OPA

Morris Thompson, 34, Athabascan Indian and native of the State of Alaska, was sworn in yesterday as Commissioner of Indian Affairs by Secretary of the Interior Rogers C.B. Morton to become the 41st and youngest Commissioner of the 141-year-old B1U'eau of Indian Affairs

"Of all the people I have talked with about the complexity and challenge and role that we have in the Department of the Interior regarding American Indians, Morris Thompson has had the most universal grasp," said Secretary Morton as he introduced the new Commissioner of Indian Affairs to a Department of the Interior auditorium filled with Bureau of Indian Affairs employees, the Alaska and other Congressional delegates, friends of the new Commissioner from Alaska and elsewhere and officials of the Department of the Interior.

He also pointed to Thompson's record in administering the complex facets of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, which will put one-twelfth of the State of Alaska in the hands of Alaska Natives beginning early in 1974.

After taking the oath of office, Thompson said "I accept this responsibility only because of the faith and confidence I have in this Administration, this Congress, and the many dedicated employees of the Bureau and most of all my faith and confidence in the Indian people of America."

He continued: "We have" just endured some the stormiest months ever in Indian Affairs. One positive result of this, however, is that this country now has a new awareness of Indian needs. With the positive actions being taken by this Administration and this Congress, and the emergence of strong Indian leadership both at the local and national levels, the climate is right for truly meaningful progress."

Thompson paid particular respects to Marvin L. Franklin, Assistant to the Secretary of the Interior whom Morton pointed out had taken the administrative control in the absence of a Commissioner of Indian Affairs. "Mr. Franklin agreed to accept this post and the reins of the Bureau at probably the most difficult period in Indian affairs history. During this time, he had the ability to see through the many distractions and helped the Bureau re-focus its attention on its primary mission --meeting its trust responsibilities and providing services to Indians."

Secretary of the Interior Rogers C.B. Morton earlier paid tribute to tribal leaders for their contribution to solutions for Indian problems.

Thompson was born in Tanana, Alaska, September 11, 1939. On March 1, 1971, he was named by then Commissioner of Indian Affairs Louis R. Bruce as the Alaska Area Director of the Bureau. Thompson was the first Alaska Native to be Alaska Area Director and was the youngest man ever to be named to a BIA Area Director post.

Prior to his Alaska assignment, Thompson had served in the Department of the Interior as a special assistant for Indian Affairs to former Secretary Walter J. Hickel.

Thompson is married to the former Thelma Mayo, Fort Yukon, Alaska, three children.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson today announced the appointment of James P. Howell, 53, enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation, Okla., to the post of Superintendent, San Carlos Agency, Bureau of Indian Affairs, with headquarters at San Carlos, Ariz.

Howell moves to this field position from one of Equal Employment Opportunity Officer of the Bureau in Washington, D.C., a position he has held since August 1972.

"Howell is a graduate of the Department of the Interior's fifth management training program," Thompson pointed out. “He has been the Superintendent of the Fort Berthold (North Dakota) and Tuba City (Arizona) Agencies of the Bureau and will now hold a similar position at San Carlos. The Bureau is fortunate in having dedicated career people of this type.”

Howell began his Bureau career in 1940 with the Potawatomi Agency, Horton, Kans. In 1949 he moved to Haskell Institute, now Haskell Indian Junior College, Lawrence, Kans., from which he had been graduated.

He became the Administrative Officer of the Western Washington, Agency, Everett, Wash. in 1956, and held the same post at Fort Belknap Agency, Harlem, Mont. beginning in 1957. He became Personnel Officer of the Aberdeen Area Office, Aberdeen, S. Dak. in 1961 and Superintendent of the Fort Berthold, Agency, North Dakota, in 1963. He moved from North Dakota to Tuba City Agency, Ariz., on the Navajo Reservation, in 1966.

Howell has attended the University of Kansas at Lawrence, Kans., George Washington University, Washington, D.C., and Everett, Wash. Junior College. He is a member of the National Congress of American Indians and a veteran of World War II.

Howell is married to the former Norma Green, a member of the Iowa Indian Tribe of Oklahoma. They have four children.

The largest cession of land to a group of Native Americans in the history of the United States is one way to describe the effect of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act passed by the Congress December 18, 1971.

Or, put another way, The Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act will put about one-twelfth of Alaska into the hands of the Alaska Native corporations --an administrative device unique in the annals of solutions to aboriginal land claims.

And this transfer of jurisdiction from Federal to Native hands -- for 95 percent of Alaska belongs to Uncle Sam --will begin early in 1974.

Concurrently, as land is put into Native hands, the United States Government and the State of Alaska will contribute $962,500,000 to Alaska Natives through the Alaska Native Fund. The money will go to the Native regional corporations and indirectly to their stockholders and then to village corporations. Both the regional and village corporations are organized in accordance with settlement legislation.

