OPA

Secretary of the Interior Manuel Lujan today announced that he would authorize the call for elections in the Native Villages of Circle, Seldovia and Port Graham to approve constitutions proposed under the Indian Reorganization Act (IRA).

Once the elections are held, the Secretary will have 45 days under the IRA to approve the constitutions.

Once the constitutions are ratified, and the Secretary approves, a certificate of approval will be appended to each constitution. The certificates of approval will contain disclaimers stating that the approval of the constitution is not intended to validate any assertion that the Native Villages have governmental authority over land or non-members.

Citing the questions that remain concerning the extent of territorial jurisdiction claimed by the Villages, the Secretary asked the Solicitor of the Department to undertake an independent legal review of the these assertions. Lujan noted that pending litigation may affect the outcome of the review.

The Secretary said he decided to proceed with the authorization of elections while fully informing the Villages of his concerns. If the language in their constitutions is inconsistent with the results of the Solicitor's legal opinion, any court decision directly oi point, or any subsequent Act of Congress, the Secretary said he shall advise the Villages and take appropriate action.

Secretary of the Interior Manuel Lujan, Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Richard Darman and the Intertribal Monitoring Association for Indian Trust Funds announced today the creation of a new OMB-Interior "SWAT" team. Its purpose is to address financial management problems associated with the $2 billion in Indian trust funds. The management problems include:

Failure to reconcile or audit the 300,000 trust fund accounts, some of which are more than 50 years old;

Erroneous allocations of receipts, erroneous payments to account holders, and failure consistently to invest trust fund balances;

Lack of credible accounting data; and,

Lack of proper oversight.

Indian trust account holders have alleged that mismanagement has resulted in sizable investment losses of trust funds.

Secretary Lujan stated: "Several months ago, the Department and OMB undertook a major initiative to correct serious deficiencies in the BIA accounting system for appropriated funds. That project is now well underway, and results are meeting expectations. The Department is now undertaking an initiative to establish financial accountability over the Indian trust funds. A major aspect of this initiative will be working with the Intertribal Monitoring Association for Indian Trust Funds, representing the community whose money has been put at risk by Trust Fund management."

Director Darman commented: "The government has a significant fiduciary responsibility with respect to the Indian trust funds. We must be able to assure the Indian community that tribal and individual Indian funds held in trust are accurately accounted for, reported, and invested."

The Intertribal Monitoring Association for Indian Trust Funds (the Association), a group representing a number of tribes that have funds invested with the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), will be an active participant in this initiative. On June 18, 1991, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the Association and the BIA recognizing the Association. The Association will assist in developing long-term solutions to well known trust fund management problems. Any tribe with funds invested with BIA is eligible for membership in the Association.

A joint OMB-Interior action team will work with the BIA and the Association to:

Devise processes for managing the reconciliation, audit, and certification of tribal and individual Indian accounts;

Bring accounting practices up to government-wide standards;

Tighten financial and internal management controls;

Develop long-range accounting systems development and implementation plans; and,

Ensure related management, training, and administrative reforms.

The joint team will commence its work immediately. A report on an interim improvement strategy is scheduled for late July, with a comprehensive report to be issued by December 30, 1991.

The Department of the Interior is asking for public comments on proposed regulations containing additional criteria and requirements to be used in evaluating requests to take lands in trust for Indian tribes outside existing reservation boundaries.

The proposed rules were published in the July 15, 1991, edition of the Federal Register and comments must be received within 60 days.

"During recent years, the Bureau of Indian Affairs has had a number of requests by tribes to take land in trust located outside of and noncontiguous to reservations for purposes of development projects and, in particular, gaming establishments," Eddie F. Brown, Interior Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs, said. "We have handled these requests in the past on a case-by-case basis according to need, purpose, amount of trust land currently owned, and the impact of removing the land from local government tax rolls.

"In my discussions with Secretary of the Interior Manuel Lujan, we agreed on the need for a policy review and rule change," Brown said. "We need a clearly articulated policy that allows the noncontiguous land in trust request to be reviewed in a consistent manner. The policy is intended to strengthen Indian economic development, encourage acceptance of Indian enterprises by neighbors and communities, maintain the Secretary of Interior's trust responsibilities, and be consistent with sovereignty and self-determination concepts."

