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HistoryEstablished by the American Indian Trust Fund Management Reform Act of 1994 (Public Law 103-412), OST was created to improve the accountability and management of Indian funds held in trust by the federal government. As trustee, DOI has the primary fiduciary responsibility to manage both tribal trust funds and Individual Indian Money (IIM) accounts. The Indian trust consists of 55 million surface acres and 57 million acres of subsurface minerals estates held in trust by the United States for American Indians, Indian tribes and Alaska Natives. Over 11 million acres belong to individual Indians and nearly 44 million acres are held in trust for Indian tribes. On these lands, the Department manages over 109,000 leases. It also manages approximately $3.7 billion in trust funds. For fiscal year 2011, funds from leases, use permits, land sales and income from financial assets, totaling approximately $400 million, were collected for about 384,000 open IIM accounts. Approximately $609 million was collected in fiscal year 2011 for about 2,900 tribal accounts (for over 250 tribes). The mission of OST is to provide oversight, reform and coordination of the policies, procedures, systems and practices used by various agencies to manage Indian trust assets. This mission is integrally related to DOI’s goal of meeting its responsibilities to American Indians. The goals of OST include:
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U.S. Department of the Interior
Office of the Special Trustee for American Indians
1849 C Street, NW, Suite 5140 •
Washington, D.C. 20240
(202) 208-4866 • (888) 678-6836 (Toll Free Trust Beneficiary Call Center)
Last Updated on 11/15/11