[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 43, Volume 2]
[Revised as of October 1, 2004]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 43CFR2653.6]

[Page 205-207]
 
                    TITLE 43--PUBLIC LANDS: INTERIOR
 
    CHAPTER II--BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
 
PART 2650_ALASKA NATIVE SELECTIONS--Table of Contents
 
                  Subpart 2653_Miscellaneous Selections
 
Sec. 2653.6  Native groups.

    (a) Eligibility. (1) The head or any authorized representative of a 
Native group incorporated pursuant to section 14(h)(2) of the Act may 
file on behalf of the group an application for a determination of its 
eligibility under said section of the Act. Such application shall be 
filed in duplicate with the appropriate officer, Bureau of Land 
Management, prior to April 16, 1976, in accordance with Sec. 2650.2(a) 
of this chapter. Upon serialization of the application, the Bureau of 
Land Management office will forward a copy of such application to the 
Director, Juneau Area Office, Bureau of Indian Affairs, who shall 
investigate and report the findings of fact required to be made herein 
to the Bureau of Land Management with a certification thereof. A copy of 
an application by a group located within a National Wildlife Refuge or a 
National Forest will be furnished to the appropriate agency 
administering the area.
    (2) Each application must identify the section, township, and range 
in which the Native group is located, and must be accompanied by a list 
of the names of the Native members of the

[[Page 206]]

group, a listing of permanent improvements and periods of use of the 
locality by members, a conformed copy of the group's article of 
incorporation, and the regional corporation's concurrence and 
recommendation under Sec. 2653.2(b).
    (3) Notice of the filing of such application specifying the date of 
such filing, the identity and location of the Native group, and the date 
by which any protest of the application must be filed shall be prepared 
by the Bureau of Indian Affairs and shall be published once in the 
Federal Register and in one or more newspapers of general circulation in 
Alaska once a week for three consecutive weeks by the Bureau of Land 
Management. Any protest to the application shall be filed with the 
Bureau of Indian Affairs within the time specified in the notice.
    (4) The Bureau of Indian Affairs shall investigate and determine 
whether each member of a Native group formed pursuant to section 
14(h)(2) of the Act is enrolled pursuant to section 5 of the Act. The 
Bureau of Indian Affairs shall determine whether the members of the 
Native group actually reside in and are enrolled to the locality 
specified in its application. The Bureau of Indian Affairs shall specify 
the number and names of Natives who actually reside in and are enrolled 
to the locality, including children who are members of the group and who 
are temporarily elsewhere for purposes of education, and it shall 
further determine whether the members of the Native group constitute the 
majority of the residents of the locality where the group resides. The 
Bureau of Indian Affairs shall determine and identify the exterior 
boundaries of the Native group's locality and the location of all those 
permanent structures of the Native group used as dwelling houses.
    (5) The Native group must have an identifiable physical location. 
The members of the group must use the group locality as a place where 
they actually live in permanent structures used as dwelling houses. The 
group must have the character of a separate community, distinguishable 
from nearby communities, and must be composed of more than a single 
family or household. Members of a group must have enrolled to the 
group's locality pursuant to section 5 of the Act, must actually have 
resided there as of the 1970 census enumeration date, and must have 
lived there as their principal place of residence since that date.
    (6) The Bureau of Indian Affairs shall issue its certification, 
containing its findings of fact required to be made herein and its 
determination of the eligibility of the Native group, except it shall 
issue a certification of ineligibility when it is notified by the Bureau 
of Land Management that the land is unavailable for selection by such 
Native group. It shall send a copy thereof by certified mail to the 
Bureau of Land Management, the Native group, its regional corporation 
and any party of record.
    (7) Appeals concerning the eligibility of a Native group may be made 
to the Board of Land Appeals in accordance with 43 CFR part 4, subpart 
E.
    (b) Selections. (1) Native group selections shall not exceed the 
amount recommended by the regional corporation or 320 acres for each 
Native member of a group, or 7,680 acres for each Native group, 
whichever is less. Any acreage selected in excess of that number shall 
be identified as alternate selections and shall be numerically ordered 
to indicate selection preference. Native groups will not receive land 
benefits unless the land which is occupied by their permanent structures 
used as dwelling houses is available, or in the case where such land is 
not State or federally owned, the land which is contiguous to and 
immediately surrounds the land occupied by their permanent structures 
used as dwelling houses is available, and is not within a wildlife 
refuge or forest, pursuant to section 14(h) of the Act. Public lands 
which may be available for this purpose are set forth in Sec. 2653.3 
(a) and (c). Conveyances of lands reserved for the National Wildlife 
Refuge System made pursuant to this part are subject to the provisions 
of section 22(g) of the Act and Sec. 2650.4-6 of this chapter as though 
they were conveyances to a village corporation.
    (2) Upon receipt of the applications of a Native group for a 
determination of its eligibility under section 14(h)(2) of

