OPA

Award of a $465,056 contract for construction of a 90-foot bridge and for grading, draining, and asphalt paving about 19 miles of a north-south road through the Colorado River Indian Reservation in Arizona was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

The road to be improved connects State Route 72 at Parker, Arizona and U. S. lute 60-70 near Ehrenberg, Arizona. When completed, it will serve as an outlet for population along the route to either termini and will save considerable mileage for motorists between Blythe, California and Parker, Arizona.

The successful bidder was W. R. Skousen, Mesa, Arizona. Fifteen other bids were received ranging to a high of $672,000.

Award of a $46,458 contract for construction of a temporary movable school on the Navajo Indian Reservation at Inscription House, Arizona, was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

The school, designed to accommodate 60 pupils, is intended to test whether the Inscription House location, 130 miles northeast of Flagstaff, will have sufficient school population to warrant the installation of permanent school facilities later. The temporary facilities will include eight units of the house trailer type, four metal buildings, four gas storage tanks, gravel roads, concrete work, and utility services.

The successful bidder was Taylor and Medley Construction Company, Albuquerque, N. Mex. Six higher bids were received ranging from $62,913 to $79,870.

The Department of the Interior announced today that Thomas H. Dodge, superintendent for the past seven years at San Carlos Indian Agency, San Carlos, Ariz., will transfer on November 26 to Pawhuska, Oklahoma, where he will serve as superintendent of the Osage Agency, replacing Russell G. Fister.

Mr. Fister has retired, effective December 31, after 32 years of service with the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Mr. Dodge, who first joined the Indian Bureau in 1935, is a son of the famed Navajo Indian leader, the late Chee Dodge, and was himself chairman of the Navajo Tribal Council from 1933 to 1935. Before moving to San Carlos in 1951, he served for five years as superintendent of the Truxton Canyon Agency, Valentine, Ariz.

From 1941 to 1946 he was a district supervisor on the Navajo Reservation and during this same period served as secretary of the Selective Service Board of San Juan County, N. Mex. His first position with the Bureau was as legal adviser and assistant to the superintendent of the Navajo Agency from 1935 to 1939. For two years thereafter he was out of Government service engaged in reorganizing his father's extensive sheep and cattle operations.

Born on the Navajo Reservation in 1900, Mr. Dodge holds a law degree from St. Louis University, St. Louis, Mo. Before assuming the chairmanship of the Navajo Tribal Council in 1933, he spent several years in private law practice at Santa Fe, N. Mex.

The successor to Mr. Dodge as superintendent at San Carlos Agency has not yet been named.

Acting Secretary of the Interior Elmer Bennett announced today the approval of regulations governing the filing of claims by persons incurring expenses as the result of moving from lands acquired for Department projects.

The new regulations are issued pursuant to Public Law 85-433, approved May 29, 1958, which authorizes the reimbursement of owners or tenants of lands acquired for developments under the Department’s jurisdiction for moving or other losses and damages incurred as a direct result of such moving. Previously, in land acquisitions, the Department could pay only the value of the realty itself.

Under the law, payment may be made for acquisitions consummated since July 14, 1952. However, these claims must be filed within one year from the date of the Act or by May 29, 1959.

Claims for reimbursement may be filed at any office of the bureau responsible for acquisition of the lands or at the Department of the Interior, Washington, D.C.

A prescribed form of application for claim is being prepared and will be issued shortly. For the purposes of meeting the time limitation imposed by the Act, the landowner or tenant may file a statement giving his name and address, the approximate location of the land acquired, the time of acquisition, and the name of the Department bureau which acquired the land. The prescribed form will then be furnished the applicant, together with a detailed statement as to what expenses and damages may be included in his claim.

The text of the new regulations, to be published in the Federal Register this week, is attached.

UNITED STATES

PART 10-LAND ACQUISITION: PAYMENT OF MOVING EXPENSES

A new part is added to Title 43, Subtitle A, reading as follows:

AUTHORITY: Sections 10,1 to 10.5 issued pursuant to Sec. 2, 72 Stat. 152.

Sec, 10.1 Purpose. The purpose of this part is to set forth generally the places where persons eligible may file a claim or claims for certain expenses, other losses, and damages incurred by them as a direct result of moving from lands acquired by the secretary of the Interior for the construction, operation or maintenance of developments under his jurisdiction. Claims may be filed in connection with any such lands acquired since July 14, 1952, and for future acquisitions all subject to the terms and limitations of the Act of May 29, 1958, (72 Stat, 152) and the provisions of this Part.