Under the proposed rules, requests to take land in trust located outside of an Indian reservation must continue to meet the criteria contained in Federal law (25 CFR Part 151.10). In addition, these new guidances have been proposed:

(1) The property should be free of all hazardous and toxic materials;

(2) The land to be acquired in trust should be located within the state(s) in which the tribe presently owns trust land;

(3) The tribe must consult and attempt to resolve possible conflicts over taxation, zoning and jurisdiction with local, city, county, and state governments and demonstrate such efforts have been made;

(4) The tribe shall provide an economic development plan specifying the proposed use of the land with a cost/benefit analysis;

(5) The tribe must demonstrate that trust status is essential for the planned use of the land and the economic benefits to be realized;

(6) The tribe will adopt standards and safeguards comparable to all local ordinances.

When the acquisition of new land is to be used for gaming purposes, these additional criteria and requirements will be considered:

(1) Request must be in compliance with the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (P.L. 100-497);

(2) When appropriate, the request must be reviewed by the National Indian Gaming Commission;

(3) Request must include an analysis by the tribe showing that it explored all reasonable alternatives (other than gaming) which would provide equivalent economic benefits;

(4) The request must provide that the tribe agrees to withhold the appropriate portion of individual winnings from gaming activities for Federal taxes.

Written comments should be addressed to Chief, Branch of Technical Services, Division of Real Estate Services, Bureau of Indian Affairs, 1849 C St. N. W., MS 4522-MIB, Washington, D.C. 20240.

Those wishing more information about the regulations may contact Alice A. Harwood, Acting Chief, Branch of Technical Services, at the above address. She can be reached at (202) 208-4861.

Forty-three Indian tribal leaders and officials of the Department of the Interior (DOI) and Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) will meet September 4-6 in Bismarck, N.D. to discuss the reorganization of the BIA.

The sixth meeting of the Joint Tribal/BIA/DOI Advisory Task Force for the Reorganization of the BIA will meet from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day at the Sheraton Inn Bismarck Galleria, Sixth Street and Broadway in Bismarck. The Task Force will hear testimony from Indian tribal leaders and Indian organizations from North and South Dakota, and Nebraska on their ideas as to how the BIA should be reorganized to better serve Indian tribes and individuals. The meeting is open to the public.

Established for a two-year period last January by Interior Secretary Manuel Lujan, the Task Force is comprised of 36 Indian tribal leaders, two DOI officials and five BIA personnel. A status report on their reorganization efforts was submitted to Secretary Lujan and the U.S. Congress on May 29. The Bismarck meeting will be the second since that report was submitted. The Task Force last met in Seattle, Washington, July 23-25. Eddie F. Brown, Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs in Interior, is co-chair of the Task Force for the federal representatives, and Wendell Chino, President of the Mescalero Apache Tribe, is co-chair as the tribal leaders representative.

The names of Task Force members are attached as well as a summary of the status report submitted to Secretary Lujan last May. A proposed reorganization chart accompanies the report.

Interior Assistant Secretary Ken Smith today announced a major realignment of the Bureau of Indian Affairs' administrative structure. The changes, he said, will improve management efficiency, reduce personnel in central and area offices by 20 percent and reduce overhead costs by $16 million in fiscal year 1983.

Smith said the administrative cuts, coupled with an increase of $55 million in the Bureau of Indian Affairs' 1983 budget request, will result in increased funding of programs at the reservation level.

In the reorganization, the present 12 area offices will be replaced with six regional service centers. The Bureau's education office will be streamlined and the size of the central office reduced.

Smith said the six regional service centers will be at Albuquerque, New Mexico; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Phoenix, Arizona; Portland, Oregon, and Rapid City, South Dakota. Smith added that plans for the immediate future also include a field office at Juneau, Alaska to serve the Alaska Natives and a Navajo Nation Service Center at Window Rock, Arizona.

In the realignment of the Bureau's education office, there will be regional field offices at Minneapolis, Oklahoma City, Phoenix and Portland. Each of these offices will be headed by an assistant education director with line authority and responsibility for education activities in his region. This plan complies with the mandates of Public Law 95-561, which stresses local community control of Indian schools under professional educators.

In the central office the education office will be consolidated into two divisions.

Smith said, "Indian leaders have repeatedly asked me to protect the funding for their reservation programs and to take needed budget cuts in administrative overhead. This is our response."

