Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 238 / Monday, December 11, 2000 / Notices 77385

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Consideration of the Accuracy of the

Eastern Boundary of the Sandia

Pueblo Grant and Request for

Additional Information

AGENCY: Office of the Solicitor, Interior.

ACTION: Notice and request for further

information.

SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of the

Interior announces that it will be

considering the accuracy of the eastern

boundary of the Sandia Pueblo Grant to

determine whether to conduct a

resurvey of the boundary. The

Department received a request dated

November 21, 2000, from an attorney

representing the County of Bernalillo

and the Sandia Mountain Coalition, for

a resurvey to correct the eastern

boundary of the Sandia Pueblo Grant.

Counsel for the County and the

Coalition suggests that his request be

combined with consideration of the

Pueblo of Sandia’s request for a

resurvey, which is the subject of a

remand from the U.S. District Court in

Pueblo of Sandia v. Babbitt as a result

of a November 17, 2000, decision of the

U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C.

Circuit, dismissing the appeals from the

July 18, 1998, ruling of the District

Court. The Department also has a letter

and legal memorandum from an

attorney representing the Pueblo of

Sandia, dated November 30, 2000,

requesting that the boundary be

corrected.

The subject of the eastern boundary of

the Pueblo of Sandia has been a matter

of concern and debate in the

Department of the Interior for many

years. In 1988, then-Solicitor Ralph Tarr

issued an opinion rejecting the Pueblo’s

petition for a resurvey. This decision

was vacated by a decision of the U.S.

District Court in 1998. A substantial

record has been accumulated over the

years in the consideration of the

boundary issue, but the Department is

giving interested parties an opportunity

to provide any further historical

evidence or legal arguments that may be

pertinent to this matter.

DATES: Interested parties may submit

additional historical evidence or legal

analysis to the address below on or

before January 5, 2001.

ADDRESSES: Submit all information

requested in this notice to: Angela M.

Kelsey, Office of the Solicitor, U.S.

Department of the Interior, 1849 C

Street, NW., Mailstop 6456,

Washington, DC 20240.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Suzanne R. Schaeffer, Assistant

Solicitor for Environment, Land &

Minerals, Division of Indian Affairs,

Office of the Solicitor, U.S. Department

of the Interior, 1849 C Street, NW.,

Mailstop 6456, Washington, DC 20240.

Telephone: 202–208–4361.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In 1983,

the Pueblo of Sandia petitioned the

Department of the Interior for a

corrected survey designating the eastern

boundary of its land grant as the ‘‘main

ridge’’ of the Sandia Mountains, located

northeast of Albuquerque, NM. The

Pueblo claimed that an 1859 survey

commissioned by the government

erroneously set the Pueblo’s eastern

boundary at the base of the Sandia

Mountains rather than along the

Mountain’s crest line, as allegedly set

forth in the Pueblo’s 1748 Spanish land

grant confirmed by the United States

Congress in 1858. In 1988 the

Department rejected the Pueblo’s claim,

concluding that the original land survey

accurately set the Pueblo’s eastern

boundary at the foothills of the

Mountains. In the Solicitor’s Opinion on

the Pueblo of Sandia Boundary, 96 I.D.

331 (1988), then-Solicitor Tarr reasoned

that the King of Spain, who originally

granted the land to the Pueblo, intended

to grant it a ‘‘formal’’ pueblo only, not

the larger area claimed. A formal pueblo

consists of four square leagues of land,

the area within the extension of one

league (2.6 miles) measured from the

center of the settlement to the north,

south, east and west.

The Pueblo sued the Secretary of the

Interior and the Secretary of

Agriculture, seeking a judgment

designating the main ridge of the Sandia

Mountains as the Pueblo’s eastern

boundary and directing the Secretary of

the Interior to correct the 1859 survey.

The Secretary of Agriculture was

included in the suit because the Pueblo

claims that the incorrect survey

boundary excludes approximately

10,000 acres of land which is

administered as part of the Cibola

National Forest and the Sandia

Mountain Wilderness. The District

Court allowed the Sandia Mountain

Coalition, a coalition of homeowners

and others in the affected region, and

the County of Bernalillo to intervene in

the case. See Pueblo of Sandia v.

