OPA

Interior Assistant Secretary Eddie F. Brown and United states Peace Corps Director Paul D. Coverdell today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that provides for cooperation between the two agencies in recruitment of returned Peace Corps Volunteers (PCV) to work in Bureau of Indian Affairs-funded (BIA) schools on Indian reservations.

"This will help the BIA recruit for teachers among Peace Corps veterans, many of whom have worked throughout the world in isolated areas similar to those on a number of Indian reservations," Brown said. "We have had problems in recruitment in the past because of these conditions and we believe this will boost our prospects for more experience in our schools."

Coverdell said the challenges facing the Indian education community are unique. "I can think of few non-Indian Americans who are as well-suited to assist in meeting those challenges as are the PCVs."

The 1:30 p.m. signing took place in New Mexico at a BIA-funded elementary school at the Isleta Pueblo. The five-year agreement provides that through the Peace Corps' Fellows/USA Program, the two agencies will work together in the coordination of activities designed to enlist teachers to accept teaching or other education .related positions on Indian reservations. They will encourage state and local education authorities to provide alternative or emergency teaching certification or waivers of certification to participants in the Fellows/USA Program, when necessary.

Participants in the program will be in paid positions and afforded the opportunity to pursue graduate degrees during summer study programs at collaborating universities. During the life of the agreement, the two agencies would work to identify other opportunities in which the agencies might cooperate.

Specific objectives for the program will be established within the next 90 days. Within 60 days after the end of each year, a review will determine if changes are needed in the program.

Secretary of the Interior Manuel Lujan today announced that the Department's Fiscal Year 1992 $8.7 billion budget continues the Bush Administration's commitment to improving our Nation's human, cultural and natural resources. Underscoring Lujan's goal of responsible stewardship, the budget increases funding for the America the Beautiful and Legacy '99 initiatives and establishes a new Tribal Horizons program.

In addition, Lujan directed Interior officials to incorporate four major themes in the programs they administer: protection of American battlefields; improved management of hazardous wastes on public lands; enhanced outdoor recreation opportunities; and self-determination for American Indians.

"The President's budget commits the Interior Department to improve our stewardship for America's public lands and for its human resources," Lujan said. "We must remain mindful that though Interior's mandate is vast and varied, our mission is to meet the economic, environmental and aesthetic needs of this and future generations of Americans."

Tribal Horizons is the major new budget initiative for the Interior Department in Fiscal Year 1992. Emphasis will be placed on improving management of Interior-sponsored Indian programs and enhancing educational opportunities for all American Indians. Over $100 million in new funding is proposed to carry out Lujan's Tribal Horizons directives.

Lujan is requesting an increase of $55 million in Fiscal Year 1992 for the President's America the Beautiful initiative to expand Interior programs that protect natural resources and enhance recreational opportunities on public lands. New components of Interior's $556 million America the Beautiful effort include programs to protect American battlefields, address threatened coastal resources and establish a cost-sharing grant program designed to preserve America's natural resources.

To complement America the Beautiful, the Department will continue implementing its Legacy '99 initiative by requesting $823 million in Fiscal Year 1992 funds. The initiative is designed to substantially reduce the backlog of rehabilitation and maintenance projects on federal lands. The goal of Legacy '99 is to achieve these objectives by the year 1999 - Interior's 150th anniversary.

Lujan highlighted several other important initiatives including global change research, increased funding for environmental studies of the Nation's Outer Continental Shelf and Department-wide support for education programs. Lujan also emphasized Interior's Volunteers program, the Historically Black and Hispanic College and University programs, the Take Pride in America campaign and the War on Drugs.

Editors Note: Budgetary highlights from the FY1992 Interior Department budget are attached together with the text of the Secretary's remarks and a booklet that reviews significant accomplishments of the Interior Department during the past two years.

Interior's Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Eddie F. Brown said today the President's fiscal year 1992 budget request of $1.9 billion for the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) builds upon the foundation established last year by President Bush and Secretary Lujan to reform the deli very of key social, financial, and natural resources programs to American Indians.

