OPA

Secretary of the Interior Manuel Lujan announced today he has established a Water Policy Council designed to coordinate departmental policy decisions and management activities in the area of water resources.

The Council's formation reflects the importance of water policy in this country and the resolve by Lujan to develop and implement a strategy to improve management of our Nation's water resources. Coordination and reconciliation of the Department's various bureau viewpoints on water matters will be taken up by the Council, as well as formulation of departmental positions. Issues to be considered by the Council include wetlands, Indian water rights, ground water, dam safety, water quality, efficiency of water use, and other water related areas.

"Water has been a focal point throughout the history of this country," said Lujan. "However, as a nation, we have seldom come together to develop a strategy for its management. This places an additional urgency on the work of the Council as it strives to establish clear principles and policies for water resources."

The Council, which will hold its next meeting on July 11, 1989, will be chaired by Under Secretary of the Interior, Frank Bracken, and will consist of the Assistant Secretaries for Policy, Budget, and Administration, Indian Affairs, Water and Science, Fish and Wildlife and Parks, Land and Minerals Management, and the Department's Solicitor.

Eddie F. Brown, newly-installed Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs, today outlined an action plan for the next 90 days to focus on improving education programs, addressing tribal development on the reservations, and improving Bureau of Indian Affairs management at the central office, area and agency levels.

Secretary of the Interior Manuel Lujan, Jr., after meeting with Brown to discuss Indian affairs programs, strongly endorsed Brown's priorities.

"The approaches outlined by Eddie Brown are in full accord with the philosophy of President Bush and with my own concept of what we must do to fulfill our obligations to American Indians and Alaska Natives," Lujan said. "His job as the Administration's top official for Indian affairs is one of the toughest in government, but he is well-equipped to handle it."

Brown said that in keeping with Secretary Lujan's and this Administration's priorities in putting education at the top of the agenda, he will move quickly to seek out the best qualified educator he can find to fill the job as director of the Bureau's education programs.

"During our search I will be meeting with Intertribal groups and elected tribal officials around the country to get their ideas on the ways that we can improve our relations and meet their needs in helping them to attain self-sufficiency," Brown said.

The new assistant secretary said that he would especially look to the tribes for their assistance in laying out what they see as their needs to improve the economies on reservations. "To achieve tribal development," Brown said, "I'll use the skills that were so successful in developing intergovernmental relationships in my previous jobs in Arizona."

Brown said he would also have an orientation and Planning Team looking at the organization of his office, the BIA central office, the current and future Bureau budgets, and our methods of communicating with elected tribal officials.

Brown said that he will expect to report back to the Secretary within 90 days with a progress report on the issues they discussed. "I feel confident we will have moved forward in all of these areas," he said.

Brown, a native of Arizona, was confirmed by the Senate on June 21 and sworn into office June 26. This will be his first full week in Washington as Assistant Secretary after moving his family from Arizona to the Nation's Capital.

I regret that there has been a loss of life on the Navajo reservation. This loss of life has come about as the Navajo police defended themselves against an attack by demonstrators at the Navajo Tribal Government Headquarters.

Let me make it clear that the Navajo tribal police are in charge on the reservation and things are calm at this time. At the request of the Navajo Director of Public Safety, the Bureau of Indian Affairs has sent a small contingent of police officers to Window Rock. The BIA police are on standby and are not currently involved in any law enforcement activity on the reservation.

I want it clearly understood that the Bureau of Indian Affairs is simply in a support role at this time. The Navajo tribal government and their police are in charge. BIA police will assist them at their request. During the recent change in control of the tribal government, the BIA has remained in the background and let the system set up by the Navajo people decide its leaders. The system has worked. We will continue to remain in the background on the current situation until we are asked by those in charge of the Navajo government to assist them in whatever way we can.

My condolences go out to the Navajo families of the men who died last night. And I want the Navajo people on the reservation to know that their police are in charge and they can be assured that order will be maintained on the reservation. We stand ready to assist the government when asked.

Secretary of the Interior Manuel Lujan announced today the formation of a Working Group on Indian Water Settlements, which will report to Interior's Water Policy Council.

The Group's primary tasks will be to establish a set of principles to guide Indian water settlements; assist in the work of negotiating teams dealing with such settlements; and. keep the Council apprised of upcoming actions and report to the Council on the progress of ongoing negotiations, particularly when key decision points are approached.

"The settlement of Indian water claims is an important activity for the Department in meeting its trust responsibility for Indian tribes." said Lujan. "It is also critical in helping to manage and conserve our Nation's water resources."

