OPA

Final regulations for preparing aro11 ofA1askaNativeseligib1e to share in the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of December 18, 1971, were issued today by the Assistant Secretary of the Interior Harrison Loesch.

(The regulations are scheduled to appear in the Federal Register March 17, 1972.)

The Native Claims Act provides for settlement of awards totaling $962.5 million and 40 million acres of land, and ends a struggle which has been pending since the United States purchased Alaska from Russia in 1867, according to Louis R. Bruce, Commissioner of Indian Affairs.

Alaska Natives who may be eligible for enrollment must be:

1. Citizens of the United States.
2. At least one-fourth degree Eskimo, Aleut or Alaskan Indian blood, or combination thereof.
3. Born on or before December 18, 1971, and living on that date

The regulations prescribe rules for preparation of the roll and establish March 30, 1973, as the deadline to apply for enrollment. Only those Natives whose names are included on the roll will be entitled to share in the settlement, although Natives do not have to be living in Alaska to be eligible for enrollment.

Applications for enrollment now available from the Enrollment Coordinating Office, (Kaloa Building, 16th & C Streets), Pouch 7-1971, Anchorage, Alaska 99501.

The aim of the present Administration in the field of Indian affairs is not to "detribalize" the Indian or deprive him of his identity but to give him a wider range of choice and a greater opportunity for fulfilling his own potentialities than he has previously enjoyed, Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay emphasized today in making public a letter he wrote November 30 to Oliver La Farge, president of the Association on American Indian Affairs, Inc.

The Secretary's letter was in response to a letter addressed to President Eisenhower by Mr. La Farge on November 10 criticizing many aspects of current Federal policy and practice in Indian affairs.

In his reply Secretary McKay covered a broad range of topics. These include the Indian Bureau's voluntary relocation program, efforts to improve economic opportunities near the reservation, the right of Indians to retain their tribal identity if they wish, the policy of consultation with Indians, background of the so-called "termination" policy, the Indian Bureau's credit program, fee patent policy, and several other matters.

Louis R. Bruce, Commissioner of Indian Affairs of the Department of the Interior, today announced the names of 28 tribes that will initially participate in BIA’s Reservation Acceleration Program (RAP).

RAP is a process by which tribes negotiate changes in existing loca1BIA budgets to insure that these programs support the tribes t own priorities.

In announcing the first 28 tribes, Commissioner Bruce emphasized that funds will not be taken from non-participating tribes to finance the operation.

"We look forward to many more tribes taking part in RAP,” Commissioner Bruce said. This effort gives life to President Nixon is self-determination policy for America's Indians because it is both an operational and budgetary reality.

"I take this occasion to welcome participation by all other tribes in the Reservation or Tribal Acceleration Programs. “

Commissioner Bruce visited Oklahoma on March 8th and 9th where he met with tribal1eaders and discussed the development of special Tribal Acceleration Program (TAP) plans to meet the particular needs of that State's Indians. The Commissioner and his staff have already commenced the TAP negotiation process with the eastern and western Oklahoma tribes and the two BIA Area Offices. The Bureau is working to establish Indian Action Teams in Oklahoma to develop Indian construction companies, train Indian manpower, provide construction equipment to tribes and complete construction projects in Indian communities.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs staff will soon visit the Navajo Reservation, Nevada, Alaska and California to discuss how RAP will apply to Native Americans in these areas. Special RAP approaches will also be developed through direct consultation with the Pueblos of New Mexico and other smaller tribes not adequately served by the Bureau.

Commissioner Bruce also announced that he is appointing James Hena, formerly Executive Assistant to the Commissioner and a Pueblo Indian, to the position of Program Manager-Reservation Acceleration Program. Mr. Hena will spend his full time in the implementation of the RAP program.