There will be continued discussion and consultation with tribal leaders, union officials and others in the implementation of the realignment, Smith said. He and other departmental officials this week briefed Indian leaders, Members of Congress, BIA field officials and employee union officials on the basic elements of the realignment.

Smith said the changes will cut red tape and costs and definitely improve the Bureau's management of Indian programs."

Further information about changes, Smith said, would be made available as implementation proceeds.

The Bureau now has area offices in Aberdeen, South Dakota; Albuquerque, New Mexico; Anadarko and Muskogee, Oklahoma; Billings, Montana; Juneau, Alaska; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Window Rock and Phoenix, Arizona; Portland, Oregon; Sacramento, California and Washington, D. C.

Forty-three Indian tribal leaders and officials of the Department of the Interior (DOI) and Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) will meet October 15-17 in Anchorage, Alaska, to discuss the reorganization of the BIA.

The seventh meeting of the Joint Tribal/BIA/DOI Advisory Task Force for the Reorganization of the BIA will meet from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day at the Anchorage Hilton, 500 West Third Avenue. The Task Force will hear testimony from Indian tribal leaders and Indian organizations from Alaska on their ideas as to how the BIA should be reorganized to better serve Indian tribes and individuals. The meeting is open to the general public.

Established for a two-year period last January by Interior Secretary Manuel Lujan, the Task Force is comprised of 36 Indian tribal leaders, two DOI officials and five BIA personnel. A status report on their reorganization efforts was submitted to Secretary Lujan and the U.S. Congress on May 29. The Anchorage meeting will be the third since that report was submitted. The Task Force last met in Bismarck, N.D. September 4-6.

Eddie F. Brown, Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs in Interior, is co-chair of the Task Force for the federal representatives, and Wendell Chino, President of the Mescalero Apache Tribe, is co-chair as the tribal leaders representative.

The names of Task Force members are enclosed as well as a recent issue of Indian News which summarizes the Task Force's action to date.

Secretary of the Interior Manuel Lujan today announced a landmark agreement to allow construction on the Animas-La Plata water project in southwestern Colorado and northwestern New Mexico.

Under a Memorandum of Understanding, the endangered fish species in the San Juan Basin will be protected by the water releases from the Navajo Reservoir. In addition, there will be a recovery program for the endangered fish species.

"These are challenging times in resources development and management. This project meets both environmental protection and water resource needs," Lujan said.

The Animas-La Plata project will provide municipal and industrial water for several Colorado and New Mexico communities, for the Southern Ute and Ute Mountain Ute Indian Tribes in Colorado and for the Navajo Indian Nation in New Mexico. The project will also supply water for irrigation of Indian and non-Indian lands in these two states.

The project will be funded through a cost-sharing agreement between the federal government and the project's beneficiaries. The federal and non-federal entities will share the costs of Phase I facilities. Phase II facilities will be funded entirely by the non-federal entities.

Signatories to the MOU are: The Secretary of the Interior, the Governors of Colorado, New Mexico and Utah, and the Chairmen of the Southern Ute Indian Tribe, Ute Mountain Ute Indian Tribe and Jicarilla Apache Tribe.

Secretary of the Interior Manuel Lujan announced that effective November l, 1991, the Bureau of Reclamation will implement interim operating criteria at Glen Canyon Dam on the Colorado River. The criteria will remain in effect until the Glen Canyon Dam Environmental Impact Statement (GCDEIS) is completed in late 1993 and final criteria for the operation of the facility are approved and implemented

"The interim flows will help ensure the protection of downstream resources in the Grand Canyon until the EIS ls completed in 1993," said Commissioner of Reclamation Dennis B. Underwood. "We will continue to gather information from the ongoing Glen Canyon environmental studies pending completion of the EIS and implementation of a Record of Decision.

"The interim operations limit the daily flow fluctuations to approximately 3 feet or less in the Grand Canyon. - The maximum flow would be limited to 20,000 cubic feet per second (cfs); any release greater than 20.000 cfs will require further evaluation and consultation.

Minimum flows would be 5,000 cfs between 7 pm and 7 am and 8,000 cfs between 7 am and 7 pm. The rate of change in the power plant output would be limited to 2,500 cfs per hour for increasing flows and 1,500 cfs per hour for decreasing flows.

