OPA

Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay today announced the appointment of Richard Do Butts as superintendent of the Red Lake Agency, Bureau of Indian Affairs, at Red Lake, Minn. Butts will be succeeded as superintendent at the Umatilla Agency, Pendleton, Oregon by Clarence W. Ringey realty assistant at Consolidated Chippewa Agency, Case Lake, Minn.

Butts succeeds Frell M. Owl who was recently transferred as Red Lake superintendent to the same position at the Northern Idaho Agency, Lapwai, Idaho.

A native of Harrington, Kansas, and graduate of Oklahoma A. and M. College, Butts has been with the Bureau since 1948 when he was soil conservationist at Colville Agency, Nespelem, Wash. He became superintendent at Umatilla in 1951. He served six years in the Army in World War II, attaining the rank of major when he was discharged in 1948.

Ringey, a native of Clarissa, Minn., joined the Bureau in 1931 and for 10 years served as farm agent at Red Lake,, From there he went to the now abolished Tomah Agency, Shawano, Wis., as a field aid and later became assistant to the superintendent. In 1947 he transferred back to Red Lake as farm management supervisor and in 1949 was promoted to District Agent at the Great Lakes Consolidated Agency, Ashland, Wis. He was appointed to the Consolidated Chippewa Agency in 1952.

Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay will arrive in Anchorage, Alaska, on July 17, for a ten-day inspection tour of the Territory.

In addition to surveying the Department’s Alaskan activities, the itinerary has been planned to provide for meeting with government personnel and with Alaska business groups, natives and other citizens.

Mrs. McKay will accompany the Secretary on the tour which will end on July 27. William Strand, director of the Office of Territories, Department of the Interior, which has immediate supervision of Alaskan affairs, will also be in the party.

Secretary McKay's visit is the second time in 22 years that a Secretary of the Interior has visited the Territory. A previous Secretary visited Alaska in 1946.

Major bureaus of the Department have extensive operation in Alaska. These include the Bureau of Indian Affairs which operates through the Alaska Native Service, schools and hospitals; the Bureau of Land Management, which has jurisdiction over millions of acres of public lands; the Bureau of Mines and Geological Survey, active in mineral exploration and development.

The Fish and Wildlife Service supervises regulation of the salmon fishery and operates the fur seal industry on the Pribilof Islands. The National Park Service has jurisdiction over Mount McKinley National Park and the Bureau of Reclamation, is building a hydroelectric project at Eklutna.

The Department also operates the Alaska Railroad and supervises the Alaska Road Commission and the Alaska Public Works program.

While it will not be possible for Secretary McKay to make an examination of all the Department’s activities, the tour has been arranged so that the supervisory personnel and many employees will have an opportunity to meet him and discuss departmental programs.

The Secretary’s party will leave Seattle at 8:30 a.m., July 17, arriving in Anchorage at 12:20 p.m.

On arriving in Anchorage the Secretary will inspect the Alaska Native Service Hospital and meet with the medical and administrative staff. The Fish and Wildlife Service operates a seaplane pert at Anchorage and this will be inspected, prior to a survey of the Alaska Railroad facilities, He will attend a public reception in the late afternoon and a Chamber of Commerce dinner that evening.

Departing from Anchorage early Sunday morning after attending church services he will travel by Alaska Railroad to Whittier, an important transportation base, where he will confer with the commanding officer and inspect the facilities. Late in the afternoon he will travel to Seward by rail for an inspection of the Seward docks and transportation facilities. A reception and Chamber of Commerce dinner will follow, the return trip to Anchorage by automobile being made that night.

Monday, July 19 – The Secretary will tour Elmendorf Air Force Base and Fort Richardson, having lunch with General Atkinson - commanding officer of all Alaskan Armed Forces and fly to Valdez, arriving at 2:30 p.m. At Valdez he will drive through Keystone Canyon to Thompson Pass. A reception at Cordova has been arranged and the return flight to Anchorage will be made that night.

Tuesday, July 20 – Travelling by automobile, he will leave Anchorage and inspect the Eklutna project en route to Palmer, where he will join municipal officials and Chamber of Commerce members for a tour through the Matanuska Valley to Wasilla. By rail he will travel from Wasilla to Mount McKinley with a brief stop at Talkeetna en route. At Mount McKinley, Park headquarters and other facilities will be inspected.

