11462 Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 41 / Tuesday, March 3, 2015 / Notices 

competition Web site will be used to 

contact selected finalists. Information is 

not collected for commercial marketing. 

Winners are permitted to cite that they 

won this competition. The names, cities, 

and states of selected winner or entity 

will be made available in promotional 

materials and at recognition events. 

Authority: 15 U.S.C. 3719. 

Dated: March 3, 2015. 

Reginald Brothers, 

Under Secretary, DHS Science and 

Technology Directorate. 

[FR Doc. 2015–04127 Filed 3–2–15; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 9110–9F–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Office of the Secretary 

Land Buy-Back Program for Tribal 

Nations under Cobell Settlement 

AGENCY: Office of the Deputy Secretary, 

Interior. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: The Land Buy-Back Program 

(Program) for Tribal Nations will host a 

listening session on March 19, 2015, in 

Laveen, Arizona. The Program hopes to 

receive feedback from tribes and 

individuals on critical issues related to 

the Program as well as the 2014 Status 

Report: http://www.doi.gov/news/

upload/Buy-BackProgramStatusReport11-20-14-v4.pdf. 

DATES: The listening session will take 

place on March 19, 2015, at the Vee 

Quiva Hotel, 15091 South Komatke 

Lane, Laveen, Arizona 85339. Written 

comments are also encouraged and must 

be received by April 20, 2015, and may 

be emailed to buybackprogram@

iso.doi.gov. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT AND

RSVP: Please RSVP and direct questions 

to Ms. Treci Johnson at treci_johnson@

ios.doi.gov or (202) 208–6916. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background 

The Land Buy-Back Program for 

Tribal Nations is the Department of the 

Interior’s (Department) collaborative 

effort with Indian Country to realize the 

historic opportunity afforded by the 

Cobell Settlement’s $1.9 billion Trust 

Land Consolidation Fund 

(Consolidation Fund). The purpose of 

the Consolidation Fund is to 

compensate individuals who willingly 

choose to transfer fractional land 

interests to tribal nations for fair market 

value. The Program continues to 

actively engage tribes and individuals 

across Indian Country, as it has in 

consultations since 2011. 

The Department is currently 

implementing the Buy-Back Program at 

multiple locations across Indian 

Country. Thus far, the Program has 

made more than $780 million in offers 

to individual landowners and paid 

nearly $350 million directly to more 

than 20,000 individuals that decided to 

sell fractional interests. This has 

restored the equivalent of more than 

541,000 acres to tribes. Our working 

relationships with tribes (17 cooperative 

agreements or other arrangements to 

date) and continued outreach to 

landowners are important elements of 

continued progress. 

II. Listening Session 

The purpose of the upcoming 

listening session is to gather input from 

tribes in order for the Department to 

continue to refine its land consolidation 

processes and engage individual 

landowners who may have questions 

about the Program. The listening session 

will begin at 1 p.m. with opening 

remarks from Deputy Secretary Michael 

L. Connor and other senior 

Departmental officials and will continue 

until 4 p.m. Tribal leaders and 

individual landowners will have an 

opportunity to present comments. 

III. Seeking Tribal Input 

The Buy-Back Program is committed 

to continuous consultations throughout 

the life of the Program in compliance 

with the letter and spirit of Executive 

Order 13175 (Consultation and 

Coordination with Indian Tribal 

Governments) and Secretarial Order 

3314 (Department of the Interior Policy 

on Consultation with Indian Tribes). 

At the beginning of 2013, Department 

officials conducted extensive tribal 

consultations on the following: 

(1) Developing an efficient, fair 

process for landowners of fractionated 

interests to participate in the Buy-Back 

Program; 

(2) Identifying and maximizing 

opportunities for tribal involvement; 

and 

(3) Offering tribes flexibility to 

execute Program requirements in the 

manner best suited for the unique needs 

of each community. 

Tribal input has been critical to 

making necessary enhancements to the 

Buy-Back Program. We are committed to 

learning from every sale at every 

location and making adjustments where 

necessary that are transparent and fair. 