Incorporated in the interim operating criteria are exception criteria which provide for exceeding the flow to respond to emergency situations, system regulation needs, and to reduce the probability of high-cost replacement power purchases. The exception criteria are set forth in an October 21. 1991, Interagency Agreement between the ·Bureau of Reclamation and the Western Area Power Administration.

"The interim operations were tested between August 1 and October 31, 1991, by the Bureau of Reclamation in order to more fully evaluate data from research flows," Underwood said.

On July 27, 1989, Lujan directed the preparation of an environmental impact statement on the effects of the operation of Glen Canyon Dam on the downstream environmental and ecological resources of the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area and Grand Canyon National Park.

Reclamation is the lead agency of a cooperative effort to produce the GCDEIS. The cooperating agencies include the Arizona Game and Fish Department, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Fish and Wildlife Service, Havasupai Indian Tribe, Hopi Tribe, Hualapai Indian Tribe, National Park Service, Navajo Nation, and Western Area Power Administration.

The White House Conference on Indian Education's National Advisory Committee announces the appointment of Lionel Bordeaux (Rosebud Sioux), President of Sinte Gleska College in Rosebud, South Dakota, and Nora Garcia (Fort Mojave), Chairperson of the Fort Mojave Indian Tribe which is headquartered in Needles, California, as Co-Chairs of their conference.

Mr. Bordeaux has been President of Sinte Gleska College since 1973. Under his leadership the college became the first fully accredited reservation based institution of higher education at the bachelor's degree level. He has since instituted the first master's degree program on a reservation, which is in Elementary Education. He serves on numerous boards and is currently President of the American Indian Higher Education Consortium. His contributions to the field of Indian education are widely known. In 1983 the National Congress of American Indians chose him "Outstanding Educator of the Year," and in 1988 the National Indian Education Association chose him "Outstanding Indian Educator of the Year". Mr. Bordeaux has a Bachelor of Science degree from Black Hills state College, a Master of Arts degree from the University of South Dakota and is currently a doctoral candidate at the University of Minnesota.

Ms. Garcia has been Chairperson of the Fort Mojave Tribe since 1985, and served on their Tribal Council since 1981, and has worked for the tribe since 1975. The Fort Mojave Reservation is located in California, Nevada and Arizona. She has been active on both the regional and national levels and represents a new generation of Indian leadership. Currently she serves as President of the Inter-Tribal Council of Arizona, and is involved with the National Indian Policy Center and the American Indian Resources Institute's National Tribal Leadership Forums, just to name a few.

Buck Martin (Stockbridge-Munsee), Director of the White House conference on Indian Education, Said "The combination of these two talented individuals who represent Indian education and tribal government at its best will ensure the conference's success. The education of our Indian youth is critical and collectively, we must devise an education agenda to meet the challenges of tomorrow. President Bordeaux and Chairperson Garcia will assist us in mapping out a meaningful future."

The White House Conference on Indian Education was Congressionally mandated and is a collaborative effort between the White House, the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Interior. It is to take place January 22-24, 1992, in Washington, D.C. at the Ramada Renaissance Hotel at Techworld. To inquire about hotel reservations, please call (202) 898-9000, space is limited and the $97.00 per night rate is only guaranteed through December 1, 1991.

Forty-three Indian tribal leaders and officials of the Department of the Interior (DOI) and Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) will meet November 19-21 in San Diego, California, to discuss the reorganization of the BIA.

The eighth meeting of the Joint Tribal/BIA/DOI Advisory Task Force for the Reorganization of the BIA will meet from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. each day at the Hyatt Islandia, 1441 Quivira Road. The Task Force will hear testimony from Indian tribal leaders and Indian organizations from California on their ideas as to how the BIA should be reorganized to better serve Indian tribes and individuals. The meeting is open to the general public.

Established for a two-year period last January by Interior Secretary Manuel Lujan, the Task Force is comprised of 36 Indian tribal leaders, two DOI officials and five BIA personnel. A status report on their reorganization efforts was submitted to Secretary Lujan and the U.S. Congress last April. The San Diego meeting will be the fourth since that report was submitted. The Task Force last met in Anchorage, Alaska, October 15-17.

Eddie F. Brown, Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs in Interior, is co-chair of the Task Force for the federal representatives, and Wendell Chino, President of the Mescalero Apache Tribe, is co-chair as the tribal leaders representative.

The names of Task Force members are enclosed as well as a briefing paper that summarizes the Task Force's action to date.