OPA

I am highly gratified to see the enactment of legislation that provides funds for construction of facilities for the Navajo Community College. Of This school is unique as a community development aide. The new construction will culminate a long-time dream of many Navajo leaders.

The development of the Navajo Community College is a truly significant achievement for the Navajo people. What has been done in planning and implementing this unique educational program is illustrative of self-determination working at its best.

The special value of this program, as I see it, is its responsiveness to the needs of the community. Navajo Community College is not just another academic institution; it is, rather, a rich community resource of knowledge and expertise which can contribute in many ways to the betterment of the Navajo community. For some students the school will provide the academic foundations which will enable them to go on to other colleges or universities. For many others it will offer much needed vocational-technical training or adult education programs oriented towards the development of work abilities-- with consequent economic improvements for the total community.

Note: The Navajo Community College Act, signed by President Nixon December 15, 1971, authorizes an appropriation of $5, 500, 000 for construction of permanent facilities for the reservation- based school, which is administered by the Navajos.

William H. Crowe, a Cherokee designer-craftsman of international repute, has been named to a four-year term as Commissioner on the five-man Indian Arts and Crafts Board, Secretary of the Interior Robert C. B. Morton announced today.

Crowe succeeds Vincent Price, actor and patron of the arts, whose Commissionership on the Arts and Crafts Board expired last July. The Board was established in 1935 to encourage the preservation and development of American Indian and Eskimo artistry.

A professional member of the Southern Highlands Handicraft Guild, an association of outstanding Appalachian craftsmen, Crowe maintains his studio workshop on his native reservation at Cherokee, N.C. He has been retained as a master craftsman by the Smithsonian Institution to assist with exhibitions of arts and crafts.

Crowe, who is 50 years old, was one of the organizers in 1948 of Qualla Arts and Crafts Mutual, Inc., a Cherokee craftsmen's cooperative, and he recently served as Qualla’s vice-president. Currently, he is serving as vice-chairman of the board of directors of the Native American Marketing Enterprise, Inc., a new non-profit organization that serves as a marketing clearinghouse for Native American arts.

Secretary Morton's appointment of Crowe followed his meeting with the Board November 19 and 20 -- the first since Morton took office. At that time, the Secretary unveiled his desire to enlarge the mission of the Indian Arts and Crafts Board, involving it more directly with economic and education as well as cultural development of Native American artists and craftsmen. He charged the Board with the task of strengthening ties with 0ther government agencies and organizations related to the arts, in order to enlarge the sphere of impact of Native American crafts, and to increase funding for the perpetuation of Indian, Eskimo and Aleut artistry.

The Board operates three museums in the West, in areas representative of more than half the entire American Indian population. The museums, located in Browning, Mont., Rapid City, S.D., and Anadarko, Okla., function as conservators of Indian artifacts and as centers for the exhibition and sale of authentic contemporary Native American arts and crafts. They provide advisory services and research to major museums throughout the world.

Other Commissioners on the five-man Indian Arts and Crafts Board are: Lloyd H. New, chairman, and director of the Institute of American Indian Arts of Santa Fe, N.M.; Howard Rock, artist and editor of Tundra Times, the Alaskan Native weekly newspaper published in Fairbanks; Royal B. Hassrick, author and anthropologist (specialist in Plains Indian culture) of Surrey, Va.; and Paul F. Huldermann of Scottsdale, Ariz., civic arts leader and dealer in arts of the Americans. The late Rene D'Harnoncourt, for many years as director of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, had also served on the Indian Arts and Crafts Board.

Rollins Fleet Leasing Inc. of Rehoboth Beach, Del., was the lowest bidder for two contracts by the Bureau of Indian Affairs for leasing of 39 passenger cars and station wagons for two field installations, the Department of the Interior announced today.

Nine bids from six bidders were received by the Bureau for the rental contracts for the vehicles for use at its offices in Cherokee, N. C., and Albuquerque, N. Mex.