Sec. 10.2 Who may file. Any landowner whose land has been acquired for a purpose determined by the Secretary to be for the construction, operation, or maintenance of a development under his jurisdiction, and which acquisition has been consummated since July 14, 1952, and because of such acquisition moved himself, his family or his possessions, may file a claim at one of the offices included in Sec. 10.3 hereof. Also, a tenant of any such landowner, who, under proper authority, used or occupied such lands, and because of such acquisition since July 14, 1952, moved himself, his family or his possessions, may file his claim in any of the offices in Sec. 10.3 hereof.

Sec. 10.3 Place for filing. Claims for reimbursement may be filed at any office of the bureau responsible for the acquisition of the lands, including claims after July 14, 1952, or such claims may be filed at the Department of the Interior, Washington 25, D. C.

Sec. 10.4 Form of application for claim. A prescribed form of application for claim currently is being prepared and will be issued by the Department of the Interior. For the purposes of meeting the time limitation imposed by the Act, the landowner or tenant need only file in writing a statement at the p1aoes mentioned in Sec. 10.3 hereof giving his name and address, the approximate location of the land acquired, the time of acquisition, and the name of the Interior bureau which acquired the land. Thereafter, the prescribed form will be furnished the applicant together with a detailed statement as to what expenses and damages may be included in his claim.

Sec. 10.5 Time for filing. Any person who may file a claim must apply to any of the offices in Sec. 10.3 hereof within one year from the date of the acquisition, and as to acquisitions prior to May 29, 1958, and subsequent to July 14, 1952, such application must be received by one of the offices in Sec. 10.3 hereof prior to May 29, 1959.

The Act contains a time limitation on filing application for payment. Notice and publication procedure on the regulations implementing this legislation have not been observed in order to permit additional time for the filing of claims arising from acquisitions prior to the enactment of the legislation. These regulations shall become effective upon publication in the Federal Register.

The San Carlos Apache Tribe has the exclusive rights to manage and develop all recreational facilities, wildlife and fisheries within the San Carlos Reservoir Site, Assistant Secretary Forrest J. Gerard announced today. The Reservoir lies entirely within the exterior boundaries of the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation and is formed by Coolidge Dam on the Gila River, near Globe, Arizona.

The announcement follows Gerard's January 11 approval of a renewal of the Tribe's Grant of Concession Agreement with the Department of the Interior for the operation of all San Carlos Reservoir Site concessions. In approving the Agreement renewal, the Assistant Secretary emphasized that "the Tribe, in implementing the Agreement, will exercise their jurisdictional powers of self-government: and will manage their own affairs."

"Comprehensive management of these resources will be enhanced

by a single governmental manager system - and the Tribe has a good track record covering the ten year period of the 1968 Agreement," stated Gerard. The Tribe has agreed that charges collected from resource users "shall be reasonable and schedules shall be posted in at least two conspicuous places on the premises."

Over the past ten years, the San Carlos Apache Tribe has been the only water user to actively accommodate the thousands of visitors attracted yearly to this prime scenic site, which is widely known as the best bass-breeding spot in Arizona. Gerard stated that the Bureau of Indian Affairs will provide "all necessary assistance to assure success of the resource management system, and to assure that the rights of all user groups are respected."

The Bureau of Indian Affairs is publishing in the Federal Register a list of 278 Indian tribal entities which are recognized and receiving services from the BIA.

The list includes all Indian tribes, bands, villages, groups and pueblos --except those in the State of Alaska --acknowledged by the Secretary of the Interior to have a political relationship with the United States.

The Federal Register notice states that "the United States recognizes its trust responsibility to these Indian entities and, therefore, acknowledges their eligibility for programs administered by the Bureau of Indian Affairs."

The list of eligible Alaskan entities some 200 village and tribal groups will be published at a later date.

California, with 81 tribal entities listed, has the greatest number of tribal groups. Oklahoma has .36 entries; Washington, 25; New Mexico, Arizona, 20; and Nevada, 18. Regulations setting forth procedures for the Federal recognition of Indian tribal groups require the annual publication of a list of the Indian tribes which are recognized and receiving services from the BIA.

Interior Solicitor Leo M. Krulitz has ruled that the State of New Mexico has no authority to tax royalties paid to the .Jicarilla Apache Tribe for and gas production from tribal lands.

The tribe asked for a decision on the question following a 1977 Solicitor's Opinion which said that the State of Montana lacked authority to tax oil and gas leasing royalties paid the Sioux and Assiniboine Tribes of the Fort Reservation. After that opinion was issued, the Jicarilla Apaches stopped paying royalty taxes to the State of New Mexico. (Taxes on tribal royalties amounted to $116,452 in fiscal 1976, the last full year for which the tribe paid the taxes.)

