News by Year

Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall today announced the establishment of new Bureau of Indian Affairs area offices at Window Rock, Arizona, and Albuquerque, New Mexico.

An administrative staff to serve both new offices will remain in Gallup, New Mexico and some of the personnel assigned to Window Rock will continue to have headquarters there.

Owen D. Morken, career employee of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, will take over as new Director for the Bureau at Juneau, Alaska, January 2, 1966, Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall announced today.

Morken has been assistant area director for economic development at Aberdeen, South Dakota, since the spring of 1962. At Juneau he succeeds Robert L. Bennett, who is now the Deputy Commissioner of Indian Affairs in Washington, D. C.

A White Mountain Apache tribal delegation from Arizona will arrive in Washington Saturday, December 11, poised for a full week of activities prior to the official Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony slated for next Friday.

The five-member delegation, representing the Tribe which donated the Nation's Christmas tree this year, will be composed of: Lester Oliver, Tribal Chairman; Fred Banashley, Vice-Chairman; Mary Enfield; Mary V. Riley; and Nelson Lupe, Sr.

The way has been cleared for construction of a $50-million dam and reservoir on Cochiti Pueblo in New Mexico with approval of an easement agreement by the Pueblos, the Army's Corps of Engineers and the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs.

The agreement covers 4,000 acres of Cochiti Pueblo land, for which the Pueblo will receive a settlement of $145,200, plus all right to develop recreation facilities in the area.

ELECTRONICS COMPANY TO TRAIN CROW INDIANS

The newly established U. S. Automatics Corporation plant on the Crow Reservation in Montana has negotiated a $17,475 contract with the Bureau of Indian Affairs to provide on-the-job training for 35 Crow Indians. The company, which has home offices in Pewaukee, Wisconsin, manufactures electronic components, mainly timing and regulating devices.

BOAT BUILDER TO LOCATE IN PRYOR. OKLAHOMA

An $878,780 contract for construction of a 128-pupil dormitory and other facilities for Choctaw Indian high school students and their teachers at Pearl River, Mississippi, was announced today by the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs. The new buildings, slated for occupancy next fall, will complete a school complex for Choctaw Indians, which includes a new high school opened this fall, an elementary-junior high school and a 40-pupil dormitory for elementary students.

The Second Annual Invitational Exhibition of American Indian Paintings will open November 30, at the Department of Interior Art Gallery.

The exhibition is composed of 91 paintings and 12 works of sculpture, assembled and organized through direct invitation to the outstanding Indian artists in the Nation. The exhibition illustrates the great diversity of fine artistic expression among contemporary Indian, Eskimo and Aleut artists living in the United States. The majority of these works were created in 1965 and will be offered for sale to gallery visitors.

Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall today announced a new Departmental order which will require bidders on all Interior building construction work throughout the Nation to list with their bids the names and addresses of their subcontractors. This new policy supersedes experimental procedures which had been in effect since December 1963, but which were limited to Interior construction projects in Arizona and New Mexico and 'parts of the Navajo Indian Reservation in Utah and Colorado.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs has terminated supervision of the Big Valley Rancheria, in Lake County, California, the Department of the Interior announced today. The action was taken with the consent of the Indian group, and in conformance with provisions of the California Rancheria Act of August 18, 1958 (P.L. 85-671) as amended in 1964.

A complete do-it-yourself house planning service has been packaged by the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs to accelerate "mutual help" housing projects on Indian reservations, Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall announced today.

Indian tribes have found that projects to enhance natural beauty get more results than meet the eye, according to the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Clean-up campaigns have prevented accidents and fires.

Efforts to stop unsightly erosion and to start landscaping programs have resulted in better soil conservation.

But, best of all, "face lifting" of the reservations has helped the tribes' tourist business and lifted the morale of tribal members.

SANTA FE INSTITUTE WORK TO BE SHOWN

The Riverside Museum in New York City, famed for its sponsorship of emerging talent and important art trends, has scheduled a showing of “Young American Indian Artists" November 14, 1965 through January 16, 1966.

Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall and members of Interior's Indian Arts and Crafts Board will be among the sponsors of the exhibit.

Three Alaskan Eskimos have set out to prove that reindeer have other uses than pulling Santa's sleigh. They have joined the ever-growing number of Alaskan "reindeer cowboys" who manage the animals as livestock--a project encouraged by the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs to spur the Alaskan economy.

This month, as weather permits, the Bureau will ship some 200 head from its Nunivak Island herd by Air National Guard planes to Togiak--a distance of about 225 miles. From there, the reindeer will be transferred by boat to nearby Hagemeister Island in Bristol Bay.

Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall today announced the appointment of John O. Crow, Deputy Commissioner of Indian Affairs, as Assistant Director of the Bureau of Land Management for lands and minerals.

The National Community Christmas Tree for 1965 which will be erected in the Ellipse, just south of the White House in Washington, is being donated by the White Mountain Apache Indians from the Fort Apache Reservation near White River, Arizona, Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall announced today.

Secretary Udall added that this marks the first time an American Indian Tribal Council has provided a Christmas Tree for the Pageant of Peace ceremony, and the first tree from the state of Arizona tor this pageant.

American Indians are attacking on all fronts in the war against poverty, with youth programs leading the field, Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall said today.

A Navajo Indian medicine man will demonstrate the sacred art of sandpainting for visitors to the Interior Department I s Art Gallery beginning October 12.

Fred Stevens, a Navajo medicine man from the Indian Reservation at Lupton, Arizona will create sand paintings used in Navajo religious-healing ceremonies. He will appear in connection with the Gilbert Maxwell Collection of Navajo Weaving now being displayed at the gallery.

Nearly 400 more Indian college students received scholarships from the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs this year than in 1964, Commissioner Philleo Nash reported today.

BIA awarded college scholarships to 1,718 students--an increase of 30 percent over last year's figure, he said. Grants amounted to $1,225,000, or an average of $700 per student.

The Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs today announced the appointment of James D. Hale to the post of Superintendent of the Choctaw Agency, at Philadelphia, Mississippi.

He succeeds Lonnie Hardin, who has transferred to the Bureau's Muskogee Area Office in Oklahoma as education director.

The new Superintendent has been Land Operations Officer at the Seminole Agency, Hollywood, Florida since March 1962. Prior to that he was a soil conservationist at the Seminole Agency and at the Muskogee Area Office. He joined BIA in 1952.

A $378,000 contract award, announced today by the Bureau of Indian Affairs in the Department of the Interior, will provide a permanent supply of drinking water from the Oahe Reservoir for a BIA school at

New school facilities in 17 Indian communities of eight States are being opened this fall by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, according to Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall.

They include 11 new schools and three additions to existing schools--enough to accommodate nearly 6,000 students, mostly in the elementary grades. Three dormitories, built to house more than 1,300 Indian youths who live too far away for commuting, also were completed in time for the fall season.

The largest coal supply letter of intent agreement ever negotiated, utilizing Navajo and Hopi Indian coal reserves in Arizona, was announced today by Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall. The coal to be supplied under this agreement will be used in a planned electric generating plant to be built in Clark County, Nevada, by a group of private and public utilities, with Southern California Edison Company as project manager.

OKLAHOMA CHEROKEES PLAN $2 MILLION PROGRAM

The Oklahoma Cherokees have announced plans for a $2 million program of social and economic benefits for tribal members, to be financed from judgment awards by the Indian Claims Commission for Cherokee claims against the United States.

On-the-job training for 480 American Indians is set to begin under contracts recently completed with nine industries, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Philleo Nash announced today. The companies are located in New Mexico, North Carolina, Arizona, Wisconsin, Montana, and Oklahoma.

Under Bureau agreements negotiated during the current fiscal year, a total of 717 Indian workers will receive on-the-job training--an increase of 10 percent over the total for the entire preceding year. Six contracts in Oklahoma, Minnesota and North Dakota were announced last month.

