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In an effort to resolve tribal and non-tribal allocations of Klamath River salmon, Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt and Commerce Secretary Ron Brown today agreed to a management plan designed to improve conservation measures while providing for additional salmon harvest now and in the future for Klamath River tribes.

In addition, the agreement by the two secretaries ensures that a definitive legal ruling on future allocations of Klamath River chinook stocks will be issued before Sept. 30 of this year.

The Department of Commerce will issue an emergency rule on April 30 to open the salmon season on May 1, as recommended by the Pacific Fishery Management Council, with two exceptions:

• The short commercial fishing season that had been expected to open between Horse Mountain and Point Arena, Calif., from May 1-6, will not open. Fishing in this area has a greater adverse impact on Klamath River chinook stocks.
• The May-June recreational quota for Chinook salmon will be reduced from 12,000 fish to 8,000 fish in the area between Humbug Mountain, Ore., to Horse Mountain, Calif.

Secretary Babbitt has set the 1993 tribal fishery quota at 18,500 salmon, an increase from 17,000 provided in the Council's plan. Secretary Brown has asked the council to revise the 1993 Chinook salmon regulations to provide for a spawning escapement of 38,000 salmon in light of the failure to meet spawning population goals in past years and the opportunity to take advantage of this year's water supply. This regulation change results in an increased escapement of 3,000 fish over the council's recommendations.

"These management measures reflect the extremely high priority that Secretary Babbitt and I place on conserving the Klamath River chinook salmon," said Brown. "Because these stocks of salmon are severely depressed, we must carefully manage them to ensure that there are sufficient population numbers for the future.

"We are committed to rapidly moving to a definitive legal ruling concerning the rights of all parties to the Klamath River Chinook salmon. The failure to do so over the past decade has been unfair to everyone concerned," said Brown. "As soon as the Solicitor of the Department of the Interior issues a ruling on this matter, I will ask that the Council incorporate Interior's allocations in its regulations for the 1994 season. The Solicitor's ruling should be completed no later than Sept. 30 in order that all parties have adequate time to plan for the 1994 season."

Secretary Babbitt added, "We are committed to ensuring that by the 1994 season, the legal allocation rights of the Klamath River tribes are fully incorporated in the Pacific Fishery Management Council's plan. We are also committed to restoring the Klamath fishery resource. By providing additional spawning escapements this year, we can begin to take advantage of habitat improvements and start the process of rebuilding the resource.

"This decision allows the federal government to meet its trust responsibilities to the tribes while taking concrete steps to restore this important resource."

President Bill Clinton today announced his intention to nominate Ada Deer, an educator and former chair of the Menominee Nation of Wisconsin, to serve as Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs. The appointment, subject to confirmation by the U.S. Senate, will make her the first woman to serve as Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs.

"Ada Deer is a strong leader with a lifelong commitment to American Indian rights, to improving the lives of American Indians, and to the strengthening of tribal governments," said Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt. "She was very highly recommended for this position by numerous tribes and tribal councils across America. She is an outstanding advocate with an impressive record of success and accomplishment."

Ms. Deer, currently a senior lecturer at the School of Social Work and American Indian Studies Program at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, was a candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives last fall. She was born on the Menominee reservation, led the struggle to restore federal recognition for the tribe, and was the tribal leader 1974 to 1976.

For more than 25 years she has worked with such national organizations as the Native American Rights Fund, Americans for Indian Opportunity, and the American Indian Graduate Program.

She was the first member of her tribe to graduate from the University of Wisconsin (1957) and the first American Indian to receive a master's degree from the School of Social Work at Columbia University (1961). She was a fellow at the Harvard Institute of Politics, John F. Kennedy School of Government, in 1977. In addition, her academic honors include Doctor of Humane Letters from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Among numerous other honors, Ms. Deer was presented a National Distinguished Achievement Award by the American Indian Resources Institute in 1991 and was named Woman of the Year by Girl Scouts of America in 1982.

The Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs has responsibility for the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), the bureau with the largest budget in Department of the Interior, $2.4 billion. BIA has 12,000 employees providing services and administering trust responsibilities for more than 500 tribes and Alaska Native villages. About one million members of federally recognized tribes live on or near the 56 million acres of Indian trust lands served by the BIA.

Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Daniel P. Beard today announced a new policy designed to protect Indian trust assets from adverse impacts of Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) programs and activities.

"The Bureau of Reclamation has a shared responsibility in protecting the rights of Indian tribes," Beard said. "The new policy will help us to assess and mitigate potential impacts on Indian trust assets." Indian trust assets are legal interest in property held in trust by the United States for Indian tribes Such assets include lands, minerals, hunting and fishing rights and water rights

The Bureau of Indian Affairs, a sister agency of Reclamation in the Department of the Interior, has primary responsibility for Indian trust. However, the trust responsibility requires that all federal agencies take all actions reasonably necessary to protect trust assets.

The new policy announced today will be incorporated in Reclamation's environmental directives by October 1, 1993.

The National Park Service has compiled a list of Federal, Tribal, Native Alaskan, Native American and Native Hawaiian contacts to assist other Federal agencies and museums in complying with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA).