Krulitz said the 1977 opinion applies equally to reservations created by treaty with Indian tribes, such as Fort Peck, and to reservations created by Executive Order of the President, such as the Jicarilla Apache Reservation. The effect of the expanded ruling is to deny the authority of states to tax tribal royalties from any mineral leases issued under the 1938 Indian Mineral Leasing Act on United States Indian reservations. Krulitz said the exemption applies to lease royalties from coal and other minerals as well as from oil and gas.

The 1938 Act replaced a patchwork of leasing authorities for Indian lands dating back to 1891. Some dealt only with treaty reservations, others only with executive order reservations and some contained state taxing authority.

"It is clear that states cannot tax trust property, reservation Indians or Indian tribes unless Congress has consented," said the Solicitor in the 1977 opinion, noting that the 1938 Act contained no such consent. A 1924 act dealing with mineral leasing on treaty reservations did authorize states to tax mineral production from leases on tribal lands. A 1927 statute authorizing mineral leasing on the tribal lands of reservations created by executive order contained a similar state taxing provisions.

"The 1938 Act replaced the earlier leasing statutes; it did not complement or incorporate them," said Krulitz. "The 1938 Act contained no authorization for state tax provisions nor did it refer to the taxing provisions of the earlier statutes."

While Krulitz said the amended opinion is applicable to other minerals, reservations and states, he cautioned that each case world have to be examined separately. For example, special legislation governs the mineral leases of the so-called Five Civilized Tribes and the Osage Tribe in Oklahoma.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs is now examining leases on tribal lands to see which states are collecting taxes on tribal royalty income.

A plan for the distribution and use, of more than $9 million awarded by the Indian Claims Commission to the Lake Superior and Mississippi Bands of Chippewa Indians is being published in the Federal Register, the Bureau of Indian Affairs announced today. The award is additional compensation for land in Wisconsin and Minnesota ceded by the Indians in 1837 and 1847.

According to the plan, approved by Congress and made effective February 1, Indians from 14 reservation groups in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan will share in the award. They are descendants of the Lake Superior and Mississippi Chippewas involved in the 1837 and 1847 treaties.

Division of the award among the various beneficiary groups will be based on a historic population formula, using census and annuity rolls for the period 1937 to 1941.

The reservation groups that have adopted plans for the use of their shares will distribute 80 percent to individuals on a per capita basis. The remaining 20 percent will be invested and programmed for tribal and community purposes.

The shares of those groups that have not adopted a utilization plan will be held and invested by the Secretary of the Interior until proposals are adopted.

Acting Secretary of the Interior Elmer F. Bennett today announced the Code of Federal Regulations has been amended to guarantee that Indian tribes will receive adequate offers for mineral leases on their lands.

The amendment provides greater uniformity in regulating the leasing of Indian lands for the mining of minerals other than oil and gas. It also furnishes a safeguard patterned after that which applies to oil and gas leases. The latter are required by law to be advertised, not negotiated.

The amendment, to Section 171.2 of Title 25 CFR, was first published in the Federal Register on July 10, 1958. It now becomes effective upon republication.

The old regulation permitted tribes to negotiate leases of tribal lands for mining of minerals other than gas and oil, without advertising for bids. The new regulation specifies advertising must precede issuance of such a lease, except under unusual conditions which are covered by a provision authorizing the Commissioner of Indian Affairs to grant written permission to negotiate a lease.

The amendment will protect tribes from inadvertently letting their land be leased via negotiation for much less than it could bring after advertising.

The regulations permit the granting of prospecting permits with preferential right to a lease. This protects a prospective miner who otherwise} after expensive exploration of Indian tribal land, would then be forced to compete for a development lease against others who might capitalize on his exploration investment.

The change brings the regulation into conformity with another which controls mineral leases of land owned ,not by tribes, but by individual Indians under Government supervision.

Indian educators will be meeting February 28 to March 2 in Denver, Colo., to review draft regulations required for implementation of Indian sections of the Education Amendments Act of 1978. Title XI of the Act, dealing with Indian education, has a June 27 deadline for publication of some final regulations.

Rick Lavis, Interior Deputy Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs, said that the steering committee, responsible for implementing Title XI, will also be reporting on the status of task force projects and schedule of future actions.

Title XI mandated major changes in the administration and organization of Indian education programs. It stressed control of these programs at the local level by the Indian community.

The steering committee, which includes tribal education committee members and school board members as well as education administrators and staff, has twelve task forces dealing with such matters as school boards, education personnel, funding formulas, education policies and student rights. There is also a group working on the implementation of the Tribally Controlled Community College Assistance Act of 1978.