[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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