OPA

Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay announced the details of a proposed $10,000 program under the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1954 to improve and maintain roads on Indian reservations in 24 states.

To carry out the program, the Department is asking Congress for a supplemental appropriation of $3,900,000 in addition to the amounts of $2,897,000 for Indian road construction and $2,043,000 for Indian road maintenance already appropriated for the fiscal year 1955. Contract authority in the amount of $1,160,000, provided by the Federal Aid Highway Act, would be used to round out the $10,000,000 program.

A substantial portion of these funds will be used to meet payments for contracts to be awarded to private contracting firms under competitive bidding.

The proposed program provides for grading and draining 463.8 miles of reservation roads, surfacing 436 miles, and constructing 2,594 running feet of bridges. Most of the work will be on reservations in the western states. Projects are included, however, for the Seminole reservation in Florida, the Choctaw reservation in Mississippi, the Cherokee reservation in North Carolina, and the Chippewa, Potawatomi, and Menominee reservations in Minnesota and Wisconsin.

One of the major objectives of the program will be to bring reservation roads up to acceptable standards so that they can be turned over to the counties for maintenance. Federal responsibility for constructing Indian roads is based primarily on the tax-exempt status of Indian trust lands. However, since most of the county road maintenance funds are derived from gasoline taxes and motor vehicle license fees, which Indians pay the same as other citizens, the counties are generally willing to assume maintenance of these roads after they have been improved by the Federal Government. More than 1,000 miles of reservation roads have been transferred to the counties for maintenance in the past few years.

Another important aim of the program is to promote more widespread economic and social progress and greater self-sufficiency among the Indian people. Construction of all-weather roads on the reservations will help in the marketing of Indian agricultural and livestock products, in the protection of Indian forests and the harvesting of timber, and in the development of mineral resources such as coal, uranium, fertilizer, and oil. In some areas, such as the Southwest, improvement of reservation roads will also play an important part in the Indian Bureau’s intensive drive to provide schooling for all Indian children at the earliest possible date.

To make all roads and trails improvements needed on Indian reservations, the Bureau of Indian Affairs estimates that $134,000,000 will be required. The Federal Aid Highway Act of 1954 authorized $10,000,000 for Indian road construction and maintenance for the 1955 fiscal year and a like amount for the fiscal years 1956 and 1957. This is a considerable increase in the Bureau’s road program which has ranged from $3,000,000 to $6,000,000 in the postwar years.

The Bureau is currently responsible for maintaining about 15,000 miles of primary and secondary roads and approximately 4,000 miles of truck trails serving reservations or other Indian areas.

Following are the allocations of funds proposed for each of the Bureau’s administrative areas together with the more important projects contemplated under the 1955 fiscal program.

The Aberdeen Area, which covers North and South Dakota and Nebraska, will be allocated $900,000 for rad improvements. Among the more important improvements are the Shelby Bus road and the Harrison Creek road on the Crow Creek reservation in South Dakota - $91,700. On the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota improvements will be made to the American Horse Creek road, Agency streets, the Porcupine-Wounded Knee road, the Porcupine-Sharps Store road, and the Eagle Nest-Wanblee Kyle Road in the amount of $311,600. The St. Francis Spring Creek road on the Rosebud reservation is being allocated $115,800. Improvements to the Veblen South road on the Sisseton reservation will cost $71,100. The Grand River road on the Standing Rock reservation in North Dakota will be allocated $119,100. On the Turtle Mountain reservation in North Dakota $55,500 will be allocated to the improvement of the Gordon Lake road and the Belcourt South road. The Santee-Howe Creek road on the Santee reservation in Nebraska will be allocated $30,500; and the Cherry Creek road on the Cheyenne River reservation in South Dakota will be allocated $104,900.

An allocation of $400,000 is being made for road construction work on the reservations in New Mexico and Colorado under jurisdiction of the former Albuquerque Area Office. Project allocations include $59,300 for the road and the Strain road on the Consolidated Ute reservation in Colorado, and in New Mexico $62,000 for the Las Norias road on the Jicarilla reservation, $64,000 for improvements on the Elk Silver road on the Mescalero reservation, $100,400 for road improvements on the San Felipe, Teseque, and Taos Pueblos, and $100,000 for the Zuni West road on the Zuni reservation.

The Anadarko Area, covering reservations in Western Oklahoma, will be allocated $195,605. This will cover improvements on the Calumet road, Canton road, the Fort Cobb River road, Spring Creek road, and the Watchhorn road. These improvements are on the Cheyenne and Arapaho Kiowa, and Pawnee Indian reservations.