Criteria for selection of the tribes were finalized here on Friday, March 3rd after three days of consultation with an advisory committee composed of representatives of the National Tribal Chairmen's Association, BIA staff, and representatives of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Indian Health Service, Office of Economic Opportunity, Economic Development Administration and the Office of Minority Business Enterprises.

Fifteen tribes will begin negotiations with BIA agency offices in April. They are:

Thirteen tribes will begin negotiations in May. They are:

The March 29, 1972, deadline for filing enrollment applications for members of the Pembina Band of Chippewa Indians has been extended to June 27, 1972, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Louis R. Bruce announced today.

The roll is being established to determine Pembina Chippewa Indians eligible to share in awards totaling $237,127.82 in land claims funds pursuant to the Act of July 29, 1971 (85 Stat. 158).

The deadline was extended when it was learned that many of the older people who do not speak English needed assistance in completing their applications. Others did not understand that to be eligible to share in the judgment, their applications must be filed before the deadline expires. It was unclear to others that supporting documents need not be submitted at the time their applications were filed.

To ensure that all eligible Pembina Chippewa Indians have ample opportunityan4 assistance in filing their enrollment applications, the Commissioner has approved an amendment to Title 25, Code of Federal Regulations, and Part 43g.5 to extend the period for filing applications for enrollment to share in Pembina judgment funds to June 27, 1972.

Persons who believe they are eligible to share in the awards may obtain application forms and instructions from the Area Director, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Aberdeen Area Office, 820 Main Street, Aberdeen,· South Dakota 57401. Applications must be postmarked no later than midnight, June 27, 1972. Supporting documents to prove ancestry need not accompany applications for enrollment.

Secretary of the Interior Rogers C. B. Morton announced today that "following an intensive review of environmental protective measures," he approved document covering construction arrangements, transmission rights-of-way, and electrical interconnection for the Navajo steam electric generating power plant near Page, Arizona.

In his announcement Secretary Morton said:

"I have imposed numerous specific requirements as a condition of my approval of various documents relating to the Navajo power plant construction. I want to be certain that the facilities needed to supply electricity' for the Southwest will be built and operated in a way that will assure maximum protection' to the environmental values of that area.

“I have directed all offices in the Department of the Interior to see that all these requirements are implemented and enforced in the years ahead," Secretary Morton also said.

The Secretary also said plans had been approved for electrostatic precipitators to control particulate emissions from the stacks and for a pumping station that will deliver cooling water from Lake. Powell. Federal, State and local environmental authorities shared in the review of these projects.

Five Southwest utilities are building the Navajo power plant. The Bureau of Reclamation is also a participant to secure pumping energy for the Central Arizona Project.

The Interior Department last February 4 submitted to the Council on Environmental Quality its final environmental impact statement on the project.

In previously executed documents relating to the Navajo power plant project, developers have been required to and the Navajo and Hopi Indian communities whose resources would be affected by the construction. Also quilt into construction requirements are stipulations designed to protect air, -- water and land ecosystems and insure compliance with Federal and State standards.

The Co-Tenancy Agreement, for example, specifies that:

"The Participants will design, construct, operate and maintain the Navajo Project in a manner consistent with the Participant’s objective of attaining the greatest feasible degree of environmental protection. In addition to fulfilling all obligations which have been assumed under provisions relating to environmental protection. The participants shall to the extent practicable anticipate and make provision for the future installation of any systems required to comply with changes in said laws, orders, regulations, rules and standards.”

Design, construction and operational plans for the Navajo steam electric generating power plant must meet all Federal, State and local air and water quality standard provide for protection of archeological values and historic places restore and revegetate coal mined areas; provide for the protection of ground and surface waters; meet the environmental criteria of the Interior and Agriculture Departments in building of transmission lines.

Additional agreements and approvals still to be executed will also be subject to the numerous environmental protection stipulations.

The American Indian set an all-time record this past year in accepting job opportunities off his reservation, Acting Secretary of the Interior Clarence A. Davis announced today. According to figures received by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, almost 3,500 Indians moved away from their reservation homes to areas that offered greater employment advantages.

