OPA

"The unique content and method of traditional Indian teachings, development of morality and will power in the formation of Indian character, the spiritual training of Indian children by kin .and medicine man. All will be discussed at '" I the Second Conference of American Indian Elders on Traditional Indian Education," Commissioner of Indian Affairs Louis R. Bruce announced today. The Conference will be held at the Mather Training Center, Harper's Ferry, West Virginia, June 19-23.

The week-long, conference is jointly sponsored by the Myrin Institute Inc., a non-profit foundation organized to promote adult education, and the Interior Department's Bureau of Indian Affairs. An initial conference with Indian elders was held in Denver, Colorado in June, 1968.

Following introductory remarks by Sylvester M. Morey, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Myrin Institute, Commissioner Bruce will address the Conference June 19 on the need and importance of traditional Indian education. The afternoon discussion will cover the content and methods of traditional Indian teachings as they affect a child's life from conception through puberty.

Tuesday the group will discuss the formation of character and the grooming of a chief. The Thursday morning discussion will be the role of women elders in the education of the young; followed by an afternoon discussion of the perpetuation of sacred lore to young Indians and its influence on their lives.

Indians participating in the Conference are representative of regional Indian areas and tribes of the United States. Allen Quetone, Kiowa, Superintendent of the BIA Concho Agency, Concho, Oklahoma will. Serve as Moderator; and Robert L. Bennett, former Commissioner of Indian Affairs and presently Director of the American Indian Law ‘Institute at the University of New Mexico, will attend as special consultant.

On Friday June 23, participants have scheduled a press conference at 1:00 p.m. for concluding statements. It is expected that the group will discuss the gap in understanding that has always separated the white man from the red.

Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. It is a privilege to be here. Surely the presence of so much talent at the National Archives Conference on Research in the history of Indian-white relations underlines the importance of this event.

I want to thank Mr. James Rhoads, Archivist of the United States s Miss Jane Smith and Mr. Robert Kvasnicka s Directors of the Conference, for hosting this impressive agenda and this even more impressive assemblage. I think that Indian people need to have the complete record -- and I strongly emphasize complete record -­ set straight once and for all. It is thrilling that we have here today American spokesmen who will achieve this for Indian people.

When president Nixon "appointed me Commissioner of Indian Affairs in August 1969, I immediately set about the monumental task of acquainting myself with as much as possible of the written material about American Indians as is available in the Libraries and Archives of Washington, D.C. and New York. I confess I didn't even finish all of the Annual Reports of my predecessors in the Office of Commissioner of Indian Affairs. Nor was I able to get through even a small percentage of the massive collection of historical and social documents that make up the extant body of American Indian history.

I did, however, take note of the fact that most of what I read and reviewed had not been written by Indians. I realized that the very complex circumstances that would have made it possible for any estimable part of this history to have been written by Indians themselves did not exist when the largest part of it was written. From this experience I said to myself: The day will come soon when American Indians will write and judge their own history as it relates to the overall history of this continent. I think I can now say that it is no longer an impossibility for Indian scholars and writers to take charge of this academic territory.

Since I came to Washington in 1969, the face of Indian America has undergone some dramatic and far reaching changes. Not in this century has there been such a volume of creative turbulence in Indian country. The will for self-determination has become a vital component of the thinking of Indian leadership and the grassroots Indian on every reservation and in every city. It is an irreversible trend, a tide in the destiny of American Indians that will eventually compel all of America once and for all to recognize the dignity and human rights of Indian people.

For the past three years I have been at the vortex of this surge toward true and lasting self-determination. The Bureau of Indian Affairs has been undergoing an unprecedented metamorphosis, which I'm sure many of you know about.

Soon after I assumed the position of Commissioner, I announced, with President Nixon's approval realignment of the top positions in the BIA Central Office and: appointed a new executive staff composed of 15 Indians and Alaskan Natives. This marked a milestone in BIA history. Today more Indians than ever before are holding key BIA management positions and working to implement the self-determination policy of this Administration. Indian direction of Indian affairs has become the cornerstone for policy-making in the Nixon Administration.

In his July 1970 special message to the Congress on Indian affairs, President Nixon set forth future Federal Indian policy directions. He called for a "New era in which the Indian future is determined by Indian acts and Indian decisions." The President urged the Congress "To renounce, repudiate and repeal" the policy of terminating Federal aid to Indian reservations expressed in 1953 in House Concurrent Resolution 108. Last December, the Senate acted on this recommendation to repeal the termination policy toward Indians and replace it with a new policy that would have self- determination a major goal. The switch was embodied in a "Sense of Congress" Resolution that was adopted by voice vote without dissent. The Resolution is now awaiting action in the House of Representatives.