An allocation of $450,000 is being made to the Billings Area which covers reservations in Montana and Wyoming. Among the projects are the Heart Butte Short Cut road on the Blackfeet reservation - $62,500; Little Horn Feeler roads on the Crow reservation - $68,500; the Agency Hays Road on the Fort Belknap reservation - $66,500; the Laredo road on the Rocky Boy’s reservation - $26,000; the Wiota School roads and Box Elder-Fort Kipp road on the Fort Peck reservation - $93,800; and the Fort Washakie-Arapaho road on the Wind River reservation in Wyoming - $68,600.

An allocation of $400,000 is being made to the Minneapolis Area which covers reservations in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, and North Carolina. Among the projects are the Old South Brench and Old Stockbridge roads on the Menominee reservation in Wisconsin - $78,450; the Redby Ponensh road on the Red Lake reservation in Minnesota - $64,000; the Big Cove and Bunchess Creek roads on the Cherokee reservation in North Carolina - $67,000; the Mineral Center-Grand Portage road on the Grand Portage reservation in Minnesota - $34,000; the Mission road and Shady Rest road on the Leech Lake reservation in Minnesota - $36,000; the Reserve-Hayward road on the Lac Courte Oreilles reservation in Wisconsin - $36,250; the Wilson-Hannaville road in Upper Michigan - $32,000; the Herman road on the L’Anse reservation in Michigan - $20,540.

An allocation of $300,000 will be made to the Muskogee Area, covering eastern Oklahoma, Mississippi and Florida. Project allocations include $109,00 to the Choctaw agency for improvements to the Pearl River-Necie and Community Loop roads in Mississippi; $151,000 to the Five Tribes agency in Eastern Oklahoma for improvements to the Milan, Dry Creek, Chewey-Chance, and Marble City roads; $47,000 to the Seminole agency in Florida for improvements on the Devils Garden road on the Big Cypress reservation, the Indian Prairie bridge on the Brighton reservation, and the Agency Reserve road on the Dania reservation.

An allocation of $999,395 will made to the Phoenix Area which covers reservations, not including Navajo, in Arizona, Nevada, and Utah. Among the projects are the Valley Farm roads on the Colorado River reservation - $191,000; the Supai Canyon road on the Hualapai reservation - $35,000; the Cibeque White River on the Fort Apache reservation - $60,000; the Wadsworth-Nixon road on the Pyramid Lake reservation in Nevada - $97,500; the Covered Wells-Chuichu road on the Papago reservation in Arizona - $206,700; the Maricopa Colony and Post roads on the Gila River reservation in Arizona - $90,700; the San Carlos-Peridot road on the San Carlos reservation in Arizona - $49,000; and the White Rocks road on the Uintah and Ouray reservation in Utah - $83,000.

An allocation of $850,000 will be made to the Portland Area, covering reservations in the States of Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. Among the projects to be built are the Joe Moses Creek, Park City, and Silver Creek roads on the Colville reservation in Washington - $118,215; the Ford-Willpint road on the Spokane reservation in Washington - $100,000; the Shoeship-Curl-Kanine roads on the Umatilla reservation in Oregon - $40,000; the Worley-State Line road on the Coeur D’Alene reservation in Idaho - $50,000; the Sheepskin-Niwo-Lodge-Poog-Pauguitch-Silver roads on the Fort Hall reservation in Idaho - $81,625; the Lam-Codowa-Yellow Jack Spring Creek roads on the Klamath reservation in Oregon - $80,000; the Clallam Bay-Neah Bay road on the Makah reservation in Washington - $33,00; the Tahola Village Streets on the Quinault reservation in Washington - $203,000; and the Agency and Simnasho-He He roads on the Warm Springs reservation in Oregon - $101,610.

An allocation of $600,000 will be made to the Sacramento Area, covering reservations and rancherias in the State of California. Agreements have already been concluded between California counties and the Indian Bureau to take over all roads which the Indian Bureau improves. The projects include the improvement of 5.6 miles on Indian roads in Mendocino County - $75,900; Indian roads in Placer county, .8 miles - $12,000; Del Norte County Indian roads, 4.3 miles - $72,900; Indian roads in Humboldt County, which includes the Hoopa Valley reservation, 13.35 miles - $153,000; Indian roads in Inyo County, 5.0 miles -$98,800; Riverside County Indian roads, 4.0 miles - $58,300; and Sonoma County Indian roads, 1.8 miles - $38,800.

