OPA

Cash income from Indian-owned forests in the United States has trebled in the last decade and the interest of Indian tribes and individual Indians in the scientific management of their woodland assets has greatly increased during the same period, the Department of the Interior reported today.

The 6,600,000 acres of commercially valuable forestland under supervision of the Department's Bureau of Indian Affairs have been managed since 1910 on a “sustained yield basis”, designed to balance the cutting of old trees by the growth of new trees in line with highest conservation standards. But surveys recently made show that many inventories and management plans adopted several decades ago are now obsolete and that annual maximum logging figures can be safely raised.

Partly because of these increases in cut limitations and partly because of rises in lumber prices, annual cash receipts from all Indian forests (except the Klamath reservation in Oregon) have soared from $2,500,000 in the calendar year 1948 to approximately $8,500,000 in 1957. (Klamath figures, although substantial, are omitted because they have fluctuated widely in recent years due to special circumstances occasioned by pending termination of Federal trusteeship of the tribe's affairs.)

Comparable figures for recent years are:

Although the totals of timber cut declined in the last two years, because of a slackened demand for lumber, the average price remained high, with the result that cash receipts did not slump so severely. All cash receipts go to the Indian owners except for a 10 percent management charge which the Federal Government makes when it arranges and controls the stumpage sales. The charge covers in whole or in part the costs of timber sales and general forest administration.

Most of the new forest inventories, in which aerial photography plays an important and expensive part, have been financed by the Indian tribes themselves. Since 1953 more than two thirds of the Indians 1 major forests have been resurveyed and the task is continuing. Among inventories which have been completed or are nearing completion are those on the Navajo reservation in New Mexico and Arizona, the Hoopa Valley and Tule River reservations in California, the Fort Apache and San Carlos reservations in Arizona, the Jicarilla in New Mexico, the Northern Cheyenne in Montana, the Klamath and Warm Springs in Oregon, the Yakima and Colville-Spokane in Washington, the Red Lake in Minnesota and the Menominee in Wisconsin. Softwoods or conifers predominate in the Northwest and Southwest, with ponderosa pine being the principal tree harvested. In the Lake states of Wisconsin and Minnesota hardwoods provide the chief product, with oak, maple, birch and beech prevailing.

The value of the new inventories may be seen in the case of the Navajo reservation. Until about four years ago logging operations by the Navajo tribal sawmill had been held to a cut of about 13,000,000 board feet a year because facts then available indicated that this was the maximum allowable under sustained yield management. The new inventory, completed in 1954, indicates that the annual cut may be increased to 34,000,000 feet, and even to 49 million feet for the next few years. Actual experience under such a rate of cutting will demonstrate what modifications, if any, of annual cut may become desirable. Plans for utilizing this increased allowance are being actively developed by the Tribe in consultation with the Bureau.

In addition to voting funds for new inventories, most of the forest-owning tribes have shown increased interest in their valuable resources in other ways as well. Tribal officers now usually take an active part in planning logging and reforestation programs, reviewing proposed contracts, and in the administration of active timber sales. Tribal sawmill enterprises have long been operated by the Menominee Indians in Wisconsin, the Red Lake in Minnesota and the Navajo in the Southwest. A few individual Indians are now operating as loggers or running sawmills of their own. An important factor in the harvesting of Indian timber as carried on today has been the almost complete replacement of the railroad by the heavy-duty logging truck, which permits much greater flexibility in logging operations.

But the two ancient enemies of the forest, fire and infestation or disease, persist. In its battle against the latter the Bureau of Indian Affairs depends largely on the research and experimental activities of the Forestry Service of the Department of Agriculture. In recent years the Bureau, with such assistance, has been combatting the southern pine beetle on the Cherokee Reservation in North Carolina, the walking stick insect on the Menominee reservation, the Black Hills beetle on the Navajo, and the white pine blister rust in the Lake states area. One objective of selective cutting operations is to remove the trees that are most susceptible to insect and disease infestations. All Indian reservations maintain, of course, continuous provisions for the prevention and suppression of forest fires.

Award of a $94,357 contract for construction of a new water supply system and a new sewage disposal system to serve dormitories housing Blackfeet Indian school children at Cut Bank, Montana, was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

The contract will provide two new drilled wells, discharge lines and chlorination system, and a new sewage lagoon-type oxidation system. This will improve the sanitation conditions affecting the dormitories at Cut Bank which house 106 Indian boys and girls who attend the public schools at Browning, six miles away.

The successful bidder was Kalispell Plumbing and Heating, Inc., Kalispell, Montana.

Award of a $35,438 contract for the construction of two bridges on the Menominee Indian Reservation, Shawano County, Wisconsin, was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

The project involves the construction of an 80-foot composite steel I-beam bridge over the Wolf River and an identical structure over the West Branch of the Wolf River. The road which crosses both of these bridges is a school bus route which serves the residents of the West Branch Indian community. The construction of these two bridges will also provide an important route for the hauling of timber products since the two bridges which are being replaced were too light for this type of traffic.

The successful low bidder is Dey's Ready Mix Concrete Company, Shawano, Wisconsin. Seven other bids were received ranging from $42,373.50 to $67,692.50.

