Two Federal agencies today acted to restore the traditional if buffalo to the Crow Indians' sacred Big Horn Mountain and help stimulate the growth of tourism in Montana.
The Department of the Interior will provide 35 bison to the tribe, and the department of Commerce will provide a $300,000 grant for fencing a 10,000-acre buffalo range. The actions were announced jointly by Interior Secretary Rogers C. B. Morton and Commerce Secretary Peter G. Peterson.
The Commerce grant is a part of President Nixon's program to create new and useful jobs in areas of high unemployment, and to assist the American Indians in the economic development of their reservations.
The grant will come from the Economic Development Administration, which is working with the Crow Tribe in the establishment of a comprehensive recreation and tourism program. The aim of the program is to create jobs and increase income for tribal members.
Assistant Secretary of Commerce Robert A. Podesta, who heads EDA, said the Federal grant will enable the Crow Tribal Recreation Commission to build fencing and management facilities for the buffalo range.
Secretary Morton said the National Park Service will assist the tribe in building the herd from the 35 head to be provided this fall to a model herd of 250 animals.
The buffalo herd is expected to be a major tourist attraction in southern Montana.
Restoration of the historic buffalo herd to Big Horn Mountain was given additional impetus following a visit to the Crow Reservation by C. Langhorne Washburn, Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Tourism, and a group of foreign newsmen.
The travel writers were impressed with the tourism facilities on the reservation, but asked, "Where are the buffalo? Washburn reported on his return to Washington.
Construction of the fencing is expected to get under way during the spring with completion scheduled to permit the delivery of the buffalo this fall the fence projects is expected to provide jobs for up to 45 persons from the reservation.'
The $310,000 EDA grant will pay the total cost of developing the range.
In addition to fencing the pasture area from Hunters Canyon to Little Bull Elk Canyon near Arrowhead Springs, the project includes a corral, holding pens, an access road ·an equipment storage shed and the development of watering springs.
Tribal leaders say members of the tribe will participate in educational programs to enable them to manage the herd on a professional basis.
National Park Service officials say the buffalo for the Crow Reservation will come from the Theodore Roosevelt Nationalt1emorial Park herd at Medora, North Dakota. It is one of 11 herds managed by the Department of the Interior.