An allocation of $2,065,000 will be made to the Gallup Area to complete roads on the Navajo reservation under the long range rehabilitation program. Projects include the St. Michaels-Sawmill Junction road, 6.6 miles - $278,000; St. Michaels bridge - $15,000; the Ganado Wash bridge - $33,000; road to Ganado, 1.3 miles - $45,000; the Holbrook Junction-Keams Canyon road, 12.8 miles - $485,000; the Dinnebito Wash Bridge - $129,000; the Hamblin Wash bridge - $108,000; the Tuba City to U.S. Highway 89 road, 11 miles - $387,000; the Tuba City airstrip - $15,000; the Kayenta airstrip - $15,000; the Shiprock-Mexican Water road, 10 miles -$270,000; the Shiprock Wash bridge - $185,000; surveys and plans - $100,000.

An allocation of $535,000 is being made to the Phoenix Area for the following projects on the Hopi reservation: The Old Oraibi to Bacabi road, 3.1 miles - $199,000; the Bacabi to Dinnebito Wash road, 5.2 miles - $176,000; the Polacca Wash Bridge - $125,000; surveys and plans - $36,000.

Extinguishment of all past Narragansett Indian claims in the State of Rhode Island was announced by the Interior Department today following publication in the Federal Register of findings by Interior Secretary Cecil Andrus that the State legislature had enacted the necessary enabling legislation.

Under terms of the Rhode Island Indian Claims Settlement Act, the Narragansett Indians will receive 1800 acres of land in Charlestown, Rhode Island, in return for the relinquishment of all their land claims.

The Act, which President Carter signed into law on September 30, 1978, implements a settlement negotiated by the Narragansett Indians, the State of Rhode Island, private landowners and the town council.

"The parties to this settlement are to be congratulated," said Secretary Andrus. "Governor J. Joseph Garrahy, the Narragansett leaders, the Rhode Island General Assembly, the state's congressional delegation, the town council and private landowners can all feel justifiably proud of their work. Through their patience, leadership and commitment, they have achieved something which has so far escaped other affected eastern seaboard states--the out of court settlement of an Indian land claim.”

The Indians filed suit in 1975 for 3200 acres of land in Charlestown which it claimed had passed out of tribal ownership in 1880 in violation of the Trade and Intercourse Act of 1790. That law says that conveyances of Indian land are invalid unless approved by the Federal government.

The pending suit clouded title to land in the town, even land not involved in the Narragansett claims. Lengthy negotiations produced an agreement whereby an Indian-controlled corporation would get 900 acres of land from the state and would buy another 900 acres in private ownership with $3.5 million the Federal government would provide. In return, the agreement authorized the extinguishment of all Narragansett claims in Rhode Island.

The Settlement Act required legislation by the Rhode Island General Assembly to set up the corporation and to authorize the transfer of 900 acres of state­ owned land to the corporation.

Governor J. Joseph Garrahy signed the implementing legislation on May 10

The Crow Indians are the first Indian Tribe to receive advanced funding to plan abandoned coal mine reclamation, Secretary of the Interior Cecil D. Andrus announced today.

The Tribe will get $156,545 to help prepare its reclamation program. The funding became available with the signing of the cooperative agreement between the Tribe and Interior's Office of Surface Mining (OSM).

"Our authorization for the expenditure of these funds under Title IV of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 is consistent with previous advance funding to coal-producing States," said Andrus. "In the State advance funding program, we have been able to give each State needed funds to plan its reclamation program with the signing of a cooperative agreement.”

The Crow Tribe's Division of Natural Resources, which has been designated as the responsible agency to govern the use of the funds, will use the money to compile a general description of the reclamation activities ultimately to be conducted with money from the fund.

The funding will help the Tribe identify those lands, rivers, lakes, streams and water tables that were adversely affected by past missing practices and have not been fully reclaimed. The crow reservation is in Southern Montana.

The Tribe's agency will also provide OSM with descriptions of problem areas and how the proposed reclamation relates to land use planning, as well as detailed information on the economic, social and environmental conditions that prevail in the Tribe's abandoned mine lands.

This information, in addition to assisting the Tribe, will help OSM develop a national priority reclamation program, and assist the Soil Conservation Service of the Departmental of Agriculture to develop its Rural Abandoned Mine Program.

Funding for the abandoned mine land programs comes from fees paid by active coal mining operators in the Nation. They pay 35 cents a ton for coal that is surface mined; 15 cents a ton for deep-mined coal, and 10 cents a ton for lignite. Half of these fees are returned to the State or Indian Tribe once they have approved regulatory and reclamation programs.