Proposed regulations governing the removal of Federal trust restrictions from lands belonging to Indians of the Five Civilized Tribes of eastern Oklahoma, in response to requests from the owners, were announced today by the Department of the Interior.

Regulations covering such removal in cases where there is no 'application from the owner were recently adopted by the Department and published in the Federal Register August 22, 1958.

To a large extent the proposed new rules follow the pattern of those adopted earlier. Under a delegation of authority already made, the initial determinations regarding removal will be made by the Indian Bureau's Area Director for eastern Oklahoma with headquarters at Muskogee.

Under the proposed regulations, the Area Director would be called upon to consider a wide range of factors in making such determinations. These include the Indian applicant’s education, training and experience; his record in making an adequate living for himself and his family; the extent of his assets not covered by trust restrictions and acquired through his own efforts rather than inheritance; his record in using assets or funds coming into his possession; and other similar factors.

he principal effects of an order removing restrictions would be to give the Indian full ownership and control of his property and to end his eligibility for special services provided to him by the Department of the Interior because of his status as an ,Indian. Exceptions on this latter point would be made, however, in cases where the Department determined that termination of services would result in substantial hardship. Any existing exemption from taxation that constitutes a vested property right would continue in effect until it terminates by virtue of its own limitations.

Under the proposed regulations, if an application for removal of restrictions is disapproved by the Area Director or not acted on within 90 days, the applicant would have the right of appeal either to the Secretary or to the county court in his county of residence.

Interested parties are given 30 days after publication of the proposed regulations in the Federal Register to submit their comments to the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Washington 25, D. C.

Award of a $375,000 construction contract that will more than double the capacity of an Indian Bureau school at Cove, Ariz., on the Navajo Reservation was announced today by the Department of the Interior

The project covers construction of a four-classroom building, a kitchen and multipurpose room, a storage and generator room, and expansion of all utilities.

Once completed, it will enlarge the capacity of the Cove Day School from 57 pupils to 120. It is part of the Indian Bureau’s over-all program to make school facilities available for the steadily increasing school-age Indian population.

The successful bidder was Goodman and Sons of Farmington, N. Mex. Ten higher bids were received ranging from $401,854 to $563,553.

Bureau of Indian Affairs today announced changes in two superintendencies in the Pacific Northwest involving the Yakima, Colville and Klamath agencies.

Portland Area Director Don C. Foster said that Floyd H. Phillips, superintendent of the Colville Agency since 1951, i, being transferred to the Yakima Agency to replace Dannie E. LeCrone, who transferred recently to the Phoenix area office. and Elmo Miller will transfer from the Klamath Agency where he has been superintendent since June, 1957. to the Colville Agency to replace Phillips. Martin Zollar will be acting superintendent at Klamath pending designation of a new superintendent for that agency. The changes are effective November 2.

Phillips, a native of Wisconsin and a graduate of the University of Montana in forestry, has been with the Bureau of Indian Affairs since his graduation in 1930. His first position was as a forest ranger on the Klamath reservation in southern Oregon and he moved from there in 1934 to become forest supervisor at the Black Feet Agency at Browning. Montana. where he served until 1939. He served successively as superintendent of the Red Lake (Minnesota) Agency in 1939 and 1940, superintendent of the Taholah (Washington) Agency in 1940 to 1943. regional forester for the forest area from 1943 to 1945, regional forester at Spokane in 1945 and 1946, and regional forester in the Portland Area office 1n 1946 to January 1951, when he became superintendent of the Colville Agency.

Miller's appointment represents a return to the Colville Agency where he served from April, 1951, to January, 1955, as agricultural extension agent. He is a native of Utah and came to the Pacific Northwest after serving with BIA in Alaska as administrative officer at Nome. A graduate of Utah State Agricultural College, he was a farmer and rancher before joining BIA as a field 41de in May. 1941, at the Cheyenne River Agency in South Dakota. He also did agricultural work at Tongue River Agency in Montana. He was at Nome, Alaska, for four years before coming to the Pacific Northwest .8 superintendent of the Northern Idaho Indian, Agency in January, 1955. He became superintendent of the Klamath Agency in June. 1957.

Assistant Secretary - Indian Affairs Forrest J. Gerard said today the Bureau of Indian Affairs plans to have draft regulations for the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1979 ready for comment by January 31, 1979.

The Act, which was passed during the last session of Congress, 1requires that regulations be published within 180 days.

He said when the draft regulations are completed they will be made available to both on and off-reservation Indian people as well as the general public for comment and consultation.

Gerard said that because of the extremely short time frames the BIA issued a request on January 9 for bids from interested Indian organizations to hold a series of public hearings, These will be held during the month of February and will constitute the consultation process for the draft regulations.

There will be a total of 12 hearings throughout the United States in Alaska, the Pacific Northwest, California, Arizona (2 hearings), Montana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Minnesota, the Southeast and the Northeast parts of the U.S. Each contractor: will hold six hearings, and will prepare summaries of the hearings and will submit recommended draft regulations to the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Gerard said the target date for publication of the proposed regulations is mid-March, and there will be the usual period of time for comment. Re said the publication of final regulations by May 1, 1979 will meet the 180 day requirement of the Act.