Wednesday, July 21– Leaving Mount McKinley in midmorning he will travel by Alaska Railroad to Fairbanks.., Most of the afternoon will be spent inspecting railroad facilities there and with a visit to the University of Alaska and the gold dredging operations. A reception will be held by local residents at the Country Club where the Secretary will also attend a community dinner that night.

Thursday, July 22 – By air he will travel from Fairbanks to Barrow where he will visit the Arctic Research Laboratory. After meeting with Eskimo community leaders at the nearby native village he will depart for Kotzebue an inspection of native and fish and Wildlife seal and fishery operations. A picturesque reindeer corral is maintained at Kotzebue. He will leave Kotzebue early in the evening and travel by air to Nome.

Friday, July 23 – The Secretary will spend most of the day touring the Nome, area and will meet with various Eskimo groups. A reception and lunch has been arranged by the Nome Chamber of Commerce. The return trip to Fairbanks will be by air and an evening inspection of Ladd Air Force base will be made.

Saturday, July 24 – Departing from Fairbanks by air, the party will arrive at Juneau in early afternoon with a stop over at Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, Canada. The famous Mendenhall Glacier will be one of the features of the Juneau tour and at 4 o’clock; the Secretary and Mrs. McKay will be guests at a public reception given by Gov. Frank Heintzleman at the Governor’s Mansion. A Chamber of Commerce dinner will follow that evening.

Sunday, July 25 – The party will attend church services in the morning at Juneau and will watch the final day of fishing in the Golden North Salmon Derby.

Monday, July 26 – Leaving Juneau early Monday morning the party will travel by float plane to Sitka for an inspection of the Mount Edgecumbe Hospital, operated by the .Alaska Native Service and a visit to the Pioneer Home. Departure from Sitka will be made around noon for Petersburg, with a stop over at Kake, a native village en route. At Petersburg, a luncheon meeting with local people has been arranged. A brief stop at Wrangell, en route to Ketchikan will be made in the afternoon. At Ketchikan a public reception and community dinner will close the day.

Tuesday, July 27--In the Ketchikan area the Secretary and party will confer with business and community leaders and will take lunch at the new pulp mill at Ward Cove. Late in the afternoon the party will depart for Annette Island and the return trip to Seattle with arrival there at 5:20 p.m.

Secretary of the Interior Manuel Lujan said today his Department looks forward to a major role in implementing the America the Beautiful initiative in President Bush's fiscal year 1991 budget. "With increased funding for land acquisition, recreation enhancement and resource protection, the President shows his strong commitment to meeting the diverse Federal land management challenges of the 1990s," Lujan said.

Along with America the Beautiful, the Interior Department will launch a Legacy '99 initiative to substantially reduce its backlog of rehabilitation and maintenance projects, including the repair of unsafe dams and the clean-up of hazardous materials. "Our goal will be to assure the American people a natural resources legacy we can all celebrate when Interior marks its 150th anniversary in 1999," Lujan said.

The Department's budget request totals $7.7 billion, 6 percent lower than 1990 fiscal year funding levels. Included in this budget request is more than $360 million to implement Interior's part of the President's America the Beautiful initiative.

Lujan said major environmental efforts will be made in the coming fiscal year to improve resource protE3Ction, make high priority land acquisitions, restore public lands and facilities, move ahead with a national water quality assessment program, increase global change research and support an enhanced Department-wide wetlands program.

"In addition, one of our primary goals in the human resources area is the improvement of Indian education," Lujan added. "There is increased funding both for an education initiative and for improved basic administrative functions in the Bureau of Indian Affairs."

Secretary Lujan also noted that he has secured increased funding for several other Departmental initiatives including the War on Drugs, Opportunities for Women and Minorities, Volunteers and the Take Pride in America campaign.

"The President's budget sets forth an action agenda that will enable the Interior Department to improve our stewardship of the Nation's public lands," Lujan said. "We cannot afford to stand by watching the environment that sustains us suffer continued insult and abuse. We must be mindful of our mission to develop in an environmentally sensitive manner the resources needed to sustain our economic growth."