The law requires Federal agencies and museums that receive Federal funds to consult with Indian tribes, Native Alaskan entities, and Native Hawaiian organizations regarding the proper care and disposition of Native American human remains, funerary objects, sacred objects, and objects of cultural patrimony with which they are culturally affiliated, and to provide a summary of their collections by November 16, 1993.

The list is comprised of designated officials from the 752 federally recognized Indian tribes and Native Alaskan entities, 7 Native Hawaiian organizations, and 42 Federal agencies. It includes the name, address and telephone number of the chair, president, or other official specifically designated to deal with issues related to NAGPRA implementation. A copy of the contact list is available in either printed or electronic format.

The required summaries should include estimates of the number of Native American cultural objects in the collection; reference to the means, date(s), and location(s) whereby the collection was acquired; and observations about any lineal descendants, if available, or culturally affiliated Indian tribes, Native Alaskan entities, or Native Hawaiian organizations. Copies of a memorandum that provides guidance on summaries, inventories, and notification, including a sample summary, are also available from the National Park Service.

The tribal and Federal agency contact list and the guidance memorandum can be obtained from the Park Service by contacting: Dr. c. Timothy McKeown, National Park Service, NAGPRA Program Leader, Archeological Assistance Div., P.O. Box 37127, Washington, D.C. 20013-7127, Tele: (202) 343-4101; Fax: (202) 523-1547

Ada Deer, Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs in the u.s. Department of the Interior, has accepted an invitation from U.S. Rep. Sam Gejdenson to attend a public forum he is sponsoring in Ledyard Connecticut on September 18. The Assistant Secretary will appear to explain the general process involved in accepting lands into trust and how such applications are evaluated. "My administration is dedicated to building partnership and fostering understanding between Indians and non-Indians on issues that concern us all, Deer said.

The Interior Department today released a legal opinion that two California Indian tribes are entitled to enough Klamath-Trinity basin salmon to support a moderate living standard, or 50 percent of the harvest, whichever is less.

The opinion, signed by Interior Solicitor John D. Leshy, notes that when the Hoopa Valley and Yurek Reservations were created, the U.S. government reserved a federally protected fishing right for the two tribes.

The opinion concludes that "the entitlement of the Yurok and Hoopa Valley Tribes is limited to the moderate living standard or 50 percent of the harvest of Klamath-Trinity basin salmon, whichever is less. Given the current depressed condition of the Klamath River basin fishery, and absent any agreement among the parties to the contrary, the Tribes are entitled to 50 percent of the harvest."

"This clearly underscores the need to restore the region's fisheries to healthy levels," said Betsy Rieke, Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Water and Science. "The allocation of the salmon is controversial only because of depressed salmon resources."

Restoration plans have been prepared for both the Klamath and Trinity drainages, and the Interior Department is working to find the funding necessary to carry out comprehensive restoration of the watershed, aimed in part at reviving salmon populations.

"While this opinion correctly focuses on the size of different 'slices of the pie,'" said Rieke, speaking of salmon allotments, "the Department's resources are primarily directed at how we can make that pie grow."

The opinion on the tribes' rights in the fishery was requested last spring by Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt and Commerce Secretary Ron Brown as part of their discussions a bout regulating the in-river and ocean fishing of the Klamath-Trinity salmon run and, over the longer term, improving the overall fishery. At that time, Babbitt recommended it would be prudent to reserve a 50 percent share of the harvestable surplus of Klamath River salmon for the Indian in-river fishery this year.

As a temporary resolution of differences between the Interior Department recommendation and concerns expressed by the Commerce Department, which has jurisdiction over ocean fisheries, Babbitt set the 1993 in-river tribal harvest ceiling at 18,500. Brown directed a 1993 ocean fishing season that conformed to the in-river tribal harvest constraint.

The Department of the Interior today released a revised list of Alaska Native tribes that are eligible to receive services from the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and which have the immunities and privileges available to other federally recognized Indian tribes in the contiguous 48 States. The list will be published in the Federal Register next week.

"This revised list implements certain portions of an opinion issued by the Departmental solicitor on January 11, 1993, which concluded that for over 50 years, the Department dealt with Alaska Natives under the legal principles used for dealing with tribes in the contiguous 48 states," said Ada E. Deer, Assistant secretary for Indian Affairs. "The Opinion left preparation of a list of Alaska tribes for later action and we are fulfilling that portion of the opinion today."

Under general principles of federal Indian law and the Solicitor's Opinion, the powers of Alaska Native tribes include the right to determine membership, adopt constitutions, conduct elections and govern and regulate internal tribal relations.

"However," Deer said, "the solicitor's January opinion concluded, construing general principles of Federal Indian law and the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA), that notwithstanding the potential that Indian country still exists in Alaska in certain limited cases, Congress has left little or no room for tribes in Alaska to exercise governmental authority over land or nonmembers." This portion of the Opinion is subject to review, but has not been withdrawn or modified.

In arriving at the determination of which entities to include on the list, the BIA reviewed the following lists: the non-tribal entities established pursuant to ANCSA and which were previously eligible for federal services, previously-listed village and regional corporations, and villages and regional tribes previously dealt with by the federal government as governments. Only those villages and regional tribes that have functioned as political entities exercising governmental authority are included in the revised list.

