Indian Trust Lands

The CFeDS program contemplated that the Offiical Federal Survey authority could be assigned to a CFeDS Surveyor on request of the tribe and the concurrence of the BLM. This would be done under issuing federal Survey and Assignment Instructions. Additionally, there is a series of Boundary Evidence products for Indian Trust Lands defined in 303 DM 7 (Dept. of Interior Manual) that specifically allow the CFeDS to do the boundary evidence evlauations and preparation of certificates for. These certificates also have the approval required for the appropriate BLM State Office Cadstral Chief to approve them in accordance with the delegations the Chiefs hold from the Secretary to do so. The tribes have in the past hired non-federal surveyors to survey trust land, but such surveys are done in non-complience with the regulations, and without Federal Authority status. Most typically these may be done as a State Authority Survey under the direction and supervision of the State Licensed surveyor, but not necessarily all were.

Keep in mind that the regulations under 25 CFR are to guide the government in the performance of the Trust responsiblities. If a federal agency, using federal funds hired a non-federal surveyor to survey trust lands, that would be clear infraction of the 25 CFR 176 regulation. I do not see that the regulation would invalidate a non-federal survey per se, but the non-federal survey certainly would not be defended by the US, nor be unilaterally accepted if it was reviewed / retraced under an official federal authority survey.

Hope that helps. CFeDS program was designed to leverage the availabilty and resources of the private sector to help with the survey needs of the Indian Trust landowners.

Thanks, I see what you're saying for the most part.

Am curious of the ramifications of a tribe using a local surveyor (non-CFEDs)on a project I'm involved with. I'm doing the topo and site design for a commercial venture for a tribe. The tribe obtained a boundary survey from a local surveyor last year. I am assuming there is no issue with the FED regulations providing this project is funded by the tribe or its banks and not through a BIA source. Would that be an accurate assumption?

I could be shooting from the hip on this, but tribes can hire private surveyors to survey all kinds of things WITHIN their jurisdictions and even use unlicensed tribal surveyors to do so as well. The Federal Survey requirement probably only applies to a survey of the boundary of trust lands.

A CFEDS can do a federal authority survey under special set of procedures, but a CFEDS survey by itself is not a Federal Authority survey.

- jlw

Indian tribes can hire whomever they want.
25 USC 176 pertains to original surveys of Indian lands.
For subsequent surveys the caveat is: The surveyor selected by the Indian tribe and the survey could very well be substandard and not to federal standards. Based many times on the price paid by the tribes...."You get what you give" Zac Brown...

Pablo

Yep. Dang Indians don't know what thev're doing, so big brother gotta look after the poor Native American. Good heavens, the poor guy doesn't know what's good for him, even if it is simply a new water and sewer system for his community! It's gotten so hard to get a simple utility easement to upgrade these communities from honey buckets and water hauling, that we are now designing the systems to bypass restricted lots! Yeah, we're from the gubmint, we're here to hep ya!

Sorry, venting!:-(

-JD-