OPA

PHOENIX – In an address yesterday before a large crowd of tribal government and business leaders attending the National Summit on Emerging Tribal Economies, Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Neal A. McCaleb drew upon his 30 years of experience as an entrepreneur to point out the importance of partnerships between tribes and federal agencies and corporations.

“Partnerships are a powerful tool” for tribal businesses to use, McCaleb said, citing the role they play in the business world as a mechanism for creating profits and expanding market share.

The Assistant Secretary explained what he considered to be the essential elements of a good business partnership: 1) a shared goal that is well-defined and of mutual importance to each partner, 2) complementary capabilities whereby each partner brings different skills and resources to the partnership, 3) clear and timely communication between the partners and 4) trust and confidence partners have in each other and in the partnership. He also stressed how important honesty, competence, commitment to goals and balancing risk and reward are to successful partnerships.

“Tribal leaders make decisions every day about weighing the risks of partnerships against the rewards of bringing economic and employment benefits to their communities,” McCaleb said. “To me, that is the exercise of sovereignty.”

McCaleb said tribal leaders should explain clearly to their council members, citizens and other stakeholders the benefits of the tribe’s partnerships. He also recommended that when considering using the partnership approach, tribal leaders should look at establishing a clear separation of powers between the tribal government and the tribal business, ensuring continuity of business plans during periods of change within the tribal government, establishing an orderly transition of power from administration to administration that does not adversely impact tribal businesses, having a fair and timely method for resolving differences within the partnership and developing clear mechanisms for dissolving a partnership when it is no longer needed.

The Assistant Secretary - Indian Affairs has responsibility for fulfilling the Department’s trust responsibility to American Indian and Alaska Native tribes and individuals, as well as promoting tribal self-determination and economic development. The Assistant Secretary oversees the Bureau of Indian Affairs, which is responsible for providing services to approximately 1.4 million American Indians and Alaska Natives and the nation’s 562 Federally recognized tribes.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Department of the Interior (DOI) is continuing its schedule of presentations to employees of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and the Office of the Special Trustee for American Indians (OST) on the reorganization of both agencies. This week, employees of the Pacific and Eastern Regions will be briefed on June 18, 2003, in Sacramento, Calif., and Nashville, Tenn. Briefings for Colorado-area employees will take place on June 19 in Lakewood, Colo. 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 are being held this month at the Bureau’s 12 regional offices and other locations around the nation.

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 morning sessions on Wednesday and in an afternoon session on Thursday. 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 each region will also be briefed on the reorganization effort in subsequent sessions.

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: Press 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.

-DOI-

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Neal A. McCaleb today announced the awarding of a $460,518 grant to the Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation in North Dakota, to support the Tribes’ efforts to enter the oil refining business by building a Clean Fuels Petroleum Refinery (CFPR) on its reservation. “With the right help, tribes can find innovative ways of developing and using their natural resources to build a strong economic base and provide jobs for their people,” McCaleb said. “The Three Affiliated Tribes want to become a player in the oil refining industry. I’m pleased that we can help them to achieve their dream.”

The Three Affiliated Tribes (TAT) is working on developing an $80 million Clean Fuels Petroleum Refinery that will have a capacity of 10,000 barrels per stream day (BPSD). The facility will be built using state-of-the-art technology and design concepts to ensure it will have a low impact on the earth and can coexist with an agricultural area such as that found on the Fort Berthold Reservation. Once the refinery is completed, the Tribes’ will be able to produce propone, gasoline, jet fuel and diesel products.

The TAT was awarded $1.385 million from the Commerce Department’s Economic Development Administration (EDA) to conduct a front-end engineering and design (FEED) study to address issues and concerns regarding the refinery. The grant announced today will assist the Tribes in obtaining permits, conducting market analysis and addressing legal, taxation and financing needs in preparation for construction.

The Assistant Secretary - Indian Affairs has responsibility for fulfilling the Department’s trust responsibility to American Indian and Alaska Native tribes and individuals, as well as promoting tribal self-determination and economic development. The Assistant Secretary oversees the Bureau of Indian Affairs, which is responsible for providing services to approximately 1.4 million American Indians and Alaska Natives and the nation’s 562 federally recognized tribes.

WASHINGTON – Interior Assistant Secretary - Indian Affairs Neal A. McCaleb today announced his strategic plan for bringing transparency, responsiveness and resources to the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ (BIA) Federal acknowledgment process under 25 CFR Part 83. The Department sent the plan to the House Committee on Government Reform, the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs, both House and Senate Appropriations Committees, the Office of Management and Budget, and the Comptroller General of the United States in response to a report issued by the General Accounting Office (GAO) in November 2001 entitled “Improvements Needed in Tribal Recognition Process.”