For the Albuquerque contract, covering 30 sedans and four station wagons, Rollins bid was $46.05 and $54.63 a month, respectively, with an adjustment factor based on the price received for the cars at the end of the l2-month contract period. Other bidders were Central Motor Company, Gallup, N. Mex., Avis Rent-A-Car System, Albuquerque; Truck Rental Co., Inc., Baltimore, Md., and D. L. Peterson, Trustee, Baltimore, Md.

For the Cherokee contract, involving four sedans and one station wagon, the Rollins bid was $45.23 and $53.78, respectively, with the same adjustment factor as in the Albuquerque contract. Other bidders were Avis Rent-A-Car System, Knoxville, Tenn., Truck Rental Company, Inc., and D, L. Peterson, Trustee.

Following reported complaints regarding the bid specifications, the Department last week asked the Comptroller General for a ruling on the matter, Award of the contracts will await a reply from the Comptroller General to this request.

Tribes of the Salt and Gila River Indian Reservations in Arizona will use satellite and high altitude aircraft photography to aid in the management of, reservation lands and resources, the Department of the Interior announced today.

The project linked to the Interior Department's EROS (Earth Resources Observation Systems) program, technically administered by the U. S. Geological Survey, is aimed at using conventional photography and other remote sensing data that will be relayed by a NASA earth resources survey satellite, which is scheduled for launching before summer.

The data will be used to aid the Indians in a wide variety of environmental and resource problems including detection of land use configuration, solid waste deterioration, natural vegetation, and crop and grazing and conditions.

Dr. Arch C. Gerlach, chief geographer, USGS, Washington, D.C., said that the project resulted from briefings on the use of orbital and high altitude aircraft photography given to officials of the Indian communities by specialists of the Geological Survey and the Bureau of Indian Affairs at a recent meeting in Arizona.

“At the briefing," Gerlach said, "the Indians found such photography useful, and expressed a desire to initiate a project that could be geared to their region. They requested assistance from the EROS program, the Survey, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs to implement the project."

The project will involve repetitive coverage by aircraft and spacecraft of a 3, OOO-square-mile area in south central Arizona, and is in line with President Nixon's program of using scientific and technological techniques gained from space programs to solve environmental problems.

"By receiving repetitive views of such a large area," Gerlac said, "important changes of land and water features can be monitored on a seasonal or more frequent basis. By treating the region as a single ecological unit, coupled with a data bank that can be programmed for automatic machine mapping, the ability to predict probable results of alternative decisions concerning land and resource use, might be achieved."

To help organization of data, Gerlach reported, "new base maps covering the two reservation areas are being prepared by the USGS Topographic Division. The maps will provide an accurate base on which to plot land use and environ­ 'mental conditions revealed by the high altitude photography."

"The resultant products," Gerlach said, "will be digitized and computer processed in order to manipulate information contained on various overlays."

Because most of the analytical work will be done by the Indians, related phases of the project will involve the training of Indians in the use of remote sensing data to assure continuance of the over-all program after the immediate project is completed.

Coordinating the project for the Interior Department will be George Loelkes, Geological Survey, and Arthur Wall, Bureau at Indian Affairs, Washington, D.C.

A school for campground management for American Indians?

Isn't that like starting an aviation course for birds?

Not completely, said Secretary of the Interior Rogers, C. B. Morton, announcing a new training program by the National Palk service to teach the financial and technical aspects of tourist-oriented campground management to members of American Indian tribes. Graduates will return to their tribal homes to develop and manage public campgrounds on Indian lands.

"The program is a part of a major effort by the Department of the Interior assist in the development of tourism and recreational resources of the Nation's Indian reservations," Secretary Morton said. "The campground managers will be equipped to attract tourism dollars to their reservations, and give tourists the services they need."

Courses will be offered at the Albright Training Center in Grand Canyon National Park, Ariz., Secretary Morton said.

Financed by the Interior Department's Bureau of Indian Affairs and utilizing the training personnel and facilities of the National Park Service, two four-week sessions are planned this year, May 1-26 and June 5-30. There will be 24 trainees at each session. Those attending the first class will be drawn from Arizona, California, and New Mexico. The second session is ' expected to draw trainees from a wider area of the United States.

The first camp dedication will take place on the Hoopa Reservation in northern California May 20. Hoopa Indians will assist the Park Service in the training program.

