the Northwest Region, came 

up with another proactive idea of hanging out at the post 

office. OK, not really hanging out but setting up a table 

on the day of the month that per capita checks arrive. 

When they find a WAU at the post office location, the 

person can update contact information right then and 

there. 

To provide information about a WAU or to ask 

questions, call the Trust Beneficiary Call Center, tollfree, at 1-888-678-6836. 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. 

FTO Karen Whitenton, with the Western Navajo Agency of the Western 

Region, meets with a beneficiary. 

BIA AND OST DEVELOP JOINT 

SOCIAL SERVICES TRAINING

The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and the Office of 

the Special Trustee for American Indians (OST) recently 

formed a joint Social Services working group. The 

primary goals of this working group are to strengthen 

communication between the two organizations and 

address specific issues that will improve the efficiency 

of their joint management of supervised Individual 

Indian Money (IIM) accounts. Implementation of training for BIA social workers and OST Fiduciary Trust 

Officers (FTOs) was the main objective of an initial 

meeting between representatives from the two 

organizations. 

Staff met in May 2008 to discuss the curriculum and 

training materials developed to date. Meeting participants shared and analyzed stories that reflect current 

operational procedures between social workers and 

FTOs. Of particular note was the practice of collaborating on community outreach 

events held throughout Indian 

Country. The group reconvened in 

June 2008 to review the training 

materials and launched the first 

formal training in July 2008. 

The training focuses on defining 

BIA and OST roles and responsibilities as they relate to social 

services offered to IIM account 

holders. Course components include the background and history of BIA and OST relative to social service fiduciary duties to beneficiaries; 

the process for authorizing disbursements; applicable 

CFR regulations, procedures, and audits; the Trust Fund 

Accounting System and Stratavision reports produced 

by the system; the importance of IIM records; and 

compact/contract tribal responsibilities. 

Generations Interact 

Haskell Indian Nations University opened its doors in 1884 as the U.S. Indian 

Industrial Training School. From its origins as a boarding school, Haskell has 

evolved into a four-year degree granting university. 

The Office of the Special Trustee for American Indians (OST) has a special 

relationship with Haskell. OST staff members at the American Indian Records 

Repository (AIRR) present guest lectures on records management course 

work at Haskell. Some students have the opportunity to apply their records 

management training as interns at AIRR. 

As Haskell’s 125th anniversary approaches, OST expects to support and 

participate in planned events. Contact Priscilla Hovland, Haskell’s Director of 

Endowments, (785-749-8418) for information about preparations for the 

anniversary. 

1908 Bandstand, listed on the National Historic Registry, 

with Tommaney Hall visible behind. 

 Haskell Indian Nations University Plans for 125th Anniversary 
Volume 8, Issue 3 Page 3 

Debit Card Pilot Being Evaluated

In December 2007, the Office of the Special Trustee 

(OST) began a pilot program to offer the convenience 

and security of debit cards to Individual Indian Money 

(IIM) account holders. Transferring IIM funds electronically to a debit card eliminates the risks and costs associated with checks. The pilot program generated significant interest. As of July, more than 2200 beneficiaries 

had requested enrollment information and 742 debit 

cards had been issued. The program is being evaluated 

for improvements and will be implemented nationwide 

this fall. 

Any IIM account holder may sign up 

for a debit card to receive disbursements from their IIM accounts. For 

additional information, contact the 

Trust Beneficiary Call Center 

(TBCC), toll free, at 1-888-678-6836, 

or your local OST office. 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. 

inconsistency is recognized by the system, it flags the 

record. The history of a record, where it has been and who 

touched it, is available through the system, which enables 

tracking. 

Reconciliation at the end of the day compares records in 

the STARS control log to the transactions entered in the 

Trust Funds Accounting System (TFAS). Using STARS, 

the reconciliation process at the end of the day takes 

minutes rather than hours. 

Since STARS is integrated into the Trust Portal intranet, 

STARS can be accessed by designated OST personnel. 

Questions that used to be directed to team members on 

the accounting floor can now be answered by personnel 

accessing STARS directly. This improves efficiency and 

saves time. 

STARS is currently running parallel with the previous 

control log database system. When final testing is 

completed, it will move to full production! 

Members of the Chickasaw Nation are finding it easier 

to take care of personal and tribal business. The Chickasaw Nation dedicated its new Tribal Government 

Services Building in Ada, Oklahoma, on May 28, 2008. 

The building also houses Bureau of Indian Affairs and 

Office of the Special Trustee for American Indians staff. 

This version of one-stop shopping is really a time saver 

for visitors. One half of the building is for the tribal 

government, the other half is for the BIA, and nestled 

between them is a strip of OST offices. Patricia Appl, 

OST’s Fiduciary Trust Officer (FTO) with the Chickasaw Agency, is pleased to be in a location so accessible 

to Indian trust beneficiaries. 