Since October 1, 1977, when the fee collection system began, coal producers on Crow lands have paid over $2 million into the abandoned mine lands fund -through July 30, 1979 -making the Tribe eligible for over $1 million once it has OSM-approved regulatory and reclamation programs.

In addition to the Crow Tribe, 13 States have received advance planning funds for their reclamation programs. The States are Arkansas, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Missouri, Montana, New Mexico, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia. Over $2.5 million has been allocated to these States and the Crow Tribe for program development.

Interior Solicitor Leo M. Krulitz announced today he will not ask the Justice Departn1ent to go to court on behalf of the Shinnecock Indians who are seeking restoration of 3,150 acres in the Town of Southampton, New York, which they claim is their aboriginal territory most in violation of federal law.

The Shinnecocks asked the Interior Department to help them recover the land, occupied by them since the early 17th Century and secured to them for a period of 1000 years in a 1703 lease from the Town of Southampton. In 1859 the New York legislature authorized the Town to negotiate with the Shinnecocks for the relinquishment of the land. The Shinnecocks gave up the land in return for a small reservation.

The Shinnecocks argue that since the federal government was neither involved in nor consented to the transactions in which the land was lost, the transactions are void under the Non-Intercourse Act of 1790.

In a letter to the Native American Rights Fund, which is representing the Shinnecocks, Krulitz explained that there has been no formal determination by the federal government that the Shinnecocks constitute an Indian tribe. Until there is, he said, the Interior Department cannot acknowledge a trust relationship with them under the Won-Intercourse Act. In addition, Krulitz said, there remains a serious question as to whether the Shinnecocks had an interest In land protected by the Non-lntercourse Act.

The Solicitor said that nothing in his decision prevents the Shinnecocks from pursuing a suit on their own, or from continuing to pursue acknowledgement as an Indian tribe with the Bureau of lndian Affairs.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Glenn L. Emmons will be in a Portland March 4 and 5 for a meeting arranged by an unofficial committee of the American Bankers Association with trust officers of several banks in the Pacific Northwest region, the Department of the Interior announced today. The meeting will be concerned with problems involved in protecting the assets of Klamath Indians who are minors or otherwise not capable of managing their affairs after the termination of Federal trusteeship which is provided for in Public Law 587.

The committee which arranged the meeting consists of three members who will themselves be in attendance. It was appointed by the President of the American Bankers Association at the 1954 annual Trust Conference in New York the request of Commissioner Emmons, to advise and assist the Bureau of Indian Affairs on Indian trust problems.

Chairman of the committee is Edwin P. Neilan, President of the Equitable Security Trust Co., Washington, Del. The other members are John W. Remington, President of the Lincoln Rochester Trust Co., Rochester, N.Y., and Richard G. Stockton, chairman of the executive committee, Wachovia Bank and Trust Co., Winston-Salem, No. Car.

The major topic for discussion centers around Section 15 of the Klamath Termination Act of 1954 which provides that “prior to the transfer of title to, or the removal of restrictions from, property in accordance with the provisions of this Act, the Secretary shall protect the rights of the members of the tribe who are minors, non compos mentis, or in the opinion of the Secretary in need of assistance in conduction their affairs, by causing the appointment of guardians for such members in courts of competent jurisdiction, or by such other means as he may deem adequate.”

The discussions will be concerned chiefly with the practicability and desirability of establishing private trust arrangements as one means of safeguarding the property of Klamath tribal members in the categories mentioned.

Commissioner Emmons will be accompanied by the Indian Bureau’s Legislative Associate Commissioner, H. Rex. Lee, and by Assistant Commissioner Thomas M. Reid.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs has named new superintendents for the Blackfeet Agency in Montana and the Uintah/Ouray Agency in Utah, Acting Deputy Commissioner Sidney Mills announced today.

Michael A. Fairbanks, superintendent at the Michigan Agency, Sault Ste Marie, Michigan, will be the new agency head at the 950,000 acre Blackfeet Reservation headquartered at Browning, Montana. Fairbanks, age 43, an enrolled member of the Red Lake Band of Chippewas, attended Bemidji State and North Dakota State majoring in social sciences.

His prior BIA service included tours at Red Lake, Minneapolis, Great Lakes and Western Nevada in criminal investigation and tribal operations.