The figures go on to show that most of the Indians who make the voluntary relocation move make a success of their new ventures.

Of the 16 agencies where the Department has a relocation staff, five have reported on the number of "returnees" for fiscal 1955. These reports show that fewer than 13 of every 100 relocates give up and go back to their reservations after trying life in the cities.

One of the best records was posted by 455 relocatees from the Five Civilized Tribes of Oklahoma. Of the number that moved away, only seven per cent returned. The percentage is the same for 229 Indians from Fort Belknap Reservation in Montana.

At the 16 agencies where the Department has relocation officers, their job is to give the Indians interested in relocation the facts as to what the move might mean to them and. their families. The average size of a relocated family is 39. However, about 800 of the 3,500 Indians who relocated were single men and women. Indians who seek relocation are generally the younger members of the tribe--those 45 or under.

On the "receiving end" of the relocation process started at the agency offices, the Department has additional offices in Denver, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Chicago which help the Indian find work and adequate housing, and assist him in making a satisfactory adjustment to city life. In most cases, the Department pays the Indian's expenses to make the move and get settled, and urges him to obtain proper health and hospital insurance.

Indians, unusually adopt with their hands, are making good employment records in automotive, airplane, and electronic fields.

Appointment of Robert D. Holtz as area director for the Bureau of Indian Affairs at Minneapolis, Minn., was announced today by Acting Secretary of the Interior Clarence A. Davis. He succeeds E. Morgan Pryse who retires from the Bureau December 31, after 35 years of service.

Holtz has been assistant area director at Minneapolis since last July. He first came with the Bureau in 1931 as a forest ranger with the Klamath Agency in Oregon and later served in the same capacity at Zuni Agency in New Mexico, and as forest supervisor at the Papago Agency, Sells, Ariz.

In 1939 he rose to the position of superintendent at the former Truxton Canyon Agency, Valentine, Ariz., and subsequently was superintendent of the Mescalero Agency, Mescalero, N. Mex., and the Fort Apache Agency, Whiteriver, Ariz. In 1951 he became area forester in the area office at Phoenix, Ariz., and after three years in this position he was transferred to the Gallup, N. Mex., area office assistant Director for resources.

A native of Iowa, Holtz received his bachelor of science degree in forestry from Iowa State College at Ames in 1930, and took post graduate work at Oregon State College, Corvallis, Oreg.

As area director at Minneapolis, he will supervise all Indian Bureau operations in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Michigan.

Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay today approved a series of recommendations Lade by a Survey Team which has been studying the organization and operations of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

The Team, which was appointed on October 6, 1953 was made up of Walter Bimson, Phoenix, Ariz., chairman; Robert D, Lutton, Santa Fe Railroad, Chicago, J. R. Johns, Sears Roe buck, Co., Dallas, Texas. Mr. Bimon is chairman of the board, Valley National Bank of Phoenix. George W. Abbott, counsel of the House Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, and three officials of the Department participated in the survey.

The Survey Team began its study in Washington on October 12 and from October 16 to November 16 visited all Bureau area offices except Alaska.

The recommendations are of great practical value, Secretary McKay said, and will provide the Department with better tools to handle important Indian affairs more efficiently on the national level.

Major recommendations made by the Team pertain to organization problems of the Bureau. These recommendations include:

Continuation of the Area Office form of organization, which is basically sound.

Consolidation of the Window Rock Area Office and the Albuquerque Area Office at Albuquerque, N. Mex. The affairs of the Navajos would continue to be administered by the superintendent at Window Rock.

Consolidation of two area offices in Oklahoma now at Muskogee and Anadarko and the establishment of one office at a central point in the State.

Consolidation at all levels of the branches of soil conservation, extension and irrigation and range management activities now in the branch of forestry and range management into a new branch of land operations.

