[Code of Federal Regulations]

[Title 43, Volume 2]

[Revised as of October 1, 2006]

From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access

[CITE: 43CFR2653.6]



[Page 201-203]

 

                    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 202]]



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



[[Page 203]]



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]