In addition to Department-wide proposals, Secretary Lujan noted the following Interior bureau-specific highlights:

Funding will be increased within the Bureau of Indian Affairs to improve the basic administrative functions of the agency and finance several Indian education initiatives.

Budget increases within the Bureau of Land Management will enable that agency to support its growing recreation and wildlife responsibilities within its overall multiple-use land management mission.

The Bureau of Reclamation will continue to reduce its operations and maintenance backlog, support new bureau water resource studies and incorporate dam safety programs being transferred from the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Increased funding will enable the Geological Survey to begin full-scale implementation of the National Water Quality Assessment Program, and new research activities related to global change.

The Fish and Wildlife Service budget includes monies in support of the President's goal of "no net loss" of wetlands, and to implement both the Endangered Species Act amendments and conservation efforts on behalf of the African elephant.

The Minerals Management Service will receive additional funds to strengthen its outer continental shelf environmental studies program and expand auditing of oil and gas leases on Indian lands.

The National Park Service's Historic Preservation Grants Program will be increased, as will funding for new, expanding and small parks.

OSMRE

The Office of Surface Mining, Reclamation and Enforcement will be given increased funding for State Regulatory Grants.

Territorial and International Affairs will be given funding to eliminate the trust territory deficit, to mitigate adverse effects of Compacts of Free Association for Guam and the Northern Marianas, and for contributions to the Guam hospital and American Samoa school construction.

[Editor's Note: Departmental and Bureau budgetary highlights from the FY1991 Interior Department budget are attached together with fact sheets on America the Beautiful and Legacy '99.]

The President's 1987 budget request of $923.7 million in appropriations for the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) puts new emphasis on the concepts of Indian self-determination and tribal self-government through the introduction of a new line item category for tribal/agency operations, putting almost one-third of the total BIA budget under more direct control of the tribes.

The 1987 request also proposes the transfer of the $22 million Johnson-O'Malley education program to the Department of Education (DOE) and the move of $11.5 million in Title IV education programs from DOE to the BIA. Special legislation to effect ·this change will be needed. The rationale is to have all programs affecting Indian students attending public schools administered in the Department of Education and to move Indian education programs affecting federal or tribal schools to the BIA.

Interior Assistant Secretary Ross Swimmer, who assumed direction of the Bureau of Indian Affairs in December, 1985, said he "was pleased that the 1987 budget request reflected the growing role of tribal governments in the operation of reservation programs." He added, "Even though the President's budget has been designed to comply with the deficit reduction requirements of the Gramm-Rudman act -- with no further reductions anticipated -- there is still an increase of $8.5 million provided for the operation of Indian programs." The 1986 total for BIA program operation is $853.6 million; the 1987 request is for $862.l million.

The Assistant Secretary said he intended to send all tribal chairmen a detailed explanation of the budget request, with further information about opportunities for consolidated grants, contracts and cooperative agreements under the new tribal/agency operations funding category.

The $295 million requested for tribal/agency operations includes funding for local service programs planned and operated at the reservation or .agency level and some other programs offering direct services to tribes and individuals. The consolidated funding of these operations will allow tribes more flexibility in making local decisions concerning fund usage to meet current needs and will reduce federal restrictions.

The program dollars budgeted for tribal/agency operations will be justified under the umbrella of a single budget activity with no subactivity line itemization. This will allow the tribes to request the use of the funds for various purposes within broad Congressional authorizations without going through the cumbersome and slow process of reprogramming required for exchanges between line items.

Comparisons between the individual line items in the 1987 budget request and those in the 1986 appropriation are generally meaningless because of the new tribal/agency operations category, which includes funds transferred from most of the other line item programs.

Programs receiving 1987 increases include self-determination services, $4.2 million; social services, $1.2 million; business enterprise development, $1.2 million; real estate and financial trust services, $4.6 million; management and administration, $1 million; and a new consolidated training program, $1.4 million.

The increase in self-determination services results from a $5.6 million increase for the indirect costs of new tribal contracts for reservation programs, an increase in technical assistance and a decrease of $1.7 million for small tribes core management grants.