In his Indian message, President Nixon announced proposals for Indian control of Indian education, Indian direction of federally funded programs, an Indian Trust Counsel Authority, an Indian credit program, an Assistant Secretary for Indian and Territorial Affairs in the Interior Department, and restoration of Blue Lake to the Taos Indians of New Mexico. The first of the President's proposals to be enacted was legislation returning Blue Lake and the surrounding land to the Indians of Taos Pueblo.

In keeping with the President's legislative proposals just mentioned, my staff and I began working to restructure the Bureau at all levels so that its policies and programs would reflect more closely the thinking and feelings of Indian people. Five policy goals were announced in November 1970 to guide the Bureau in its new administration of Indian affairs: 1. Transformation of the BIA from a Management to a Service Organization; 2. Reaffirmation of the trust status of Indian land; 3. Making the BIA area offices fully responsive to the Indian people they serve; 4. Providing tribes with the option of taking over any or all BIA program functions, with the understanding that the Bureau will provide assistance or assume control if requested to do so; and 5. Working with Indian organizations to become a strong advocate of off-reservation Indian interests.

The idea of self-determination -- the right of Indians to their own choice and decisions -- is, as I indicated earlier, coming a reality as Indian people begin to assume the authority manage their own affairs. In his message, President Nixon proposed legislation which would empower tribes, groups of tribes, or any other Indian community to assume the control or operation of federally-funded and administered programs. As the BIA is gradually being converted from a Management Organization to an Agency of Service, Counsel and Technical Assistance, we are encouraging and assisting tribes in their assumption of program operations. We cannot and do not intend to force this policy on the Indian people. We are allowing them to decide whether they want to take over programs and, if so, how much responsibility they are willing to assume.

The Zuni Tribe of New Mexico accepted the responsibility for directing BIA activities at the Pueblo in May 1970."' Almost a year later, the BIA signed a contract with the Miccosukee Tribe of Florida enabling them to administer BIA programs on the reservations.

The response to this take-over policy has been a somewhat cautious one. Many tribes have waited to see how others responded and how the few tribes that have assumed control fare under the Federal-tribal relationship. Indian people still remember the disastrous results of the termination policy of the 1950's.

A legal vehicle for tribal takeovers of BIA program activities been the Buy Indian Act of 1910. But Indian contracting within Bureau has evolved from procurement of needed supplies into a method for training and employment of Indians, and finally, into an instrument for greater Indian involvement in the conduct of their own affairs. In Fiscal Year 1972, dollar value of Buy Indian contracts between Indian tribes and the BIA will reach an estimated $42.5 million in 1969, only $3.8 million in contracts were negotiated between Indian groups and the Bureau.

We in the Bureau have been keenly aware of the recent emergence of a strong and positive attitude on the part of Indian people that they want and will have better lives. Indians of all ages, representing all tribes are undertaking unprecedented efforts to overcome the problems confronting them. Evidence of this new attitude is apparent in the establishment of the National Tribal Chairmen's Association (NTCA), a new organization of elected tribal chairmen. Created in April 1971, NTCA has advised the Bureau on numerous matters relating to policies, budgets, and programs affecting reservation Indians. As Chairmen, they are men who know first-hand what problems are facing their people and what solutions are needed to solve these problems. Through this group, the National Congress of American Indians, the National Council on Indian Opportunity, and other groups, reservation Indians have presented a single, united voice in shaping the future of Indian affairs.

During the past few years we have also witnessed Indian organ­izations such as the American Indian Movement working to bring recognition to the problems of Indians in off-reservation communities.

Since World War II, when thousands of Indians left the reservations for military service or for war time jobs, a steady off-reservation movement has been taking place. This was given an additional boost in the early 1950's with the initiation of the BIA Employment Assistance Program which assisted Indians in locating permanent employment in non-reservation areas. The urban Indian movement of the last two decades has resulted in more than 350,000 Indians living off the reservations today.

Under its current policy, the Bureau limits BIA services to reservation Indians with some exceptions. There are, however, many people both in the Bureau and outside who believe that the Federal trust responsibility extends to tribal Indians wherever they are. The Government's trust responsibility is to people, not land, and any attempts to deprive Indians of their treaty and constitutional rights is a subversion of sovereignty and the trust responsibility.