"The President's budget establishes a new program entitled Tribal Horizons that is designed to improve management of Interior-sponsored Indian programs, enhance educational opportunities for American Indians and support tribal self-determination," Brown stated.

The Tribal Horizons initiative focuses on three major areas in Indian programs -- management improvement, education, and Indian self-determination. Funding increases within the overall BIA budget for these special areas total $104.3, including $72.5 million in self-determination, $24.5 million in education, and $8. 7 million in management improvement.

Current appropriations in the President's request for the operation of Indian programs is $1.400 billion, compared to $1.559 billion enacted in 1991.

An additional $2 million is requested in departmental support for the Bureau's management improvement initiative. That support will be in the form of: $1.2 million for the Office of American Indian Trust to develop an inventory of trust assets managed by BIA and to conduct trust resources reviews in order to ensure the effectiveness of the trust management program; $100,000 increase in the Office of Self-Governance which will serve as coordination point for the self-governance demonstration projects; $500,000 for the Office of Audit and Evaluation to provide an independent and flexible means for carrying out internal audits and evaluations of BIA programs; and $200,000 to strengthen the management capability of the assistant secretary's office.

Direct BIA funding for management improvement includes increases of $4 million to address previously identified and recently surfaced management problems; $1.8 million to convert to the new Federal Finance System accounting operation; $100,000 for accountant training; $500,000 for financial trust services; $200,000 for training of contracting officers; and $100,000 for total quality management.

The $15.6 million increase requested for BIA school operations includes $4 million in Education 2000 grants for projects designed to raise the educational achievement level of Indian students in BIA-funded schools to levels that meet or exceed national norms by the year 2000. Early childhood development programs will be increased by $1.9 million; funding for the operation of BIA schools under the Indian School Equalization Formula (ISEF) will increase by $6 million; a $1.7 million increase is requested for the management of education programs; and an additional $5 million is requested for the rehabilitation of BIA schools, which will bring the total funding in this area to $35 million.

Indian self-determination increases are aimed at meeting locally-determined service needs. Decision-making will be shifted away from Washington to the local level which will provide increased flexibility and resources to meet reservation-specific goals and priorities. The $72.5 million increase creates a $10 million pilot grant program to allow selected tribes greater control over resources to enhance community and economic development on their reservations. Tribal governments will compete for the funds by designing long-range plans along with an annual action agenda.

A $42.8 million increase in the Indian Priority System (IPS), under which funding priorities for programs are established at the reservation and agency levels, provides for more funds to meet basic service needs. Self-determination grants are being increased by $9 million to allow tribes to design and administer a wider array and more complex set of programs for improving tribal governmental capabilities. An additional $10.6 million in the Indian Child Welfare grant program, for a total of $20 million, allow funds to be distributed to tribes under a formula-based on tribal populations of children. This formula approach is a much more stable way to fund long term programs. Tribes will develop four-year plans for programs to prevent child abuse and neglect. The grant funds will also be available for day-care operations, parent training, legal representation of children, development and implementation of welfare codes, temporary child custody, and other intervention and prevention activities.

More than $27 million in increases (above the comparable 1991 enacted amounts for non-education operating programs of the BIA) further the management improvements and tribal empowerment programs in the Tribal Horizons initiative. The increases include $2.3 million in contract support; $2 million in employee displacement; $1.3 million for the title records office; $1.2 million in law enforcement; $1 million for irrigation operations and maintenance; $500,000 for prairie dog control; $400,000 for new tribes; and $200,000 for an irrigation drainage program.

Also included in the budget request is $16 million to continue support for the seven self-governance compact tribes, and $3 million for self-governance grants.

The FY 1992 budget request proposes several decreases in the Operation of Indian Programs account. Welfare assistance payments are estimated to decrease by $11.8 million as a result of proposed changes to regulations which will make employable adults without dependents ineligible for welfare assistance. Case workers will assist former clients in developing an employability plan to prepare them for paying jobs. BIA's wildlife and parks program is proposed to be reduced by $8.9 million. Other decreases include: water resources, $2.9 million; litigation support, $1.1 million; and water rights negotiations and litigation, $3 million.

