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The report of the Presidential Commission on Indian Reservation Economies, submitted to the President today, will receive "immediate and thorough review. The Department is committed to improving the economic strength and independence of Indian reservations, 11 Interior Department spokesman Rusty Brashear said today.

Brashear noted the report "is a study of reservation economies that is both detailed and complex. As a major administrator of Federal Indian programs and as trustee for reservation lands, this Department is obligated to move quickly to analyze this document and to recommend appropriate action.

President Reagan established the Commission in January 1983 to provide advice on how to develop a stronger economy on Indian reservations and to strengthen tribal government.

The nine member commission contains both Indian and non-Indian members. It held public meetings in many parts of the country, concentrating on those areas with large Indian populations.

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EDITORS NOTE: The Commission's charter provides that the Interior Department provide it logistical support. As part of that effort, copies of the Commission report are available from the Office of Public Affairs, U.S. Department of the Interior, Washington, D.C. 20240, telephone 202/343-3171.

John Fritz, Acting Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs in the Department of the Interior, has approved a joint venture agreement between the Crow Tribe of Montana and a subsidiary corporation of the O'Hare Energy Company of Denver for oil and gas exploration and development on the reservation

The agreement gives the tribe a 51 percent ownership in a partnership to be called the Raven Oil Company. The O'Hare subsidiary would own the other 49 percent and would provide all exploration costs. The tribe, in addition to owning 51 percent of Raven Oil, would be paid lease rental fees and bonuses totaling $26 per acre and a 13 percent royalty on production.

Fritz, in his letter of approval to tribal chairman Donald Stewart, said the agreement was "clearly in the best interest of the Crow Tribe. It can provide economic benefits to the tribe over and above those provided by standard leases and its management organization allows tribal representatives full input into management decisions."

At a tribal council meeting October 13, the tribe voted its approval of the agreement.

Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt said today that while he is approving a lease between an Indian tribe and a solid waste disposal company that contemplates construction of a landfill on tribal land in southern California, he will take steps to prevent the wholesale targeting of tribal lands across America for waste disposal.

"After careful consideration I have decided to approve the lease that will allow a proposal for a large solid waste facility on the land of the Campo Band of Indians in southern California to proceed," Secretary Babbitt said in a statement. "The Campo's substantial efforts over many years, encouraged by the prior Administration, and my conclusion that the project has almost universal support among tribal members were important factors in my decision."

The Secretary made it clear that it would be a mistake for the waste disposal industry to look upon the decision as encouraging the targeting of Indian lands for dumps for non Indian waste.

"Building large facilities on Indian reservations to handle largely non-Indian-generated waste," Secretary Babbitt said, "elicits a disturbing image of wasting Indian lands." He noted that "the exploitation of potential regulatory loopholes or vacuums may be behind some proposals to site such projects in Indian country."

"In general, I do not believe the Department should be in the business of encouraging proposals to build large waste facilities on Indian reservations primarily to handle non-Indian waste," Secretary Babbitt said. He said that he will approve such projects only when he is convinced that:

-- Tribal members have been fully apprised of the terms, conditions, and risks and have approved them, through their tribal governments or preferably (at least where large facilities are located on small reservations), through a referendum election specifically addressing the issue;

-- A first-class regulatory system (tribal, federal, state, or some combination thereof) has been approved by the Tribe, is in place, and will exercise clear supervisory power over the facility, including long-term monitoring and the ability to bring effective enforcement actions; and

-- The financial terms of these arrangements, including potential long-term liability of the Tribe and the United States from environmental contamination, are protective of tribal and federal interests.

The lease approved today provides for the Campo Band of Mission Indians to lease land on its reservation to Mid-American Waste systems, Inc., for a 600-acre facility for solid waste disposal, recycling and composting. The waste is proposed to be shipped by rail from San Diego about 60 miles away. A copy of secretary Babbit's full statement is attached.

In an effort to resolve tribal and non-tribal allocations of Klamath River salmon, Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt and Commerce Secretary Ron Brown today agreed to a management plan designed to improve conservation measures while providing for additional salmon harvest now and in the future for Klamath River tribes.

In addition, the agreement by the two secretaries ensures that a definitive legal ruling on future allocations of Klamath River chinook stocks will be issued before Sept. 30 of this year.

The Department of Commerce will issue an emergency rule on April 30 to open the salmon season on May 1, as recommended by the Pacific Fishery Management Council, with two exceptions:

• The short commercial fishing season that had been expected to open between Horse Mountain and Point Arena, Calif., from May 1-6, will not open. Fishing in this area has a greater adverse impact on Klamath River chinook stocks.
• The May-June recreational quota for Chinook salmon will be reduced from 12,000 fish to 8,000 fish in the area between Humbug Mountain, Ore., to Horse Mountain, Calif.

