Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument, the first national monument to preserve the landscape and honor the history and culture of Maine’s North Woods. Photo courtesy of Scot Miller.
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Before the 1960s almost everything about living openly as a lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT) person was illegal. New York City laws against homosexual activities were particularly harsh. The Stonewall Uprising on June 28, 1969 is a milestone in the quest for LGBT civil rights and provided momentum for a movement.
Vine Creek Ranch at Death Valley National Park. Steady drought and record summer heat make Death Valley a land of extremes. Towering peaks are frosted with winter snow. Rare rainstorms bring vast fields of wildflowers. Lush oases harbor tiny fish and refuge for wildlife and humans. Despite its morbid name, a great diversity of life survives in Death Valley.
Located 2,600 miles southwest of Hawaii, the National Park of American Samoa is the most remote unit of the National Park System and the U.S. National Park south of the Equator. The Park spreads across three islands, 9,500 acres of tropical rainforest, and 4,000 acres of ocean, including coral reefs. While remote, the islands of American Samoa, true to the meaning of the word Samoa (Islands of Sacred Earth), are welcoming and offer beautiful landscapes and centuries of culture and history.
Seasoned backpacker and adventurer Yang Lu earned the grand prize in the 2015 Share the Experience photo contest with this image of a sunburst captured at sunrise in Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, Utah. Yang has made the outdoors part of his daily life and finds deep connection to the land through his lens.
“My photography is not just for recreation, it is to inspire people to explore these areas." -- Yang Lu
Photo by Yang Lu (www.sharetheexperience.org).
About the Interior Board of Indian Appeals
The Interior Board of Indian Appeals (IBIA) is an appellate review body that exercises the delegated authority of the Secretary of the Interior to issue final decisions for the Department of the Interior in appeals involving Indian matters. Located within the Department's Office of Hearings and Appeals, IBIA is separate and independent from the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and the Assistant Secretary - Indian Affairs.
Through a two-person panel of administrative judges, IBIA has the authority to consider the following types of cases:
- Appeals from a variety of decisions rendered by BIA officials, including but not limited to decisions regarding the use of Indian trust lands (e.g., lease approval, enforcement, cancellation, and rental rate adjustment); the use of mineral resources; conveyances of rights-of-way on Indian lands; land sales, exchanges, or other encumbrances; trespass; taking land into trust; and disputes over the recognition of tribal officials for government-to-government relations between the Department and a tribe;
- Requests to reconsider final decisions of the Assistant Secretary to acknowledge, or decline to acknowledge, a group as an Indian tribe, issued under 25 C.F.R. Part 83 (2014);
- Appeals from Indian probate decisions of administrative law judges and Indian probate judges in OHA's Probate Hearings Division;
- Appeals from White Earth Reservation Land Settlement Act heirship determinations of an administrative judge in OHA's Hearings Division;
- Appeals from decisions of agency officials and administrative law judges in cases under the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act; and
- other appeals as provided by regulation or matters referred to IBIA by the Secretary, the Assistant Secretary, or the Director of OHA.
IBIA is headed by a Chief Administrative Judge. Its decisions are final for the Department and may be appealed to the United States district courts.
Contact Information
Interior Board of Indian Appeals
Office of Hearings and Appeals
U.S. Department of the Interior
801 N. Quincy Street, Suite 300
Arlington, VA 22203
703-235-3816 (voice)
703-235-3199 (facsimile)
Personnel
Thomas A. Blaser, Chief Administrative Judge
Robert E. Hall, Administrative Judge
Sara E. Costello, Docket Attorney
Cailan D. Remedios, Staff Attorney
Pamela J. Eichhorn, Paralegal Specialist
Margo M.L. Ellis, Legal Assistant