Thousands of American Indian high school boys and girls will keep the jobs they had this summer. But they won't be drop-outs. They will be “step-ups” into a special program combining work opportunities with part-time schooling leading to high school diplomas.

They are part of the Neighborhood Youth Corps--students who, were it not for the employment they are provided under the Economic Opportunity Act, may have joined the ranks of early school quitters because of the financial needs of their families. About 22,000 Indian youngsters were enrolled this past summer.

A special collection of Navajo Indian rugs and blankets will be shown publicly for the first time in the Eastern United States at the Department of Interior Art Gallery, beginning September 22.

Navajo rugs and blankets have been prime collectors' items for more than a century, being first praised for fine quality by the Spanish Conquistadores who ruled the New Mexico and Arizona region in 1706. American interest in Navajo textiles increased sharply in the 1860's as a result of greater contact with the Navajos.

Award of three contracts totaling over $707,500 for road improvement projects on the Fort Berthold Reservation in North Dakota and the Cheyenne River and Pine Ridge Reservations in South Dakota was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

With the opening last month of a large-scale electronics assembly plant on the Navajo Reservation, a trend toward Indian employment in precision industries has been solidly established, the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs reported.

The Navajo-based enterprise--Semiconductor Division of Fairchild Camera and Instrument Corporation of New York--extends the company's worldwide operations to another economically underdeveloped area and offers promise of a further breakthrough in the Indians' efforts to bring new vitality to isolated regions.

RECOLD CORPORATION TO OPEN OKLAHOMA PLANT

There will be a new source of employment for Cherokee Indians in the Pryor, Oklahoma, area when Recold Corporation opens a branch plant, scheduled for immediate construction there. The new plant will hire 25 workers initially, increasing to 75 employees within a year and one-half. Company officials plan to negotiate an on-the-job training contract with the Bureau of Indian Affairs, to prepare Indian workers for employment in the plant.

The Department of the Interior has recommended enactment of Federal legislation to provide for disposition of a $29.1 million award to the Mission Indians, the Pitt River Indians, and certain other eligible Indians of California to be identified later should a bill be passed by Congress.

The judgment was made by the Indian Claims Commission and represents additional compensation for lands in California to which the Indians involved held aboriginal title and which were taken by the United States March 3, 1853.

The Department of the Interior today announced that the Bureau of Indian Affairs has terminated supervision of three Indian rancherias in California, under the provisions of the Rancheria Act of August 18, 1958 (P.L. 85-671), as amended.

The rancherias, which are actually small tracts of Indian land under Federal trust, are: Scotts Valley Rancheria, a 56.6 acre tract in Lake County; Robinson Rancheria, 168 acres in Lake County; and Guidiville Rancheria, 244 acres in Mendocino County.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Philleo Nash today requested all Bureau employees--and urged all Indian adults--to take part in the National Driver's Test to be telecast over the CBS Television Network Monday, August 30.

The self-evaluation driver review test will be telecast at 10:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific time, and 9:00 p.m. Central and Mountain time.

Test forms are being distributed throughout the Indian reservations and all Bureau offices.

SALT RIVER INDIANS LEASE SCOTTSDALE AREA TRACT

A group of Salt River Reservation Indians anticipates an annual income of $400 per acre from a 156-acre tract recently leased to the Arizona Stable Development Company. The lease runs for 25 years, with an additional 25-year option. The tract, composed of eight allotments and leased as a unit, lies immediately south of the Indian Bend Golf Course near Scottsdale, Arizona.

The award of a $540,998 contract for remodeling and construction at the 200-man Job Corps Center at Poston, Arizona, on the Colorado River Reservation was announced today by the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs. The center is expected to be ready for activation within six months.

Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall today announced he is appointing H. Edward Hyden, an Interior Department lawyer specializing in American Indian affairs for 26 years, to be Chief Justice of American Samoa.

