Senator Henry M. Jackson (D. Wash.), chairman the Senate Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs announced today following an executive session of the full committee that he has appointed an ad hoc subcommittee to make a thorough study of a long-standing dispute between the Navajo and Hopi tribes over reservation boundary lines. The subcommittee is composed of Senator Frank Church (Idaho) as chairman and Senator Frank. E. Moss of Utah and Paul J. Fannin, Arizona. The committee directed the subcommittee to report back no later than March 1, 1973, its recommendation to the full committee.
Senator Jackson said that because of the many complexities surrounding this dispute he felt it would be unwise for the committee to act at the present time without the benefit of a more thorough examination of the facts in the controversy. The House recently passed legislation on which the Senate Interior Committee held open hearings on September 14 and 15 at which time both sides to the controversy made presentations. Senator Jackson said that he felt in fairness to both tribes and to the Senate itself his committee should not act without sending representatives to the area for a field examination and local hearings to allow those people who could not come to Washington an opportunity to be heard.