For example, among adjustments 

influenced by tribal input, the Bureau of 

Indian Affairs (https://

www.federalregister.gov/articles/2014/

11/14/2014-27033/privacy-act-of-1974- 

as-amended-notice-to-amend-anexisting-system-of-records) and Office of 

the Special Trustee for American 

Indians (https://

www.federalregister.gov/articles/2015/

01/08/2015-00038/privacy-act-of-1974- 

as-amended-notice-to-amend-anexisting-system-of-records) announced 

this past year that the agencies were 

updating their existing system of record 

notices (SORNs). 

The updated SORNs will make it 

easier to exchange information with 

tribal governments as they work to help 

implement land consolidation activities 

in cooperation with the program. These 

updates respond to comments during 

government-to-government 

consultations, presentations, and the 

Program’s 2014 Listening Session, in 

which tribal representatives have 

expressed a need for greater and simpler 

access to landowner information to 

effectively conduct outreach and land 

consolidation activities for the Program. 

While the Department welcomes 

feedback related to any aspect of the 

Program, the following areas are of 

particular interest: 

Ideas for Improvement. The active 

participation of individual Indians, 

tribal leaders, and other interested 

parties is critical to success of the 

Program. The Department seeks 

comments on any ideas that will 

facilitate continued improvement of the 

Program. 

1. Implementation at LessFractionated Locations. While the 

implementation strategy keeps the 

Program focused on the most highly 

fractionated locations for the next few 

years, the Program has involved ‘‘lessfractionated locations’’ as well. There 

are about 110 less fractionated locations 

that contain approximately 10 percent 

of the outstanding fractional interests. 

The Program continues to explore ways 

for additional less fractioned locations 

to participate in buy-back efforts. 

The Program seeks comment on the 

most efficient and cost effective way to 

work with less-fractionated locations, 

including comment on specific steps the 

Program can take to facilitate earlier 

purchases at less fractionated locations. 

2. Outreach. Participation in the BuyBack Program is voluntary. It is unclear 

how many of the approximately 245,000 

individual owners will choose to sell 

their interests for conveyance to the 

Tribe. Currently, approximately 42% of 

Program offers to landowners are 

accepted on average. 

The Program utilizes various outreach 

tools, including a comprehensive Web 

site to provide landowners, tribes, and 

the public with information about the 

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Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 41 / Tuesday, March 3, 2015 / Notices 11463 

Program. The site contains a detailed 

list of frequently asked questions, 

outreach materials, instructions for 

completing the deed, cooperative 

agreement guidance and instructional 

documents, and Program presentations, 

among other items. 

The Program seeks comment on what, 

if any, additional information on the 

Program’s Web site would be helpful in 

assisting individual landowners to reach 

informed decisions about the 

disposition of their fractional interests. 

The Program also seeks comments on 

what additional steps can be taken to 

ensure landowners have sufficient 

information and answers to their 

questions. 

3. Public Domain or ‘‘OffReservation’’ Lands. Under the 

Settlement, fractional interests acquired 

by the Program are to be immediately 

held in trust or restricted status for the 

recognized tribe that exercises 

jurisdiction over the land. When 

identifying the locations with fractional 

interests that may be consolidated, the 

Program excludes land area names that 

include the term ‘‘public domain’’ or 

‘‘off reservation’’ because use of these 

terms indicate that there may be no 

recognized tribe that exercises 

jurisdiction over the land. The Program 

has encouraged feedback, however, on 

the list of locations in its 2012 and 2013 

implementation plans. Since then, the 

Program has received feedback from 

several tribes suggesting that certain 

land areas should be included. 

The Program is now seeking general 

feedback on whether the Program 

should incorporate public domain or off 

reservation land areas into the Program, 

and if so, what criteria should be 

applied. 

4. Purchase Estimates. Consultations 

between Departmental, Program, and 

tribal leaders led to the policy decision 

to express purchase ceiling amounts 

within the Initial Implementation Plan 

(2012 Plan) and Updated 

Implementation Plan (2013 Plan). The 

underlying concept behind such 

purchase estimates is to approximate 

the potential portion of the 

Consolidation Fund available to pay 

owners who choose to sell fractional 

interests at a given location, based on a 

formula that considers a location’s 

proportional share of fractionation 

across Indian Country. 