Included in the budget request is $122.6 million to meet the Secretary's obligations in various settlement agreements passed by Congress. These include: Zuni Land Conservation, $8 million; Fallon water Rights Settlement, $3 million; Pyramid Lake Water Rights Settlement, $25 million; Fort Hall Water Rights Settlement, $12 million; Fort McDowell Water Rights Settlement, $23 million; and Seneca Nation Settlement of $35 million.

(Note to Editors: A fact sheet on Tribal Horizons is attached.)

Secretary of the Interior Manuel Lujan today announced his intention to appoint Jana McKeag, a member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, to the newly created National Indian Gaming Commission.

"Jana McKeag has done outstanding work in Indian Affairs both inside and outside of government for well over a decade," Lujan said. 11 She was instrumental in the early drafting of Indian gaming legislation prepared by the Department of the Interior. She feels that the Indian gaming industry has significant potential for providing capital to tribes for economic development and she believes that effective and timely regulation are vital to the continued success of the Indian gaming industry."

The commission is being established in accordance with the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (P.L. 100-497) enacted by the 100th Congress. The appointment of Ms. McKeag will complete the three-member commission which will regulate, establish standards for, and monitor gaming on Indian lands and reservations.

The public will have 30 days to comment on the selection before it can be made official by Lujan. In 1990, President Bush nominated and the U.S. Senate confirmed Tony Hope to serve as the chairman of the commission. Under the Act, the Secretary of the Interior names the other two members of the Commission, but must allow for a comment period after announcing his choice. Last October, Lujan announced the appointment of Joel Frank as the first of his two selections for the commission.

Ms. McKeag currently is director of Native American programs at the Department of Agriculture. Prior to moving to the Agriculture Department in 1990, she held a number of positions in the Department of the Interior, including staff assistant to the deputy assistant secretary in charge of the Bureau of Indian _Affairs (BIA) Office of Trust and Economic Development; program analyst in the departmental Office of Policy Analysis; executive assistant to the deputy assistant secretary for Indian Affairs; and intern budget analyst for the department. She also has worked in the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Ms. McKeag was education director for the National Congress of American Indians in 1974-1975, and was assistant to the staff director of the American Indian Policy Review Commission in 1975-1976.

She holds a B.A. from Gettysburg College and a Master in Public Administration degree from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. In 1975, Brigham Young University presented her its Award for Outstanding Native Americans.

An officer and member of the Board of Directors of the YMCA of Metropolitan Washington, Ms. McKeag received the YMCA Washington Achiever Award in 1989. She is also on the Board of Directors for the Coalition for the Homeless.

Comments on the nomination should be addressed to Morris Simms, Director of Personnel, Department of the Interior, 1849 C Street, NW, Washington, D.C. 20240.

The Department of the Interior's Minerals Management Service (MMS) today announced it will increase the reimbursement of auditing costs from 50% to 100% for Indian Tribes participating in the Service's Cooperative and Delegated Audit Program. The program enables States and Tribes to join with MMS in providing additional audit coverage of revenues derived from oil, gas and other mineral leases.

"Mineral revenues of $120 million were collected from Indian leases last year," said Barry Williamson, MMS director. "Working together in this cooperative audit program, we can ensure that tribes continue to receive an accurate accounting of the money to which they are entitled."

Under provisions of the Federal Oil and Gas Royalty Management Act of 1982, fully reimburses States for costs of delegated audits, such as salaries and travel expenses. Current regulations, however, had limited reimbursement of cooperative agreements with Indian Tribes to 50%. The new regulations, which authorize full reimbursement to Indian Tribes, become effective April 12, 1991.

Williamson said the increase in reimbursement of cooperative audit costs is one of several program enhancements being implemented as part of MMS's Initiative for Indian Tribes and Allottees (UTA), a comprehensive program of improvements to Indian royalty management.

"MMS believes that full reimbursement of auditing costs will be an incentive to increased participation by other tribes involved in mineral development," said Williamson.

