This proposed rule would establish a new part in the Code of Federal Regulations to address how Alaska Native entities may become acknowledged as an Indian Tribe pursuant to the Alaska Amendment to the Indian Reorganization Act. This proposed rule would not affect the status of Tribes that are already federally recognized.

In 1936, Congress enacted an amendment to the Indian Reorganization Act (Alaska IRA) to allow groups of Indians [1] in Alaska, not previously recognized as bands or Tribes by the United States, to organize under the Indian Reorganization Act (IRA), provided they could demonstrate “a common bond of occupation, or association, or residence within a well-defined neighborhood, community or rural district.” The Department of the Interior (Department) has not previously promulgated regulations establishing a process through which entities in Alaska that were not previously recognized as bands or Tribes before 1936 can be acknowledged pursuant to the Alaska IRA. Rather, the Department has reviewed Alaska IRA petitions on a case-by-case basis.

This proposed rule would establish a new 25 CFR part 82 that would establish an acknowledgment process for entities in Alaska that were not recognized as bands or Tribes before 1936. This proposed rule relies to a significant extent on the existing process through which entities may petition for Federal acknowledgment under 25 CFR part 83 (Part 83). However, the proposed rule would first require petitioners to establish a connection from an entity that satisfied the Alaska IRA as of the date of the statute's enactment. Upon such a showing, petitioners would then need to satisfy the current Part 83 evidentiary criteria, largely incorporated into the proposed rule, though on a shorter timeframe than that of a Part 83 petitioner.

This proposed rule would provide necessary consistency to the Alaska IRA petition process. This proposed rule would settle expectations among Alaska IRA petitioners, the United States, the State of Alaska and its constituent local governments, and federally recognized Tribes as to how an entity can petition for acknowledgment under the Alaska IRA. This proposed rule would not affect the status of Tribes that are already federally recognized.

The Department requests comments on this proposed rule.