In January 1972, the Bureau of Indian affairs announced plans for a re-direction of the BIA's programs for the future. We presented a five-point program designed to assist Indians toward self-determination through economic, educational and social development on the reservations.

Today we believe that all people should have the right to determine their own destinies. Unlike past programs which have all been designed to lead to Indian assimilation, the new BIA program directions deal with developing natural and human resources on the reservations not off. All programs and policies are aimed at establishing viable economies for the growth of self-sustaining Indian communities.

The number one priority in 1972 is a reservation-by-reservation development program. There is a great need on reservations for an overall developmental plan which integrates all of the tribe's natural and human resources. In the past, program areas have often been in conflict with one another because of the lack of such a plan. The Bureau is now assisting 28 tribes who were selected to participate in the Bureau's Reservation Acceleration Program, better known as RAP. Other tribes from Oklahoma and California are being selected for the BIA's Tribal Acceleration Program, TAP. These tribes are negotiating changes in existing local BIA program budgets to insure that these programs support tribal priorities.

This year an intense collective tribal consultation on the BIA budget was considered and is being meshed with the Fiscal 1974BIA budget process. We now feel that we are on the brink of making self-determination and consultation an operational reality.

A new thrust is being provided to the Indian forestry program on those reservations which have significant areas of commercial forest lands. Until now, a large part of the Federal Government's costs for administering the reservation forestry programs has been reimbursed by deducting administrative fees from the stumpage prices paid by purchasers of Indian timber. Effective July 1, 1972, the tribal owners of such forest lands will be given the opportunity to invest those fees in the intensified development· of their tribally-owned forests, rather than to have it credited to Federal accounts in' the Treasury. The total amount of the fees that will thus be diverted into intensified forest management is expected to average approximately $3 million per year. This will not only contribute to a stronger economic base for the local Indian communities, but will substantially increase the contribution made by Indian forest lands to the Nation's requirements of lumber and other forest products.

To assist with development on the reservation, we are redirecting our Employment Assistance Program to develop manpower on the reservations. As many of you already know, the BIA Employment Assistance Program was an outgrowth of the termination policy of the 1950’s designed to relocate Indians in urban areas where jobs were thought to be more plentiful. For some, the relocation strategy worked, but for many it’s meant removal to an urban ghetto. At the same time, it has meant a draining from the Indian communities of those who could best become leaders at home. Now, the relocation strategy has been revered and employment assistance resources are being directed into the reservation economies instead of dissipating in the non-Indian communities. Indian men and women are being trained for work, not in the cities, but in their own home areas.

One of the most exciting methods of implementing this program is the Indian Action Team." The Indian Action Team is a self-help program in which the tribes identify their needs and problems and train their tribal members through specific work projects on the reservations.

Legal issues with regard to water in the Western United States arise only when the resource becomes scarce. The competition for the water becomes intensive because in the arid West, water is money. At this date, there is an increasing demand for water to support the economic growth of the American West. However, there is a limited supply. As a result, Indian people reserved right to water is not very popular with other interests. Secretary of the Interior Rogers Morton established an Indian Water Rights Office to protect Indian water resources. This office is undertaking inventories of the water resources available and is carrying out studies for establishing and confirming the water rights of Indians. We will establish firmly tribal rights to water, thereby protecting them so that the tribes may be assured that they have the water they need in the development of their reservations. The Office of Indian Water Rights reports directly to me; and I in turn report directly to the Secretary of the Interior on water rights issues. This procedure was designed to avoid the conflicting interest of other Interior Department agencies. We are now considering further proposals which will assure us of eliminating any conflicts.

Roads are the basic physical infrastructure upon which all social and economic systems develop. The treaty relationships established the obligation of the Federal Government to build an Indian road system. One of the most shocking statistics of American history that not one linear foot of roads was constructed from 1900 to 1935, the period when mainstream America built its basic road system.

Today, of the Bureau's 21,665 miles of Indian roads, only 1,000 miles are paved. We will upgrade this to a 10,000 mile paved system by 1978. This has meant increasing our road budget from $20 million a year to $106 million a year and will ultimately require more than $800 million over a seven-year period.