In agreeing with the GAO’s recommendations to make the Department’s regulatory process more predictable and timely, McCaleb said “We developed a strategic plan to make acknowledgment precedents more accessible and to provide clearer guidelines to the regulations in order to ensure consistency and to improve public understanding of acknowledgment decisions.”

The plan proposes to bring greater transparency to the Federal acknowledgement process by making information more accessible to petitioners, interested parties and the public utilizing various methods. This includes using CD-ROMs and the Internet so that decisions, guidelines and precedents manuals are readily accessed.

As part of the plan to make the process more timely, the BIA developed a needs assessment of the Branch of Acknowledgment and Research’s (BAR) workload and resources, and identified certain refinements to the process. The plan’s recommendations include increasing the number of BAR’s professional, administrative and support staff, using contractors to perform data entry as well as assisting in responding to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests and preparing litigation records, and providing additional records management and office equipment.

The BIA also is recommending the review of possible procedural changes to the process to improve response times for petitioners and document requestors such as amending deadlines and time lines, standardizing and streamlining document handling, reviewing evaluation criteria and examining other areas of the process where changes can be made.

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 oversees the BIA and the Federal acknowledgment process and is also responsible for providing services to approximately 1.4 million American Indians and Alaska Natives from the 562 federally recognized tribes.

The strategic plan may be viewed via the Department’s website at www.doi.gov.

Washington, D.C. – The Acting Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs regrets to announce that White Mountain Apache firefighter and Bureau of Indian Affairs’ employee Rick Lupe passed away on Thursday, June 19, 2003, having succumbed to injuries received on May 14, 2003, during the Sawtooth Prescribed Burn on the Fort Apache Indian Reservation. Mr. Lupe was 43 years old.

“Rick Lupe was the type of person that loved his job and felt a real sense of honor to be doing what he was doing, the BIA will miss his skills and leadership,” said Aurene Martin, Acting Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs. “Our deepest sympathies go out to his family and to the community for the lose of such an outstanding person.”

Mr. Lupe served as a fire fuels management specialist at the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ Fort Apache Agency. His firefighting career spanned 25 years starting out as a basic wild land firefighter, he later became a superintendent of the elite Fort Apache Hotshot crew, then moved to a division supervisor on a Southwest Type I Incident Management Team. In 2002, he was credited for his leadership, ingenuity and determination in stopping the spread of the massive Rodeo-Chediski Fire that saved the towns of Show Low, and Pinetop-Lakeside, and other nearby communities from burning.

Memorial Services for Mr. Lupe will be held Wednesday, June 25th, at the Alchesay High School Activity Center, Whiteriver, Az, beginning at 1:00 p.m.; followed by burial service at the Canyon Day cemetery. Mr. Lupe is survived by his wife Evelyn and three sons, Sean, Daniel, and Brent, a fund has been established to assist the family with their lose.

-DOI-

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Department of the Interior's Office of Historical Trust Accounting (OHTA) has mailed detailed accounting statements to 560 Individual Indian Money (IIM) account holders in Arizona. OHTA Executive Director Bert Edwards says the mailing is the first phase of an effort to notify thousands of IIM account holders across Indian country that their trust fund balances have been investigated, audited and reconciled.

"This is just the first step in our effort to provide an accounting to as many IIM account holders as quickly and efficiently as possible," Edwards said today. "Thousands of these accounts were established for enrolled members of the White Mountain Apache Tribe on the same day in November of 1997; the accounts have earned identical amounts of interest each month. Starting and closing balances are identical and compare, to the penny, to DOI's detailed records."

"There are tens of thousands of other accounts just like these that share one thing: a simple, monthly history of transactions," Edwards said. "These accounts can be reconciled and that effort is now well underway. The diligent work of OHTA's certified public accountants is carefully reviewed by an outside accounting firm and the review of that firm is again reviewed by legal professionals with a specialization in trust matters."

The parents and/or guardians of 560 members of the White Mountain Apache Tribe have been mailed detailed statements that include starting balances, monthly interest and ending balances of accounts that were established through a judgment awarded to tribal members in April of 1997. The letters also include a monthly comparison of the interest paid to each account holder and how it stacks up against interest earned by 10-year Treasury notes and the Federal Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) G Fund during the same period. With few exceptions, interest earned by IIM account holders was better than the two other investment vehicles.