Reduction of the number of staff technicians at area offices.

Transfer of the branch of credit from the Division of Resources to Division of Administration.

Abolition of the branch of management planning in the Division of Administration and the establishment of an Office of Management Research in the Commissioner’s Office, to include reports control, statistics and information.

Special emphasis was placed by the Survey Team on two of the Bureau’s activities:

1. There is a tremendous backlog of land transactions which must be eliminated before any real progress can be made in meeting the over-all objectives of the Bureau. Increased funds for this purpose are urgently recommended.
2. The progress of voluntary and permanent relocation of Indians off reservations should be expanded. The Team considers this one of the most constructive and promising aspects of the Bureau's program.

Other important recommendations, dealing with functional matters, include the following:

Further construction of relatively high-cost boarding schools on the Navajo Reservation should be postponed. The Bureau should concentrate on providing inexpensive facilities of a semi-permanent nature that would increase the number of children in day schools in a comparatively short time.

The Bureau should develop a program, with the cooperation of Congress and the Bureau of the Budget to accomplish early disposition of the backlog of cases involving probate administration of Indian trust property.

Other recommendations dealing with functional changes relate to the maintenance and construction of roads; marketing of mature, overripe and infested timber; standards of eligibility for health, education and welfare services; elimination of reports and the development of an aggressive, well-coordinated public relations program.

In transmitting the recommendations to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs Secretary McKay set February 15 for the initiation of several of the major recommendations. These include the realignment of the branch organization and consolidation, organization, staffing and location of area offices. The Commissioner was also instructed to submit definite proposals for attacking the other major problems delineated by the Survey Team, within 90 days.

The Team pointed out that many of the recommendations provide the Bureau with an opportunity to make substantial savings or to give greater service with no increase in cost.

This would be accomplished through consolidation of several branches in Washington and in each of the area offices in which a number of supervisory positions could be eliminated.

Consolidation of the Window Rock and Albuquerque Area Offices, the Team stated, would eliminate a substantial number of positions in the two offices and a similar saving could be expected in the consolidation of Muskogee and Anadarko Area Offices in Oklahoma. Recommendations to merge the Building and Utilities Branch located in Washington with that activity at Gallup, N. Mex., and a new approach to the work being done by this branch would likewise result in substantial economies.

An effort to place many activities on a more self-sustaining basis is stressed in the recommendations. In this field, increased foes would be charged for special services rendered of direct personal benefit such as in oil and gas leasing and other land transactions, the probating of estates, medical care for other than indigents, and for the supply of irrigation water.

Other recommendations when adopted would result in greater returns from funds now being expended, the Team pointed out. For instance, greater numbers of Navajo children could attend school if facilities are constructed which would cost $600 instead of $6,000 per child as at present. The recommended transfer of various functional activities, such as bringing roads up to acceptable standard for transfer to counties and the transfer of extension activities to State Extension Services would result in substantial savings. The Team paid high tribute to Bureau employees who evidence a high degree of interest and personal devotion to their jobs.

Tracing the 129-year history of the Bureau, from its establishment in 1824, the Team declared that the Bureau’s responsibilities and -programs have varied in content and emphasis with such frequency that a continuity of organization and operating procedures has been difficult. Unlike any other activity of the Federal Government, the responsibilities of the Bureau are determined not, only by acts of Congress but by treaty and moral obligations as well.

The Bureau at the present time has a total of 10,805 full-time employees and 2,348 other employees, on a temporary, seasonal or part-time basis. 55 percent of the employees are Indians, and approximately 726 employees are paid by tribal funds.

Total appropriations from Treasury funds for the Bureau Is operations this fiscal year total $284,122,760, which is less than its highest appropriation. 24 percent, or $21,082,334, was specifically earmarked for the Navajo-Hopi area.

In discussing the recommendation for the Window Rock-Albuquerque consolidation, the Team stated "the assignment of one man to the dual role of area director and superintendent is unsound, and practically results in too great a load for one man to carry in view of the inherent difficulties and size of the operation.