The final; but very vital part of our five-point plan calls for more tribal control of education programs. In accordance with the policy enabling tribes to assume control of federally-funded programs, the BIA believes that any Indian community wishing to do so should be able to assume control of its own schools. We recognize that in order for Indian educational programs to become truly responsive to the needs of Indian children and parents, it is imperative that the control of those programs be in the hands of Indian communities. In 1972 we have It' Federal schools controlled by Indian corporations, 4 statewide Johnson-O'Malley programs operated by tribes, 75 other educational programs operated by tribal groups, and 3 reservation junior colleges controlled by Indians. We hope to have at least half of all BIA schools under Indian direction by 1976.

Local Indian communities not ready to undertake actual responsibilities toward the schooling of their children have, in increasing numbers,' formed advisory boards of education. Today, all of the BIA's 200 elementary and secondary schools have Indian Advisory School Boards which are assuming greater management of the schools' curricular, staffing, construction and educational objectives.

Our education staff is now working on establishing goals in education by which we can measure our own progress over the next four years. We are planning to establish a management information system which will monitor our program successes and failures. We are also making plans to establish a Student Bill of Rights that will be in effect by the opening of the Fall Term in September.

Since my appointment I have repeatedly emphasized that we are advocating self-determination and repudiating the paternalism and termination of past national Indian policies. We must and we will' continue to oppose any doctrine of termination under whatever name and in whatever form. The Menominee Restoration Act is presently before the Congress. I personally have been working closely with both the tribe and concerned Federal officials to improve the conditions of the tribe. A lengthy Bureau economic evaluation actually documents the catastrophic effects which termination has had on this group. We are working to have the full range of Bureau services OLC again made available to the Menominee’s. In addition, the trust status of Menominee County should be reinstated so that the dissipation of their land ceases.

We are committed to a policy of tribal involvement in Indian --' programs and in the operation of activities providing services to Indian people. The purpose of this policy is to cause Bureau, administration to be more responsive to the views of Indian people and to give Indians the opportunities to gain experience in the administration of activities affecting their own people. Two important parts of this policy are consultation in the selection of Bureau employees for certain positions and consultation on general personnel programs.

Section 12 of the Indian Reorganization Act contains a statute which relates to Indian preference in employment within the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The interpretation of this Act has been the source of considerable interest in recent years. The Indian Preference Law, if not understood in its economic and historical context, may very well be misunderstood. We feel that this is not a racial matter, but merely an attempt by the framers of an enlightened law to give the Indian people the fight to control the programs which relate to their own domestic dependent nations. Recognition of this fact is even contained in the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The authors of the Act avoided impairing the relationship between Indian tribes and the United States. As a matter of fact, it exempted enterprises and businesses on or near Indian reservations from the prohibitions of the Act. This has had the, effect of extending the preference Act by creating a private employment preference right to Indians. The Act enables tribes to hire Indians 100 percent in private businesses or enterprises on the reservations.

Indian Attorney Browning Pipestem most appropriately titled his position paper on the subject, "Indian Preference -- A Preference to Conduct Self-Government." Until now, preference has only been applied to initial appointment. Our proposal to the Secretary of the Interior contains a request to extend Indian preference to promotions. We expect momentarily an affirmative answer to that request.

A most essential part of the self-determination policy is financial independence. Because of a lack of understanding of Indian matters, the private banking industry of the United States has not been adequately serving Indian financial requirements. The placement of industries on the reservations and the development of Indian natural resources have brought to our attention the need of a financial service to Indian individuals and Indian tribes. The American Indian National Bank was established to help fulfill this need. This Bank is not competitive with the private banking industry, but is an adjunct and an educational procedure to teach banks that banking with Indian people is not an unachievable objective. The American Indian National Bank will have its headquarters in Washington, D.C., with services extended to reservations that can justify the establishment of such a facility. Stock in the bank will be owned by the Indians.

We have recognized for some time a very important area in our relationship with tribes, especially the small tribes and poor tribes that has been not only overlooked but avoided. Simply stated, many tribes do not have the money to carry on their most basic governmental functions -- this being the case in spite of the fact that over the years we have pushed on the tribes, elaborate governmental plans and structures supposedly to illustrate self-government. Couple this with the very real fact that the BIA has never had enough money or staff to supply services to many of the smaller Indian tribes. In order for the small tribe’s to get "a piece of the action," we hope to fund a new program of aid to tribal governments which, for the first time, should provide money for these fiscally poor tribes to use to conduct their own tribal government, efficiently and adequately. We are working now to inaugurate this program at the earliest possible date.

