Post by blackcrowheart on Apr 8, 2006 9:44:23 GMT -5
Indians brace for major changes in trust-land rules By Jodi Rave,
Missoulian - 04/03/2006
www.helenair.com/articles/2006/04/03/montana/02mt20060403001.txt
<http://www.helenair.com/articles/2006/04/03/montana/02mt20060403001.txt\
>
PORTLAND, ORE. (LEE) — Harrison Tsosie of the Navajo Nation
doesn't like Washington bureaucrats telling the tribe how to manage
15 million acres of tribal land held in trust by the federal government.
And now a new federal law and proposed Interior Department policies are
changing all the rules governing 56 million acres of trust lands around
the country.
"The big concern of the Navajos is this notion the federal
government holds land in trust," said Tsosie, Navajo Nation deputy
attorney general. "It provides an opportunity for the federal
government to have pervasive control over all activities within the
Navajo Nation." Tsosie arrived in Portland with about 200 other
tribal representatives from the western half of the United States on
Wednesday to attend an all-day comment session with Interior Department
staff members. The task at hand: Try to understand the complex, sweeping
list of proposed regulatory changes about to dramatically alter the
landscape of trust fund management.
Tribal representatives pored through a 2.7-pound binder filled with
draft regulations affecting anyone who owns land in Indian Country. The
binder only addressed changes brought about by passage of the 2004
American Indian Probate Reform Act. Now a year later, the law is taking
effect.
The proposed regulations discussed Wednesday will help make the probate
reform act a reality. They're supposed to be finalized June 20.
"I don't know when we've ever done anything when you look at
the binder with the drafts in it that extensive at one time," said
Michelle Singer, an Interior Department staff attorney. "It's
huge." The probate reform act affects land ownership rights for
hundreds of tribes across the country and some 245,000 individuals.
Many of the tribal representatives in Portland said the new changes were
alarming.
"I feel they've overwhelmed the tribes with all these
regulations," said Sharon Red Thunder, realty specialist with the
Colville Confederated Tribes of Washington. "They've given us
such little time to comment and be consulted when they've been
working on these trust reform regulations for years." The reform act
will affect probate and life estates, selling, exchanging or buying
land, grazing permits, land leases, record and title documents,
administrative appeals and new fees for managing trust funds.
The Interior Department will unleash more policy changes, leaving tribes
to grapple with the regulatory changes brought on by the American Indian
Probate Reform Act.
"It was passed in 2004 but there wasn't a lot of education in
Indian Country," said Majel Russell, an attorney representing
Montana and Wyoming tribal leaders. "DOI didn't come out. I
think they did one pamphlet that we all got as Indian landowners. It was
a good pamphlet. But that was it. We haven't had a lot of training
or consultations." Probate and life estate changes are drawing some
of the heavier criticisms. It's now paramount that a landowner has a
will if they want to control the future of their landholdings.
"All the Montana-Wyoming people were really shocked when we said,
`When you die and you don't have a will, what do you think will
happen?' " said Russell.
Typically, if landowners die, their spouses or all surviving children
will inherit the land. Not anymore. If a will isn't in place, the
spouses won't inherit the land. They'll only have use of it
while living.
And in cases where a landowner owns less than 5 percent of a
fractionated parcel, the oldest child, grandchild or great-grandchild
will inherit it — not all the children, as in the past.
Another contested provision allows the Interior Department to purchase
land during the probate proceeding without the heirs' consent if the
holding is less than 5 percent this doesn't apply if a person has a
will.
If a will doesn't exist, the land falls under new federal probate
codes. State probate codes will no longer be followed. "It's a
total radical change from the way probates work now," said Russell.
Meanwhile, the Bureau of Indian Affairs announced last spring that it
would stop doing wills for landowners. Confusion will likely ensue in
months to come, said Russell, considering few Indians have wills.
Amanda Wilbur, an attorney who lives on the Rosebud Reservation in South
Dakota, said only about 5 percent of Indian landowners in South Dakota
have wills. Across the country, it's about 10 percent, she said.
The massive trust reform initiative is being spurred on by the near
decade-long landmark lawsuit filed in 1996 against the Interior
Department by Elouise Cobell of the Blackfeet Nation in Montana.
The suit provoked a court mandate requiring the Interior Department to
provide a historical accounting of land and money accounts mismanaged
for tribes and individual landowners dating back to 1887.
The Portland consultation meeting marked the end of a 90-day comment
period tribes had to voice concerns over proposed regulatory changes. So
far, hundreds of comments have been made to staff, which has been
sorting through them on a continual basis.
"We're going to try and turn them around in a couple weeks,"
said Singer. "We want to get the next comment period started."
That will happen after department staffers publish a second draft. More
consultations will follow, she said.
Staff members will then produce a second draft of regulatory changes,
giving tribes and landowners another opportunity to comment on changes.
"It was healthy to express our concerns but it was also tempered
with frustration," said Steve Lozar, a Tribal Councilman of the
Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes in Montana. "I think people
are listening to us but not hearing us. ... My old grandpa used to say,
`Let me smoke on it.' "I don't think we've been
given that opportunity."
