The Acquisition of Easements over Native American Lands For Transportation Project
III. Investigative Questions
This section contains the investigative questions for this research project as revised based on input from our stakeholder team. These questions provide the overall framework for the research and establish the underlying basis for questions included in the survey instruments, and various interview guides utilized throughout the project effort.
The investigative questions include the following three categories:
- Acquisition Foundation.
- Operational Considerations.
- Stakeholder Perceptions.
The subsections below describe these groupings of investigative questions in further detail.
A. Acquisition Foundation
When dealing with Native American lands, it is important to recognize and understand the significance of each Tribe's sovereignty. Tribal land holdings, especially those lands within a reservation or allotted lands held by individuals, are unique, based on Federal law. Therefore, the research questions in this regard revolve around understanding how reservation lands were established and how that ownership influences the transfer process necessary to convey a highway easement. Key questions include:
- What is unique about Native American Tribal entities, their government, and the lands they hold?
- What processes are required to secure land interests identified as necessary to support transportation projects?
- Who are the main participants in the process of conveying highway easements?
B. Operational Considerations
While acquisition of highway right-of-way is a universally understood process among State Departments of Transportation, the process for obtaining land from Native American reservations or other trust lands is not. Most of the larger reservations and land holdings exist in the western United States and in Alaska. This research project sought to identify those States with the highest incidence of highway easements involving Native American lands. The research effort also desired to identify and assess where States have established procedures to facilitate the coordination process needed to secure highway easements. Key operational questions include:
- Where are Native American land holdings most prevalent and what type of landholdings exist at each location?
- Where have partnerships with the Tribes been most successful in developing participation of the Tribes in the Statewide planning process?
- What coordination and time constraints surround securing highway right-of-way over Native American lands?
- What procedures or agreements have States and Tribes developed to assist the coordination and land transfer process?
C. Stakeholder Perceptions
The research team developed a number of questions directed towards obtaining the perceptions of various stakeholders about the process for acquiring easements over Native American lands for transportation projects. These stakeholders include the FHWA division realty officers and the States they support, the FLH staff responsible for implementing the Indian Reservation Roads program, the BIA, and the various Tribes.
1. FHWA Division Realty Officers' Perspective
A critical component of the research was FHWA division realty officers' perceptions, and by extension, the perceptions of the State Departments of Transportation they work with, about the effectiveness of the Native Lands easement process. Some of the key questions in this regard included:
- What challenges exist relating to obtaining right-of-way for projects?
- What changes are needed to improve the transportation development process to assure the needs of the Tribe and the State are both advanced?
- How can the lines of communication between the Tribe, the BIA, State Departments of Transportation and the FHWA be improved?
2. FLH Perspective
FLH has the responsibility for implementing the Indian Reservation Roads (IRR) program in conjunction with BIA. As such, FLH has extensive experience working with Tribal leaders, which could potentially complement this research. Questions surrounding FLH operations included:
- What has proven effective in working with the various Tribal leaders to secure consensus and obtain the agreements needed to advance highway improvement projects?
- What has proven effective in working with the BIA to secure consensus and obtain the agreements needed to advance highway improvement projects?
- Does Tribal culture influence the Tribe's view of transportation resources and the State's transportation planning process?
- What are some of the key differences between Tribes in terms of Tribal staffing for and involvement in the transportation planning process?
- What challenges exist relating to obtaining right-of-way for projects?
- What steps can the transportation community take to meet the needs of the Tribes and reduce the time required to obtain highway easements?
3. BIA Perspective
Within the Federal government, the BIA is the primary agency responsible for working with the Tribes and providing the actual conveyance of highway easements for lands held in trust for Native Americans. Key questions for BIA staff included:
- Are there regional differences in how BIA processes easement requests? If so, what impact does this have on the timely processing of easement requests?
- Does Tribal culture influence the Tribe's view of transportation resources and the State's transportation planning process?
- Do Tribal staffing and the Tribe's involvement in the transportation planning process contribute to timelier acceptance of right-of-way requirements by the Tribe?
- What challenges exist relating to obtaining right-of-way for projects?
- What steps can the transportation community take to meet the needs of BIA and the Tribes and reduce the time required to obtain highway easements?
4. Tribal Perspective
Key investigative questions from the Tribal perspective included the following:
- How does Tribal culture influence the Tribe's view of transportation improvements and the State's transportation planning process?
- What challenges exist relating to obtaining right-of-way for projects?
- What changes to the transportation planning and transportation project development processes are needed to meet the needs of the Tribe?
- How can the lines of communication between the Tribe, the BIA, the State Department of Transportation and the FHWA be improved?