Bar Coded Trust Records 

Bar codes, those varying-width parallel black lines 

with numbers under them that appear on just about 

every item you purchase, are used to identify products. 

With implementation of the Secure Trust 

Accounting Records System (STARS), bar codes are 

being used by the Office of the Special Trustee for 

American Indians (OST) to track the daily flow of 

documents that support trust transactions. 

The accounting floor is where this all happens. Transactions, for example a probate distribution or disbursement from an account, are referred to as “records” 

when they are entered into STARS by the Control 

Room Team. Each record is bar coded. About a dozen 

teams (e.g., Liabilities, Collections, Probate) on the 

accounting room floor may act upon a record as it is 

processed through the system. 

The three main improvements STARS provides are 

accountability of records, error tracking, and reconciliation. Accountability means any record can be 

pinpointed anywhere in the process, using its bar code. 

Error tracking is significantly improved because 

STARS provides continuous feedback on errors. When 

Left to right: Cheri Gordon (Chickasaw Nation), Katie Case 

(Chickasaw Nation), Thomas John (Chickasaw Nation), Traile Glory 

(BIA), Jeanette Hannah (BIA), Chickasaw Nation Governor 

Anoatubby, Mel Burch (OST), Donna Erwin (OST), Judy Goforth 

Parker (Chickasaw Nation), Rita Loder (Chickasaw Nation), Patricia 

Appl (OST) 

Chickasaw, OST, BIA Offices Co-Located 
Deputy Chief Appraiser Position Filled 

There’s a new deputy in town, Deputy 

Chief Appraiser Eldred Lesansee, that 

is. Formerly one of the regional 

appraisers within the Office of the 

Special Trustee for American Indians 

(OST), Office of Appraisal Services 

(OAS), Lesansee has taken on this 

new leadership role. His position, 

created at the beginning of fiscal year 2008, is to provide 

management and oversight in support of the Fiduciary 

Trust Model and trust reform efforts as they apply to 

appraisals. 

Lesansee is a member of the Pueblo of Zuni. He grew up 

in Zuni, New Mexico, with a love of nature and a desire to 

be a good steward of the environment. He started his 

career with the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and soon 

became an appraiser trainee with BIA’s Chief Appraiser. 

After several years, he moved to the Bureau of Land 

Management as an appraiser. In 1994, he came back to 

the BIA as the Albuquerque Area Chief Appraiser; the 

position was later renamed Regional Appraiser. In 2006 

he was promoted to Regional Supervisory Appraiser. 

In addition to his undergraduate degree with dual majors 

in real estate, and trust and real property management, 

Lesansee has completed real estate and appraisal courses 

throughout his career. He is a Certified General Appraiser 

and holds a Master Senior Appraiser (MSA) and a Master 

Farm and Land Appraiser (MFLA) designation from the 

National Association of Master Appraisers. Lesansee is 

an active member of the American Society of Farm 

Managers and Rural Appraisers. 

The Deputy Chief Appraiser works with Chief Appraiser 

Georgia “Kay” Martin, who heads the Appraisal Services 

Directorate (ASD) with the Department of the Interior’s 

National Business Center. Since Lesansee works out of 

Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Martin from Washington, 

DC, he is pleased to have Internet and email connectivity 

to simplify their communication efforts. Lesansee says, “I 

appreciate the support I have received from the leadership 

and staff of the BIA, OST, ASD, American Indian Tribes 

and Native Alaskan Corporations and Consortiums, and 

the OAS team. I continue to find people at all levels of the 

Indian Affairs business processes who are committed to 

providing quality and timely services while maintaining 

ethical standards and successful personal lives.” 

“Can we improve our business by looking at processes 

that are redundant and that limit the efficiency and effectiveness of the program?” is a question Lesansee brought 

to his new position. He anticipates the development of a 

specific OAS Indian lands valuation policy manual that 

will become part of the Departmental Manual. He believes 

an appraisal trainee program that “grows” qualified people 

from inside the organization may help offset the number 

of people retiring from the appraisal field. Lesansee said, 

“OAS appraisers have a common goal of providing quality and timely services that meet the needs of the clients. 

We have a commitment to improvement and look to innovation to meet that challenge. We are professional appraisers who uphold objectivity and high ethical standards.” 

For additional information about OAS and appraisal 

services, call 505-816-1602. 

Pictured top: Eldred Lesansee. Pictured bottom, left to right: Lesansee at lake 

in Alaska; Lesansee and Regional Appraiser Jenness Burns fly to site in 

Alaska; Lesansee, pilot, and Chief Appraiser Martin at appraisal site in Alaska.