As a result of the judgment in the case White Mountain Apache Tribe of Arizona v. United States [Court of Federal Claims docket No. 22-H], each enrolled member of the tribe received an equal distribution of the award. The share credited to minors is held in trust by the Federal government until the individual reaches the age of majority. An equal share of the judgment is currently held in trust for about 3,000 tribal members. These accounts also include a small number held in trust on behalf of incapacitated or incarcerated adults.

Edwards said a toll-free telephone number has been provided for any recipients of the letter who may have questions about the work involving their IIM account. He said the response rate generated by the first group of 560 letters will determine future staffing needs at the telephone call center handling calls from account holders. Once those staffing adjustments are made, the remainder of the statements will be issued to White Mountain Apache tribal members and thousands of other IIM account holders whose accounts have been reconciled.

As of December 31, 2000, there were 235,984 IIM account holders with a combined balance of $348 million held in trust (excluding $67.9 million held in 21,415 special deposit accounts). During fiscal year 2000, approximately $226 million was collected and paid out through the accounts.

OHTA is systematically working through IIM accounts, beginning with the reconciliation of Judgment and Per-Capita Accounts. These are groups of IIM accounts created by the distribution of monies from tribes to their enrolled members. These 42,218 accounts have a balance of $150.3 million, representing 36% of the total balance and more than 12% of the total number of IIM accounts.

OHTA has substantially completed historical accounting of 14,235 of these accounts. Work will begin in FY 2003 on another 12,700 accounts with balances of $69 million. OHTA has also begun reconciling the more complex 193,766 land-based accounts. These are, by far, the largest group to be reconciled by OHTA. With a combined balance of $198 million, these represent over half of the combined balance of IIM accounts and approximately 75% of the total number of IIM accounts.

WASHINGTON – Building on the momentum created by the National Summit on Emerging Tribal Economies, Interior Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Neal A. McCaleb today announced that he plans to use the event as a springboard for developing a national strategy on reducing unemployment and enhancing economic development in Indian Country.

“As we expected, the National Summit on Emerging Tribal Economies produced a host of good ideas, generated a great deal of excitement about Indian economic development and created a vast number of new relationships among Indian businesses, Corporate America and federal agencies” said McCaleb. “Our challenge now is to use these ideas to develop a strategic plan for achieving the goals of creating 100,000 new jobs in Indian Country by 2008 and establishing sustainable, market-driven tribal economies by 2020.”

It was all business for the estimated 1,600 participants who gathered at the Summit in Phoenix, Ariz., on September 16-19, 2002, to hear from and interact with representatives from government and business offering insights and resources for improving economic conditions in tribal communities across the nation. Representatives from tribal governments, federal agencies, tribal and individual Indian businesses and corporations came from 45 states to begin a dialogue on how to create jobs and stimulate economic development in Indian Country.

Assistant Secretary McCaleb will work with the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ (BIA) Tribal Leaders Budget Task Force Subcommittee on Economic Development to begin developing a national strategy to achieve the Summit’s employment and economic goals. McCaleb chairs the subcommittee with Governor Bill Anoatubby of the Chickasaw Nation of Oklahoma and Tex Hall, Chairman of the Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation in North Dakota. Efforts also will be made to work with tribal economic development organizations to inform and educate corporations about doing business in Indian Country.

“We heard a number of tribal and private sector firms at the Summit talk about their experiences and successful partnerships with federal agencies,” said McCaleb. “Secretary Norton and I are committed to assisting tribes with achieving their economic and employment goals by using the federal resources they can access now, which are numerous.”

In December 2001, the General Accounting Office (GAO) released a report entitled Federal Assistance Programs for American Indians and Alaska Natives that identified 100 federal programs available to tribes, or their members, for economic development activities.

McCaleb also cited President Bush’s new initiative to reduce forest fires by thinning overgrowth and re-seeding burned areas as an opportunity for tribal businesses. “For years, many Indian firefighters have risked their lives to protect homes, families and communities across the country from the devastating effects of forest fires,” said McCaleb. “Tribes that provide forest thinning and re-seeding services could save lives and property, and provide new employment opportunities for their members, as well.”

The 2002 National Summit on Emerging Tribal Economies provided a venue for over 100 successful Indian businesses to promote themselves to new audiences, network with prospective business partners and learn about resources that can support their business plans.

The Assistant Secretary - Indian Affairs has responsibility for fulfilling the Department’s trust responsibility to American Indian and Alaska Native tribes and individuals, as well as promoting tribal self-determination and economic development. The Assistant Secretary oversees the Bureau of Indian Affairs, which is responsible for providing services to approximately 1.4 million American Indians and Alaska Natives and the nation’s 562 Federally recognized tribes.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Department of the Interior (DOI) is continuing its schedule of presentations to employees of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and the Office of the Special Trustee for American Indians (OST) on the reorganization of both agencies. This week, employees of the Great Plains Regional Office in Aberdeen, S.D., will be visited on June 24 and Eastern Oklahoma Regional Office employees will be briefed on June 25 in Muskogee, Okla. 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 have been held this month at the Bureau’s 12 regional offices and other locations around the nation.

