interest in these allotments and in one case owns less than a one-tenth interest. The individuals holding interests in these tracts are limited to sell only to the tribe at the appraised value. The interests are purchased only if the tribe is agreeable to purchasing or if funds are available. The Lower Brule Tribal Council has not obligated funds for the purchase of these interests as the Crow Creek Tribe has done. (Refer to report covering Crow Creek Reservation.) We understand that this portion refers only to lands in which the tribe holds an undivided interest; however, the so-called exchange assignments which are still in existence on the Lower Brule Reservation should be mentioned at this point. An individual conveyed his inherited interests to the tribe and received an exchange assignment to a parcel of tribal land. He received certain rights to the land during his lifetime and the land could be passed on to a successor, who is a member of the tribe, upon his death. It has come to our attention that several problems have been encountered by the Lower Brule Tribe upon the death of holders of exchange assignments. In addition to this the holders of such assignments can sell the assignment only to the tribe or another tribal member. In some cases the holders of such assignments no longer have need for the land, since they have moved away from the reservation, and would like to sell; however, the tribe either cannot buy the assignment or will not, since the land does not fit in the land-consolidation program. The individuals could use the money to purchase homes or take vocational training away from the reservation. The Cheyenne River and Standing Rock Sioux Tribes, who also made exchange assignments, have secured legislation to vest full title in the holders of exchange assignments. The Bureau does not permit new exchange assignments to be made; instead, land exchanges are approved vesting full title in the individual. The tribe is not encouraged to acquire undivided interests in lands in which they do not now have an interest. (b) The disposal of allotments in which an undivided interest is owned by non-Indians and alien Indians does not present too great a problem. The interest owned by Indians can be sold by bids and a patent in fee issued to the purchaser and the purchaser can negotiate direct with the nontrust owners for their interest. The acquisition of land by an individual in which an undivided interest is owned by a non-Indian can become a problem if the holder of the nontrust interest is deceased. The cases mentioned under part (a) of this question are allotments in which the tribe, individual Indians, and non-Indians hold an undivided interest. The task of the tribe acquiring these outstanding interests in these allotments appears practically insurmountable at the present time for the reason that the original allottee died in 1900 or prior thereto and some of the heirs, although being Indian, have not been enrolled with the Lower Brule Tribe or with another tribe and have not been in contact with the agency. Many of these original heirs are now deceased and, insofar as this office is aware, the estates have not been determined and the probable heirs are unknown. The addresses of many of these heirs are unknown. (c) The purchase by the tribe or an individual Indian of lands owned by minors presents a problem if the interest is small and the cost of the guardianship proceeding cannot be paid from the minors' share. The tribe has agreed to pay the costs of the proceedings on some of their purchase if the minors' interest is small. Under the constitution of the Lower Brule Tribal Council and tribal court code, the tribal court can appoint guardians for minors if the proper ordinance is adopted. The appointing of guardians for minors by the tribal court would be beneficial since the cost of the proceeding through the tribal court would not be expensive; however, the tribal council has not taken definite action on this matter although members of the Bureau staff have explained and assisted them with the procedures to follow. The disposal to fee status presents the same problem as heretofore discussed. (d) There has not been too much difficulty in reaching a use agreement among heirs of land in heirship status. In the disposal of lands, some heirs holding very small undivided interests have not consented to the sale of lands, thereby preventing the sale of lands by heirs holding majority interests. (e) To a certain degree, some use has been made of the Secretary's authority to sell heirship land by the use of an order transferring inherited interests. The order was executed by the Secretary or his au-, thorized representative and conveyed heirship land to the tribe or another Indian if minor or incompetent heirs were involved. It was necessary to secure the signed applications or consents from many of the heirs; however, during the year of 1956 conveyances by this kind of order were prohibited. The tribe purchased land by this order and since the market was limited only to Indian purchasers or the tribe, individual Indian sellers may not have received the full return for their lands. 1. None. 2. None. PART II-LOWER BRULE 3. A number of tracts have been purchased by the Lower Brule Tribe upon recommendation of Bureau personnel. These tracts were recommended for purchase by the tribe for the reason that they were located in an area of predominantly Indian- and tribal-owned land or essential to the operation of an Indian unit. In some cases the Bureau has recommended that the tribe consider the purchase of lands upon which an application for patent-in-fee or supervised sale has been filed; however, the recommendation has been ignored, and isolated tracts of land were purchased in lieu which were not considered essential. All applications received are presented to the tribal council for purchase if they are in an area of predominantly owned tribal and allotted land. The tribe has not alleged any tracts to be key tracts. 4. None. 5. Not applicable. 6. Not applicable. PART III-LOWER BRULE In connection with this portion of the report, it might be well to add that the tribal clerks' salaries are paid from the fees collected from land transactions and lessor and lessee fees. In land transactions the seller pays a fee based on the total sale price, i. e., from $100.01 to $250, fee $2.50; $251 to $500, fee $5 and for each additional $500 or any part of $500, fee $1. The purchaser pays a fee on the purchase price as follows: $1,000 or less, fee $1.50; $1,000 to $2,000, fee $2; $2,000 or more, $2.50. In addition to the purchaser fees an additional sum of $20 is paid by the purchaser. In connection with leases the following fees are charged based on a total rental. Lessee fees as follows: Rental $1 to $100, fee $1; $101 to $250, fee $2.50; $251 to $500, fee $5. Lessor fees are collected as follows: Rental $25 or less, fee 25 cents; $25 to $50, fee 50 cents; $50.01 to $100, fee $1; $101 to $250, fee $2.50; $251 to $500, fee $5. In order that the Lower Brule Tribe can use these fees it is necessary that a clerk be hired by them to assist in the branch of realty, otherwise, the fees must be deposited in the United States Treasury. 1. The Lower Brule Sioux Tribe has hired 1 clerk-typist to assist in the branch of realty at an annual salary of $3,175 paid from the fees account. This clerk devotes approximately 30 percent of his time to realty work by doing copy work and assisting in correspondence and the balance is devoted to tribal business. The tribe also employs another clerk who is paid from the fees account at $3,175 and this clerk devotes all his time to tribal business, none of which is directly connected with real estate. 2. No Bureau employees are paid in part or in full by the tribe. 3. The tribe has no regularly employed real estate adviser or con sultant. 4. The entire tribal council acts on all real-estate activities concerning tribal land activities. 5. The tribe relies on Bureau personnel in most cases for advice regarding their real-estate activities. 6. The tribe has not employed private consultants to study phases of its real-estate activities and they have not expressed a desire to do The Bureau has not disapproved such employment. so. 7. The plan of operations land-service enterprise of Lower Brule Sioux Tribe was approved February 10, 1948. The purpose of the enterprise was to assume the clerical and ministerial details involved in the leasing, permitting, exchanges, and other transactions involved in the handling of tribal and individual land. This tribe is organized under the Indian Reorganization Act. Prior to 1955 the tribe hired personnel to assume much of the clerical responsibilities, however, these tribal employees received direct supervision from Bureau personnel. At one time the tribe handled the leasing of some of their own lands, however, this practice has been discontinued for reasons unknown and has requested that the Bureau assume the leasing of their land. The tribe at one time had a bonded treasurer and their funds were in private banks, this has also been discontinued and their funds are handled by the Bureau at the tribe's request. The tribe continues to purchase land under the enterprise. All tribal land transactions are handled by Bureau personnel at the present time. 8. To our knowledge neither the tribe nor the area office has been instructed to turn real-estate operations over to the Bureau. |