Small wonder, then that the Bureau of Indian Affairs is employing unusual means to comply with provisions of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act.

Enrollment of Alaska Natives eligible to participate under the Act has been the responsibility of the Bureau. It has involved some innovations including:

1. Encoding and microfilming at the Bureau of Indian Affairs Data Center in Albuquerque.

2. Contracting with 12 Regional Alaska Native Corporations to conduct enumeration within their regions.

3. A world-wide newspaper, magazine, radio, and TV campaign to alert Alaska Natives who are scattered throughout the world that they should enroll in order to come under the Act.

4. Production of a 16 millimeter film to describe the Act.

Bureau of Indian Affairs tribal enrollment officers estimate that about 80,000 Alaska Natives will be found eligible and enrolled by the deadline of December 18, 1973.

For purposes of enrollment under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, any United States citizen born on or before December 18, 1971 who has one-fourth degree or more Indian, Aleut, or Eskimo ancestry or combination of these is considered eligible --no matter where he was born or lives or if he has died since passage of the Act.

The Act stipulates that the State of Alaska be divided into 12 geographic regions, each region being composed of Native people having a common cultural heritage and, sharing common interests. These regions are based partially upon the boundaries of Native organizations which had been formed prior to the settlement and which has considerable influence upon it.

The completed roll will show each person as a resident of a region and in most cases a village. On that basis he or she will be eligible to become a stockholder in the regional and if appropriated, a village corporation.

Among those that may be residents of a region but not of an Alaskan village are Natives who live in Sitka, Kenai, Juneau, and Kodiak.

These were originally Native villages but are now predominately non-Native. Those who do not claim to be permanent residents of Alaska are being enrolled in one of the 12 regionals of Alaska with which they have personal or ancestral use.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson announced today the appointment of Martin E. Seneca, Jr., 32, to be Director of Trust Responsibilities, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Washington, D.C., effective May 12, 1974. His post is the second of five directorships - top jobs within the bureau of Indian Affairs - to be filled.

"As Director of Trust Responsibilities, Seneca will head the Central Office functions related to the Bureau's programs in the development and management of programs relative to the bureau's trust and legal responsibilities including the protection of the rights of Indians in their trust property and tl1ose rights affecting trust property that are afforded by tribal sovereignty," Thompson said.

Seneca is an enrolled member of the Seneca Nation of New York. He holds a Master’s degree in public administration From Brigham Young University and a doctorate in law from Harvard University and is presently Associate Professor of Law at tile University of Utah.

He accepted that post following a year as a White House Fellow in which he served as special assistant to the Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development. He also has been an associate attorney in the Washington firm of Wilkinson, Cragun and Harker.

In 1970, Seneca received a two-year Presidential appointment as a member of the National Council on Indian Opportunity in the Office of the Vice President. NCIO is composed of eight outstanding American Indian leaders and eight members of the President's cabinet.

From May 1969 to September 1969 he was a project developer of the Seneca Nation of Indians, New York. From June 1966 to September 1967 he was technical assistant, Utah University Bureau of Indian Services which had an Office of Economic Opportunity grant to provide training and technical assistance to Indian tribes of the Northwest.

In high school Seneca represented the American Indians at the First International Youth Conference sponsored by UNICEF.

"His academic preparation for the administrative and legal fields together with his experience in working with Indian people and Government agencies at all levels gives Seneca the unique qualifications needed to administer the Office of Trust Responsibilities, “ Thompson said.

Lauding the action of the Senate today in confirming President Nixon's nomination of Morris Thompson as Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Secretary of the Interior Rogers C. B. Morton said he was confident Thompson would provide the leadership to begin "a new era for American Indians."

“We want to work together with the Indian people in accord with the President's historic message to the Congress in July 1970," Secretary Morton said. "The policy of this Administration will continue to be one of advancing the opportunities of our Indian citizens for self-determination, without termination of the special federal relationship with recognized Indian tribes.

"As an Indian himself and as an experienced administrator both on the regional level and at top policy levels, Morris Thompson will, I am confident, bring to the Bureau of Indian Affairs and to the Indian people the leadership so urgently needed to carry this program forward."

Secretary Morton said that Thompson would report directly to him and function as if he were an assistant secretary on a comparable level of responsibility and authority with the current assistant secretaries in the Interior Department. Legislation is now pending before the Congress to establish the position of Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs.

Thompson, who was nominated for the post by President Nixon on October 30, will be the youngest man, at 34, to serve as Commissioner. Thompson is an Athabascan Indian born in Tanana, Alaska. Since March 1971 he served as Alaska Area Director of the Bureau. Prior to his Alaska assignment, he had been a special assistant for Indian Affairs to former Interior Secretary Walter J. Hickel.

