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The tribal plan for the use and distribution of judgment funds awarded to the Seneca Nation of Indians by the Indian Claims Commission has been published Ii in the Federal Register, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson announced today.

A total of almost $5.5 million was awarded jointly to the Seneca Nation and the Tonawanda Band of Senecas to provide, fair compensation for land sold in the period between 1797 and 1842. Each tribe will receive a proportionate share based on tribal membership. Both are New York tribes.

Before use or distribution of the judgment funds could be made, it was necessary to obtain Congressional approval of a plan for the use or distribution of the funds as required by the Act of October 19, 1973, 87 Stat. 466.

The Seneca plan which became effective on September 26, 1974 calls for a per capita distribution of 80 percent of the funds to tribal members. The remaining 20 percent is to be used for the development of an Old Age Benefit Trust Fund which would begin payments to female tribal members at age 62 and to males at age 65.

The per capita distribution which sometimes involves lengthy determinations of the eligibility of persons seeking to qualify for receipt of per capita payments, will be made as soon as possible.

Assistant Secretary Forrest J. Gerard today announced that Deputy Assistant Secretary George V. Goodwin, Jr., will return to his native Minnesota to work with his Tribe.

"Mr. Goodwin has outstanding experience and leadership qualities" stated Gerard, "and he has been a vigorous advocate for the Indian interest. The focus of his work in our administration has been the improvement of the management systems and structure of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, in order that: the agency might be fully responsive to the unique and pressing needs of the Indian tribes."

Deputy Goodwin's resignation is effective November 17, 1978, and he leaves the Department of the Interior after three years’ service in the field and in Washington, D.C. · "I know that this decision was a most difficult one, "Gerard said, "but his return home will not erase his valuable contribution to the Indian field and will greatly benefit his home area."

Goodwin, a member of the White Earth Chippewa Tribe, has accepted the position of Executive Director of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe in Cass Lake, Minnesota, a post he occupied prior to joining the Department in 1975.

"Now that we have completed the BIA reorganization study and design work, the implementation stage will soon begin in earnest," Goodwin said. "This brief period between stages affords me the opportunity to return to Minnesota and allows for new energies to be brought to the reorganization effort. The needs of Indian country are so many and varied that it is always tough deciding where individual Indians might best be of service. With my experience in Washington, I feel that my place is at the local level at this time."

Deputy Assistant Secretary since mid-1977, Goodwin previously was BIA Area Director at Minneapolis. Following his earlier work with the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, he was Director of the Indian Community Action Program at Bemidji State College, from which he graduated with a B.A. degree in 1964.

Martin E, Seneca, Jr., has been named Acting Deputy Commissioner of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Interior Assistant Secretary Forrest Gerrard announced today.

Seneca, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Martin Seneca Sr., Brant-Reservation Road, Cattaraugus Indian Reservation, will act as the functional and operational head of the Bureau of Indian Affairs and will be responsible for the day-to-day operations of the agency until the post of the Commissioner is filled on a permanent basis.

A member of the Seneca Indian Nation of New York, Seneca has been serving as the Director of the Office of Trust Responsibilities for the BIA since January, and prior to that time served as Assistant General Counsel for the U.S. Department of Energy. He is a graduate of the Harvard School of Law and earned Bachelor's and Master's degrees from Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah. Seneca, 36, is a former White House Fellow and was on the faculty of the University Of Utah School Of Law before entering government service.

Gerard said announcing the appointment, "Mr. Seneca brings to this job the valuable managerial and professional skills needed to guide the Bureau through this crucial time."

Donald A. McCabe, former president of the Navajo Community College, has been appointed President of the Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute at Albuquerque, New Mexico, Interior Assistant Secretary Forrest Gerard announced today.

McCabe, a member of the Navajo Tribe, has extensive experience in the administration of education programs. He has been Assistant Director of the School of Education and Program Director at the University of New Mexico. He was the Program Director for the Parent Committee in the San Jose, California, Unified School District. He was also the Coordinator of Research and Development for the Navajo Tribe's Division of Education. A World War II army veteran, McCabe earned a Bachelor of Arts and Master of Business Administration degrees from the University of New Mexico. He earned a Master of Arts from Stanford University and is a doctoral candidate at Stanford.

Since June of this year McCabe has been the staff Executive Director for the Yakima Tribe in the State of Washington. Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute (SIPI) is a unique Bureau of India Affairs School. Built in 1971 on a 164-acre campus north of Albuquerque, it provides technical training to Indian students desiring to learn employable skills. About 70 different tribes are represented in the student body of approximately 500.

Programs offered at the post-secondary school include electronics optical technology, offset lithography telecommunications, drafting commercial food preparation and business education.

Jack R. Ridley, a Washoe-Shoshone Indian, has been appointed Director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs' Office of Tribal Resources Development in Washington, D.C., Interior Assistant Secretary Forrest Gerard announced today

Ridley has served as Director of the Center for Native American Development at the University of Idaho, Moscow, Idaho since 1977.

In his new position, one of five directorates in the Bureau's Central Office structure, Ridley will be the top staff official responsible for assisting tribes in Indian business enterprise develop­ment, credit and finance, job placement and training, and transportation programs. He will also supervise the operation of the Indian Technical Assistance Center in Lakewood, Colorado.

