On December 5, 2002, the BIA issued a negative preliminary finding for our petition.

The Schaghticoke Tribal Nation has waited decades for a finding that legitimizes our longstanding claim. We remain confident our 18,000-page petition will meet the seven criteria for federal recognition, and that the BIA will ultimately issue a positive finding in September of 2003.

We view this finding as a temporary setback in a process we have pursued for decades. In the coming months the Schaghticoke Tribal Nation will submit thousands of additional pages of documentation from research we have conducted since our filing under the court order in April of 2002. We believe this additional research will address the concerns of the BIA as well as demonstrate the longstanding and legitimate nature of our claim and will lead to a positive finding.