Mr. Hyden, Associate Solicitor for Indian Affairs since 1957, will succeed Judge Arthur A. Morrow, Who became Chief Justice of the territory in the South Pacific in 1937, the year before Mr. Hyden received his law degree.

Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall today announced the appointment of Richmond F. Allan of Billings, Mont., as an Associate Solicitor to head the Division of Indian Affairs in the Office of the Solicitor in Washington, D. C.

Mr. Allan, a native of Billings, has been an attorney with the Lands Division in the Department of Justice since February and now makes his home at Alexandria, Va., near Washington.

The Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs today announced renewal of contracts totaling more than $150,000 with six manufacturers to provide on-the-job training for 236 American Indians. The trainees will learn industrial skills ranging from diamond polishing to electronics assembly.

The Department of the Interior has recommended enactment of Federal legislation authorizing long-term leasing of lands on the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Reservation and the Papago Reservation, both in Arizona.

The Department of the Interior has submitted to Congress a proposed bill to provide for disposition of funds appropriated to pay a judgment in favor of the Snake or Paiute Indians of Oregon.

The judgment is for $3,650,000 for the Snake Tract, or Oregon Area, in Docket No. 87 of the Indian Claims Commission. The Commission has divided the total area involved into three tracts. The Snake Tract, consisting of lands in Oregon, Nevada, and California, is the only one for which a final award has been granted.

The award of a $384,600 contract for construction of four metal buildings at the 200-man Eight Canyon Job Corps Conservation Center on the Mescalero Apache Indian Reservation in New Mexico was announced today by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

The Eight Canyon Center is located about eight miles southwest of Mescalero, New Mexico. It is one of ten such centers to be operated on Indian Reservation areas as part of a combined work and education program for unemployed youths under the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964.

The Department of the Interior has recommended enactment of legislation (H.R. 8917) to provide for distribution of $1,750,000 in judgment funds to the 0maha Tribe of Nebraska.

The award, by the Indian Claims Commission, represents additional compensation for lands in what is now western Iowa and the northwestern Missouri to which the Omahas and other Tribes owned recognized title when the United States made treaties with them in 1825 and 1830.

INDIANS LEARN JOB SKILLS WITH BIA

A total of 11,000 Indian men and women have received special job-skill training, either in accredited institutions or on-the-job, since the Bureau of Indian Affairs adult vocational training program for Indians began in 1958. Currently, trainees are learning skills in more than 100 different occupational categories.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Philleo Nash today announced the award of a $1,319,409 contract for construction of the final 17-mile section of Route 12, one of the most scenic highways on the Navajo Reservation in Arizona.

Completion of this stretch will provide an all-weather link between the communities of Round Rock and Lukachukai in northeastern Arizona with Navajo, New Mexico, the Reservation town where the tribal sawmill enterprise is located.

The award of a $397,375 contract for the construction of a 200-man Job Corps Conservation Center on the San Carlos Indian Reservation in Arizona was announced today by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. It will be one of nine such centers to be operated on Indian reservations as part of the massive program of job training and education for unemployed youth being conducted under the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964.

Award of two contracts totaling $264,444 for road improvement projects on Fort Totten Reservation in North Dakota and Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota was announced today by Commissioner Philleo Nash of the Interior Department’s Bureau of Indian Affairs.

The Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs today announced completion of the membership roll of the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska, making possible a tribal referendum which will determine the future course of tribal affairs. The roll includes 442 persons.

Adult Poncas will shortly receive ballots on which to indicate whether or not they wish to divide their tribal assets and end the special relationship they now hold with the Federal Government by virtue of their Indian status.

The Department of the Interior today announced the award of a $499,557 contract for construction of an eight-mile section of Navajo Route 8 in the northeastern Arizona part of the Navajo Indian Reservation.

The new stretch of Navajo 8 will link the reservation towns of Ganado and Klagetoh in Apache County with an all-weather, paved highway. The towns are located a few miles south of Canyon de Chelly National Monument, near the Petrified Forest area, a popular tourist locale.