I think that all of this -- aid to tribal governments, an aggressive National Tribal Chairmen's Association, an Indian Bank, the Indian Action Teams, Tribal Control of Indian Education and a strong Bill of Rights for BIA boarding school students, roads on the reservations, establishment of viable Indian economies, Indian preference and consultation -- spells self-determination as we have been trying to identify it in our efforts during this Administration. This we are doing in a time when American Indians have more direct involvement with the Federal Government than ever before in determining the shape and direction of the policies and programs that vitally affect their lives.

I think that all of this, once finally achieved and implemented, and many other self-determination programs now in the planning stage, will be the subject matter of American Indian history for the 1970's that will reflect an era, the long-awaited era, when Indian people achieve full recovery from the unjust past, achieve equality and justice in this society and respond to the challenge of making an outstanding contribution to the advancement of all things human in this land.

To conclude this on a practical and realistic note, and lest I seem too euphoric, I have only to read my daily mail to know that, no matter how hard we try or how sincere our efforts are, it is never fast enough and there is never money enough. We are fortunate if we accomplish just a little and please a few. We will keep trying as best we can for more. That is our assigned task, our solemn responsibility. Indian self-determination is going to be a complete reality not too far ahead of today, and when it is, one of the incomplete chapters of American history will then have been completed.

Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay today announced the opening of a new national headquarters for the Buildings and Utilities Branch of the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Albuquerque, N. Mex.

The new office, which will supervise all construction activities of the Bureau) is being staffed with construction personnel drawn from the Bureau's central office in Washington, D. C. and from area offices throughout the country. When fully staffed, it will consist of 37 technical and 15 clerical or administrative employees.

Plans for the establishment of the consolidated buildings and utilities office in Albuquerque were originally announced last February as part of the reorganization of the Indian Bureau.

The Branch will continue to be headed by Edward A. Poynton, who has been its Chief since 1936.

National headquarters for the Indian Bureau's relocation program, involving guidance and help for Indian workers and their families seeking to establish new homes away from the reservations, will be moved on August 1 from Washington, D. c., to Denver, Colo. Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay announced today.

Charles F. Miller, Chief of the Bureau’s Branch of Relocation for the past two years, will continue to direct the program from Denver. However, Charles B. Rovin, Assistant Chief of the Branch, will remain in Washington as a liaison with the Bureau's Central Office.

The move, which will place the Bureau's top relocation staff in closer proximity to the major centers of Indian population, points up the increased emphasis which the Bureau is now giving to this phase of its operations.

Two other recent developments also underline the growing importance of relocation activity.

One is the focusing of attention by Commissioner Glenn L. Emmons on the urgent need for providing reservation Indians with wider and more diverse opportunities for economic advancement. Commissioner Emmons has stressed this theme frequently and has pointed to the Bureau’s relocation program as one practical answer to the problem.

Relocation was also featured prominently in the report of the survey team which completed an organization study of the Bureau in late 1953. "More attention,” the report stated, "should be given to Indians' needs as individuals and in helping them earn a livelihood in much the same ways as the majority of American people who are working for salaries and wages in towns and cities."

Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay today announced the appointment of Harwood Keaton, Okmulgee, Oklahoma, effective July 18, as assistant area director for the Bureau of Indian Affairs at Muskogee, Oklahoma.

Born in Gibson County, Tenn., and educated in the schools of that State, Mr. Keaton moved to Oklahoma at an early age and has been in the oil and gas business there for more than 40 years. During much of this time he was self-employed and gained wide experience in negotiating leases with landowners and financial institutions, and in supervising actual field development of production. From 1943 to 1948 he was in charge of the oil and gas business of Sells Petroleum, Inc.

In his new post Mr. Keaton will assist Paul L. Fickinger, Area Director, in connection with Indian lands and mineral rights and will be responsible for direction of these activities for the Bureau in the eastern Oklahoma area.

Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay today announced the Bureau of Indian Affairs has contracted with Cornell University Medical College, New York City, for the services of a physician specializing in diseases of the chest as a full-time staff member at the Navajo Medical Center, Fort Defiance, Arizona.

Dr. Avrum B. Organick has been assigned to Fort Defiance under the contract, which is for one year and subject to renewal. It is the first in a series of similar contracts, which the Bureau plans to negotiate with outstanding medical schools as part of a broad program to strengthen the staffs of its major medical centers, provide for better professional in-service training, and improve the quality of medical service to the Indian people.