The Program’s November 2014 Status 

Report expounds on the purchase 

estimate approach. Among other things, 

it noted that the Program was 

implementing several steps to ‘‘make 

sure the Consolidation Fund is used 

before November 2022,’’ including the 

creation of opportunities for willing 

sellers, leveraging efficient mass 

appraisal results, making a single wave 

of offers, and continually learning from 

experience and data. Moreover, the 

Status Report described a number of 

factors the Program will consider to 

determine how to best expend funds, 

such as: 

a. Level of interested or documented 

willing sellers; 

b. availability of valuation relatedinformation; 

c. tribal readiness or interest; 

d. severity of fractionation; 

e. cost and time efficiency; 

f. promotion of tribal sovereignty and 

self-determination; 

g. economic and/or cultural value for 

the community, as evidenced by wellarticulated tribal priorities; and 

h. loss of historical reservation land as 

a result of allotment. 

Such steps are intended to help the 

Program address instances where sales 

fall below estimates to ensure full use of 

the Consolidation Fund by November 

2022. The Program seeks comment on 

these steps, including the most 

equitable, efficient, and cost effective 

way to utilize/repurpose purchase 

estimate amounts remaining following 

active implementation at each 

individual location. 

5. Purchase Offer Package. The 

Program strives to make the offer 

package documents as clear and user 

friendly as possible. Following the 

initial purchase offers to landowners, 

the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) made 

several changes to the Deed paperwork 

to reduce common errors by landowners 

and notaries and increase processing 

speed. The Program also clarified the 

Cover Letter and Instructions to address 

frequent questions and recurring errors. 

The Program seeks comment on what, 

if any, additional changes would assist 

in making offer package documents as 

clear and user friendly as possible. 

6. Reimbursement for Post-Settlement 

Purchases of Fractional Interests. The 

Buy-Back Program has received 

inquiries regarding, and requests from 

tribes for, reimbursement from the Land 

Consolidation Fund for tribal purchases 

of fractional interests. 

The Program seeks comment on what 

criteria it should apply in making 

reimbursement decisions. 

7. Structural Improvements. While the 

Program will not acquire structural 

improvements, which are non-trust 

property, the Program continues to work 

with its tribal and Federal partners to 

determine the feasibility of making 

offers on tracts with structures. 

The Program seeks comment on a 

recommended policy regarding 

acquiring interests in tracts with 

structural improvements, including 

instances in which the Program might 

choose to acquire interests. 

8. Whereabouts Unknown. 

Whereabouts unknown (WAU) is the 

term used to describe Individual Indian 

Money (IIM) account holders without 

current address information on file with 

the Office of the Special Trustee for 

American Indians (OST). The 

Settlement provides for an outreach 

effort to locate landowners whose 

whereabouts are unknown as of the date 

of final approval of the Settlement. If 

those owners are not located after the 

Department undertakes the outreach 

effort and the passage of five years, the 

landowners shall be deemed to have 

consented to the conveyance of their 

fractional interest [Cobell Settlement 

Agreement at F (6); Claims Resolution 

Act of 2010 101(e) (5)]. Since the 

Program’s inception, the focus has been 

locating WAU through outreach efforts 

so the individuals can receive and 

consider an offer. 

The Program has not exercised WAU 

purchases thus far and is seeking input 

from tribes and individuals on whether 

and how it should implement the 

provision. 

IV. Additional Resources 

The Land Buy-Back Program for 

Tribal Nations 2014 Status Report and 

additional information about the BuyBack Program is available at: http://

www.doi.gov/buybackprogram. In 

addition, landowners can contact their 

local Fiduciary Trust Officer or call 

Interior’s Trust Beneficiary Call Center 

at (888) 678–6836. 

Dated: February 23, 2015. 

Michael L. Connor, 

Deputy Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2015–04304 Filed 3–2–15; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Bureau of Land Management 

Fish and Wildlife Service 

[FWS–R8–ES–2015–N254; FXES11120000– 

156–FF08E00000] 

Supplemental Draft Environmental 

Impact Statement for the Proposed 

South Coast Resource Management 

Plan Amendment; for the Proposed 

Upper Santa Ana River Habitat 

Conservation Plan and Land Exchange 

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, 

Interior; Bureau of Land Management, 

Interior. 

mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES