About the Office of Hearings and Appeals

The Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA) exercises the delegated authority of the Secretary of the Interior to conduct hearings and decide appeals from decisions of the bureaus and offices of the Department of the Interior.

OHA provides an impartial forum for parties who are affected by the decisions of the Department's bureaus and offices to obtain independent review of those decisions.

OHA also handles the probating of Indian trust estates, ensuring that individual Indian interests in allotted lands, their proceeds, and other trust assets are conveyed to the decedents' rightful heirs and beneficiaries.

OHA is headed by a Director, who reports to the Assistant Secretary - Policy, Management and Budget through the Deputy Assistant Secretary - Performance, Accountability and Human Resources.

Please click on the links under "Organization" to the left to find out more about the different units within OHA, including contact information.

Acknowledgments: OHA gratefully acknowledges the considerable assistance it has received from the Bureau of Land Management in building the extensive searchable database of OHA and Departmental decisions on this website. OHA is likewise indebted to the late Administrative Judge Anita Vogt for making available to the public a free, private website of decisions from the Interior Board of Indian Appeals and other OHA units (www.ibiadecisions.com) from her retirement in 2003 until her death in March 2007, and to retired Administrative Judge Kathryn A. Lynn for continuing to maintain the site until the OHA website was again available.