MULTIPURPOSE CONSERVATION PROJECT AT FORT HALL

A multipurpose project on the Fort Hall Reservation in Idaho will combine a 12,000-acre bird refuge on Grays Lake with efficient irrigation and flood control. The project was made possible through joint agreement of the Fort Hall Indians, the Grays Lake Protective Committee, and the Department of the Interior.

American Indians now are participating in all programs offered for the disadvantaged under the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964, the Department of the Interior said today.

The extent of Indian participation in these programs, operated by the Office of Economic Opportunity with Interior Department cooperation is summarized below:

Job Corps

Through Job Corps Conservation Centers spotted across the Nation, disadvantaged young people receive a second chance at schooling coupled with skill training and a change of environment.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Philleo Nash today announced the award of a $721,670 contract for further construction on the east-west road now being cut through the San Carlos Reservation in Arizona.

The construction will open up to tourist traffic the 1.5 mile stretch of the old Geronimo Trail which leads through rock-bound Barlow Pass into the pine flats. The flats are the site of the Tribe's projected Point of Pines recreational development.

The Department of the Interior acted today to exempt certain lands owned by the Agua Caliente Indians of California from the effects of a new zoning ordinance adopted by the Palm Springs, California city council.

The Indians, whose reservation lands include considerable Palm Springs real estate now leased or contracted to others, had objected to certain points in the ordinance before it was adopted on June 10. They contended that the measure was too restrictive for future development of their property.

The Department of the Interior said today it has recommended enactment of Federal legislation to amend the Indian Long-Term Leasing Act by permitting leases on Indian land at Pyramid Lake, Nevada, to be made for 99-year periods.

The basic Act of 1955 authorized leases of Indian lands for public, religious, educational, recreational, residential, or business purposes for terms not to exceed 25 years, with an option to renew for one additional term of not more than 25 years.

Three 1965 honors graduates from Haskell Institute, the Bureau-operated vocational-technical school at Lawrence, Kansas, will be participants in a special graduation and award-presentation ceremony at the Bureau of Indian Affairs, 1951 Constitution Avenue, N.W. at 2:00 P.M. today.

The lure of the Nation's Capital brought the students to Washington a few days before the graduation ceremonies at Haskell. Commissioner of Indian Affairs Philleo Nash will, therefore, present them with their diplomas and honors awards.

A $16 million road construction program has been carried out on Indian reservations by the Bureau of Indian Affairs during the fiscal year which will end June 30, 1965, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Philleo Nash announced today.

Improved roads open up undeveloped sections of Indian reservations for industrial and commercial development, tourism, and increased recreational use. More and better roads also mean improved school bus services for Indian youngsters and easier access to market areas for Indian farmers and ranchers.

Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall today directed the Department's Bureau of Indian Affairs and Office of Territories to make family planning services available in their social services programs.

The service will be on an entirely voluntary basis. It is in line with the May 25, 1965, report of the National Research Council, National Academy of Sciences. The study described the growth of U. S. population as a serious obstacle to the realization of many goals of society and one which puts the nation's general prosperity out of reach of millions of its citizens.

Seeking to encourage broader private financing of economic development on Indian reservations, the Department of the Interior has asked Congress for authority to establish an Indians' Loan Guaranty and Insurance Fund of $15 million under administration of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. It would be used to guarantee or insure loans made by private lenders either to Indian organizations or to individuals of one-quarter or more Indian blood.

To stimulate greater economic growth and development on Indian reservations, the Department of the Interior has asked Congress to increase by $35 million the authorized amount of the revolving loan fund of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Under a bill proposed by the Department, authorization for the program would be boosted from $27 million to $62 million and the Bureau would be permitted to make grants of not more than 20 percent of the borrowed amount in connection with the loans under certain circumstances.

Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall today announced that his Department's Bureau of Indian Affairs, at the request of the Hoopa Valley Indians of California, has approved a $600 per capita distribution to tribal members from the Tribe's emergency reserve fund. Many Hoopa Valley families suffered severe economic setbacks, including loss of homes, in the series of floods which swept the region early this year.

The Jicarilla Apache Cattle Growers' Association, instrumental in establishing the cattle market in Rio Arriba County, New Mexico, reports that the market not only is commanding prices equal to or better than other nearby markets, but also is stimulating other businesses on the reservation.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs of the Department of the Interior today advised that Indians who are eligible to share in the 1961 Cherokee judgment award must file their claims by October 9, 1965.

The net amount to be distributed to the 41,935 tribal members on the Cherokee tribal roll is $11,741,800, under an award granted September 14, 1961 by the Indian Claims Commission. The per capita payment amounts to $280. The award represents additional recompense to the Cherokee Nation for lands in Oklahoma ceded by the Indians to the United States in the past century.

For an invention that dramatically reduces accident risks and at the same time results in sizeable cost reductions, Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall has awarded the highest incentive payment in the history of the Bureau of Indian Affairs to an engineering technician on the Flathead Indian Reservation in Montana.

Frank H. Roderick, a Bureau of Indian Affairs employee, received a check for $1,350 in recognition of the usefulness of his design for a new type irrigation canal check.

Two promising projects involving pre-vocational training for Indian men and women are being undertaken through the joint efforts of the Interior Department's Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Department of Labor, and State education and employment assistance agencies in Washington, Arizona, and Texas.

Allocations of nearly $10 million in recreation grants-in-aid for which States and territories may apply under the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act were announced today by Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall.

The grants-in-aid allocations are the first announced under the new Act. To take advantage of the allocations, States or territories must match them in equal amounts. The money can be used for planning, acquiring, and developing outdoor recreation areas and facilities for public use.

Effective May 17 the Interior Department's Bureau of Indian Affairs offices was moved to 1951 Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington, D. C. The Bureau formerly had its headquarters in the Interior Department's main building at 18th and C Sts., NW.

The new quarters were formerly occupied by the National Science Foundation. The building was constructed in the early 1930's.

The move will enable most of the Bureau's Washington staff to be together under one roof for the first time in several years. About 350 persons will be affected.

Publication of a new 96-page conservation booklet, "Quest for Quality," was announced today by Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall, It will be distributed initially to those participating in the White House Conference on Natural Beauty, being held next week (May 24-25) in Washington, D. C.

In line with President Johnson’s war on waste in Government administration, the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs has consolidated responsibility for fiscal and management analysis under the Deputy Commissioner and a special assistant. The announcement was made today by Commissioner of Indian Affairs Philleo Nash.

The Department of the Interior today announced the appointment of Reginald W. Quinn as Superintendent of the Seminole Agency, Bureau of Indian Affairs, at Hollywood, Florida.

Quinn, a Sioux Indian and a native of South Dakota, has served for nearly 30 years in the Bureau of Indian Affairs. His most recent assignment was that of Chief Tribal Operations Officer in Washington, D.C.

Born in Peever, South Dakota in 1913, Quinn attended South Dakota schools.

Where can a vacationer enjoy camping facilities, excellent hunting and fishing, while witnessing the pageant of a colorful and ancient pattern of life?

Indian reservations are the answer. Today, many tribes include recreational facilities in their plans for the economic development of their lands. Tourists are warmly welcomed to such areas, and, each year, the tribes play host to increasing number of visitors of all ages.

Where can a vacationer enjoy camping facilities, excellent hunting and fishing, while witnessing the pageant of a colorful and ancient pattern of life?

Indian reservations are the answer. Today, many tribes include recreational facilities in their plans for the economic development of their lands. Tourists are warmly welcomed to such areas, and, each year, the tribes play host to increasing number of visitors of all ages.

Action taken by the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe of Nevada to develop a major recreation center on their reservation 30 miles from Reno has been approved by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, it was announced today.