Babbitt, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20619

(D.D.C.). The court reviewed the

Department of Interior’s actions under

the Administrative Procedure Act, and

on July 18, 1998, found them to be

arbitrary and capricious. The court

vacated the Solicitor’s Opinion and

remanded the case to the Department of

the Interior for action consistent with

the court’s opinion.

The intervenors, the County of

Bernalillo and the Sandia Mountain

Coalition, appealed from the court’s

decision, and the United States also

filed a protective notice of appeal to the

U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C.

Circuit. The D.C. Circuit granted the

parties’ joint motion to hold the

proceedings in abeyance pending

settlement negotiations. The Pueblo, the

federal agencies, the County of

Bernalillo, the Sandia Mountain

Coalition, the Sandia Peak Tram

Company, and the City of Albuquerque

then entered into negotiations with a

private mediator. The County, the

Coalition, and the City withdrew from

mediation in August 1999. Nevertheless,

the continuing negotiations among the

government, the Pueblo, and the Tram

Company resulted in a settlement,

which was submitted to the New

Mexico Congressional delegation. This

settlement requires an Act of Congress

to become effective. The United States

then filed a motion to dismiss the

appeals, and the Court of Appeals

issued its decision granting the motion

and dismissing the appeals on

November 17, 2000. See Pueblo of

Sandia v. Babbitt, 2000 U.S. App. LEXIS

29339 (D.C. Cir.).

Part IV of the 1988 Tarr Opinion

concluded that the Department had no

authority to correct the boundaries of

Indian reservations. On December 5,

2000, the Solicitor issued an opinion

regarding the Secretary’s authority to

correct the boundary between the San

Felipe Pueblo Grant and the El Ranchito

Grant owned by the Pueblo of Santa

Ana, which overrules Part IV of the Tarr

Opinion. The Department has made no

new decision on the eastern boundary of

the Sandia Pueblo Grant, but intends to

reconsider its earlier decision.

Counsel for both the Pueblo and the

County of Bernalillo and Sandia

Mountain Coalition have since

submitted requests to the Department,

asking that it correct the eastern

boundary of the Sandia Pueblo. It

continues to be the position of the

Pueblo that approximately 10,000 acres

of National Forest was wrongfully

excluded from its Spanish Land Grant

lands. In his letter, counsel for the

Pueblo asserts that when Congress

confirmed the Spanish Land Grant in

1858, it did so in reliance on an 1856

Report of the Surveyor General

identifying the eastern boundary of the

Sandia Pueblo Land Grant as ‘‘the main

ridge called Sandia.’’ The letter from

counsel for the County and the Coalition

attaches a report prepared for the U.S.

Forest Service by Dr. Stanley M. Hordes,

dated March 1, 1996, which, counsel

asserts, establishes that there were

77386 Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 238 / Monday, December 11, 2000 / Notices

errors in the translation of the Land

Grant and in the monumenting of the

survey, and that the eastern boundary of

the Pueblo, as currently recognized by

federal agencies and others in maps of

the area, is erroneous.

In light of these requests, and

consistent with the court’s remand

order, the Department has decided to

reevaluate its earlier decision regarding

the Sandia boundary. The Department

has accumulated a substantial amount

of information over the years related to

its consideration of these boundary

issues, but is soliciting interested parties

to provide any additional historical

evidence or legal arguments related to

these matters. The Department notes

that its reconsideration of the Sandia

boundary matters will necessarily not

affect the title to any land held by

private landowners in the area. The

Secretary’s resurvey authority is

expressly limited by statute so that it

may not be used to impair the rights and

titles of good faith purchasers of public

lands who may otherwise be affected by

the resurvey. See Cragin v. Powell, 128

U.S. 691 (1888), see also 43 U.S.C. 772.

(Authority: 25 U.S.C. 176; 43 U.S.C. 772.)

Dated: December 5, 2000.

John Leshy,

Solicitor.

[FR Doc. 00–31365 Filed 12–8–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4310–17–P

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Notice of Intent To Discontinue

Preparation of an Environmental

Assessment for the Conversion of a

Portion of Strawberry Valley Project

Water from Irrigation to Municipal and

Industrial Use

AGENCY: Office of the Assistant

Secretary—Water and Science,

Department of the Interior.

