MONTPELIER, Vt. – The federal government has denied federal recognition to the Abenaki Indians of Vermont, saying the group doesn’t meet federal criteria, state Attorney General William Sorrell said Friday.

Echoing a “proposed finding” issued 11/2 years ago, the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs issued a final determination Friday saying the St. Francis-Sokoki Band of the Abenaki Nation of Vermont doesn’t meet the criteria required to prove it is an Indian tribe.

Bureau of Indian Affairs officials couldn’t be reached for comment on the decision late Friday. A telephone message left after hours at the agency’s Washington, D.C., office was not immediately returned.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs, which manages 55.7 million acres of land held in trust for American Indians, Indian tribes, and Alaska Natives, said when it issued the preliminary finding in November 2005 that the Abenakis failed to show that they had descended from a historical Abenaki tribe, that the tribe had existed since 1900 and that it has been part of a continuous community.