official logo U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
  Annual Report of the
Native American Liaison
1998- 1999		 

This has been an extremely busy year for the Office of the Native American Liaison. This was the first year that all Regions had a dedicated Indian Desk and, with that able assistance, many accomplishments were realized throughout 1998-99. The following Annual Report is a comprehensive sampling of the many achievements that the Service has realized throughout its Regions with respect to Indian initiatives and cooperative management of wildlife and habitat across the country. It is an impressive detailing. The Office of the Native American Liaison wishes to express its gratitude to the Assistant Director - External Affairs and the many people throughout the Service and the Department that have made these accomplishments possible. The support and encouragement of these individuals has been most appreciated.

This Annual Report is organized by Region---each Regional Indian Desk reporting the highlights of their remarkable year and a summary of the work accomplished at headquarters. Activities include consultation efforts, coordination of Service initiatives, training efforts, public relations events, technical assistance provided to tribes, cooperative agreements and partnerships entered into, and the development of national policy, regulations, and positions on legal matters concerning trust responsibility, self-governance, and treaty obligations. If there are any questions or areas for which the reader would like more information, the Regional Indian Desks or the Native American Liaison/Headquarters will be glad to answer all inquiries.

The Office of the Native American Liaison for 1998-99 was staffed as follows:

Region 1 - Rick Coleman (acting)
Region 2 - John Antonio
Region 3 - John Leonard
Region 4 - Jim D. Brown
Region 5 - Mike Meagher
Region 6 - David Redhorse
Region 7 - Fred Armstrong
Headquarters - Duncan L. Brown

Region 1 - Rick Coleman (acting)

Consultation Efforts:

Cooperative Agreements/MOUs:

Technical Assistance:

Outreach:

Region 2 - John Antonio

Coordination Efforts:

Tribal Consultations:

Public Speaking/National Conference Attendance:

Training Efforts:

Region 3 - John Leonard

Cooperative Agreements/Partnerships:

Technical Assistance to Tribes:

Consultation Efforts:

Training Activities:

Restoration Efforts:

Endangered Species Activities:

Law Enforcement Efforts:

Public Relations:

Region 4 - Jim D. Brown

Cooperative Agreements/Partnerships:

Technical Assistance:

Training:

Restoration Efforts:

Consultations:

Region 5 - Mike Meagher

Cooperative Agreements/MOUs:

Consultation Efforts:

Technical Assistance Efforts:

Training Highlights:

Region 6 - David Redhorse

Cooperative Agreements/MOUs:

Endangered Species Act Activities:

Yellowstone Bison:

Departmental Committees:

Tribal Consultations:

Training:

Region 7 - Fred Armstrong

Much of the work of the Region's Native Issues Advisor is to meet with the many tribal entities throughout Alaska in hopes of explaining the Service's conservation work and the opportunities that exist for Alaska Natives to assist the Service (and the State) in such conservation and management work. The task is daunting given the fact that there are 227 federally-recognized tribes in Alaska and 13 Regional Native Corporations that have title to 44 million acres of land. While there are cooperative agreements among the Alaska Natives and the Service, the major task in Alaska is an outreach effort to educate both the Natives and Service personnel in the historical, cultural and subsistence background of the Natives and the conservation and management background of the Service. Both sides need to know about each other for a cooperative conservation effort to have any hope of success. To that end, the Native Issues Advisor has taken this outreach aspect to its fullest expectations. Because other federal bureaus (National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, and the U.S. Forest Service) also have Native Liaisons/Desks/Advisors, the Service's Native Issues Advisor has taken it upon himself to organize these personnel in a close-knit group to better serve the Alaska Native constituency. Many joint meetings are held, consultations shared, and communications freely discussed in an effort to reach all 227 federally-recognized tribes in Alaska. Given the fact that any one problem with any one tribe could take the majority of one's day (or week(s)), the time of the Native Issues Advisor is well utilized and spread very thin. However, some of the highlights of this outreach effort are noted below. Certainly, if questions concerning a particular cooperative agreement or tribal issue arise, the reader is free to contact the Native Issues Advisor directly.

Outreach Efforts:

Cooperative Agreements/Partnerships:

Consultation Efforts:

Headquarters - Duncan L. Brown

Tribal Self-Governance:

After 4 years of work in a negotiated rulemaking, the final Tribal Self-Governance regulations were completed. The Native American Liaison acted as the non-BIA lead in the negotiation and finalization of the final rule, editing the final version and addressing all legal and policy concerns identified in public comments. The final rule was sent to the tribal negotiation team for their review and it is expected that they will prepare a separate Report to the Secretary on their disagreement with some parts of the final regulation. Publication of the final rule is expected sometime in early winter of 2000.