Secretary Babbitt has set the 1993 tribal fishery quota at 18,500 salmon, an increase from 17,000 provided in the Council's plan. Secretary Brown has asked the council to revise the 1993 Chinook salmon regulations to provide for a spawning escapement of 38,000 salmon in light of the failure to meet spawning population goals in past years and the opportunity to take advantage of this year's water supply. This regulation change results in an increased escapement of 3,000 fish over the council's recommendations.

"These management measures reflect the extremely high priority that Secretary Babbitt and I place on conserving the Klamath River chinook salmon," said Brown. "Because these stocks of salmon are severely depressed, we must carefully manage them to ensure that there are sufficient population numbers for the future.

"We are committed to rapidly moving to a definitive legal ruling concerning the rights of all parties to the Klamath River Chinook salmon. The failure to do so over the past decade has been unfair to everyone concerned," said Brown. "As soon as the Solicitor of the Department of the Interior issues a ruling on this matter, I will ask that the Council incorporate Interior's allocations in its regulations for the 1994 season. The Solicitor's ruling should be completed no later than Sept. 30 in order that all parties have adequate time to plan for the 1994 season."

Secretary Babbitt added, "We are committed to ensuring that by the 1994 season, the legal allocation rights of the Klamath River tribes are fully incorporated in the Pacific Fishery Management Council's plan. We are also committed to restoring the Klamath fishery resource. By providing additional spawning escapements this year, we can begin to take advantage of habitat improvements and start the process of rebuilding the resource.

"This decision allows the federal government to meet its trust responsibilities to the tribes while taking concrete steps to restore this important resource."

President Bill Clinton today announced his intention to nominate Ada Deer, an educator and former chair of the Menominee Nation of Wisconsin, to serve as Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs. The appointment, subject to confirmation by the U.S. Senate, will make her the first woman to serve as Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs.

"Ada Deer is a strong leader with a lifelong commitment to American Indian rights, to improving the lives of American Indians, and to the strengthening of tribal governments," said Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt. "She was very highly recommended for this position by numerous tribes and tribal councils across America. She is an outstanding advocate with an impressive record of success and accomplishment."

Ms. Deer, currently a senior lecturer at the School of Social Work and American Indian Studies Program at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, was a candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives last fall. She was born on the Menominee reservation, led the struggle to restore federal recognition for the tribe, and was the tribal leader 1974 to 1976.

For more than 25 years she has worked with such national organizations as the Native American Rights Fund, Americans for Indian Opportunity, and the American Indian Graduate Program.

She was the first member of her tribe to graduate from the University of Wisconsin (1957) and the first American Indian to receive a master's degree from the School of Social Work at Columbia University (1961). She was a fellow at the Harvard Institute of Politics, John F. Kennedy School of Government, in 1977. In addition, her academic honors include Doctor of Humane Letters from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Among numerous other honors, Ms. Deer was presented a National Distinguished Achievement Award by the American Indian Resources Institute in 1991 and was named Woman of the Year by Girl Scouts of America in 1982.

The Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs has responsibility for the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), the bureau with the largest budget in Department of the Interior, $2.4 billion. BIA has 12,000 employees providing services and administering trust responsibilities for more than 500 tribes and Alaska Native villages. About one million members of federally recognized tribes live on or near the 56 million acres of Indian trust lands served by the BIA.

Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Daniel P. Beard today announced a new policy designed to protect Indian trust assets from adverse impacts of Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) programs and activities.

"The Bureau of Reclamation has a shared responsibility in protecting the rights of Indian tribes," Beard said. "The new policy will help us to assess and mitigate potential impacts on Indian trust assets." Indian trust assets are legal interest in property held in trust by the United States for Indian tribes Such assets include lands, minerals, hunting and fishing rights and water rights

The Bureau of Indian Affairs, a sister agency of Reclamation in the Department of the Interior, has primary responsibility for Indian trust. However, the trust responsibility requires that all federal agencies take all actions reasonably necessary to protect trust assets.

The new policy announced today will be incorporated in Reclamation's environmental directives by October 1, 1993.

The National Park Service has compiled a list of Federal, Tribal, Native Alaskan, Native American and Native Hawaiian contacts to assist other Federal agencies and museums in complying with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA).

The law requires Federal agencies and museums that receive Federal funds to consult with Indian tribes, Native Alaskan entities, and Native Hawaiian organizations regarding the proper care and disposition of Native American human remains, funerary objects, sacred objects, and objects of cultural patrimony with which they are culturally affiliated, and to provide a summary of their collections by November 16, 1993.

The list is comprised of designated officials from the 752 federally recognized Indian tribes and Native Alaskan entities, 7 Native Hawaiian organizations, and 42 Federal agencies. It includes the name, address and telephone number of the chair, president, or other official specifically designated to deal with issues related to NAGPRA implementation. A copy of the contact list is available in either printed or electronic format.