The new chest specialist, who is already on duty at the Navajo Medical Center, will serve in several capacities. In addition to directing the care of tuberculous patients at Fort Defiance, he will advise and assist doctors at the other three Navajo hospitals in diseases of the chest, will take part in the Bureau's preventive medicine program on the Reservation, and will serve as a clinical teacher under the now in-service professional training program.

Under terms of the contract Dr. Organick will have direct access to the staff and laboratories of Cornell University Medical College and will thus be able to use these extensive technical resources in enriching the Navajo medical program.

A similar contract with Cornell providing for the services of a chief of surgery, fully trained and certified by the American Board of Surgery, is planned to be effective September 1. Additional contracts with a number of medical schools are planned to staff key clinical positions in such specialties as internal medicine, pediatrics, obstetrics, gynecology, orthopedics, ophthalmology, otolaryngology, radiology and pathology.

Once this staff pattern has been established, the Bureau will undertake a plan of rotating internships and residencies in both medicine and surgery as the final step in converting the Fort Defiance Hospital into an institution of high standards and effective service to the Navajo people.

A remote Eskimo village hugging the rim of the Arctic Ocean has become a proving ground for the Federal Government's national environmental policy.

The Village of Barrow, Alaska, located in the last reaches of civilization on the North American Continent, over the last half century has had tons of garbage laid on its doorstep - - much of it from government agencies.

The residue of garbage began accumulating in quantities in the 1940· s with the Navy's exploration for oil, and was accelerated during construction of the DEW line by the Air Force. - Added to this were the day-to-day waste of a population sustaining life in a harsh, forbidding climate, without the benefits of modern water and sewage systems. Empty oil drums became useful, and ultimately necessary, to control waste.

For many years, nothing was ever done about it because no one seemed to mind and government agencies were always short of money when it carne to making cleanup funds available.

But with the stirring of national conscience about pollution and a change in public policy, logistic requirements for cleaning up Barrow and its environs escalated into a full- scale battle plan.

Secretary of the Interior Rogers C. B. Morton pointed out that President Nixon -- in his environmental messages to the Congress has called for the marshalling of various forces to curb pollution.

President Nixon has said that, while State and local governments, consumers, industry and private organizations have primary responsibility for protecting the environment, the Federal Government must exercise effective leadership to assist these groups. Providing leadership for the Barrow cleanup, Secretary Morton said, was in line with the Presidents objectives.

Visiting the area in July 1971, Secretary Morton was appalled at seeing acres of oil drums, broken-down machinery and other junk, along with animal carcasses, and human and household waste littering the landscape around Barrow.

Morton decided action must be taken quickly to change Barrow's pollution plight. He made the Barrow cleanup a special project and placed William L. Rogers, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs, in charge.

In September 1971 Rogers, accompanied by James H. Isbell, a consultant named to coordinate agency efforts at Barrow, met with Navy Captain Emory Smith, Director of the Office of Naval Petroleum and Oil Shale Reserve, and others to discuss plans for the cleanup.

From the records it was evident that much thought, talk, and planning already had been given to a cleanup program. Of paramount importance was the fact that agreement had been reached on geographic areas of responsibility among the Office of Naval Research, the Office of Naval Petroleum and Oil Shale Reserve, the State Division of Aviation, and the Village of Barrow.

Secretary Morton enlisted the support of Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird and Alaska Governor William Egan.

But the Village of Barrow faced a critical problem - - no money. The Village Council acknowledged its responsibility, but without money the task appeared impossible.

One source was money Congress made available to all States in the Emergency Employment Act of 1971. With its high rate of unemployment, Barrow was allocated $28,800 -- enough to employ 20 men for more than 10 weeks. In other legislation, Congress made funds available for cleaning up Indian Reservations and the Village became eligible for another $25, 000. Finally, the Bureau of Indian Affairs redirected some of its resources to remove an old gas line which had been abandoned in place some seven years before. That gas line had some 4, 000 empty oil drums holding it above the tundra.

In February of 1972, the job was about two-thirds finished. More than 12,000 oil drums which had been used for household waste were removed from the tundra southwest of the Village. Most of the old pipeline was stacked neatly in a storage area and its supporting oil drums are gone.

Where is Barrow's trash going? Part of it is being used in an erosion control project southwest of the Village. A ravine which has developed through the years is being filled and at the end will be topped with two or three feet of earth so that the drainage will flow in another direction during spring "breakup.”