The $4.6 million increase in real estate and financial trust services includes $3 million for cadastral surveys, mostly in Alaska, and more than $700,000 for land records improvement. An increase of $450,000 for financial trust services will be used to improve trust fund investment operations and to develop and implement a new trust fund accounting system.

The $1.4 million requested for the new consolidated training program will be used to recruit and train qualified Indians to improve the quality and efficiency of the services provided by the Bureau to tribal groups. The BIA will activate understudy, cooperative education and in-service training programs for its employees.

Some of the major decreases from the 1986 appropriation levels are accounted for by the transfer of the Johnson-O'Malley program, $22.1 million; reduced construction, $41. 7 million; and elimination of one-time payments of $6 million for emergency hay purchases and $7.5 million for payments to the Alaska Escrow account.

There has also been a reduction of $12 million for programs in Alaska. Because of the implementation of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act and the assumption by the state of greater responsibility for education and welfare programs, previous levels of federal financial support for Alaska Natives are no longer considered necessary.

* 1986 Appropriation figures have been adjusted to reflect a 4.3% Gramm-Rudman reduction.

(All dollar amounts are in Thousands.)

I have been informed that demonstrations are planned sometime this weekend in Washington, D.C., and in other parts of the country protesting the resettlement of those Navajo families residing on land partitioned to the Hopi Indian Tribe as a result of the Navajo-Hopi Land Settlement Act (P.L. 93-531) passed by the U.S. Congress in 1974.

There has been and continues to be, a lot of misinformation and distortion of fact, and emotional appeals for support issued by mostly non-Indian activist groups who oppose the law. The actions by these groups have been denounced frequently by both Navajo and Hopi tribal leaders.

I would suggest that groups and organizations who want to help the Indian people involved, use their time and energy to help the tribes and the government achieve a humane and decent resettlement for those required to move to new homelands. We are nearing the end of what has been a long and painful disruption of the lives of many people. I would like to see those participating in demonstrations devote their energies to helping us complete the process by working with those yet to be resettled.

Only about 240 Navajo families remain on the Hopi partitioned lands that are to be resettled. I have visited the area where most Navajos awaiting relocation are residing, and I firmly believe that nearly all of them will agree to move when they are assured that appropriate housing and grazing lands will be available on the "new" lands purchased and added to the Navajo Reservation.

I want to emphasize that there will be no action by the federal government to forcibly remove Navajo families from land belonging to the Hopi Indian Tribe. Congress has recognized that the original July 6, 1986, deadline for completing relocation cannot be met. Extensive counseling of the Navajos affected will be given a high priority in this final phase of resettlement. We hope to complete the process by the end of 1987 and Congress has been so advised.

Secretary of the Interior Rogers C. B. Morton today announced that he has decided to grant right-of-way permits for the proposed Trans-Alaska Pipeline.

Because of injunctions issued in pending litigation, the actual permits for the pipeline cannot be issued at this time. Notice of the Secretary's intent to issue the permits is being given the plaintiffs, as required by court order, and the permits will be issued as soon as that can be done without violating any court order.

The text of the Secretary's statement is attached.

A Bureau of Indian Affairs Task Force" in Sacramento, Calif. processed more than 5,000 applications for Eskimo, Indian, and Aleut homesteads in Alaska in an eight week period ending April 21, approximately 20 times the number of homestead applications the Bureau handled in the previous 66 years.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs processed applications and certified to, the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Land Management that the applicants are Alaska Natives. The Sacramento Project Office became the clearing house for a massive shuffling of forms, U. S. Geological quadrangle sheets, and hand drawn maps in response to a plea for help from the Bureau's Anchorage Office.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Louis R. Bruce, commenting on the project, said “This is an example of how dedicated Federal employees pitched in to help Alaska Natives who wish to continue to live as their ancestors have for centuries.”

The avalanche of paperwork was precipitated by the repeal of the Native Allotment Act of 1906. The 1906 Act allowed Alaska Eskimos, Indians, and Aleuts -- of mixed or full-blood up to 160 acres of land in as many as four separate parcels that they had been using and occupying for subsistence in traditional Native manner.

The 1906 Native Allotment Act was repealed by the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act which was signed by President Nixon December 18, 1971. No Natives could file allotment applications after that date. The applications had to be recorded in the proper land office of the Bureau of Land Management of the Department of the Interior so that lands claimed by the Natives could be noted on land office records and withdrawn from other entry or claim.

