OPA

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Acting Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Aurene M. Martin and Special Trustee for American Indians Ross O. Swimmer today announced the issuance of a new Departmental Manual (DM) that makes effective the reorganization of the Office of the Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs (OAS/IA), the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), and the Office of the Special Trustee for American Indians (OST) within the Department of the Interior. This new Departmental Manual, which was signed by Secretary Gale Norton on April 21, 2003, reflects suggestions, proposals, and recommendations that were presented to her last year through the Joint Tribal Leaders/DOI Task Force on Trust Reform.

“We now have an organization that will enable us to provide services more efficiently and effectively than in the past,” said Assistant Secretary Martin. “Our commitment is to enhancing the quality of life, promoting economic opportunity, and protecting and improving the trust assets of the tribes and individual American Indians and Alaska Natives whom we serve.”

Special Trustee Swimmer concurred in these comments and added that the reorganization is “designed to bring greater accountability, more efficiency and enhanced beneficiary services to the Indian community. Many new staff positions have been created at the local level to enhance the delivery of services.”

The new Departmental Manual describes responsibilities, delegated authorities, and organizational structures for the Office of the Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and the Office of the Special Trustee for American Indians. Highlights include:

• New organizational charts for the Office of the Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and the Office of the Special Trustee for American Indians;
• Updated descriptions of the Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs’ responsibilities and authorities;
• Updated descriptions of the Office of the Special Trustee’s responsibilities and authorities;
• The renaming of the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ Deputy Commissioner as Director;
• New descriptions of BIA Director and Deputy Director responsibilities and authorities;
• The establishment of the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs, Deputy Assistant Secretary – Policy and Economic Development, and Deputy Assistant Secretary – Information Resources Management/Chief Information Officer (CIO) with descriptions of responsibilities and authorities;
• New chapters on delegated authorities;
• New chapters describing field operations and those BIA functions that now will report to the Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs, Deputy Assistant Secretary – Policy and Economic Development, Deputy Assistant Secretary –Management or Deputy Assistant Secretary – Information Resources Management/Chief Information Officer;
• Updated descriptions of the Bureau field organization;
• Updated list of field office locations;
• The addition of trust officers at local agencies and trust administrators at the regional level in OST to support trust operations; and
• The placement of chapters from the previous DM on Self-Governance, Audit and Evaluation, Office of American Indian Trust, Office of Trust Funds Management, Office of Trust Records, and Office of Trust Risk Management, along with new chapters describing authorities of the new Deputy Assistant Secretaries and other functions, within the new Departmental Manual.

As an example of the changes contained in the DM, the BIA’s Branch of Acknowledgement and Research (BAR) has been renamed the Office of Federal Acknowledgment (OFA). It will now report to the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs, a new position within the Office of the Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs. Actual personnel changes will be phased in gradually over the next few months.

The Assistant Secretary - Indian Affairs has responsibility for fulfilling the Department’s trust responsibilities and promoting self-determination on behalf of the 562 federally recognized American Indian and Alaska Native tribal governments. The Assistant Secretary also oversees the Bureau of Indian Affairs, an agency with 10,500 employees nationwide, which is responsible for providing services to approximately 1.5 million individual American Indians and Alaska Natives from the federally recognized tribes.

The Special Trustee for American Indians is responsible for the oversight and coordination of the Department’s efforts to reform its practices relating to the management and discharge of the Secretary’s Indian trust responsibilities.

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(Washington, D.C.) -- The Bureau of Indian Affairs Office of Law Enforcement Services (OLES) will hold its 12th Annual Memorial Service on Thursday May 1, 2003, to commemorate the sacrifice made by law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty while serving on Indian lands. The Memorial Service will start at 10:30 A.M. on the BIA Indian Police Academy grounds in Artesia, New Mexico.

“It’s a sad day when we add new names to the BIA Law Enforcement Officer’s Memorial,” Acting Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Aurene Martin said. “But we pay tribute to those individuals and their families by remembering the sacrifices they made.”

