The Department of the Interior today announced a proposed revision of Federal regulations to remove restrictions against read construction that have applied for more than 20 years on 283,000 acres of Indian reservation land in Arizona and Washington.
The lands that would be affected are the Goat Rocks Area of 105,000 acres and the Mount Adams Area of 48,000 acres, both on the Yakima Reservation in Washington, and the Mount Thomas Area of 130,000 acres on the Fort Apache Reservation in Arizona.
The Mount Adams acreage was designated as a "wild” area and the other two as “road less" areas by administrative action of the Department during the 1930 l s without consulting the Indians. All three areas consist not of Federal land but of tribally owned property held in trust by the United States.
Both the Yakima and Fort Apache tribal councils have requested removal of the restrictions to facilitate economic development of the areas" Interested parties may submit their comments to the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Washington 25, D. C., within 30 days after publication of the proposed revision in the federal Register.