Why four separate parcels? Well, unlike the homesteaders in the mid-west and the west in the 19th Century, the average Alaska Native doesn't spend all of his time farming a single 160-acre plot.

Instead, he may spend part of the year in his village, part of the year fishing; part in another location picking berries; part of the year hunting and perhaps another part trapping in order to make his living. He needs a home base for himself and his family near each of these activities.

From time immemorial most of the Native population has been living this way, and since the white man came they have lived this way on public domain land.

The Native Allotment Act provided a way for the Alaska Native to obtain title to his land. But by 1969, only 212 I had been able to perfect their claims.

In the late 1960's, it became obvious that the Congress intended to repeal the Native Allotment Act and replace it with the Land Claims Settlement Act. This would allow Native corporations to acquire large blocks of land, but would limit individuals to acquiring only their primary place of residence.

Other benefits were available for the individual under the Native Allotment Act that were not available under the Land Claims Settlement Act. In some instances this included the right to the subsurface, as well as the surface of the land.

The BIA knew that there were thousands of Alaska Natives living on public domain who had not taken the opportunity to file the necessary papers to protect their subsistence lands. Most of them didn't know that once the Land Claims Bill was passed, they would lose these lands.

So, working with the Office of Economic Opportunity and other agencies, in 1969 the BIA began a village-to-campsite campaign throughout Alaska. Representatives of the OEO's Community Action program personally visited thousands of Alaska Natives. They brought the forms necessary for recording land applications and helped the Native fill them out.

Their problem was complicated by the fact that most of the land in Alaska has not been surveyed. So, in place of the usual legal subdivision description of Natives' lands, these workers used hand drawn maps or tracings of quadrangle maps and located the property in question with an "X ".

For more than two years, they continued this search and assist mission. By the time the Land Claims Settlement Act was approved, they had helped more than 8,000 Alaska Natives prepare applications.

In Anchorage, the BIA Agency Office faced other problems.

The Realty Branch, with a staff of four, had the task of processing and filing the land applications. At the rate the work was proceeding, this office might have been able to finish the job in the early 1980's -- assuming it didn't do anything else. However, with the enactment of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, December 18, 1971, immediate action became necessary.

An appeal was made to superiors in Washington for help. The problem was presented to the Office of the Secretary of the Interior, Roger C. B. Morton.

The first solution considered was hiring additional help for the Anchorage BIA Agency or detailing BIA personnel from other offices to this Agency. But it was difficult to get enough volunteers to go to Alaska. In addition, the cost of transportation and per diem for BIA stateside personnel to Anchorage would have been prohibitive.

It was decided to bring the mountain of paperwork to the Bureau people in the lower States. Washington arranged with the BIA's Sacramento Area Realty Officer to make space available in the BIA Sacramento office.

BIA Alaska Realty personnel moved to Sacramento late last February. With them they brought their applications and hand drawn map. The Washington Office took care of the details of transferring qualified technicians from BIA offices in Arizona, New Mexico, Oregon, Montana, Minnesota, Washington, and Oklahoma to Sacramento on temporary detail. Arrangements for office space, supplies, transportation, and housing for the task force were made by the Sacramento office.

This crew, averaging about 25 persons working at anyone time, was busy transferring .the information obtained in the field onto quadrangle maps of Alaska, marked as carefully as possible, and completing the forms to be filed with the Bureau of Land Management.

Last month, the Sacramento project was completed. The Alaska Natives that have valid allotment applications and comply with the 1906 Native Allotment Act will be able to continue to live as their ancestors have for centuries, fishing, hunting, picking berries and trapping on land they can -- legally -- call their own.

The proposed rule of the Northwestern Band of Shoshone Indians one of the three participant groups which will share a $15.7 million judgment awarded the tribe by the Indian Claims Commission and being distributed pursuant to the Act of December 18, 1971 was published in the Federal Register May 17, 1972. Commissioner of Indian Affairs Louis R. Bruce made the announcement today. Regulations to govern preparation of the roll were published April 21, 1972.

The award represents settlement by Compromise of claims for the taking in 1868 of about 38,000 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).