Secretary of the Interior Rogers C. B. Morton today announced that he has requested the Justice Department to institute a suit to determine the rights of the Pyramid Lake Indians under the Winters Rights Doctrine with the priority date of 1859, and that the complaint to be filed set forth those rights on the Truckee River that have previously been decreed by the court.

In order to insure that the Tribes positions fully presented to the court. Secretary Morton also recommended that the Tribe be permitted to intervene as a party.

Pyramid Lake, a natural resource of national significance, is located about 30 miles northeast of Reno, Nevada, and is within the Pyramid Lake Indian Reservation, home of the Paiute Indians. At present, the Tribe has no court decreed rights to water of the Truckee River to maintain the lake.

Secretary Morton also announced that action will be taken to maximize the flow of water into Pyramid Lake. Legislation will be sought to develop supplementary sources of water, including a "cloud seeding” program, and to investigate the possibility of importing out- of-basin sources of water. Improvement of Truckee- Carson River Irrigation District facilities will be initiated.

On April 7, 1972, Secretary Morton announced issuance of operating criteria for the Truckee and Carson Rivers for calendar year 1972 and at the same time requested the Justice Department to take steps to insure that existing water decrees on the Truckee and Carson Rivers are strictly enforced to prevent illegal water uses and to require legitimate users to operate in accordance with the decrees.

The Secretary said that today's actions, and those announced on April 7, represent the first two steps of a broader program to implement the recommendations of the Pyramid Lake Task Force, whose final report was recently submitted following more than two years of intensive study Of the problems and established jointly by the Secretary of the Interior, the Governor of California and the Governor of Nevada.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Louis R. Bruce announced today that he has directed the establishment of a reconnaissance patrol along certain portions of the border between the Hopi reservation and the area that is jointly used by the Navajo and Hopi tribes.

"I am establishing this patrol because of my concern for the increasing tension that appears to be present in this area. The patrol will act primarily as a courtesy patrol to prevent or reduce any tensions that might arise or exist along certain areas on the Hopi reservation (District 6) boundary, “Commissioner Bruce added. “Each patrol vehicle will be manned by one Navajo and one Hopi" the Commissioner said.

"The decision was made after discussion with Hopi Tribal Chairman Clarence Hamilton and Navajo Tribal. Vice Chairman Wilson Skeet, II the Commissioner said. An 1882 Executive Order created a 70 x 55 mile, 2,500,000 acre reservation in Arizona "for the use of Moqui (Hopi) and such other Indians as the Secretary of the Interior may see fit to settle -thereon." A 1934 statute defined the boundaries of the much larger Navajo Reservation as completely encompass the 1882 reservation, but expressly provided that it did not "affect the existing status of the Moqui (Hopi) Indian Reservation created by Executive Order of December 16, 1882.

In 1962,' a three-judge Federal Court held that the Hopi had the exclusive, beneficial interest in the 661, 194, acre tract, sometimes referred to as land management district 6, in the South central part of the Executive Order area, and that the remainder of the 1882 reservation, the Navajo Tribe and the Hopi Tribe had joint undivided and equal interests as the surface and subsurface, including all resources appertaining thereto, subject to the trust title of the United States.

Commissioner Bruce said -that markers win be erected to visibly define the boundary between the Hopi, Reservation and the joint use area

“I hope this action will help alleviate tension and encourage joint discussion: between the two tribes aimed at tribal problem to a joint tribal problem with friendly negotiations," Commissioner Bruce said.

Regulations for preparing a roll of the Northwestern Band of Shoshone Indians eligible to share in the distribution of $15.7 million were issued today by the Secretary of the Interior Rogers C. B. Morton, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Louis R. Bruce announced.

The award represents settlement by compromises of claims for the taking in 1868 and 1869 of about 38,000,000 acres of land in Idaho, Wyoming, Utah, and Nevada aboriginally owned by the Shoshone Tribe; the use of funds of the Shoshone Bannock Tribes of Fort Hall for irrigation projects; the taking of about 297,000 acres of Fort Hall Reservation land in 1889; the taking of 407,000 acres of Fort Hall reservation land in 1898; and failure of the United States to provide a reservation for the Bannock Tribe as promised by the Treaty of July 3, 1868 (15 Stat. 673).

