OPA

Dr. William J. Benham, Jr., Director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs' Indian Education Resources Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico has been selected for a year of special study at Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.

Benham will begin in September a mid-career program "designed to broaden the perspective and increase the professional competence of Federal employees." He will resume his duties in Albuquerque in June, 1978.

Those admitted to the program are nominated by their agency and chosen by the school on the basis of intellectual ability, growth potential for public service and program interests. The nominees are expected to be persons of proven accomplishments whose agencies indicate that they are capable of filling top managerial and policymaking positions in the Federal service.

Benham, a Creek Indian from Holdenville, Oklahoma, in March of this year received the Department of the Interior's Meritorious Service Award for distinguished achievements and outstanding contributions to Indian education programs.

Benham is a 1950 graduate of East Central Oklahoma University which gave him in 1975 a Distinguished Alumnus Award. He earned his Master's and Doctor's degrees from the University of Oklahoma.

The Secretary of the Interior has disapproved a lease entered into in 1970 between the Tesuque Pueblo and the Sangre de Cristo Development Company.

Under the terms of the 99-year lease Sangre de Cristo planned to develop approximately 5,400 acres of tribal lands north of Santa Fe, New Mexico, for commercial, residential and recreational purposes.

In a letter sent to tribal authorities and company officials, Under Secretary of the Interior James A. Joseph said that the lease was being disapproved because the development of a subdivision of 16,000 non-Indians on the reservation "poses too great a risk of social, economic and political upheaval for the Pueblo inhabitants to be offset by the benefits they might derive."

Joseph said that the presence of so many non-Indians on the reservation could cause "perhaps insurmountable jurisdictional problems" for the 300 member tribe.

Other environmental risks -- water and soil problems -- and the tribe's present opposition to the development were factors in the decision to disapprove the lease.

The lease had originally been approved under delegated authority in May of 1970 by the Area Director for the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Albuquerque.

Subsequently, a court ruling enjoined all activity under the lease, directed that an environmental impact statement be prepared and ordered the Secretary to review the lease in the light of this EIS. The impact statement was completed in July.

Joseph, in his letter, said that the Department was aware of implications of the disapproval decision for investors in the project. He said that serious consideration was being given to the possibilities of trying to provide compensation for no-fault losses. He indicated that a decision on this matter would be made shortly.

The LaPointe Indian Cemetery, burial place of the Chippewa Chief Great Buffalo, has been listed in The National Register of Historic Places, the Bureau of Indian Affairs announced today.

The cemetery is located on Madeline Island, in Lake Superior off the coast of Wisconsin. The property is held in trust by the United States for the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians.

Chief Great Buffalo was a principal in the treaty of 1854 in which the Chippewas ceded a large area of land to the United States and which also created the Bad River and Red Cliff Reservations in Northern Wisconsin. He died one year later at the age of 96.

The cemetery, originally Catholic Church property, was used for burials from 1836 through 1948.

The National Register is the official list of the Nation's cultural resources worthy of preservation. The Secretary of the Interior, through the National Park Service, maintains the Register and provides leadership in preserving, restoring and maintaining the historic places.

Work is progressing on plans for the all-Indian halftime program during the Washington Redskins, Dallas Cowboys National Football League Game in Washington November 27, according to Dr. Louis W. Ballard, Director of Music Programs for the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Dr. Ballard said he has received applications from more than 600 Indian high school musicians to participate in the halftime show. He said a series of competitions will be held in various parts of the country to select the 150 young musicians who will make up the marching band.

In addition to the band, the show will include a girls drill team from either Haskell Indian Junior College or the Institute of American Indian Arts, and Indian dancers from several areas of the United States will also perform, Ballard said.

He stressed that the halftime program, which will be seen on national television, is part of the BIA's continuing efforts to upgrade and improve the cultural and educational programs for Indian students.

Dr. Ballard is composing an original musical score for the program, and the band will be under the co-direction of Fred Shields of Haskell and Jack Romine from the Mississippi Choctaw BIA Schools in Philadelphia, Mississippi.

The program marks the first time an all Indian group of musicians, dancers and drill team will perform at a National Football League game. The program was worked out in cooperation with the Washington Redskins football team and has the full support of that organization.

The students will be brought to Washington, D.C. the week before the game so that they will have time to practice together as well as put the final touches on the marching and drill program. He also said since the program will take place during the Thanksgiving weekend, the students will be guests of the American Indian Society in Washington for a Thanksgiving dinner.

Dr. Ballard said, "This program not only will give the Indian students the opportunity to visit the Nation's capitol and perform on national television, but also will give the people of the U.S. a chance to see Native American dancers and musicians and to become acquainted with the exceptional talents of these youngsters.

He said the program will be narrated by a nationally prominent Native American, but that person has not yet been selected.

"We also want to thank the Washington Redskins organization and the National Football League for the opportunity they have given us to perform at this game," Ballard said.

Solicitor Leo M. Krulitz announced today that the Interior Department is recommending to the Department of Justice that legal action be started on behalf of the Catawba Indian Tribe to recover its 140,000 acre reservation in South Carolina.

The proposed suit would be similar to actions now pending on behalf of the Passamaquoddy and Penobscot Indians land claims in Maine and the land claims of three tribes in New York State.

"The action we recommend is that the United States finally act upon its long neglected duty under the Non-Intercourse Act to nullify the 1840 Treaty with South Carolina and restore possession of the 1763 Treaty reservation to the Catawba Tribe," Krulitz said. The Tribe has sought Federal assistance in the assertion of their claim since 1904.

Krulitz said that discussions between the Tribe and State officials have reflected a mutual intent to resolve the matter in a way that would satisfy the parties without endangering the State's economy or interfering with orderly real estate development.

''We should inform all concerned parties," he said in a letter to the Justice Department, "that we would prefer an amicable, orderly settlement to lengthy, disruptive litigation, and will lend immediate assistance in negotiations for a just and model settlement." However, the recommendation makes it clear that if negotiations fail, litigation should be commenced on behalf of the Tribe.

The 15 mile square area claimed by the Catawba Tribe surrounds the town of Rock Hill in the north-central section of the State.

Prior to 1763, the Tribe occupied a much larger area by aboriginal title. In 1763, the Tribe relinquished their claim to the larger area in return for Great Britain's assurance that they would have unmolested possession of the 15 mile square reservation. When the United States succeeded to Great Britain's sovereignty in 1783, our new government did not abrogate the 1763 Catawba Treaty. "Therefore," Krulitz said, "the Catawba retained a vested right in their reservation."

By 1840 the Catawba's Treaty reservation was overrun by non-Indians who continually ignored the Tribe's protests. "In 1840," Krulitz said, "the Tribe finally purported to convey their remaining title and interest in the 140, 000 acres to the State of South Carolina by treaty. The Federal Government was in no way involved in the negotiations and never subsequently gave its consent. The 1840 conveyance was therefore void under the Non-Intercourse Act."

The Department of the Interior is publishing in the Federal Register a notice that 120,681.25 acres of lands formerly under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Land Management will be held in trust by the United States for the Navajo Indians, for use in connection with an irrigation project.

The transfer and trusteeship was authorized by Congress in the Act of June 13, 1962, and amended by the Act of September 25, 1970. A condition of the transfer was that the Navajos pay the appraised value of the land and compensate ranchers holding grazing privileges in the area for improvements installed on Federal land. The tribe has now paid the required $1,255,374.33 to the Federal Government for these lands.

The lands are located in northwest New Mexico near Farmington. The transfer is subject to valid existing rights.

A final environmental statement analyzing the irrigation project was approved by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs on October 12, 1976.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs has appointed. Jack C. Naylor, a Choctaw Indian, Superintendent of its Miami Agency, Miami, Oklahoma.

