The Pamunkey Indian Museum and Cultural Center is located on the Pamunkey Reservation in Virginia. Photo from Facebook
The Bureau of Indian Affairs has updated the list of federally recognized tribes to include the newest member of the family. The list now contains 567 tribes. The new addition is the Pamunkey Tribe of Virginia, whose federal status became final shortly after the most recent update in January. "The addition to the list of Indian entities results from the January 28, 2016, Interior Board of Indian Appeals dismissal of a request for reconsideration in docket number 16-003, In Re Federal Acknowledgment of the Pamunkey Indian Tribe," Larry Roberts, the acting head of the BIA, wrote in a notice that was published in the Federal Register on Wednesday. The Federally Recognized Indian Tribe List Act of 1994 requires the BIA to publish the list "annually on or before every January 30." But in the last decade, the agency was severely late several times and didn't even bother with the list for two of those years. The BIA finally got back on track in 2014, when the list was published on January 29, 2014. In 2015, it was published on January 14. This year's was published on January 29, one day ahead of the deadline. Federal Register Notices:
Indian Entities Recognized and Eligible To Receive Services From the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs (May 4, 2016)
Indian Entities Recognized and Eligible To Receive Services From the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs (January 29, 2016)
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