Shoshone Indians who may be eligible for enrollment must be:

1. Born prior to and living on December 18, 1971;
2. Either their names appear on one of the following Indian census rolls of the Washakie Sub-Agency of the Fort Hall jurisdiction:

• Roll dated January 1, 1937, by F. A. Gross, Superintendent of the Fort Hall Reservation.
• Roll dated January 1, 1940, by F. A. Gross, Superintendent of the Fort Hall Reservation.
• Roll dated March 10, 1954.
• Roll dated April 21, 1964.

or they possess one-quarter Shoshone Indian blood and they are descendants of those appearing on at least one of said rolls;

1. They are not recognized as members of the Shoshone Bannock Tribes of the Fort Hall Reservation, the Shoshone Tribe of the Wind River Reservation, or any other Indian Tribe; and
2. They shall elect not to participate in any settlement of claims pending before the Indian Claims Commission in docket 326-J, Shoshone-Goshute, and docket 326-K, Western Shoshone.

A Northeast Region Advisory Committie appointed by Secretary of the Interior Rogers C. B. Morton on April 24, is the first of the public advisory bodies to be named for each of the six regions of the National Park Service.

"This group of interested private citizens, and those to be appointed for five other National Park System regions, will provide for a free exchange of ideas between the National Park Service and the public on current problems and programs," Secretary Morton said.

Secretary Morton announced the following committee to work with Chester L. Brooks, director of the Service's Northeast Region: Lewis W. Jones, Bloomington, Ill.; Fred D. Hartley, Kenosha, Wis., and Frederick R. Micha, Ontario, N. Y., three year appointments; Dr. Graham Netting, Pittsburgh, Pa.; Norman G. Duke, Lorain, Oh., and Ralph MacMullen, Lansing, Mich., two years; William L. Lieber, Indianapolis, Ind.; Charles H. W. Foster, Needham, Mass., and Hyman J. Cohen, Arlington, Va., one year. Though subsequent appointments are expected to be for three years, the initial teams, chosen by lot, were staggered to provide for an annual rotation of membership in the future.

While many individual parks have their own advisory groups, Secretary Morton pointed out that regional advisory committee activities will be concerned with the many natural, historical and recreational areas within entire regions.

Under the General Authorities Law of 1970, the Secretary of the Interior is authorized to "appoint and establish such advisory committees in regard to the functions of the National Park Service as he may deem advisable" Each committee will consist of nine public members appointed by the Secretary.

The National Park Service's Northeast Region is headquartered at Philadelphia and includes 19 States: Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Louis R. Bruce announced today the award of an initial $36,000 contract to the United Southeastern Tribes, Inc. for the establishment of an Employment Assistance Destination Services Center at Pascagoula, Mississippi.

The awarding of this contract is in keeping with the Commissioner's new thrust to encourage tribal groups to undertake services normally rendered by BIA. The USET, headquartered in Sarasota, Florida, consists of representatives from the Seminole, Miccosukee, Choctaw and Cherokee Indian tribes.

The purpose of the Indian Services Center is to furnish assistance to Indian people in making a smooth transition from reservation to urban living in the Pascagoula area. The Center will offer support services such as orientation, housing, counseling, medical assistance, and recreational and social aid as well as employment assistance.

This contract marks the first venture of this type undertaken by the southeastern tribal groups. The initial funds are for the remainder of FY 1972 with continuation of the program contingent upon its success and availability of funds.

Most of the Indian people have been recruited by the Litton Ship Systems which already employs 230 Indians. These 230 employees represent eleven different tribes and constitute a total of 450 Indian people now residing in Pascagoula.

Commenting on the Center, Commissioner Bruce said, "This contract responds directly to the desires and needs as expressed by the Indians of the southeastern U.S. The high job potential for skilled workers in this region will draw from the pool of trained people who have not found opportunities to use their skills on their home reservations or in other part of the country.

"The scope of services provided by the Service Center was largely suggested by the Indian contractors. We are confident they will do an outstanding job."