Thompson succeeds Louis R. Bruce, whose resignation as Commissioner became effective in January 1973. Marvin L. Franklin was named to the position of Assistant to the Secretary for Indian Affairs on February 7, 1973, and had been responsible since that time for the Department's Indian programs which will now be directed by Thompson.

Alaska Natives will begin to get one-twelfth of the land in their State, and a sizeable chunk of cash as well, under terms of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act in early 1974. This will come about through a system of corporations that is uniquely Alaskan.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs is now making up a roll of United States citizens who are of one-fourth or more Indian, Aleut or Eskimo ancestry or combination of these born on or before December 18, 1971.

The roll will show each person as a resident of a region and in most cases a village and thus eligible to become a stockholder in village and regional corporations.

Alaska now has 12 Alaska Native Regional Corporations. They reflect 12 geographic sections of Alaska and are composed of Native people with a common cultural heritage and common interests. Alaska Natives who do not claim to be permanent residents of Alaska are being enrolled in one of the 12 regions of Alaska with which they have personal or ancestral ties.

The 12 corporations were established by June 30, 1972. Each was advanced about $500,000 or more from the Alaskan Native Fund -- which includes $462,500,000 to be appropriated from the general fund of the U.S. Treasury and $500,000,000 credited to the fund by the State of Alaska and Bureau of Land Management of the Department of the Interior on a revenue sharing basis.

After the Secretary of the Interior signs the roll of the Alaska Natives December 18, the regional corporations will: 1. Identify their stockholders; 2. Issue shares to stockholders; 3. Elect a board of directors; 4. Receive their first major distribution of moneys from the Alaska Native Fund; 5. Select lands for conveyance to them; and 6. Make investments. Many of these events will occur simultaneously.

The 12 regionals have been formed as businesses for profits, and their articles of incorporation and by-laws have been approved by the Secretary of the Interior. A duly elected board of directors will be charged with responsibility for the management of the regional corporation and the investment of corporate assets. Such investments might include stocks and bonds and business enterprises in construction, tourism, and service industries.

In addition to 12 regionals there will be about 200 village corporations. While they, together with the regionals, will get title to a total of 40 million acres of land and a stake in the Alaska Native Fund, the subsurface rights to the land will go solely to the regional corporations.

Up to 22 million acres of land are available for selection of surface rights by eligible Native villages. The amount each village is entitled to is determined by the Native population of that par­ticular village on April 1, 1970.

Where possible, 25 townships around each village have been withdrawn by the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. A township is 36 square miles. From these townships, the village will make its selection.

This selection must include townships in which any part of the village is located. In many cases, however, circumstances -- such as an ocean, navigable river, national park, etc. -- restrict selection. The village must then make alternate selections from "deficiency areas."

Regional corporations are more restricted than village corporations in selecting their 16 million acres. They may, for example, select what have come to be known as "checkerboard lands" in the village withdrawal areas. They will get, in addition, part of 2 million acres of "hard lands.”

Hardship land grants will be distributed to regional corporations for existing cemetery and historical sites, Native groups too small to qualify as villages (less than 25 Natives), individual Natives who apply for a primary place of residence outside of the village withdrawal areas or individual Native allotment, and Natives in Sitka, Kenai, Juneau, and Kodiak. These were originally Native villages but are now predominantly non-Native.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson announced today that a contract amounting to nearly $2.5 million has been let by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Department of the Interior, for the construction of a 14 mile stretch of bituminous paved highway in the Glen Canyon Dam area of the Navajo Indian Reservation.

Successful bidder is Thorn Construction Co., Inc. of Provo, Utah.

This is the first of the proposed contracts to be let for the modernization of BIA Route N 20, which will give the public a year-round route from Flagstaff, Ariz., to the Lake Powell Recreation Area, Thompson indicated. The contract calls for construction of the highway beginning near Coppermine Ariz., and running north to join with BIA Route N 22 near Page, Ariz.

The new $2.5 million stretch of highway will replace the present narrow dirt road in the area with an all-weather bituminous highway. This will enable Navajo to get to schools, shopping and trading centers and places of employment more easily and for longer periods of time during the year, the Commissioner of Indian Affairs said.

"Good roads are the lifeline of economic and social development," said Commissioner Thompson. “The Navajo Indian Reservation is the largest Indian reservation in the United States and the need for an improved road system there is acute. I am happy to announce this project."

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson today announced that a nearly $2.2 million contract for surfacing about 25 miles of road on the Papago Indian Reservation in Arizona -- second in size among Indian reservations only to the Navajo -- has been let to a Phoenix, Ariz., contractor, Tanner Bros. Contracting Co.