At this year’s Memorial Service, Terry Virden, Director, Bureau of Indian Affairs will provide the keynote address. Robert “Bob” Ecoffey, Deputy Director, Office of Law Enforcement Services will also address the assembly. Three names of fallen officers will be added to the granite stones joining eighty-one other law enforcement officers, whom have lost their lives in the line of duty since 1852. The names of Officer Glenn Dale Hollow Horn, Oglala Tribal Public Safety, Officer Lloyd Aragon, New Mexico State Police, and Officer Robert James Taylor, Chippewa Cree Law Enforcement Services will join their fallen comrades on the Memorial.

Officer Glenn Dale Hollow Horn, deceased April 5, 1980. Officer Hollow Horn served with the Oglala Sioux Tribal Public Safety, Pine Ridge, South Dakota. Hollow Horn was accidentally shot by another officer while on duty.

Lloyd Aragon, deceased August 1, 2001. New Mexico State Police Officer Aragon was working with two Laguna Tribal police officers on the Laguna Reservation to stop a subject in a stolen vehicle. Officer Aragon was hit and killed by the suspect while placing stop sticks to apprehend the suspect.

Robert James Taylor, deceased May 27, 2002. Officer Taylor served with the Chippewa Cree Law Enforcement Services, Box Elder, Montana. Officer Taylor drowned while trying to save a fisherman that had capsized in his boat.

The Indian Country Law Enforcement Officer’s Memorial site is constructed with Native American symbolism and traditional plants incorporated into the design. The three granite stones are surrounded by a cement/aggregate surface forming a circle around the vertical slabs with an opening to allow for access. Sage, a plant with spiritual significance, is planted in the four directions to consecrate the hallow ground. Four planter areas are filled foliage surrounded by white, red, yellow, and black stones to signify the four colors of mankind on the Earth.

The original Indian Country Law Enforcement Officer’s Memorial was dedicated on May 7, 1992 at the BIA’s Indian Police Academy (IPA), in Marana, Arizona. The Memorial was later moved to Artesia, New Mexico and re-dedicated on May 6, 1993 when the BIA Indian Police Academy was relocated to New Mexico.

A 750 person department, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) Office of Law Enforcement Services provide uniformed police services, detention operations, and criminal investigation of alleged or suspected violations of major federal criminal laws in Indian Country.

For specific information or directions to the event call 505-748-8153.

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Washington -- Acting Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Aurene Martin announced today that Riverside Indian School, Anadarko, Okla., has been chosen for a pilot program, sponsored by NASA and presented by the Busey Group. The grant is for the purpose of promoting careers in the math, science, IT and healthcare area with special emphasis in the space industry.

"The effort to prepare American Indian students for careers in science and technology is very important to the economic development efforts of tribal nations," the Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs said. "My congratulations to the staff and students of Riverside Indian School."

Riverside Indian School was chosen for this pilot project because its student population is 100% American Indian Students come from rural and urban areas of the country. A major project for the students will be the design a space station that combines American Indian culture with modern technology.

The grant will be used to provide a field trip on May 6, 2003, for 120 students to travel to Southwestern Oklahoma State University in Weatherford, to visit the distance learning lab and Safford Museum. The students will meet Bernard Harris, the first African-American astronaut and will participate with Mr. Harris in a direct link-up using telecommunications technology with John Harrington, a Chickasaw tribal member and first American Indian astronaut. A follow-up trip for 60 students to travel to Southwestern Oklahoma State University is planned for May 27, 2003. Also, a field trip for 30 students and 10 chaperones will travel on May 30, 2003, to the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. The school will hold an Indian Taco luncheon on May 15, 2003, for tribal leaders, who will judge the American Indian themed space stations made by the students. A special request from NASA has been made to have the students' Native American Space Station sent to the Johnson Space Center to be put on display. It will be displayed with artifacts donated by various tribes. Mrs. Luann Williams, high school science teacher, will serve as project director and will participate in the NASA's teacher training program during that time.