Naylor, 42, has been on the faculty of the Haskell Indian Junior College at Lawrence, Kansas, since 1964. He has been a department head, dean of instruction for vocational and technical subjects and coordinator of institutional evaluation. He has been Acting Superintendent of the Horton, Kansas Agency this summer.

An Army veteran, Naylor is a graduate of Northeastern State, Tahlequah, Oklahoma. He received a Masters in Education from the University of Kansas and has completed the course work for a doctorate from the University of Minnesota.

He succeeds T. J. Perry who has retired after 13 years as Superintendent at Miami.

Secretary of the Interior Cecil D, Andrus announced today that he has asked the Department of Justice to file protective notices of appeal from a federal District Court decision involving reservations of easements on Alaskan lands conveyed to Natives.

The Alaska District Court ruled in two cases which had been consolidated for hearing (Calista Corp. v. Andrus and Sealaska Corp. v. Secretary of Interior) that certain aspects of the easement policy adopted by former Secretary Morton had been in violation of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA). Many of the conveyances of land to Native Corporations in Alaska under that Act have been delayed by litigation over the easement policy.

Secretary Andrus said the Department had not yet made a final determination as to what aspects of the District. Court decision, if any, the Department would seek to have overruled by the appellate court. "A full scale review of our easement policy is under way. This review is not yet completed because of the complicated legal principles and interpretations involved. Because of the time limit for filing a notice of appeal, the Department has asked the Justice Department to file a protective notice to preserve all of our options until the review is completed," he said.

Secretary Andrus express concern over the delays in conveying land to Alaska Natives under the Native Claims Settlement Act. "I expect our review will be completed promptly, and I will make every effort, regardless of whether I decide to appeal all or part of the District Court decision, to expedite the conveyance of land to the Natives," he said.

Proposed regulations to implement the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977, insofar as it pertains to coal mining on Indian lands, were published in the Federal Register September 15 by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

The proposed regulations are intended to bring surface coal mining activity on the Indian lands into compliance with the environmental safeguard and reclamation requirements imposed by the Act.

Written comments on the regulations should be sent by October 14 to the Office of Trust Responsibilities, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Washington, D.C. 20240.

Public meetings dealing with the regulation of mining on Indian lands will be held at Bureau of Indian Affairs area offices in Phoenix, Ariz., September 23; Albuquerque, New Mexico, September 26 and Window Rock, Ariz., September 28.

These meetings will supplement genera1 meetings on the Surface Mining Act to be held September 20 in four cities.

Forrest J. Gerard, the recently confirmed Interior Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs, today challenged national Indian leaders to join in the preparing a national policy statement on Indian affairs.

Gerard made the challenge in an address at the 34th annual convention of the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) in Dallas, Texas.

Gerard acknowledged that ''there has been concern on the part of the Indian people that this Administration has yet to announce a comprehensive Indian policy statement." He said that the Administration wanted the Assistant Secretary to take -the lead in policy initiative for Indian affairs. Gerard then asked NCAI and the other major Indian organization, the National Tribal Chairmen's Association (NTCA), to "come up with a joint policy statement. . . so that we will have your input in formulating policy.

Commenting on reactions to Indian land claims, treaty fishing rights and other issues, Gerard said that court victories "are in danger of being lost because of political pressure." Gerard urged the Indians to tell their story in a reasonable and rational manner -- not sacrificing their rights -­but communicating effectively.

Gerard said that pressures are being manifested in county and state governments as well as in Congress. "The pressures on some issues are so intense that even our friends find it at times difficult to support Indian causes," he said. "Tribal governments are growing in scope and sophistication, and in this process are asserting more of their legal rights. This is difficult for many non-Indians to accept."

Gerard repeated confirmation hearings commitments to strengthen the Bureau's capacity to fulfill its role as trustee; to continue to aid tribal governments as they assume more responsibilities in the era of self-determination and to improve service delivery through Federal programs or through self-determination mechanisms at the tribal level.