Department of the Interior June 17, 2014 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) announces that it has established a policy that covers Service procedures for accepting, using, and recognizing donations. This donations policy is an extension of the Department of the Interior's guidance on donations, found in the Departmental Manual (DM) at 374 DM 6. The donations policy establishes procedures for reviewing and evaluating potential donors and donations. It lists delegations of authority for accepting donations and the roles and responsibilities of the Service's Donations Senior Manager and employees authorized to accept donations. It provides guidance on soliciting donations, where appropriate, and provides general guidance on fundraising by non-Federal entities on the Service's behalf. It focuses on the ethical considerations of all types of donations, as opposed to our Fish and Wildlife Service Manual (FW) guidance, 342 FW 5, Non-Purchase Acquisition, which covers the acquisition of real property rights by methods other than purchase, including donation.

This proposed rule would comprehensively update and streamline the process for obtaining BIA grants of rights-of-way on Indian land, while supporting tribal self-determination and self-governance. This proposed rule would also further implement the policy decisions and approaches established in the leasing regulations, which BIA finalized in December 2012, by applying them to the rights-of-way context where applicable. This publication also announces the dates and locations for tribal consultation sessions to discuss this proposed rights-of-way rule.