Heretofore subordination of the Hopi Reservation to an area director who was also superintendent of the Navajos has produced friction between the tribes. This situation will be corrected by the reorganization.

Adequate housing and offices are available in Albuquerque and that office at present has a relatively light workload and is near enough to all the reservations to facilitate communication. Gallup was considered as the location of the combined area office but was not selected primarily because of shortages of housing and office space and because of a limited supply of office workers. However, the Team recommended that the headquarters of the Buildings and Utilities Branch of the Bureau be located in Gallup. The Team also recommended reestablishment of the superintendency of the United Pueblos agency in New Mexico, distinct from the area director at Albuquerque.

Practically the same reasons are given for recommending consolidation of the two Area Offices in Oklahoma and the location of one office in the central part of the State. The consolidation of administrative and other functions would result in savings which would more than offset the increased cost of reestablishing the two superintendent's positions.

Appointment of Halter O. Olson as superintendent of the Mescalero Agency, Mescalero, N. Mex., was announced today by Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay. Mr. Olson succeeds Lonnie Hardin who was transferred to Fort Apache Agency as reservation principal.

Mr. Olson joined the Bureau of Indian Affairs in June 1940, as a trainee in the Southwest field training program under a Rockefeller Foundation grant, National Institute of Public Affairs. In 1941, he was named assistant superintendent, United Pueblos Agency, Albuquerque , N. Mex. In 1946 he was named superintendent of the Zuni Agency in New Mexico and in 1948 became associate area director, Navajo-Hopi jurisdiction, Window Rock, Ariz. In 1952 he transferred to the Technical Cooperation Administration as deputy assistant administrator for Near East and Africa.

He was born in St. Anthony, Idaho in 1914 and attended the University of Idaho, and was graduated in 1940. He took leave of absence from the Bureau in 1947 to get a master’s degree at the University of Idaho.

Transfer of Benjamin Reifel from the superintendency of the Fort Berthold Indian Agency, New Town, N. Dak., to the superintendency at Pine Ridge Agency, Pine Ridge, S. Dak., was announced today by Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay.

At Pine Ridge Mr. Reifel replaces Ole H. Sande who has requested transfer to educational position with the Bureau of Indian Affairs, IU.s new assignment has not yet been determined. Ralph Shane, supervising highway engineer, at Fort Berthold will serve as acting superintendent pending selection of Mr. Reifel’s successor.

Mr. Reifel, who will report at Pine Ridge, January 17, joined the Indian Bureau in 1933 as farm agent. From 1935 to 1942, he was organization field agent, helping Indian tribes and bands organize tribal and business councils under the Indian Reorganization Act. After four and one-half years of military service, he returned to the Bureau in 1946 as tribal relations officer at Billings, Montana. In 1949 he took three years' leave of absence for graduate study at Harvard University and was awarded a doctorate in public administration in 1952. After a brief tour of duty in the Bureau's Washington Office, he was appointed to Fort Berthold in 1952.

Mr. Reifel was educated in the public school and the Federal Indian School at Rosebud Reservation, and at the School of Agriculture and the State College, Brookings, S. Dak., where he received a Bachelor of Science degree in agriculture in 1932. He is a Sioux Indian and was born on the Rosebud Reservation in 1906.

Mr. Sande was born at Vik, Norway in 1892. He came to the United States at an early age and received his elementary education in the public schools of Thief River Falls, Minnesota. In 1929 he received the degree of Bachelor of Education from Minnesota State Teachers College. His post-graduate work was done at the University of Minnesota.

Mr. Sande has been in the Indian Bureau since 1943, and for three years was associate director of education in the Washington Office. For the following three years he served as regional supervisor of public school relations and as Area Educationist in Minneapolis. He was named superintendent at Pine Ridge Agency in October 1950.