The MMS program of cooperative and delegated audits currently includes nine states: California, Colorado, Louisiana, Montana, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming; and three Indian Tribes: the Navajo Nation, Southern Ute and the Northern Ute.

MMS is responsible for the collection, accounting, and disbursement of nearly $4 billion annually in mineral revenues from Federal and Indian lands.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) has officially cleared Kenneth Whitehorn, former BIA agency superintendent for education on the Tohono O'odham reservation in Arizona, of any knowledge or involvement in a child abuse case that occurred on the Hopi Indian Reservation in 1987.

Polacca Day School teacher John Boone was charged with multiple counts of child molestation and later pled guilty to the charges against him. He is currently serving a life sentence in federal prison. After the arrest of Boone, allegations surfaced that Whitehorn had prior knowledge of the child abuse. Subsequent investigations conducted by the BIA have exonerated Whitehorn of all such allegations, including administrative improprieties or prior knowledge of any child abuse activities.

Interior's Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Eddie Brown said this demonstrates the extent to which we will go to investigate and prosecute those involved in any type of child abuse. "When allegations arise, we will investigate them and prosecute to the fullest extent of the law when the evidence warrants it," Brown said. "When our extensive investigations fully exonerate an individual, we want that known also. This is the case with Kenneth Whitehorn."

Secretary of the Interior Manuel Lujan announced today he has instructed the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs to publish a notice of opportunity to comment on the procedures proposed for Class III (casino-type) gaming to be conducted by the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe of Connecticut.

"Through this process we are fulfilling the intent of Congress in the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988 (IGRA)," Lujan said. "Under that law, the Secretary of the Interior is required to prescribe procedures to implement a compact chosen by a court-appointed mediator when negotiations between a state and a tribe have failed. In this case, the mediator chose the state's proposed compact over the tribe's proposed compact as the one that best comports with the law.

"The state's proposed compact envisions a comprehensive regulatory framework that follows state regulations wherever appropriate and assumes a major regulatory role on the part of the state," Lujan added. "If the state refuses to regulate the gaming, a default provision provides that the tribe will regulate the gaming consistent with the compact. Therefore, the compact appears sufficient as procedures for the tribe's Class III gaming."

Interior Department Solicitor Thomas L. Sansonetti said the law makes it clear that states must negotiate with tribes in good faith under IGRA. "Through good faith negotiations, states can interject their public policy judgments and make them part of the compact," Sansonetti said.

Under the 1988 law, traditional Indian games played in connection with tribal ceremonies are defined as Class I gaming within the sole jurisdiction of the tribes. Class II gaming includes bingo-type games, which the tribes may conduct if the state permits some form of bingo to be conducted, but which remains subject to provisions of the IGRA and the regulations of the National Indian Gaming Commission. All other gaming, such as casino gambling, parimutuel betting and slot machines, is designated as Class III gaming and is allowed only under a state-tribal compact.

The Mashantucket Pequot Tribe had sought to negotiate a compact with the State of Connecticut for Class III gambling, but the state refused and was sued by the tribe. The district court directed the state to enter into good faith negotiations with the tribe and conclude a compact within 60 days. This decision was upheld by the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court and is now pending a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court on whether to consider the case.

When the negotiations failed, a mediator was appointed by the court to review the tribe's and state's "last best offer'' for a compact. Even though the court chose the state's proposed compact as the one which best comports with the IGRA, the State of Connecticut refused to consent to the mediator's proposed compact. Under the IGRA, this sent the issue to the Secretary of the Interior to prescribe procedures to implement the proposed compact chosen by the mediator.

Seventeen tribal-state compacts, already in effect, were negotiated between the tribes and states. This is the first case in which disagreement between a tribe and the state triggered provisions of the law requiring the Secretary to become involved in determining procedures to implement a compact.

Interested parties will have 30 days in which to comment after the notice of the proposed procedures is published in the Federal Register.