The project includes the grading, draining, end surfacing of 25.63 miles of Bureau of Indian Affairs' Routes 23 and 34. This is a vital link for the villages of Hickiwen, Raya Chin, Kaka, Vantana, and Santa Rosa. It is the route for school busses, an avenue to health facilities, and the road to jobs for the Papago.

"This project replaces a road that washed out when it was flooded and became like a washboard in the hot summer sun," Thompson said. "The new thoroughfare encourages the best kind of social and economic development.”

Nearly 8,000 Papago Indians live on the -reservation, which is over 2.7 million acres.

Theodore C. Krenzke, 44, Superintendent of the Bureau of Indian Affairs Cherokee Agency, North Carolina, for eight years, has been named Director of Indian Services of the entire Bureau, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson announced today. He will assume his duties in early June.

Krenzke's post is the third of five directorships - top jobs within the Bureau of Indian Affairs - to be filled.

"As Director of Indian Services, Krenzke will head Bureau functions related to social services, law enforcement, tribal government, housing, and activities concerning youth and the aged," Thompson said. "He will be responsible for the planning and formulation of major policy programs concerning Indian services through direction of professional staff. He will also advise me on these matters," Thompson indicated.

Krenzke holds a BA in sociology with a minor in business administration from Valparaiso University, Indiana, and a masters degree in social work from the University of Indiana.

He began his career with the Marion County Indiana Juvenile Court as a Probation Officer. After two years, he joined the Bureau of Indian Affairs as a social worker at the Blackfeet Agency. Two years later he accepted an offer to establish a treatment-oriented program for adolescent boys in a residential center --Dakota Boys Ranch, Minot, North Dakota. Starting as a social worker, he became executive director in charge of the overall program including public relations and fund raising.

In August 1960, Krenzke returned to the Bureau of Indian Affairs as supervisory social worker in the Juneau Area Office, Alaska, and in July 1963 he was promoted to Assistant Area Social Worker. In this capacity, he not only undertook the full range of administrative and casework duties in the social services program for the Native peoples of Alaska, he also took the lead in developing philosophy and training a staff in the community development approach to the Bureau's total Alaska program.

Because of his outstanding work in Alaska, Krenzke was selected to be Superintendent of the Cherokee Agency, North Carolina. Cherokee is the largest Federal Indian reservation in the Eastern United States, with programs that include a school kindergarten through grade 12 with 1,300 students, real property management, forestry activities, housing, social services, law and order, employment assistance, a 125-mile road system, and the general administrative and plant management program.

“Although Krenzke has had heavy administrative responsibilities,” said Thompson, "he has not allowed them to overshadow his main responsibility -- working with the tribal government. He had maintained-an unusually good and close relationship with the Eastern Band of Cherokee Tribal Council and the members of the Cherokee Tribe."

Krenzke is a member of the National Association of Social Workers and the Academy of Certified Social Workers. He is married to the former Helen Hospers and they have five daughters.

American Indian, Eskimo, and Aleut year 'round events that help non-Native Americans appreciate the unusual contributions of those whose home this was before the arrival of the Europeans are now listed in "American Indian Calendar 1974" available from the Superintendent of Documents, Washington, D.C. 20402 for 65 cents.

It includes such events as annual beaver roundup at Dillingham, Alaska (March 7-11); Cha-Be-Toe Rodeo, Whiteriver, Ariz. (July 4 weekend); Hopi Snake Dances at Sipaulovi, Shongopovi and Hotevilla, Ariz. (August, 3rd week); Navajo Nation Fair at Window Rock, Ariz. (September, 2nd week); and Chief Seattle Days at Suquamish, Wash., (August, 2 days, last weekend of the month).

"American Indians are in 8 position to offer hospitality to a great number of visitors," Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson indicated as he announced the availability of the listing.

"Indian tribes have built motels that incorporate Indian motifs to house visitors to their lands," Thompson said. "In addition, many have campgrounds and arts and crafts outlets and some unusual attractions --such as a donkey train down Grand Canyon, organized hunting parties, and trips to Indian ruins.

Indian reservations are often close to National Parks and National Forests and are exciting places for many travelers to visit," Thompson said.

"American Indian Calendar" includes a list of Bureau of Indian Affairs Area Offices, the states they serve, and their telephone numbers. Since a number of Indian observances depend upon seasonal activities and exact dates cannot be determined in advance, tourists are urged to check with tribes, local Bureau of Indian Affairs offices, and local Chambers of Commerce for specific dates if they are not already indicated in the publication --or if the traveler is building his itinerary around a particular occasion.

The booklet may be ordered by Catalog Number I20.2:C12/2/974. Stock Number 2402-00034.