Formal dedication of the Chippewa Ranch Conservation Center, operated by the Bureau of Indian Affairs near Mahnomen, Minn. is scheduled for Sunday, October 29. Principal speaker for the event will be Will Rogers. Jr., assistant to Robert L. Bennett, Commissioner of Indian Affairs.
In announcing the dedication of the Job Corps Center on the White Earth Reservation, Commissioner Bennett said it is the eighth center to be established on or near an Indian reservation.
"These young men are reversing the often cruel history of land-grabbing from the Indian," he said. "Job Corps trainees restore Indian lands by replanting burned forest areas, stop land erosion through dam building, repair and install Indian boundary and range fences, and construct new roads across vast reservation areas."
Nor has the Job Corps work gone unnoticed by the Indians who benefit by much of it, Bennett said.
A spokesman for the Navajo Tribe commended the Mexican Springs, N.M., Job Corps director for work the Corps did, installing a Canada goose pen at nearby Red Lake on the Navajo Reservation. A tree planting project of more than 5,000 trees drew praise from the Navajo forest managers and a tribute on the courteous conduct of the Job Corps members while on the reservation.
Recently, Wendell Chino, president of the Mescalero Apache Tribe, complimented the Eight Canyon Job Corps Camp on construction work its members performed on the tribal ceremonial grounds, adding: ."The help these young men gave the tribe during the ceremonial helped us in handling the public. The men's neatness and politeness is a credit to themselves and their leaders."
Conservation centers operated by the Bureau include Fort Simcoe, near White Swan, Wash., on the Yakima Indian Reservation; Winslow, Ariz.; San Carlos on the San Carlos Apache Reservation, near Globe, Ariz.; Poston Center, Colorado River Reservation, near Yuma, Ariz.; Mexican Springs Center on the Navajo Reservation, near Gallup, N.M.; Eight Canyon Center on the Mescalero Apache Indian Reservation, near Mescalero, N.M.; and Kicking Horse Center on the Flathead Indian Reservation, near Ronan, Mont. Planned for mid-November opening is the Swift Bird Center on the Cheyenne River Reservation, near Gettysburg, S.D.
“These centers with 1,653 young men enrolled, have accounted for more than $2.5 million worth of work in fiscal 1967 on conservation, Center and community projects, while at the same time offering new educational opportunities to high school dropouts and preparing others for work in many trades,” Bennett said.
The appraised value of work done by these corpsmen during the year ended June 30 was $1,543,038 on conservation projects, $939,308 in Center projects, and $120,747 on community projects, for a total of $2,603,093.
Projects at Chippewa are typical of those for most of the Centers. They include tree planting, construction of camp grounds and picnic areas, small bridge and dam construction, and development of wildlife habitat.
Shops are maintained for woodworking, automotive maintenance and repair, and heavy equipment work. Each corpsman receives from two to four hours of instruction per day in mathematics and reading while in the education phase of the program. Programmed materials allow each corpsman to progress at his own rate.
Firefighting, driver education and safety instruction round out center programs.
Bennett noted that the healthful, rugged outdoor surroundings of the centers contribute much toward the development of Job Corps youth, giving them a fresh viewpoint about their place and potential in the world around them,.