Any person claiming membership rights.in the Northwestern Band of Shoshone Indians, or any interest in said judgment funds, or a representative of the Secretary on behalf of any such person, within sixty days from the date the proposed roll is published, may file an appeal with the Secretary contesting the inclusion or omission of the name of any person on or from such proposed roll.

Appeals must be in writing addressed to the Secretary of the Interior and mailed to the Area Director, Bureau of Indian Affairs, 425 Irving Street, NE, Portland, Oregon 97208.

The proposedro11of the Northwestern Band of Shoshone Indians one of the three participant groups which will share a $15.7 million judgment awarded the tribe by the Indian Claims Commission and being distributed pursuant to the Act of December 18, 1971 was published in the Federal Register May 17, 1972. Commissioner of Indian Affairs Louis R. Bruce made the announcement today. Regulations to govern preparation of the roll were published April 21, 1972.

The award represents settlement by Compromise of claims for the taking in 1868 of about 38,000 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).

Any person claiming membership rights.in the Northwestern Band of Shoshone Indians, or any interest in said judgment funds, or a representative of the Secretary on behalf of any such person, within sixty days from the date the proposed roll is published, may file an appeal with the Secretary contesting the inclusion or omission of the name of any person on or from such proposed roll.

Appeals must be in writing addressed to the Secretary of the Interior and mailed to the Area Director, Bureau of Indian Affairs, 425 Irving Street, NE, Portland, Oregon 97208.

Secretary of the Interior Don Hodel today announced an FY 1989 budget for the Department that maintains funding levels for the Department's key operating programs, improves management of the Nation's water resources and adds funds to help eliminate hazardous wastes and contaminants affecting Interior activities.

The $6.56 billion budget is $600 million less than the FY 1988 budget enacted by Congress and is consistent with prior Interior budgets for this Administration in that only the highest priority construction and land acquisition projects are proposed for funding. Almost half of the decrease is in the area of land acquisition and non-Reclamation construction. About $3.5 billion has been appropriated in these areas since 1980. Many of the remaining reductions are in the area of state grant programs and lower priority research.

"Observers of past Administration budgets for Interior should find few surprises in this proposal," Hodel said. "We have made decisions in the budget which support the President's goals for Interior while continuing to meet the budget constraints necessary to reduce the federal deficit. This is a responsible budget which emphasizes the protection of existing resources and the upgrading of facilities and the maintaining of the Department's core programs."

The proposal includes the largest budgets ever requested for the operations of national parks) reclamation facilities) and the Minerals Management Service. The request also maintains funding levels for the operation of national wildlife refuges and fish hatcheries. Funds will be used to better manage resources and to upgrade the interpretive and visitor services at national park sites.

The budget reflects the new direction of the Bureau of Reclamation, announced in 1987, from an agency emphasizing construction of large water projects to one emphasizing better water resource management and environmental quality. Although funding for new construction is reduced slightly, there is a $32 million increase to provide better management and improved efficiency of existing facilities and to assure water and power commitments to the beneficiaries are met. In keeping with the Bureau's new focus, 11 new studies will be funded in the areas of water conservation, environmental protection and restoration, and more efficient water management practices. These studies will explore nonstructural means that can help resolve the West's water resource problems. To carry out these changes, the Bureau is undertaking a reorganization that will result in consolidating and moving certain agency functions. This will involve a reduction of approximately 500 personnel by the end of FY 1989.

In 1987, the practice of funding approved reclamation construction projects also changed from one of dividing funding shortages among all projects to one of providing those projects closest to completion enough funds to stay on schedule. The FY 1989 budget continues this philosophy, but also will make funds available for some projects whose funds were constrained in FY 1988.

The Department will more than double its funding to address hazardous materials problems on public lands. The increase is provided for a Department-wide effort to resolve existing or potential problems on lands for which Interior has responsibility. Funds are provided to accelerate investigations and corrective actions on more than 200 sites on lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management that could pose public health or environmental problems. The Department will continue to provide funding for the cleanup of contamination problems at Kesterson National Wildlife Refuge, the San Joaquin Valley Drainage Program, and for a Department-wide Irrigation Drainage Task Force.