Established in 1871, Riverside Indian School is a federally operated off-reservation boarding school located at Anadarko, Okla. It has an enrollment of 600 students in grades 4 through 12, and is accredited by the state of Oklahoma and the North Central Accreditation Association.

For specific information on the project call Don Sims, Riverside Indian School at: 405-247-6670.

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WASHINGTON, D.C. – Special Trustee for American Indians Ross O. Swimmer and Acting Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Aurene M. Martin will testify before the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs at its May 21 hearing on the reorganization of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). By reorganizing the agencies that manage Indian trust funds and assets, the Interior Department seeks to bring increased accountability and efficiency into the trust management area.

In 2002, the Department and the Federally-recognized tribes undertook an ambitious effort to change the way the Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs and the Special Trustee for American Indians deliver BIA trust and non-trust services to tribes, tribal service populations and trust beneficiaries.

The reorganization plan is based on agreements reached with the Joint Tribal Leaders/DOI Task Force established by Secretary Gale Norton last year to examine and recommend proposals for improving the way such services are delivered. Task Force members provided insights into where organizational changes were needed so that services could be delivered more efficiently to recipients and beneficiaries.

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WASHINGTON – Interior Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Neal A. McCaleb has approved a request by the Southern Ute Indian Tribe to join in partnership with the Trident Exploration Corporation for the development of the Canadian company’s natural gas leases in Alberta. The Southern Ute Tribe is widely recognized for its success in the extraction of coal-bed methane gas and will lend its expertise to Trident Exploration as part of its economic development strategy.

McCaleb personally delivered his approval for the partnership during his visit to tribal offices in Ignacio, Colorado today and complimented the tribe for its growing success.

“This is a fine example of the Department of Interior working in partnership with a tribe to advance tribal self-determination and economic self-sufficiency,” McCaleb said. “The Southern Ute Tribe has a 20-year record of success in the field of energy extraction and it is now quickly moving to share its expertise in the international marketplace.”

In accordance with its corporate charter, the tribe sought McCaleb’s approval for the economic terms of the partnership – a tribal purchase of 4 million shares of Trident for $15 million (CAN). The charter requires DOI approval for such a purchase. The tribe’s agreement with Trident obligates it to acquire 2 million Class “A” Common Shares and 2 million Class “A” Preference Shares in Trident Exploration Corporation, a Nova Scotia Unlimited Liability Company.

McCaleb, the Assistant Secretary - Indian Affairs, has the responsibility for fulfilling the Department of the Interior’s trust responsibility, and promoting self-determination and economic development on behalf of tribal governments, American Indians, and Alaska Natives. The Assistant Secretary, who oversees the Bureau of Indian Affairs, is also responsible for providing services to approximately 1.4 million American Indians and Alaska Natives who are members of the 559 federally recognized tribes.

WASHINGTON – Interior Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Neal A. McCaleb today announced that he has confirmed Aurene Martin as his Deputy Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs. She had been acting deputy assistant secretary since May 28, 2002. Ms. Martin, a member of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, came to the Interior Department in October 2001 as Counselor to Assistant Secretary McCaleb.

Before joining the Interior Department, Ms. Martin had served as Republican senior counsel to the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs since January 1999, where she covered Indian health care, gaming and self-determination issues and appropriations. From October 1998 to January 1999 she was Director of Congressional and Public Affairs for the National Indian Gaming Commission (NIGC).

From June 1993 through October 1998, she worked for the Oneida Tribe of Indians of Wisconsin and left as Senior Staff Attorney. While there she worked on all aspects of tribal representation including Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) litigation, gaming, and self-determination and tribal government issues.

Ms. Martin was born in Shawano, Wisconsin, and raised on the Menominee Indian Reservation. She attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison where she majored in History, Italian and History of Culture. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1989. Ms. Martin also received her Juris Doctorate degree from the University of Wisconsin in 1993. She is a member of the Wisconsin State Bar and has been active in its Indian law section, including serving as an officer of the section.