Private developers throughout the Nation are invited to submit proposals for a water-oriented vacation and residential center on the shores of one of the last large undeveloped lakes in the Nation.

The U. S. Department of the Interior today announced the appointment of Doyce L. Waldrip to the post of Superintendent of the Warm Springs Indian Reservation in Oregon. He will replace Allan W. Galbraith who transfers to the Portland Area Office to become Assistant Area Director for economic development.

Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall today appealed to the increasing millions of visitors to Interior-administered recreation areas throughout the United States to "arrive safely, play safely, and return home safely."

Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall today petitioned the Federal Power Commission seeking to intervene on behalf of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Reservation in Montana in their application for increased payments from the Montana Power Company for use of tribal lands at Kerr Dam.

The Secretary is trustee for lands owned by the Confederated Tribes. The Kerr license specifically provides that any change in terms of the license that may affect the Indians' interest shall be subject to his approval.

The sound of drums and the chant of Indian song will introduce the American Indian Performing Arts Festival April 22-27 in the Department of the Interior Auditorium, 18th and “C” Streets, NW., in Washington, D. C.

The Department of the Interior has submitted to Congress proposed legislation for disposition of nearly $5 million in judgment funds held in the United States Treasury for the Miami Indians of Oklahoma and Indiana. Three different awards are involved, resulting from decisions by the Indian Claims Commission.

Largest of the original judgments, netting $4,182,720 exclusive of attorneys' expenses, was appropriated by Congress in May 1963. Interest at the rate of 4 percent per year has meanwhile accrued. Funds will go to descendants of the Miami Tribe or Nation as it existed in 1818.

The Department of the Interior has recommended to Congress that legislation be enacted to distribute $2,500,000 in judgment funds to the Klamath Indians of Oregon.

The amount was settled upon by attorneys for the United States and for the Indians and represents redress for insufficient payment for lands ceded to the United States under Treaty in 1864. The case was adjudicated by the Indian Claims Commission last year and funds were appropriated by Congress in June 1964. The additional legislation is now needed to authorize final disposition.

Award of a $491,000 contract for the construction of a dormitory and related facilities at the Wahpeton Indian School, Wahpeton, North Dakota, was announced today by the Department of the Interior. The successful bidder was Meide and Son, Inc., of Wahpeton. Eight higher bids ranging to $588,400 were received.

Indians, Aleuts and Eskimos who are qualified under the 1906 Alaska Native Allotment Act will find it easier and quicker to obtain land allotments up to 160 acres under liberalized regulations announced today by Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall.

He said the new regulations--which recognize that the Natives' mode of life, the Alaska climate and the character of the land are all different from conditions on the homestead States of the West--are in effect a return to the interpretation of the statute regarding use and occupancy of the land in effect prior to 1930.

The Department of the Interior today announced four proposed amendments to the Code of Federal Regulations governing trading with Indians.

The Department of the Interior said today it has asked Congress to enact legislation to increase by $3 million the authorization for a program of adult vocational training for Indians administered by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Several identical bills pending in Congress call for raising the annual operating funds from the present $12 million to a new high of $15 million.

The program, which began in 1958, is designed to help increase the employability of Indian men and women. It is open to those between 18 and 35 years old.

The first Job Corps Conservation Center in the Southwest--and the second in the entire country-·-will be dedicated at Winslow, Arizona, March 12 by Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall.

On the periphery of Navajo lands in Arizona, Winslow Center formerly was an Air Force Radar Base. The property is now administered by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Another camp organized in cooperation with the Department of the Interior was dedicated at Catoctin Mountain Park, Maryland, two weeks ago. It is administered by the Interior Department's National Park Service.

Promotions of George E. Schmidt to head the Bureau of Indian Affairs' branch of industrial development, and Charles P. Corke as assistant to the Assistant Commissioner for Economic Development, were announced today by Commissioner of Indian Affairs Philleo Nash.

