iN THE TJNTTED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA ELOUISE PEPION COBELL, et a1!, ) ) Plaintiffs, ) ) v. ) CaseNo. 1:96CV01285 ) (Judge Robertson) DIRK KEIVIPTHORNE, Secretary of the Interior, ) ) ) Defendants. ) NOTICE OF FILING OF DECEMBER 2006 STATUS REPORT BY THE DEPARTMENT OF TIlE INTERIOR OFFICE OF TRUST RECORDS The Department of the Interior Office of Trust Records hereby submits its status report for activity in November 2006. A copy of the report is attached hereto. Dated: December 15, 2006 Respectfully submitted, PETERD. KEISLER Assistant Attorney General STUART E. SCHIFFER Deputy Assistant Attorney General J. CHRISTOPHER KOHN Director /5/ Robert E. Kirschman, Jr. ROBERT E. KIRSCHMAN, Jr. (D.C. Bar No. 406635) Assistant Director Commercial Litigation Branch Civil Division P.O. Box 875 Ben Franklin Station Washington, D.C. 20044-0875 Phone (202) 616-0238 Fax (202) 514-9163 CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE I hereby certify that, on December 15, 2006 the foregoing Notice of Filing of November 2006 Status Report by the Department of the Interior Office of Trust Records was served by Electronic Case Filing, and on the following who is not registered for Electronic Case Filing, by facsimile: Earl Old Person (Pro se) Blackfeet Tribe P.O. Box 850 Browning, MT 59417 Fax (406) 338-7530 /5/ Kevin P. Kingston Kevin P. Kingston ACTIVITY REPORT OFFICE OF TRUST RECORDS November 1 - 30, 2006 PROGRAMMATIC: Labat-Anderson (Labat Indexing Project) Labat reported that indexing of 974 boxes of inactive Indian records was completed in November 2006. The total number of boxes completed through November 2006 is approximatelyl 50,535. * Movement of Records The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BLk) and Office of the Special Trustee (OST) moved 815 boxes of inactive records from various field locations to Lenexa, Kansas, for indexing and subsequent storage at the American Indian Records Repository (AIRR) during this reporting period. * Site Assessments Statement During the month of November, OTRA issued final records assessment reports for Northwest Region BIA office arid Minnesota Agency and Ft. Hall JIM offices. * Records Training OTR provided records management training for 18 BIA and OST records contacts and 27 tribal employees in November 2006, * Equipment 11 pieces of fireproof filing equipment were delivered to OST and 45 pieces to tribal offices in November 2006. * Boxes Requiring Preservation and/or Remediation As previously reported, there are six boxes that NARA did not remediate: one box that has about 25% of its contents covered with a tar-like substance; one entire box that had mold and the files are now stuck together; one box of green bar printouts from 1989 oil and gas royalty disbursements that have holes in the printout caused by insects; and three boxes that have extensive water damage and the contents are stuck together. In November 2006, OTR's conservation contractor conducted an in depth review of the box contents and drafted a remediation plan. OTR has determined that there are 'two boxes that may contain trust records and should undergo repair/conservation. The other boxes do not contain trust records and will be stored at the AIRR without remediation 1 treatment, Based on the contractor's estimate, the remediation and conservation work, which will be labor intensive, is expected to be completed by the end of February 2007. Also as previously reported, NARA recommended copying of eight oversized boxes for preservation purposes. Remaining from those materials are several large maps that NARA could not copy because the maps are too big for NARA's copiers. Remediation of these maps by the contractor is expected to be completed by February 2007. OTR will review the maps once they have been treated and make a determination whether the maps should be copied using other methods. Litigation Support and Research Requests OTR. continued to provide significant support to the Office of the Solicitor, Office of Historical Trust Accounting and its contractors, and the Department of Justice and its contractors. AIRR staff provided responses to 144 research requests from BIA, OST and other requesters. AD1%IINISTRATJVE: General administrative activities continued. GENERAL OBSERVATIONS: None. I declare under penalty of perjury that the foregoing is true and correct to the best of my knowledge, information and belief. I express no opinion on the content of the Site Assessments Statement described ! ! Ethel J. Ab a I declare under penalty of perjury that the content of the Site Assessments Statement described above is true and correct to the best of my knowledge, information and belief. I express no opinion on the contents of other sections/subsections of the report. Jeff Lords Director, Office of Trust Review and Audit 2