Interior is encouraging several innovative means to protect the Nation's natural resources without additional federal funding. One successful alternative to land acquisition frequently used during this Administration has been land trades which protect priority wildlife habitat and park lands without additional federal land acquisition expenditures. Since 1980, the National Park Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have acquired more than 200,000 acres through exchanges. These agencies have the potential of acquiring more than a million additional acres by the end of FY 1989.

Another emphasis of this Administration has been the encouragement and use of volunteers. Last year more than 56tOOO people volunteered over 2.5 million hours of their time to give tours, plant trees, band birds, and do a multitude of other jobs on Interior lands. In 1989, the volunteer contribution is expected to increase as the President's Take Pride in America campaign enters its third year.

In FY 1989, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) will implement a demonstration project that will allow at least ten Indian tribes to develop and implement tribal designed, rather than BIA designed, budgets. The planning process for these budgets began in 1988. Hodel described the new budgeting process is one of the Department's most promising initiatives and the beginning of a long-term effort designed to lessen the role of the BIA in the day-to-day life of Indian tribes and individuals. Increases also are requested for Indian education and social service programs and to address employment problems on reservations.

Within the Bureau of Mines budget, increased funding and a redirection of existing resources will support research to minimize health and safety hazards in mines, develop cost effective environmental controls, and improve efficiency and competitiveness of the U.S. mining industry. Funding priorities in the U.S. Geological Survey include continuation of the transition to digital map production, scientific studies of the Exclusive Economic Zone, and seven pilot studies in the National Water Quality Assessment program. However, overall funding of these bureaus will decrease, as lower priority research is deemphasized.

Included in the budget are the assumptions that Congress will authorize exploration in a portion of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and that the first lease sale will occur in 1990. The budget provides $2 million for continued environmental research in support of leasing.

Requests for funds available for grants to States for the reclamation of abandoned coalmines will be reduced by $30 million, to $129.6 million. This will not reduce funds actually received by the States, because in recent years their ability to obligate funds for this purpose has not kept pace with the rate at which funds have been made available. As a result, there is a substantial carryover from previous years which, when combined with the FY 1989 budget request, will allow States to complete ongoing projects and start new ones. Funds for grants to States for endangered species, anadromous fish, historic preservation and recreation programs have not been requested.

Sport fish restoration funds for States will increase by $33.7 million, to a record $194.8 million, as a result of revenues from fishing related activities. Since 1985, funding for this purpose has increased 514%. Payments to States for oil and gas revenues from public lands will also increase by $26.7 million, to $439.1 million, largely as a result of production increases.

The budget includes $600,000 for the National Park Service to explore in more detail the costs and benefits of restoring the almost 2,000 acres of the Hetch Hetchy Valley, presently flooded by the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, to their natural grandeur as part of Yosemite National Park.

Interior is also undertaking several management improvement efforts which convincingly demonstrate it is possible to operate Government agencies in a more cost effective manner, Hodel said. The Department is continuing the process of consolidating from 13 accounting systems and 30 payments centers spread across all Interior bureaus to one standard system. The Office of Management and Budget has described this effort as a model for the federal government. In other areas often overlooked by line managers --unemployment compensation and worker compensation-- Interior management initiatives are contributing substantial cost savings and are returning employees who want to work to productive employment.

Among the other management efficiencies proposed in the budget is a more effective method of ensuring the proper amount of royalties due the United States is collected from the 24,000 onshore Federal and Indian producing oil and gas leases. The budget includes $4.4 million for the Minerals Management Service to extend automated production reporting to cover all producing onshore leases. The system will allow automated comparison of sales reports from royalty payers with actual production reports from lease operations, thereby minimizing underpayment.

A total of $23 million is requested for accelerated development of the Automated Land Records System of BLM, an increase of $9.5 million. This data management system will automate the more than one billion documents which comprise the land status data from all States. When completed in 1993, it will significantly reduce the time involved in processing land and mineral casework and offer greatly improved services to the general public.

In FY 1989, the Department also will explore a variety of alternatives to government supplied housing. Interior has approximately 10,600 units of housing, over half of which need significant repair. Alternatives that may be pursued include employee cooperatives, sale or lease of current housing units to employees, private financing of necessary rehabilitation and new construction, and joint ventures with the private sector.