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the Act, the Bureau of Land Management shall segregate the land 
encompassed within the group locality from land available for that 
purpose pursuant to Sec. 2653.6(b)(1). However, segregation of land for 
Native groups whose dwelling structures are located outside but adjacent 
to a National Wildlife Refuge or National Forest shall not include such 
reserved land, unless the Native group's dwelling structures are located 
on land excepted from the Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge pursuant to 
Public Land Order 1634 (FR Doc. 58-3696, filed May 16, 1958).
    (3) The Bureau of Indian Affairs shall visit the locality of the 
group and shall recommend to the Bureau of Land Management the manner in 
which the segregation should be modified to encompass the residences of 
as many members as possible while allowing for the inclusion of the land 
most intensively used by members of the Native group. The recommended 
segregation must be contiguous and as compact as possible. The Bureau of 
Land Management may segregate the land accordingly provided such lands 
are otherwise available in accordance with paragraph (b)(1) and (b)(2). 
If the Bureau of Land Management finds the lands are unavailable for 
selection by a Native group, it shall notify the Bureau of Indian 
Affairs.
    (4) Selections shall be made from lands segregated for that purpose 
and shall be filed prior to July 1, 1976. Selections shall be contiguous 
and taking into account the situation and potential uses of the lands 
involved, the total area selected shall be reasonably compact except 
where separated by lands which are unavailable for selection. The total 
area selected will not be considered to be reasonably compact if (i) it 
excludes other lands available for selection within its exterior 
boundaries; or (ii) an isolated tract of public land of less than 640 
acres remains after selection. The lands selected shall be in quarter 
sections where they are available unless the exhaustion of the acreage 
which the group may be entitled to select does not permit the selection 
of a quarter section and shall include all available lands in less than 
quarter sections. Lands selected shall conform as nearly as practicable 
to the United States land survey system.
    (5) A Native group whose eligibility has not been finally determined 
may file its land selections as if it were determined to be eligible. 
The Bureau of Land Management shall release from segregation the lands 
not selected and shall continue segregation of the selected land until 
the lands are conveyed or the group is finally determined to be 
ineligible. However, in the case of a group determined to be ineligible 
by the Board of Land Appeals, the segregation shall be continued for a 
period of 60 days from the date of such decision.
    (6) Where any conflict in land selection occurs between any eligible 
Native groups, the Bureau of Land Management shall request the 
appropriate regional corporation to recommend the manner in which such 
conflict should be resolved.
    (7) The Bureau of Land Management shall issue a decision on the 
selection of a Native group determined to be eligible and shall serve a 
copy of such decision by certified mail on the Native group, its 
regional corporation and any party of record and the decision shall be 
published in accordance with Sec. 2650.7 of this part.
    (8) Appeals from the Bureau of Land Management decision on the 
selection by a Native group under this section shall be made to the 
Board of Land Appeals in accordance with 43 CFR part 4, subpart E.

[41 FR 14739, Apr. 7, 1976, as amended at 41 FR 49487, Nov. 9, 1976]