Wallace Wells v. Acting Great Plains Regional Director, BIA, 48 IBIA 210 (2009)

CourtInterior Board of Indian Appeals

INTERIOR BOARD OF INDIAN APPEALS Wallace Wells v. Acting Great Plains Regional Director, Bureau of Indian Affairs 48 IBIA 210 (01/14/2009)

United States Department of the Interior

OFFICE OF HEARINGS AND APPEALS INTERIOR BOARD OF INDIAN APPEALS 801 NORTH QUINCY STREET SUITE 300 ARLINGTON, VA 22203

WALLACE WELLS, Appellant,

v. ) ) ACTING GREAT PLAINS REGIONAL ) DIRECTOR, BUREAU OF ) INDIAN AFFAIRS, ) Appellee. )

Order Vacating Decision and Remanding Matter for Additional Consideration

Docket No. IBIA 08-133-A

January 14, 2009

Wallace Wells (Appellant), pro se, appealed to the Board of Indian Appeals (Board) from an August 6, 2008, decision of the Acting Great Plains Regional Director, Bureau of Indian Affairs (Regional Director; BIA), adjusting the grazing rental rate to $26.40 an Animal Unit Month (AUM) for the 2009 grazing season on the Crow Creek Reservation (Reservation), pursuant to 25 C.F.R. § 166.408. The Board granted a request by the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe (Tribe) to limit the appeal to reviewing the Regional Director's decision as applied to Appellant's three grazing permits. See Order, Sept. 25, 2008.1 Appellant's opening brief was received on December 4, 2008. On January 5, 2008, the Board received a request from the Regional Director that the matter be remanded to him for additional consideration. In the same submission, but independent of the request for a remand, the Regional Director also advised the Board that Appellant recently died.1

The Board grants the Regional Director's request for a remand. On remand, the Regional Director shall consider the record developed during this appeal, including the arguments raised by Appellant, to the extent that they may be relevant to the rights of a successor in interest, if any, to the permits that were held by Appellant. In addition, the Tribe and other potentially affected landowners shall be afforded an opportunity to participate in remand proceedings, to the extent appropriate. Therefore, pursuant to the authority delegated to the Board of Indian Appeals by the Secretary of the Interior, 43 C.F.R. § 4.1, the Board vacates the Regional Director's August 6, 2008, decision as it applies to the three grazing permits held by Appellant, and remands the matter to the Regional Director for additional consideration.2 I concur:

// original signed Steven K. Linscheid Chief Administrative Judge

// original signed Debora G. Luther Administrative Judge2

[1]. In granting the Tribe's request, the...

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