Not included on the revised list are non-tribal Native entities that currently contract with or receive services from the BIA pursuant to specific statutory authority, including ANCSA village and regional corporations and various tribal organizations. The non-inclusion of these entities does not affect their continued eligibility for contracts and services.

The list to be published in the Federal Register includes the revised list of 226 Alaskan tribal entities and the 318 tribes in the contiguous 48 states that are eligible for services from the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

The Department of the Interior's Minerals Management Service today announced that it will reimburse the Shoshone and Arapaho Indian Tribes a total of $130,000 during Fiscal Year 1994, for auditing costs for participating in the MMS Cooperative Audit Program.

The addition of the Shoshone and Arapaho Tribes, which are located on the Wind River Reservation in central Wyoming, brings the number of participating tribes to six, including the Navajo Nation, the Ute, the Southern Ute and the Ute Mountain Ute.

The program enables a tribe to join with MMS in providing additional audit coverage of revenues derived from oil, gas and other mineral leases located on its land.

"Last year, more than $150 million in mineral revenues were collected from Indian leases," said MMS Director Tom Fry. "Sharing resources and information and working on a partnership basis has increased our auditing coverage and effectiveness. I am pleased to have this program expanded," he added.

Under provision of the Federal Oil and Gas Royalty Management Act of 1982, the MMS reimburses participating Indian tribes for cost of conducting audits, such as salaries and travel expenses.

Ten states - California, Colorado, Louisiana, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah and Wyoming - participate under similar provisions.

The MMS is responsible for the collection, accounting for and disbursement of nearly $4 billion annually in mineral revenues from federal and Indian lands.

Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt today signed agreements to complete final action on implementation of the Fort McDowell Indian Community Water Rights Act of 1990.

Clinton Pattea, President of the Fort McDowell Indian Community, joined Secretary Babbitt in signing the agreements at a ceremony held at the Interior Department. Also attending the ceremony was Ada Deer, Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs.

Under provisions of the Fort McDowell Indian Community Water Rights Settlement Act of 1990, and actions set forth by the signing today, the Community will receive a maximum annual diversion right of 36,350 acre-feet of water from the Verde River.

The agreement includes an increase in the Community's entitlement to Central Arizona Project (CAP) water, and a provision for storage of up to 3,000 acre-feet of water at the Salt River Project, behind Horseshoe or Bartlett Dams.

The Community, located in central Arizona near Phoenix, will increase the amount of its entitlement to CAP water from 4,300 to 18,233 acre-feet. In accordance with the Act, the Community may lease a portion of its water, and has signed an agreement with the City of Phoenix to lease 4,300 acre-feet of water annually.

John J. Duffy, Chairman of the Interior Department's Working Group on Indian Water Rights, said that today's action satisfies the tribe's federally reserved water rights.

--First of all, I don't think I have to tell you that there has literally been an explosion in Indian gaming during the last one to two years. No one -- not Congress, Interior, BIA, the Indian people, or anyone else anticipated this tremendous growth. The 1988 legislation did not provide for a time period after it became law for all the safeguards and rules and regulations to be put into place. Neither did it provide time for anyone to hire the necessary expertise to monitor all the things for which we were given the responsibility.

--This particular audit took place earlier this year, but monitored activities that had taken place over the past several years. Most of the things pointed out in the audit -- with the exception of all of the unapproved tribal-state compacts -- have been corrected.

-Let me also point out that the audit covers a time period when the Bureau was in process of creating an Indian Gaming Management Office and hiring personnel to staff it. The Bureau was also working closely with the National Indian Gaming Commission to spell out the responsibilities we had, and to learn when the Commission would be in a position to assume the responsibilities that the Act assigned it. The Audit report fully points out that the Commission did not consider itself fully operational until February of 1993.

--With that aside, I must emphasize as I pointed out in the audit report, the Department of the Interior and the Bureau pay "great deference" to tribal views and concerns. We also pointed out that the "striking feature" of the current debate over Indian gaming is the lack of deference to tribal views and positions.

--Having said that, I remind you that these are responsible elected tribal government officials who are signing the contracts and tribal-state compacts discussed in the Audit report. We call it self-determination -- sovereignty -- self-governance, autonomy. Neither the Bureau nor the Commission will ever and we should not -- be at the elbow of a tribal chairperson when he or she signs legitimate contracts whether they be for gaming management or whatever.

--Tribal chairmen and tribal governments have to assume the responsibility for their actions and they must be held accountable. That does not mean that the Bureau will step away and shirk any of its responsibilities. We are necessarily limited in "protecting" the tribes and that is the way it ought to be if tribal self-determination and self-governance are going to work.

--One more thing -- the Inspector General's report does not bear out what the critics of Indian Gaming have been shouting for years -- that Indian gaming is rife with organized crime. The FBI has been saying for years there is no evidence to support such claims. The report does prove that Indian tribes have to be more diligent in policing their own employees to prevent such theft and embezzlement as pointed out in the report.