A shallow lagoon, half way between Barrow and the Naval Arctic Research Laboratory, has been used as a sanitary land fill for many years and its use continues.

The Department of the Interior asked both the Environmental Protection Agency and Alaska’s Commissioner of Environmental Conservation for their respective views on using those areas for trash disposal. Both concurred. Since the permafrost extends from the surface down to a level of 1,300 feet, anything buried to a depth of two or more feet becomes permanently frozen; contamination of other areas will not occur.

The Navy responded to Secretary Laird's call for action by sending a 20 -man all-volunteer force of Seabees to begin the cleanup at Navy Arctic Research Lab last October. The Navy renewed its effective effort in the spring of 1972.

But once clean, will it stay that way? Things are being done on this score also.

Secretary Morton, Deputy Assistant Secretary Rogers, and Admiral Elmo R. Zumwalt, Jr., Chief of Naval Operations, did the pre-game planning and Alaska's Congressional delegation carried the ball to get funds for a new incinerator which, about a year from now, will serve both the Arctic Research Lab and the Village of Barrow. It will be used for both liquid and solid waste.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development is sponsoring construction of 100 new homes in Barrow. One of HUD’s requirements is that a modern water and sewage system be designed for the entire village. Interior's BIA school and the Native Health Service Hospital are already served by modern sewage systems.

Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay today announced four personnel changes, effective September 1, in agency superintendent positions of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Guy Robertson, superintendent of the Blackfeet Agency, Browning, Mont., will be transferred to the superintendency at Rosebud, S. Dak., replacing Will J. Pitner, recently assigned as Bureau area director at Anadarko, Oklahoma.

Charles S. Spencer, superintendent at Standing Rock Agency, Fort Yates, N. Dak., succeeds Robertson.

Joseph W. Wellington, superintendent of Fort Belknap Agency, Harlem, Mont., replaces Spencer.

Darrell Fleming, accountant in the Bureau's area office at Billings, Mont., will succeed Wellington.

Mr. Robertson, who has been at Blackfeet Agency since 1950, entered the Government service in 19/4.2 with the War Relocation Authority at Heart Mountain, Wyoming. In 1946, he became Wyoming district manager for the United States Department of Commerce. After one year, he became property supervisor for the Jackson Hole Preserve, Inc., for two years and then was general manager of the Noble Hotel, Landor, Wyoming, for several months before he joined the Indian Bureau. Prior to his Government employment he was in business in Wyoming, Texas and Nevada, He was born in Quincy, Mo., in 1890, was educated in the public schools of Wheatland, Mo., and is a graduate of Cedar Rapids (Iowa) Business College.

Mr. Spencer has been with the Bureau since 1931 when he was appointed farm agent at Crow Agency, Mont. After four years he worked for seven years as extension agent at Western Shoshone Agency, Owyhee, Nev., and for ten years as soil conservationist at Wind River Agency, Port Washakie, Wyo. He was named superintendent at Rosebud in 1952. He is a native of Victor, Idaho, and was graduated from University of Idaho with a B.S. degree in agriculture in 1929.

Mr. Wellington has been superintendent at Fort Belknap since 1947. He was employed by the Bureau in 1940 as a teacher at Carson Indian School, Stewart, Nev., and was appointed head of the school's agricultural department, which post he held in 1942. He remained for two years when he was named supervisor of Indian education for livestock raising and dairying. He was attached for three years to the Bureau's office at Muskogee, Oklahoma and then served.one year in the wartime Central Office at Chicago before his appointment at Fort Belknap. He was born at Lewistown, Mont., in 1907 and studied agricultural education and animal husbandry at Montana State College.

Mr. Fleming joined the Bureau in 1933 as a clerk at Crow Agency, Montana, For 19 years he served in a variety of clerical and financial positions in the Bureau. He was appointed finance specialist at the Billings Area Office in 1952 and moved to his present position as accountant in that office one year later. Born at Bernice, Okla., in 1911 of Cherokee Indian descent, he attended the Haskell Indian Institute, Lawrence, Kans. He was in the Navy for two years during World War II.

Dollar volume of contracts with Indian tribes and individuals for goods and services -- excluding construction -- by the bureau of Indian Affairs has reached $29.5 million in fiscal year 1972, Secretary of the Interior Rogers C. B. Morton announced today.

Another $12 million in contracts for goods and services to Indian tribes and individuals is anticipated by the close of the current fiscal year.