The required summaries should include estimates of the number of Native American cultural objects in the collection; reference to the means, date(s), and location(s) whereby the collection was acquired; and observations about any lineal descendants, if available, or culturally affiliated Indian tribes, Native Alaskan entities, or Native Hawaiian organizations. Copies of a memorandum that provides guidance on summaries, inventories, and notification, including a sample summary, are also available from the National Park Service.

The tribal and Federal agency contact list and the guidance memorandum can be obtained from the Park Service by contacting: Dr. c. Timothy McKeown, National Park Service, NAGPRA Program Leader, Archeological Assistance Div., P.O. Box 37127, Washington, D.C. 20013-7127, Tele: (202) 343-4101; Fax: (202) 523-1547

Ada Deer, Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs in the u.s. Department of the Interior, has accepted an invitation from U.S. Rep. Sam Gejdenson to attend a public forum he is sponsoring in Ledyard Connecticut on September 18. The Assistant Secretary will appear to explain the general process involved in accepting lands into trust and how such applications are evaluated. "My administration is dedicated to building partnership and fostering understanding between Indians and non-Indians on issues that concern us all, Deer said.

The Interior Department today released a legal opinion that two California Indian tribes are entitled to enough Klamath-Trinity basin salmon to support a moderate living standard, or 50 percent of the harvest, whichever is less.

The opinion, signed by Interior Solicitor John D. Leshy, notes that when the Hoopa Valley and Yurek Reservations were created, the U.S. government reserved a federally protected fishing right for the two tribes.

The opinion concludes that "the entitlement of the Yurok and Hoopa Valley Tribes is limited to the moderate living standard or 50 percent of the harvest of Klamath-Trinity basin salmon, whichever is less. Given the current depressed condition of the Klamath River basin fishery, and absent any agreement among the parties to the contrary, the Tribes are entitled to 50 percent of the harvest."

"This clearly underscores the need to restore the region's fisheries to healthy levels," said Betsy Rieke, Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Water and Science. "The allocation of the salmon is controversial only because of depressed salmon resources."

Restoration plans have been prepared for both the Klamath and Trinity drainages, and the Interior Department is working to find the funding necessary to carry out comprehensive restoration of the watershed, aimed in part at reviving salmon populations.

"While this opinion correctly focuses on the size of different 'slices of the pie,'" said Rieke, speaking of salmon allotments, "the Department's resources are primarily directed at how we can make that pie grow."

The opinion on the tribes' rights in the fishery was requested last spring by Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt and Commerce Secretary Ron Brown as part of their discussions a bout regulating the in-river and ocean fishing of the Klamath-Trinity salmon run and, over the longer term, improving the overall fishery. At that time, Babbitt recommended it would be prudent to reserve a 50 percent share of the harvestable surplus of Klamath River salmon for the Indian in-river fishery this year.

As a temporary resolution of differences between the Interior Department recommendation and concerns expressed by the Commerce Department, which has jurisdiction over ocean fisheries, Babbitt set the 1993 in-river tribal harvest ceiling at 18,500. Brown directed a 1993 ocean fishing season that conformed to the in-river tribal harvest constraint.

The Department of the Interior today released a revised list of Alaska Native tribes that are eligible to receive services from the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and which have the immunities and privileges available to other federally recognized Indian tribes in the contiguous 48 States. The list will be published in the Federal Register next week.

"This revised list implements certain portions of an opinion issued by the Departmental solicitor on January 11, 1993, which concluded that for over 50 years, the Department dealt with Alaska Natives under the legal principles used for dealing with tribes in the contiguous 48 states," said Ada E. Deer, Assistant secretary for Indian Affairs. "The Opinion left preparation of a list of Alaska tribes for later action and we are fulfilling that portion of the opinion today."

Under general principles of federal Indian law and the Solicitor's Opinion, the powers of Alaska Native tribes include the right to determine membership, adopt constitutions, conduct elections and govern and regulate internal tribal relations.

"However," Deer said, "the solicitor's January opinion concluded, construing general principles of Federal Indian law and the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA), that notwithstanding the potential that Indian country still exists in Alaska in certain limited cases, Congress has left little or no room for tribes in Alaska to exercise governmental authority over land or nonmembers." This portion of the Opinion is subject to review, but has not been withdrawn or modified.

In arriving at the determination of which entities to include on the list, the BIA reviewed the following lists: the non-tribal entities established pursuant to ANCSA and which were previously eligible for federal services, previously-listed village and regional corporations, and villages and regional tribes previously dealt with by the federal government as governments. Only those villages and regional tribes that have functioned as political entities exercising governmental authority are included in the revised list.

Not included on the revised list are non-tribal Native entities that currently contract with or receive services from the BIA pursuant to specific statutory authority, including ANCSA village and regional corporations and various tribal organizations. The non-inclusion of these entities does not affect their continued eligibility for contracts and services.

The list to be published in the Federal Register includes the revised list of 226 Alaskan tribal entities and the 318 tribes in the contiguous 48 states that are eligible for services from the Bureau of Indian Affairs.