The Working Group will be chaired by the Counselor to the Secretary. Tim Glidden, with other members to be designated by the Department's Water Policy Council. The Council, headed by Under Secretary of the Interior Frank Bracken, consists of the Assistant Secretaries for Policy, Budget, and Administration; Indian Affairs; Water and Science; Fish and Wildlife and Parks; Land and Minerals Management; and the Department's Solicitor.

Secretary of the Interior Manuel Lujan will visit Scottsdale, Arizona, September 15, 1989, to sign the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Water Rights Settlement Act. The ceremony will take place at 11:00 a.m., at the Tribal Headquarters, 10005 East Osborne, in Scottsdale.

The agreement provides for the settlement of longstanding water right claims with the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community. Under the pact, 122,400 acre feet of water will be delivered annually to the Indian community for the irrigation of 27,200 acres of agricultural land.

The Act, settling over two years of negotiations, continues to show Secretary Lujan's commitment to the resolution of Indian rights issues. "I am pleased, that after so many years, with so many claimants involved that this matter was resolved for the benefit of all Arizonans," stated Lujan.

SUMMARY PRESS SCHEDULE

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 15, 1989

The Department of Interior's Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs, Eddie F. Brown, today announced the appointment of Walter R. Mills as Deputy to the Assistant Secretary for Operations. Mills, a 17-year employee of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and a member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe in Pine Ridge, S.D., has been acting in the position since last month. His new appointment is effective September 24.

"Walt Mills brings a wealth of experience in Indian Affairs to his new position and possesses exceptional organization and management capabilities. He has worked in the field at various managerial levels and in all the program areas he will be involved in as my principal deputy," Brown said. "I will look to Walt to run the day-to-day operations of the BIA and be my close advisor on all Bureau programs."

Mills, 54, joined the BIA in 1971 as a training instructor at the Southwest Indian Polytechnic Institute (SIPI) in Albuquerque. He later served in administrative positions at SIPI, BIA's Hopi Agency in Keams Canyon, Ariz. and the Phoenix area office before being named agency superintendent at the Colorado River Agency in Parker, Ariz. in 1979. He served in that position until 1983 when he was named assistant- area director of Indian Services in the Phoenix area office. From 1985 to 1988 Mills served as assistant area director for Indian programs which combined the Indian services and trust programs for the Phoenix area. He was named area director of the Anadarko, Okla. office in February, 1988. He was serving in that position when he was named acting deputy to the assistant secretary last month.

Prior to joining the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Mills attended Haskell Institute in -Lawrence, Kans. and worked as a pressman, cameraman and stripper and in supervisor positions with Southwestern Bank and supply and Bank Note Printing and Litho Company. From 1968 to 1970, he was a salesman for Equitable Life Assurance Society of the U.S. He was serving as head cameraman and stripper with the Allied Printing and Publishing Co. when he joined the BIA in 1971.

Secretary of the Interior, Manuel Lujan, today announced that Indian schooling will be the top educational priority of the Department. Lujan, who earlier this year toured Indian schools with the Secretary of Education, said that we must place renewed emphasis on ensuring that our Native American students receive a quality education.

Lujan indicated that one of the primary goals of the Interior Department must be to reform the delivery of key social, financial, and natural resources to Native Americans. "We will work closely with elected officials of Indian tribal governments, state and local education agencies and parents to improve the educational programs provided on Indian reservations by BIA and contractor operated schools," stated Lujan.

Lujan plans to tell his colleagues participating in the President's education summit that students who attend bureau-funded schools will continue to have choice in which school they attend, including parochial or public schools. "The Department recognizes the diverse needs and conditions that exist on Indian lands, and we will work with tribal governments to ensure that Indian reservation residents receive the same educational opportunities that all American students have," stated Lujan.

American Indian students in public schools oftentimes score higher in basic skills tests than do Indian students in BIA schools. To help correct this, Lujan has directed the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs, Dr. Eddie Brown, to develop a plan to raise the educational achievement levels of Indian students in BIA-funded schools to the national norms by the year 2000.

"We must raise the expectation levels of teachers and principals who work with Indian children, encouraging strong parental involvement beginning in the preschool years. We must also hold ourselves accountable, for educational achievement, to the parents and to the tribes," concluded Lujan.

The Department of the Interior's Assistant Secretary .for Indian Affairs, Eddie F. Brown, today announced the appointment of Patrick A. Hayes as Deputy to the Assistant Secretary for Trust and Economic Development. The 44-year-old enrolled member of the Sisseton-Wahpeton Sioux tribe has been acting in the position for the past several months. The appointment is effective immediately.

"Pat Hayes has the kind of experience in Indian Affairs and in legal matters that makes him well qualified to advise and assist me in securing and protecting Indian rights and resources to the highest degree of fiduciary standards," Brown said. "He also has the experience that will help me to determine the role that the Bureau should be playing in the economic development efforts of Indian tribes now and into the year 2000."