Fairbanks replaces Anson Baker who was appointed Billings Area Director in April. The Blackfeet Tribe was settled on the present reservation in Glacier and Pondera Counties in Montana in 1888 and is organized under the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934;

The new superintendent at the Uintah/Ouray Agency is Lavern W. Collier, age 34, Cherokee Tribe of Oklahoma, who holds a BA degree in public and business administration from Northeastern State University and is a graduate of the Oklahoma Military Academy. Collier, a former United States Marine Corps officer, has prior BIA service in the Joint-Use Administrative Office, Flagstaff, Ariz., Uintah and Ouray Agency, the Office of the Commissioner, Washington, D.C., and the Phoenix, Ariz. Area office in planning, tribal operations and special projects. Collier replaces William Ragsdale who has been appointed Assistant Area Director for Economic Development in the Phoenix Area Office.

The Ute tribal headquarters is at Ft. Duchesne for the 1 million acre Uintah and Ouray Reservation which was established in 1863 and federally chartered under the Indian Reorganization Act of June 18, 1934.

Jon C. Wade, an enrolled member of the Santee Sioux Tribe, has been appointed President of the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) at Santa Fe, New Mexico, Acting Deputy Commissioner of Indian Affairs Sidney Mills announced today.

Wade has been director of the Division of Education Assistance for the Bureau of Indian Affairs since 1975. He had previously been Superintendent of the Phoenix Indian School and educational assistance officer for the BIA's Aberdeen, South Dakota area office.

The art institute, started in 1962, is a post-secondary school serving Indians from all tribes.

Wade, 40, completed/course requirements for a Ph.D. in Educational Administration at the University of Minnesota in 1971. He received a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics at Northern State College, South Dakota and a Master of Arts from the University of South Dakota.

Wade was a member of the Special Education Subcommittee of the National Council on Indian Opportunity and from 1964 to 1966 served as Vice Chairman of the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe.

W. Richard West, a Cheyenne artist, sculptor, and educator from Oklahoma, has been appointed a Commissioner of the Indian Arts-and Crafts Board, Secretary of the Interior Ceci1 D • Andrus announced today.

West's art work is in many major museum and private collections, and he has received numerous awards including the Waite Phillips Trophy presented by the Philbrook Art Center. From 1947 to 1970 he was director of the Art Department of' Bacone College, and then until 1978 he served as chairman or the Humanities Division at Haskell Indian Junior College. He

ho1ds B.F.A. and M.F.A. degrees from the University of' Ok1ab.oma, and an honorary D.F.A. from Baker University.

The Indian Arts and Crafts Board promotes the development of Native American arts and handcrafts-the creative work of Indian, Eskimo, and Aleut people. The Board provides professional advisory services and operates three museums located in Browning, Montana; .Anadarko, Oklahoma; and Rapid City, South Dakota, which function as centers for exhibition study and the sale of contemporary Native .American arts and crafts.

Other Commissioners of the Indian Arts and Craft’s Board are Lloyd Kiva New past president of' the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico; Royal B. Hassrick, author and anthropologist William H. Crowe designer-craftsman in wood; and Gerald J. Gray, bilingual-bicultural education specialist.

A move to provide better governmental services to Alaska Natives by the Bureau of Indian Affairs begins on September 24, 1979. Assistant Secretary of Interior for Indian Affairs Forrest Gerard today announced that Price, Waterhouse and Company, a well-known consulting and accounting/firm with Alaska experience, will review the BIA area office in Juneau.

The study is part of Gerard's management improvement program to streamline and restructure the Bureau offices to serve Indian people in an effective and efficient manner.

The Price, Waterhouse team will study the organization of the office, staffing patterns and check the location of the offices with the goal of improvement of the organization.

The study is expected to be completed for review by Alaska Natives in January, 1980. After a 30-day review period, comments will be incorporated into the final report.

The contract for the study was awarded to Price, Waterhouse and Company through a competitive bidding process. The Company was one of nine firms to respond to the BIA's request for a proposal.

Awarding of a $40,880 contract to Erhardt Dahl Andersen of Pocatello, Idaho, for preliminary construction work on the Michaud Unit of the Fort Hall (Idaho) Indian Irrigation Project was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

The contract covers construction of a concrete block warehouse, approximately 40 by 80 feet, and the drilling and installation of a domestic well at the Portneuf River Pumping Station about eight miles northwest of Pocatello. The warehouse will be used to house equipment and personnel during the construction phase of the project and will be available, after construction, for operation and maintenance purposes.

The Michaud Unit, designed to provide irrigation for about 21,000 acres on the Fort Hall Indian Reservation, was first authorized by Congress in 1931 and reauthorized in 1954. Funds were provided in 1956 for beginning construction work in the present fiscal year. Estimated cost of the total project is $5,500,000 to be spent over a period of five years.

Seven bids were received for the warehouse construction and well drilling contract ranging from the Andersen bid of $40,880 to a high of $56,671.54.