Missoulian - 04/03/2006
www.helenair.com/articles/2006/04/03/montana/02mt20060403001.txt
<http://www.helenair.com/articles/2006/04/03/montana/02mt20060403001.txt\
>
PORTLAND, ORE. (LEE) — Harrison Tsosie of the Navajo Nation
doesn't like Washington bureaucrats telling the tribe how to manage
15 million acres of tribal land held in trust by the federal government.
And now a new federal law and proposed Interior Department policies are
changing all the rules governing 56 million acres of trust lands around
the country.
"The big concern of the Navajos is this notion the federal
government holds land in trust," said Tsosie, Navajo Nation deputy
attorney general. "It provides an opportunity for the federal
government to have pervasive control over all activities within the
Navajo Nation." Tsosie arrived in Portland with about 200 other
tribal representatives from the western half of the United States on
Wednesday to attend an all-day comment session with Interior Department
staff members. The task at hand: Try to understand the complex, sweeping
list of proposed regulatory changes about to dramatically alter the
landscape of trust fund management.
Tribal representatives pored through a 2.7-pound binder filled with
draft regulations affecting anyone who owns land in Indian Country. The
binder only addressed changes brought about by passage of the 2004
American Indian Probate Reform Act. Now a year later, the law is taking
effect.
The proposed regulations discussed Wednesday will help make the probate
reform act a reality. They're supposed to be finalized June 20.
"I don't know when we've ever done anything when you look at
the binder with the drafts in it that extensive at one time," said
Michelle Singer, an Interior Department staff attorney. "It's
huge." The probate reform act affects land ownership rights for
hundreds of tribes across the country and some 245,000 individuals.
Many of the tribal representatives in Portland said the new changes were
alarming.
"I feel they've overwhelmed the tribes with all these
regulations," said Sharon Red Thunder, realty specialist with the
Colville Confederated Tribes of Washington. "They've given us
such little time to comment and be consulted when they've been
working on these trust reform regulations for years." The reform act
will affect probate and life estates, selling, exchanging or buying
land, grazing permits, land leases, record and title documents,
administrative appeals and new fees for managing trust funds.
The Interior Department will unleash more policy changes, leaving tribes
to grapple with the regulatory changes brought on by the American Indian
Probate Reform Act.
"It was passed in 2004 but there wasn't a lot of education in
Indian Country," said Majel Russell, an attorney representing
Montana and Wyoming tribal leaders. "DOI didn't come out. I
think they did one pamphlet that we all got as Indian landowners. It was
a good pamphlet. But that was it. We haven't had a lot of training
or consultations." Probate and life estate changes are drawing some
of the heavier criticisms. It's now paramount that a landowner has a
will if they want to control the future of their landholdings.
"All the Montana-Wyoming people were really shocked when we said,
`When you die and you don't have a will, what do you think will
happen?' " said Russell.
Typically, if landowners die, their spouses or all surviving children
will inherit the land. Not anymore. If a will isn't in place, the
spouses won't inherit the land. They'll only have use of it
while living.
And in cases where a landowner owns less than 5 percent of a
fractionated parcel, the oldest child, grandchild or great-grandchild
will inherit it — not all the children, as in the past.
Another contested provision allows the Interior Department to purchase
land during the probate proceeding without the heirs' consent if the
holding is less than 5 percent this doesn't apply if a person has a
will.
If a will doesn't exist, the land falls under new federal probate
codes. State probate codes will no longer be followed. "It's a
total radical change from the way probates work now," said Russell.
Meanwhile, the Bureau of Indian Affairs announced last spring that it
would stop doing wills for landowners. Confusion will likely ensue in
months to come, said Russell, considering few Indians have wills.
Amanda Wilbur, an attorney who lives on the Rosebud Reservation in South
Dakota, said only about 5 percent of Indian landowners in South Dakota
have wills. Across the country, it's about 10 percent, she said.
The massive trust reform initiative is being spurred on by the near
decade-long landmark lawsuit filed in 1996 against the Interior
Department by Elouise Cobell of the Blackfeet Nation in Montana.
The suit provoked a court mandate requiring the Interior Department to
provide a historical accounting of land and money accounts mismanaged
for tribes and individual landowners dating back to 1887.
The Portland consultation meeting marked the end of a 90-day comment
period tribes had to voice concerns over proposed regulatory changes. So
far, hundreds of comments have been made to staff, which has been
sorting through them on a continual basis.
"We're going to try and turn them around in a couple weeks,"
said Singer. "We want to get the next comment period started."
That will happen after department staffers publish a second draft. More
consultations will follow, she said.
Staff members will then produce a second draft of regulatory changes,
giving tribes and landowners another opportunity to comment on changes.
"It was healthy to express our concerns but it was also tempered
with frustration," said Steve Lozar, a Tribal Councilman of the
Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes in Montana. "I think people
are listening to us but not hearing us. ... My old grandpa used to say,
`Let me smoke on it.' "I don't think we've been
given that opportunity."