ACTION: Notice of intent to discontinue

preparation of an Environmental

Assessment for the conversion of a

portion of Strawberry Valley Project

(SVP) water from irrigation to other

beneficial uses including municipal and

industrial (M&I) use.

SUMMARY: Recent discussions among the

Department, Strawberry Water Users

Association, and the South Utah Valley

Municipal Water Association have

resulted in a decision to terminate work

on contracts to convert Strawberry

Valley Project water from agricultural to

municipal and industrial use. The

Department has discontinued

preparation of an Environmental

Assessment intended to allow the

conversion of SVP water from

agricultural to municipal and industrial

use. The Environmental Assessment

was being prepared pursuant to the

National Environmental Policy Act of

1969, and in accordance with a Federal

Register notice published February 7,

2000, (Page 5880, Volume 65, Number

25).

The SUVMWA have determined to

use alternate sources for municipal and

industrial water instead of SVP water.

The SWUA have determined to

discontinue negotiations with the

Department relative to the conversion of

SVP water. As a result SVP water will

continue to be used only for agricultural

purposes and will only be available

during the irrigation season.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Additional information on matters

related to this Federal Register notice

can be obtained at the address and

telephone number set forth below: Mr.

Reed Murray, CUP Completion Act

Office, Department of the Interior, 302

East 1860 South, Provo UT 84606–6154,

(801) 379–1237, rmurray@uc.usbr.gov.

Dated: December 1, 2000.

Ronald Johnston,

CUP Program Director, Department of the

Interior.

[FR Doc. 00–31461 Filed 12–8–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4310–RK–P

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Geological Survey

Request for Public Comments on

Extension of Existing Information

Collection To Be Submitted to OMB for

Review Under the Paperwork

Reduction Act

A request extending the information

collection described below will be

submitted to the Office of Management

and Budget (OMB) for approval under

the provisions of the Paperwork

Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C.

3506(c)(2)). Copies of the proposed

collection may be obtained by

contacting the Bureau’s clearance officer

at the phone number listed below.

Comments on the proposal should be

made within 60 days to the Bureau

Clearance Officer, U.S. Geological

Survey, 807 National Center, Reston, VA

20192.

As required by OMB regulations at 5

CFR 1320.8(d)(1), the U.S. Geological

Survey solicits specific public

comments as to: 1. Whether the

collection of information is necessary

for the proper performance of the

functions of the bureaus, including

whether the information will have

practical utility; 2. The accuracy of the

bureau’s estimate of the burden of the

collection of information, including the

validity of the methodology and

assumptions used:

3. The quality, utility, and clarity of

the information to be collected; and

4. How to minimize the burden of the

collection of information on those who

are to respond, including the use of

appropriate automated, electronic,

mechanical, or other forms of

information technology.

Title: North American Reporting

Center for Amphibian Malformations.

OMB Approval No: 1028–0056.

Summary: The collection of

information referred herein applies to a

World-Wide Web site that permits

individuals who observed malformed

amphibians or who inspect substantial

numbers of normal or malformed

amphibians to report those observations

and related information. The Web site is

termed the North American Reporting

Center for Amphibian Malformations.

Information will be used by scientists

and federal, state, and local agencies to

identify areas where malformed

amphibians occur and the rates of

occurrence.

Estimated Completion Time: 20

minutes.

Estimated Annual Number of

Respondents: 900.

Frequency: Once.

Estimated Annual Burden Hours: 300

hours.

Affected Public: Primarily U.S. and

Canadian residents.

For Further Information Contact: To

obtain copies of the survey, contact the

Bureau clearance officer, U.S.

Geological Survey, 807 National Center,

12201 Sunrise Valley Drive, Reston,

Virginia, 20192, telephone (703) 648–

7313, or go to the Website (http://

www.npsc.nbs.gov./narcam).

Dated: December 5, 2000.

Dennis B. Fenn,

Chief Biologist.

[FR Doc. 00–31484 Filed 12–8–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4310–Y7–M

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[WO–350–1430–PF–01–21 1A]

Extension of Approved Information

Collection, OMB Number 1004–0009

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management,

Interior.

ACTION: Notice and request for

comments.

SUMMARY: In accordance with the

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the