The increase in direct contracting with Indian tribes and individuals by BIA since 1969 for goods and services is significant and is in line with President Nixon's determination to give Indian people greater participation in their affairs, “Secretary Morton said.

Contracts by BIA with Indian tribes and individuals for goods and services amounted to $4.4 million in fiscal year 1968, $7.7 million in fiscal '69, and $12.9. Million in fiscal f 70, and $28. 5 million in fiscal 71, Secretary Morton noted.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Louis R. Bruce said the new emphasis on contracting by Indians through the Bureau has become "an important means of training and employment for Indians.”

Commissioner Bruce -- an Indian of Sioux-Mohawk descent -- added that the BIA contracts help make Indian people producing Americans and meaningfully involve them. In matters of great concern to themselves and Indian communities.”

Contracting to Indians has largely taken place under what is known as the "Buy Indian Act. II This act, passed in 1910, says that "in the purchase of Indian supplies” the Secretary of the Interior may use his discretion and “ so far as may be practicable Indian labor shall be employed, and purchases of the products of Indian industry may be made in open market .... “

Contracts negotiated have involved goods and services primarily for Indian education, law and order functions, social services, plant management, roads maintenance and construction, and supplies. Contracts for social services functions averaged the highest dollar amounts -- $75,400, while contracts for supplies averaged $1,600.

The anticipated number of non- construction contracts to be signed between the Bureau of Indian Affairs and Indian suppliers in fiscal year 1972 is 1, 749, compared to 1, 175 signed in fiscal year 1969.

Some of the Bureau of Indian Affairs service’, that have been contracted out to Indian companies or tribes to operate are: "'Housing developments, home ownership training functions, water resources inventories, ground water studies, adult education training functions. Purchase of actual supplies from Indians covers abroad spectrum.

Action by the Bureau of Indian Affairs to clear up a 49-year-old injustice against a full blood Idaho Indian was announced today by Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay.

The Indian is James J. Miles, a 70-year-old member of the Nez Perce Tribe and

Deacon of the Presbyterian Church, The Bureau's action, taken by Commissioner Glenn L. Emmons on July 29, was approval of an application filed by Miles about a year ago for a patent-in-fee or unrestricted title to a 114-acre tract near Orofino,

Idaho, which is the site of a State mental hospital. Lying behind the action is a story that goes back for almost 60 years.

In 1895, the United States allotted the 114 acres to Louise J. Adams, a Nez Perce Indian, who was then five years old. Ten years later the State of Idaho acquired the land as a hospital site through condemnation proceedings in a district court of the State. Compensation of $2,600 was paid by the State to Charles Adams, father of the allottee, who was appointed her guardian in this particular case by court decree.

Although no question was raised about the matter at the time, the State's acquisition of the land was apparently invalid since Federal law requires that condemnation actions involving Indian trust allotments must be initiated in a Federal court and that the United States, as trustee, must be a party to the proceedings. Neither requirement was met in this particular case.

In 1930, the Department of the Interior asked the Department of Justice to go into court and challenge the validity of the 1905 condemnation. The purpose was either to have the land awarded to the United States, as trustee for the Indian beneficiary, or to require payment by the State covering the 1905 value of the land together with interest for the 25-year period. No action was taken at that time with regard to the prosecution of the suit. However, a careful examination of the records of the Department of the Interior shows clearly that the land was in a trust status in 1905 and remained in trust until July 30, 1954.

When the allottee, born Louise J. Adams, died in 1950 at the age of 59, her sole heir under the terms of her will was her husband, James J. Miles. In July 1953, Miles filed an application with the Bureau of Indian Affairs for a patent-in-fee giving him unrestricted title to his deceased wife’s allotment. Subsequent investigation by the Bureau showed that Miles is wholly competent to manage his own affairs and thus clearly entitled to the fee patent.

Because of the State facilities which have been located on the tract for many years, the Bureau in its capacity as trustee urged the desirability of negotiations in order to effect an equitable settlement between Miles and the State of Idaho as an alternative to the issuance of a fee patent. However, when it became apparent tl1at such negotiations were unlikely to be held, Commissioner Emmons approved the Miles application on July 29 and the patent was issued by the Bureau of Land Management on the following day.

The Bureau's action, of course, does not finally settle the issue between Miles and the State of Idaho. However, it does put him in position, as the federally recognized owner of the tract, to deal directly with the State either through negotiation or litigation.