The Assistant Secretary - Indian Affairs has responsibility for fulfilling the Department’s trust responsibilities and promoting self-determination on behalf of tribal governments, American Indians and Alaska Natives. The Assistant Secretary, who oversees the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Federal Acknowledgment Process, is also responsible for providing services to approximately 1.4 million American Indians and Alaska Natives from the 559 federally recognized tribes.

Note to Editors: A photo of Aurene Martin may be viewed via the Interior Department’s web site at www.doi.gov.

WASHINGTON -- Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton and Acting Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Aurene Martin, a member of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, say that a conference starting today at the University of Montana in Missoula will bring a "welcome" and needed forum for Native American perspectives on the Bicentennial of the Lewis and Clark Expedition.

Between 800 and 1,000 participants are expected today for "A Confluence of Cultures: Native Americans and the Expedition of Lewis and Clark," organized by the University of Montana and the Montana Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Commission, scheduled to run from May 28 to 30. Interior Department bureaus including the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and the National Park Service are co-sponsoring the event. Faculty members and students from 33 tribal colleges and 44 other institutions of higher learning have been invited. About 240 Indian performers, presenters, and speakers are expected.

"The knowledge and good will of the tribes not only guided the Lewis and Clark Expedition, but saved its members from starvation and death from exposure," says Interior Secretary Norton. "The Bicentennial needs to give special recognition to the voices of Americans who already knew the land as their home."

"We welcome the efforts of conference sponsors to provide an exceptional forum for Native American perspectives on the Bicentennial," adds Assistant Secretary Aurene Martin, who oversees the Bureau of Indian Affairs, which provides assistance to tribes and tribal colleges.

Norton notes that the Corps of Discovery II, an interagency museum-on-wheels traveling the nation, features a "Tent of Many Voices" in which the tribes and others are invited to give their viewpoints. The Corps of Discovery II is led by Gerard Baker, Superintendent of the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail and a Mandan-Hidatsa Indian.

The Department of the Interior published a special interagency issue of its magazine, People Land and Water, called "The Lewis and Clark Bicentennial: Many Voices - One Journey Join Us." The May 2003 magazine features articles by a number of Native American "voices" and will be distributed at the conference.

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WASHINGTON - Interior Assistant Secretary - Indian Affairs Neal A. McCaleb today announced that he has signed a reconsidered final determination which declines to acknowledge the Chinook Indian Tribe / Chinook Nation (formerly the Chinook Indian Tribe, Inc.) of Chinook, Washington, as an Indian tribe for federal purposes. This decision concludes that the Chinook petitioner did not demonstrate that it meets all seven mandatory criteria to be acknowledged as a tribe with a government-to-government relationship with the United States.

Assistant Secretary McCaleb says he has a deep appreciation of the legacy of the Chinook Indian Tribe in American history but says that complete evaluation of important evidence presented by the tribe does not fully support federal recognition. The earlier final determination was based upon an inappropriate interpretation of important evidence and, once removed from consideration, the supporting evidence remaining was not sufficient to warrant federal recognition. The reconsidered determination announced today is final and effective upon publication of a notice of the determination in the Federal Register.

This final determination is a reconsideration that reverses an earlier final determination to acknowledge the Chinook petitioner. The reconsidered final determination found that the January 2001 determination departed from acknowledgment precedent and acknowledged the Chinook petitioner based on an improper interpretation of a 1925 claims act, a 1912 claims act, and a 1911 allotment act. Today's decision also concludes that the original final determination incorrectly relied on claims organizations as sufficient evidence for satisfying the criteria, and improperly relied on a small number of the petitioner=s members or ancestors living in Bay Center, Washington, to find that the petitioner had met a requirement that a predominant portion of the petitioning group comprises a distinct community. With the rejected arguments removed from the original final determination, the Assistant Secretary concluded that the remaining evidence was not sufficient to meet the acknowledgment criteria.