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 morning sessions on Tuesday and Wednesday. 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 each region will also be briefed on the reorganization effort in subsequent sessions.

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: Press 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.

-DOI-

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Neal A. McCaleb today announced the awarding of a $250,000 grant to the Metlakatla Indian Community (MIC) of the Annette Island Reserve in southeast Alaska to support the tribe’s efforts to explore mineral development on its lands. The grant will fund an environmental review of the tribe’s Bald Ridge Aggregate Project, a proposed quarry that would help alleviate high unemployment among tribal members and provide a source of high quality crushed rock for infrastructure projects in the Pacific Northwest.

“Through the Bald Ridge Aggregate Project, the Metlakatla Indian Community is working to improve its employment and economic conditions in a way that is sensitive to their culture and environment,” McCaleb said.

With approximately 2,000 members, the Metlakatla Indian Community is the only federally recognized Tsimshian tribal community with the only federal Indian reservation in Alaska. It is located about six miles south of Ketchikan in the southernmost part of the state. For decades the tribe’s primary industries have been fishing, logging and tourism. However, downturns in the fishing and logging areas in the past few years have led to a high unemployment rate of over 80 percent from a low of 5 percent.

“The National Summit on Emerging Tribal Economies made clear that we in the federal government must help, rather than hinder, tribes as they look for new ways to create jobs and sustainable economies,” said McCaleb. “The Metlakatla Indian Community, which has the potential to become one of the Nation’s major suppliers of high quality crushed rock, is trying to do just that. For our part, we must do what we can to see that they succeed.”

The Bald Ridge Aggregate Project site, which is located on the southern portion of the Reserve, is calculated to contain over 240 million tons of high quality crushed rock to be used for permanent bases, rock for concrete and riprap for bank stabilization. In addition, the site’s proximity to a deep-water bay makes it ideal for transporting the crushed rock by barge or ship. If successfully developed, the proposed quarry could provide long-term employment for a number of tribal members and bring much-needed revenue to the tribe.

The Assistant Secretary - Indian Affairs has responsibility for fulfilling the Department’s trust responsibility to American Indian and Alaska Native tribes and individuals, as well as promoting tribal self-determination and economic development. The Assistant Secretary oversees the Bureau of Indian Affairs, which is responsible for providing services to approximately 1.4 million American Indians and Alaska Natives and the nation’s 562 Federally recognized tribes.

WASHINGTON - Interior Assistant Secretary - Indian Affairs Neal A. McCaleb today affirmed his support for efforts by Alaska Natives to preserve their traditional bowhead whaling activity. McCaleb met today with members of the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission's (AEWC) on the eve of the delegation's journey to Cambridge, England, where they will defend the whaling rights of their people before the International Whaling Commission (IWC).

McCaleb worked to secure a federal grant of $107,000 to help the AEWC travel to the IWC meeting and prepare biological research in support of their case. Prior action by the international organization stripped Alaska Natives of their traditional subsistence bowhead whaling quota but the upcoming meeting in Cambridge will give AEWC delegates an opportunity to reverse the decision.

"There has been a seriously misguided, international drumbeat in recent years to strip Alaska Native families of their subsistence whaling rights and I am truly pleased that the AEWC now has the resources it needs to fight back," McCaleb said today. "There really isn't a moment to lose. The prior failure of the IWC to renew the Alaska Native bowhead quota must be reversed to protect subsistence whaling in the spring of 2003."

McCaleb met today with AEWC executive director Maggie Ahmaogak, commission vice chairman Edward Itta, Barrow Whaling Captains Association president C. Eugene Brower and North Slope Borough mayor George Ahmaogak, Sr.. McCaleb says he expects the delegation to make its case when the world whaling conference convenes on October 14th.

"At least Alaska Natives have a seat at the table and will have the scientific documentation they need to make their case for maintaining the bowhead whaling quota," McCaleb said. "I believe they have a good chance of success at Cambridge."

McCaleb unveiled the $107,000 federal grant to the AEWC during a personal tour of Barrow, Alaska in August. He said the grant clearly demonstrates the intention of the U.S. Department of Interior and the Bureau of Indian Affairs to stand with Alaska Natives in support of subsistence whaling.