The Assistant Secretary said it is his judgment that the final regulations, to be published ln May, will be subject to some revision. In the next year or two because of the importance of the legislation.

Re said also some revision may be necessary after the Act is funded and the implementation process begins.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs, in its fiscal year 1980 budget request, has asked Congress for Federal funding of $948,120,000 -- approximately $86.5 million less than the 1979 funding.

Most of the decrease, reflecting the President's anti-inflation concern will be in the new construction of buildings, utilities and roads. For the operation of Indian programs, the Bureau has asked for $792,020,000 -- about $3.3 million less than the 1979 funding.

The 1980 budget request asks for substantial increases for higher education assistance funds, social services, Indian rights protection, real estate and financial trust services and management and administration. Of the $948,120,000 requested $46.2 million is for irrigation system construction; $21.5 million for construction of buildings and utilities; $58.4 million for road construction; and $30 million for payments under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act.

The balance, for the operation of Indian programs, includes $262.1 million for education programs; $207.2 million for Indian services; $77.2 million for economic development and employment programs; $64.7 million for natural resource development; $49.3 for trust responsibilities and $131.5 for general management and facilities operations.

The Bureau's education program includes the operation of 15 dormitories and 210 schools some of them managed by Indian community groups under contracts with the Bureau. The Bureau also provides funding for special programs for 175,000 Indian students attending public schools and it will provide grants in 1980 to approximately 20,000 Indian college students.

The request for Indian services includes an increase of $6.7 million for social services to provide for increased unit costs in general assistance, child welfare assistance and miscellaneous assistance.

The $19.2 million requested for housing programs will provide for the building of approximately 395 new homes and the renovation or enlargement of 2,600 homes. The funding for Self-Determination Services includes $23.7 million for tribal overhead costs associated with P.L. 93-638 (Self-determination Act) contracts.

Of the $77.2 million requested for economic development and employment programs, about $50.2 million is for direct employment programs, institutional vocational training and Indian Action teams. $9.5 million will go to the business enterprise development fund to provide assistance to Indian tribes and individuals.

The request of $64.7 million for natural resource programs will support programs in mineral and energy resources, forestry, agriculture, irrigation project operation and maintenance, water resources, multi-discipline natural resource efforts, and wildlife and parks and fishery operations. The agriculture element of this part of the budget includes responsibilities for soil and moisture conservation and range management.

Another major initiative in FY 1980 is the implementation of the water policy announced by the President in his July 12, 1978 message to the Congress and the public. Among other items, the President called for the Bureau of Indian Affairs to develop a ten-year plan for the review of all Indian water right entitlements. This plan will be developed in 1979, and funds to under­take this review are requested in the 1980 budget. This initiative is expected to resolve many long- standing Indian water rights issues over the next, several years without resort to the expensive, protracted litigation which has characterized these issues in the past.

Strengthening the trust responsibilities role continues to be one of the primary goals of the Bureau. The FY 1980 request of $49.3 million for programs to carry out the Federal trust responsibilities represents an increase of $7.8 million over FY 1979. 1Initiatives for which the increases are requested in 1980 include: $3.0 million for Lease Compliance to provide improved lease and permit compliance to adequately protect the Indian landowner and the Indian trust estate; $0.9 million for Land Records Improvement, essential for the preservation of current chain of title to land held in trust which is a fundamental responsibility in teal property management and $1.0 million for Fish and Game Enforcement, to assure that tribes have the capability, develop scientifically sound fish and game management plans, to enforce compliance with these plans, and to promote better understanding between Indian and non-Indian citizens regarding treaty rights to fish and hunt on reservation or in treaty- covered areas.

Award of a $68,257.15 contract for the construction or a road and bridge on the Bad River Indian Reservation, Ashland County, Wisconsin, was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

The project involves the grading, drainage and surfacing of 4.2 miles of road and the construction of an 80-foot composite steel I-Beam bridge over the Potato River. This will provide a road in the southeastern portion of the Bad River Reservation where only minor trails existed previously and will connect with Wisconsin Highway No. 169 south of Gurney, Wisconsin. When the construction is completed, Ashland County will take over the road for maintenance.

The successful bidder was Frank Brevak, Ashland, Wisconsin, Seven other bids were received ranging from $71,274.00 to $118,822.00.

Award of a $344,435.33 contract for irrigation construction work on the Hogback Unit of the Navajo Indian Reservation near Shiprock, New Mexico, was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

The project covers construction of 14,558 linear feet of main canal with a capacity of 180 cubic feet per second and the subjugation of approximately 1,000 acres of irrigable land. After subjugation, the land will be divided into farm units of about 100 acres each and assigned to Indian trainees who will take a course this year in irrigation farming techniques that is being given by the Navajo tribal organization.

When completed, the Hogback Unit will include 15,000 acres of irrigated land and will provide a livelihood for about 500 Navajo families. The project is now approximately 70 percent complete.

The low and successful bidder was Henry Thygesen and Company, Albuquerque, New Mexico. Ten other higher bids were received ranging from $364,714 to $482,422.73.