Several tribes made inquiries regarding entering into an annual funding agreement with the Service under the Self-Governance Act. However, no negotiations were held to pursue an AFA and no tribe initiated the information collection phase necessary to begin the process under self-governance. The issue with the tribes seems to be that they want considerably more authority over the management of Service programs---taking away the bureau's discretion in matters ranging from reallocation of funds to program redirection. Instead, the Service has encouraged cooperative agreements with federally-recognized tribes and this has seemed to be most successful in affording the tribes a larger presence in Service refuge/hatchery operations.

Handbook of Indian Contracting:

A joint handbook for the Department of the Interior and Health and Human Services (Indian Health Service) on contracting with Indian tribes under P.L. 93-638, the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act, was completed. The Native American Liaison was the non-BIA lead on this effort and was on the final edit team to address all policy and legal concerns identified in public comment. The Handbook is of some substance and covers all matters for contracting Indian programs to Indian tribes, including the disposition of surplus property and the due diligence of personnel assigned to handle such contracts. Another working group will meet next fiscal year to address areas that need further refinement or were not addressed due to lack of time. Each member of the Directorate and the Division of Contracting and General Services was mailed a copy of the completed handbook.

Outreach:

The Native American Liaison has met with scores of tribes personally in Washington and, in some instances, at tribal headquarters. These meetings occur with some frequency and involve matters ranging from tribal fish hatcheries, hunting and fishing uses on national wildlife refuges, proposals for self-governance/annual funding agreements, inquiries into Indian contracting, use and access to eagle feathers, and access to sacred sites both on Service lands and on other Federal lands. In addition to these meetings, the Native American Liaison has been a speaker, moderator, panel co-chair, and presenter at a number of national meetings across the country, e.g., the 64th North American Wildlife and Natural Resource Conference; the Annual Conference of the Native American Fish and Wildlife Society; the Alaska Federation of Natives Conference; the United South Eastern Tribes Conference; the National Self-Governance Annual Meeting; and the National Congress of American Indians.

Department Coordination:

The Native American Liaison has been a leader on several Departmental Committees during the past fiscal year and continues in these efforts. These committee include the Working Group - White House Domestic Policy Council; the Indian Sacred Sites Implementation Committee; the Negotiated Rulemaking Committee for Tribal Self-Governance; the Enhanced Negotiation for Development of an Indian Contracting Handbook; and the informal Bureaus' Native American Liaisons Group. All of these committees/groups have produced products ranging from policy guidance, handbooks, consultation protocols, and implementation procedures for Executive Orders.

Office of the Solicitor Coordination:

It has been the great pleasure of the Native American Liaison to be able to work with the Office of the Solicitor on a number of issues that cross bureau and division lines that deal with Native Americans. Examples include the development of a depredating eagle policy for the Office of Migratory Bird Management; the review of Service policy with respect to the distribution of eagle feathers and its impact on the Religious Freedoms Restoration Act; the finalization of Indian water rights settlements and its impact on secondary users; the impact of existing treaty rights on the operations of national wildlife refuges; the issue of subsistence in Alaska and its interpretation as for the benefit of rural residents as opposed to tribal residents; the basis for filing of appeals with the Interior Board of Indian Appeals under the Tribal Self-Governance Act; rules for construction projects on Indian lands under Self-Governance vs. Self-Determination. Ready access to all levels within the Office of the Solicitor has enabled the Native American Liaison to respond quickly to inquiries from the field and to present arguments in the best interests of the Service. Close coordination with the Office of the Solicitor and the Office of Legislative Counsel has been established to ensure that proposed legislation having an impact on both Service operations and Indian country will be reviewed carefully and appropriate effects statements presented should problems arise therein.

Office of the Secretary Coordination:

The Native American Liaison was appointed as the Secretary's Representative to preside at an administrative hearing in Fort Yukon, Alaska, in the matter of a contract dispute between the Council of Athabascan Tribal Governments and Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge. The tribe wanted to contract out virtually all operations of the refuge under Title I of the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act. An Opinion was issued on August 2, 1999, denying the tribe's claim for mandatory contracting under the Act. No appeal was filed by the tribe and, therefore, the decision was final for the Department of the Interior.

Other Secretarial matters, issues of Departmental policy or practice, have been entrusted to the Native American Liaison including the settlement of a complicated land transfer between the Department of Defense and the Service; the final negotiation of Departmental rulemakings for self-governance; and the conclusion of an enhanced negotiation for development of Departmental guidelines for Indian contracting.

Native American Liaison
U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Privacy/Disclaimer Statements