The Chinook petitioner did not satisfactorily demonstrate that it meets all seven mandatory criteria. The purpose of the regulations is to provide a means to acknowledge Indian tribes that have continuous historical existence. The petitioner failed to meet criteria (a), (b), and (c) of the acknowledgment regulations - failing to demonstrate that it has maintained political influence over its members from historical times to the present [criterion (c)], that a predominant portion of its members comprise a distinct social community at present, or since 1950 [criterion (b)], or that it has been identified historically as an Indian entity by outside observers on a substantially continuous basis [criterion (a)].

A proposed finding against acknowledgment of the Chinook petitioner was issued in August 1997. After a public comment period, a final determination to acknowledge the Chinook petitioner was issued in January 2001. The Quinault Indian Nation requested reconsideration of the final determination before the Interior Board of Indian Appeals (IBIA). The IBIA referred to the Secretary of the Interior nine issues that it found to be outside of its jurisdiction. Secretary Norton then referred eight of those issues to Assistant Secretary McCaleb and asked him to issue a reconsidered final determination on the basis of his resolution of those issues.

The Chinook petitioner's members descend from the historical Lower Band of Chinook that lived at the mouth of the Columbia, and from several other historical Chinook bands. The regulations, however, require more than descent from a historical tribe to acknowledge the continuous tribal existence of a petitioner. Various historical Chinook bands lived along the lower Columbia River and Shoalwater Bay prior to the arrival of European and American traders and settlers. Lewis and Clark made a winter camp in 1805-1806 among the Clatsop near the mouth of the Columbia and met with several Chinook leaders and commented on Chinook villages. The United States negotiated treaties with separate Chinook bands in 1851, but the Senate did not ratify them. Chinook representatives refused to sign a treaty negotiated in 1855. The population of the Chinook bands was severely reduced by a series of epidemics in the 1780's, the 1830's, and the late 1850's. By 1900, some Chinook descendants were listed on the censuses of the several area reservations, but many other descendants were living among the general population. From the mid-1850's until 1951, when Chinook descendants organized to pursue historical claims, there is insufficient evidence to show that any Chinook entity or informal process of leadership existed among the ancestors of the petitioner.

Many Chinook descendants today are members of the Shoalwater Bay Tribe, Quinault Indian Nation, Confederated Tribes of the Grande Ronde Community, Confederated Tribes of the Chehalis Reservation, and other reservation tribes. The Chinook petitioner, however, consists predominantly of non-reservation Chinook descendants.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Special Trustee for American Indians Ross O. Swimmer and Acting Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Aurene M. Martin today announced that the Department of the Interior (DOI) will hold presentations beginning next week on the reorganization of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and the Office of the Special Trustee for American Indians (OST) for the agencies’ regional employees. The Department is seeking to increase accountability and efficiency in its trust management functions by reorganizing the agencies that manage Indian trust funds and assets. Presentations will take place in June at the Bureau’s 12 regional offices and other locations around the nation starting with the Southwest Region on Tuesday, June 3, 2003, at the DoubleTree Hotel in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

The employees will be briefed on the Department’s plan for reorganization of the BIA and OST, and on the Comprehensive Trust Management Plan (CTMP) at an 8:30 a.m. session on Tuesday. The CTMP describes how the new BIA and OST organizational structures will improve the delivery of trust services when the reorganization is completed. Tribal leaders from the region will also be briefed on the reorganization effort in a subsequent session.

In 2002, the Department and the Tribes together undertook an ambitious effort to change the way the BIA and OST deliver trust and non-trust services to Tribes, tribal service populations and trust beneficiaries. The Plan is based on agreements reached with the Joint Tribal Leaders/DOI Task Force established by Secretary Gale Norton to examine and recommend proposals for improving service delivery to recipients and beneficiaries.

CREDENTIALS: Media registration will be provided. Please bring your sanctioned media credentials and, if possible, wear on your shirt collar or around your neck for easy viewing. This will assist our staff. Press seating will be provided.

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