Schmidt commenced his new assignment February 15. Corke, who served tor ten years as irrigation engineer and land operations officer with the United Pueblos Agency in Albuquerque, N. M., assumed his new duties late last year.

Kendall Cumming has been appointed Superintendent of the Bureau of Indian Affairs' Pima Agency, which has headquarters at Sacaton, Arizona, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Philleo Nash announced today. The new superintendent succeeds Minton J. Nolan, who died in January.

For more than two years Cumming has served as Superintendent of the Jicarilla Agency at Dulce, New Mexico. He will be succeeded in that post by Ralph B. Armstrong, Jr., who has been Assistant Superintendent of the Nevada Agency, Stewart, Nevada.

Completion of a preliminary membership roll of the Ponca Indian Tribe of Nebraska, a step toward withdrawal of special Federal services to tribal members, was announced today by Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall.

An agreement between the Public Housing Administration and the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs was signed today by Housing Commissioner Marie C. McGuire and Indian Commissioner Philleo Nash, calling for joint efforts in bringing low-rent housing to thousands of American Indian families.

The Bureau of Reclamation has awarded an $8,640,411 contract to construct nearly 6 miles of main canal tunnel and open canal on the Navajo Indian Irrigation Project about 59 miles east of Farmington, N.M., the Department of the Interior reported today. The project is being built by Reclamation for the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

The joint venture of Shea-Kaiser-Macco, Redding, Calif., was awarded the contract on the lowest of ten bids received under Specification No. DC-6l87.

Responsibilities of the Bureau of Indian Affairs could be carried out with greater benefits to the Indian people if there were greater rapport between Federal and State governments and between the Indians and non-Indians of each community, Philleo Nash, Commissioner of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, said today in Tucson, Ariz.

Commissioner Nash's comments were directed to representatives of labor, church groups, and government agencies attending a National Conference on Poverty in the Southwest which opened January 25.

The Bureau of Reclamation and the National Park Service have entered into an agreement on the construction and management of recreation at Yellowtail Darn and Reservoir in Montana and Wyoming, the Department of the Interior reported today.

A total of $38.5 million was awarded eight Indian tribes in judgments handed down by the Indian Claims Commission during calendar year 1964, the Bureau of Indian Affairs reported today. Appropriations to meet the judgments were made during the year in six of the eight cases.

Judgment funds from land claims settlements are held in trust for the tribes by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Programs for use of the funds are developed by tribal governing bodies and approved by the Secretary of the Interior.

The Department of the Interior has proposed regulations to simplify and standardize procedures for compiling Indian tribal rolls and disposing of enrollment appeals.

The new enrollment regulations would eliminate the need to issue and publish in the Federal Register procedures governing preparation of rolls each time the Secretary of the Interior is directed by Congress to prepare an Indian tribal roll. However, qualifications for enrollment would not be standardized under the proposed regulations.

Commissioner Philleo Nash summarized the past year's accomplishments of the Bureau of Indian Affairs in a publication released today entitled "Indian Affairs 1964".

Emphasis is upon education and economic development," Nash said in announcing the new publication. "We are striving toward greater Indian participation in their own affairs--activity rather than passivity--with the end goal of maximum self-sufficiency for the Indian population.

The award of a $659,850 contract for the construction of new vocational training facilities at Haskell Institute, Lawrence, Kansas, was announced today by Philleo Nash, Commissioner of Indian Affairs.

The project marks the first major step toward conversion of the 80-year-old high school for Indians into a post-secondary technical institute.

In announcing the construction contract award Nash said:

Assistant Secretary of the Interior John A. Carver, Jr., today instructed the heads of two Bureaus to take every action possible to reduce economic losses to the people of flood-damaged West Coast areas.

In a special memorandum to the Director of the Bureau of Land Management and the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Mr. Carver said:

Bids are due to be opened January 7, 1965, on camp facilities required for accommodation of Job Corps enrollees at centers to be operated by the Department of the Interior in California, Colorado, Illinois, and New Mexico.