For the past three years, Hayes has served as realty officer in BIA's Phoenix area office. From June 1983 to October, 1986 he was superintendent of the Colorado River Agency in Parker, Arizona, and before that served for four years as chief of the division of tribal government services in BIA's Washington, D.C., headquarters offices. Other Bureau assignments included two years as judicial services officer for the BIA in Washington, and 18 months as enrollment coordinator in the Juneau, Alaska, area office. He has also served in varying legal positions in the private sector.

Hayes holds a B.A. in Government/History/Economics from the University of South Dakota and a Juris Doctorate from the University of New Mexico. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1967 to 1970.

Interior's Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Eddie F. Brown is enlisting Indian tribal leaders and Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) employees as part of an intensive program to combat the sexual abuse of Indian children.

Brown has assigned his deputy for operations, Walt Mills, as overall coordinator of BIA's child protection programs to ensure that prompt and effective action is taken on all existing elements of the program of preventing, identifying potential abusers, reporting procedures when abuse is suspected, enforcement, and follow-up psychological care to victims of reported incidents.

"We want the message to go out: child sexual abuse will not be tolerated," Brown said. "We have identified five areas to strengthen our child protection activities, and 12 specific actions in those areas are underway. Walt Mills will be coordinating all these activities and reporting to me on the steps I have asked him to take."

In his letter to tribal leaders, Brown said Indian and non-Indian communities alike must develop strong safeguards for the protection of children. He said the effects of child sexual abuse on the victim can be long lasting and tragic and that BIA's education initiatives will be greatly diminished if children first must deal with the enormous physical and mental trauma such abuse causes.

Brown outlined these steps already taken by the BIA to strengthen child protection activities as

(1) Establishment of a rigorous screening process for new employees working with children;

(2) Updating of personnel manual regulations for obligatory reporting of suspected abuse, including administrative sanctions for failure to report incidents;

(3) Formation of a BIA/Indian Health Service national oversight committee to enhance inter-agency cooperation and review child protection team effectiveness;

(4) Organization of· additional child protection teams at area and agency levels to ensure prompt actions when abuse is suspected; and

(5) Training of BIA personnel in child abuse recognition, reporting and remedial action processes, In addition to specifying additional actions to be taken by the BIA, Brown requested tribal government suggestions for strengthening the program. "Successful coordination of our efforts requires working closely with the tribal governments," Brown said.

In his letter to BIA's 14,300 employees, Brown said he expected all employees to take advantage of training that is offered to enhance their ability to discern potential incidents of child sexual abuse. "In addition," he wrote, "I expect every employee to report such potential incidents to the appropriate enforcement and social services agencies immediately."

Brown has asked Mills to provide him by December 15 a schedule with specific timeframes for completion of the actions. He also asked him to coordinate overlapping issues with the Indian Health Service.

Under Secretary Frank A. Bracken said today the Department of the Interior already has begun correcting problems identified in a just released Senate report on Indian Affairs, and will continue cooperative efforts with the Congress and the Tribes to improve programs

"The Bush Administration is strongly committed to providing all services and benefits due American Indians by treaty, law and tradition, Bracken said after receiving a copy of the report from the Senate Special Committee on Investigations. "As the committee report shows, quite clearly the Federal Government in the past has not been as efficient, as careful or as caring as it should have been in a number of instances."

Bracken noted that in an appearance before the committee early this year, Secretary of the Interior Manuel Lujan pledged he would make changes as needed

"We have not waited for the committee report to institute improvements," Bracken said. "The Bureau of Indian Affairs the Minerals Management Service and the Bureau of Land Management have taken actions to improve their programs serving tribes and individual Indians Our agencies will continue conferring with tribes and with the Congress on the best ways of addressing the problems, including legislative solutions."

Noting that the Department of the Interior has cooperated fully with the committee throughout its investigation, the Under Secretary said "We view it as helpful and beneficial that the committee has focused attention on long-standing problems in various programs. We hope this will enhance our potential for making progress on some complex problems that have defied resolution for decades."

Bracken, who serves as the Department's coordinator to work with the Senate Select Committee on Indian Affairs, said that Secretary Lujan Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Eddie Brown, Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management David O'Neal, Bureau of Land Management Director Cy Jamison and Minerals Management Service Director Barry Williamson are committed to doing everything within their power to meet the federal obligations to American Indians.

"Consistent with the long-standing policy of Indian Self Determination, we will consult with the tribes on all of the issues," Bracken said. "To be successful, we will need the help and cooperation of the Congress and the tribes."

In meeting with the media shortly after release of the report, Bracken stressed: "We are not here to explain why things have not worked in the past, but what can be done to assure that programs work better in the future."