Secretary of the Interior Manuel Lujan hosted the first gathering of the Advisory Committee for the White House Conference on Indian Education in Washington, D.C., on April 17, 1991.

"Our program for Indian education must have one important objective in mind -- achieving the highest quality education for the children it serves," Lujan said in greeting the group. "As we strive to achieve this goal we realize that the essential roots of Indian heritage must be implicit in any program of Indian education. We can not separate Indian education from Indian communities."

Lujan told the committee that it should work with a "sense of urgency" in laying the groundwork for the White House Conference to be held next January. "Each year that we fail to take strong action to improve the education process for Indian children, a window of education opportunity closes on the next generation of Indian leaders," Lujan said.

The Advisory Committee meeting was primarily informational. Attending were nine members appointed last week by the President : Floyd R. Correa of New Mexico, Sandi Cornelius of Wisconsin, Sandra Gjelde of Oregon, Laraine L. Glenn of Alaska, Manning Osceola of Florida , Frank Ryan of Maryland, Jay O. Stovall of Montana, Ross O. Swimmer of Oklahoma, and Rosa Reveles Winfree of North Carolina . One more member will be appointed by the President, five more by the President of the U.S. Senate and five by the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. Ex-officio members of the Advisory Committee present at today's meeting were Interior Department Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs Eddie Brown, Department of Education Assistant Secretary John McDonald, and Buck Martin, Director of the White House Task Force on Indian Education.

The Advisory Committee will provide guidance to the Task Force in arranging an extensive series of state and regional conferences that build a foundation for the White House Conference in January 1992.

Although have not seen the draft report from the Department's Inspector General, I am well aware of the deplorable conditions at some of the Indian Schools.

That is one of the main reasons for our proposal made last September to establish an Office of Indian Education which would break the education functions out of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. That proposal would move facilities management out of the Department and put it where it belongs, in the hands of the school principals. Local school officials should have the authority and the funding and be held responsible if the plumbing isn't repaired.

Unfortunately, Congress initially blocked reorganization and instructed me to appoint a task force to consider how the BIA should be structured. That task force is meeting this week in Oklahoma City, and hopefully it will recommend feasible steps to address this very problem.

In another action, the Office of Construction Management and BIA is working on an accelerated plan for catching up on the 550 million dollar backlog of repairs and maintenance for BIA education facilities. When they briefed me two weeks ago, I told them to give me a plan for clearing the backlog well before the year 2000. We also are compiling a list of priorities to show members of Congress who may be skeptical -- one look at any of one of the facilities on the list will convince anyone of the need for action.

We need to remove the obstacles that face Indian youngsters so they can receive a quality education.

Secretary of the Interior Manuel Lujan announced today the appointment of David J. Matheson a former chairman of the Coeur d'Alene Tribe, as Deputy Commissioner of Indian Affairs effective May 20

"Dave Matheson has an outstanding record of leadership in Indian affairs in the federal government, as a tribal official and in the private sector," Lujan said. "He is especially well equipped to stimulate much needed economic development on tribal lands across America."

Matheson has served in the Office of the Secretary of the Interior for the past 14 months, first as a Special Assistant and more recently as the Director of the Office of Construction Management.

During his term as chairman of the Coeur d'Alene Tribe, 1981-1985, Matheson was appointed to the Presidential Commission on Reservation Economies. Matheson also served his' tribe as Chief Executive Officer of Coeur d'Alene Development Corp., as Director of the Division of Planning and Natural Resources, and as an economic planner.

As Chief Executive Office of Puyallup International, Inc., of the Puyallup Indian Nation from 1985 to 1989, Matheson negotiated an international trade agreement with the Peoples Republic of China, arranged financing and management for a 2,500-seat bingo palace and participated in settlement of a $160 million land title dispute.

As Deputy Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Matheson will have responsibility for the day-to-day operations of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the largest bureau in the Department of the Interior with more than 14,000 employees nationwide.

Matheson, a native of Plummer, Idaho, earned a Masters of Business Administration degree from the University of Washington in 1989. He and his wife, Jenny, have five children and reside in Falls Church, Virginia.