A native of Stewart, Nevada, Ridley came to the University of Idaho in 1966 as an assistant professor after earning his doctorate at the University of California at Davis, California. He graduated with a B.S. degree from the University of Nevada in 1961 and received a Master's from the same school in 1963.

Interior Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Forrest Gerard said today that his office has initiated plans to implement changes in Indian education programs mandated by Title XI of the Education Amendments Act of 1978, (P.L. 95-561), signed by President Carter November 1. Title XI, of the Act stresses self ... determination and control of Indian education programs by the Indian community. Its three parts deal with federally assisted programs in public schools, Bureau of Indian Affairs education programs, and programs administered by the Department of Health, Education and Welfare.

Gerard said that the "Act will assist us in making major improvements in managing the Bureau's educational program. Because of its importance, we will implement this legislation as expeditiously as possible." He has directed Deputy Assistant Secretary Rick C. Lavis to manage the policy and planning actions necessary for implementation of the Act. On October 23, Lavis wrote Indian tribal leaders, in anticipation of the President's signing of the legislation, to inform them of the contents of the law and to request nominations of persons to serve on implementing task forces.

In this letter to the Indian leaders Lavis said: "I will need your assistance in many ways. First of all, I ask that you distribute copies of the enclosed H.R. 15 Conference Report to your Council and Tribal members for review, and any other individuals you deem appropriate. The more informed we all are, the better prepared we will be for implementation. Secondly, I will be needing your recommendations of people to serve on the many Task Forces that will be required to address certain portions of the legislation. A wide representation of Bureau and Tribal people to serve on these Task Forces is essential to our success." Lavis said there would be 12 subject matter Task Forces established to deal with such things as school boards, education personnel, student rights, funding formulas, education policies, education/living standards and management information systems. He asked that nominees include education administrators and staff, students, tribal education committee members and school board members.

The Bureau is also asking for representatives from major national Indian organizations to serve on the task forces and to advise the Bureau on implementation. Lavis said the Act requires a number of management studies and other actions with specific time-frames for completion. He said the Bureau of Indian Affairs "will need to establish a carefully designed operations plan to meet those deadlines keeping in mind that the ultimate objective is to design a quality education system to meet the legislative mandates."

Lavis said that "Title XI, with its many requirements for improvement in the organization and management of the Bureau's educational program, will be most helpful in our current efforts to strengthen our educational endeavors. We consider Title XI to be a positive step forward, and we will enthusiastically carry out its requirements." Lavis added that he is also forming a task force to work on the, recently enacted Indian Community College Act (P .L. 95-471)· which will: be simultaneously implemented together with Title XI of P.L. 95-561.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs announced today that Raymond W. Mayotte has been appointed Superintendent of the Minnesota Agency at Bemidji. He succeeds Edwin Demery who is now the BIA area director for the states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan and Iowa.

Mayotte has been at the Minnesota Agency since 1970 as employment assistance officer, field representative and, since May of this year acting superintendent. A member of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians, Mayotte has worked in various BIA offices and agencies in the midwest since 1955. He had a previous tour of duty at the Minnesota Agency from 1962 to 1966. He is a native of Ashland, Wisconsin.

Members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians of North Carolina will soon be receiving per capita payments as their share of more than $1.8 million awarded to the Band by the Indian Claims Commission in 1972. Tribal officials are concerned, however, that the present address of a significant number of Tribal members is not known and that some individuals eligible for enrollment have not made application to be included in the membership.

Enrollment in the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians is based primarily on the Act of June 4, 1924, (43 Stat. 376). Since the roll based on this act was prepared, many of the individuals have left the immediate Ii area and have had no further contact with the Tribe. In order for these persons to share in the payment, they will need to advise the Cherokee Tribal Enrollment Office of their whereabouts.

Similarly, some persons eligible for enrollment as a result of being a descendent of individuals on the 1924 roll, and otherwise qualified, have never applied for enrollment. These individuals now have until January 8, 1975 to apply for membership if they are to share in the per capita distribution. Many of the persons in both of the above groups are believed to be residing in Western North Carolina, Eastern Tennessee, or Northern Georgia.

Regulations governing the updating of the membership roll have been published in the Federal Register under the authority granted to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Morris Thompson.

Any individual may obtain an enrollment application form from the Tribal Enrollment Office of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, Council House, Cherokee, North Carolina 27819.

Interior Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Forrest Gerrard, said today that the Department has initiated action to establish order in the administration and government of the Hoopa Valley Indian Reservation in Northern California. Gerard said that long-standing disagreements about the unity of the reservation and the persons entitled to the use and benefit of the reservation had created an "unfortunate situation which is detrimental to both the Hoopa and Yurok Indians and has severely impeded the proper management of government of the reservation."

In 1963, these disagreements led certain Yurok individuals to file suit in the U.S. Court of Claims in Jessie Short, et al v. United States. I 1973 that court held in an interlocutory decree that the so-called "square" and the "Extension" constituted a single reservation in which all "Indians of the Reservation" were to be treated equally. The claims of more than 3500 of approximately 3800 individual plaintiffs in that litigation remain to be determined. The Department's action is addressed to the present an future use of the reservation.

Gerard said that his staff had carefully reviewed the entire history of the reservation, including the past practices and policies of the Department, to provide a base for a course of action acceptable to him and to Interior Secretary Cecil Andrus, which "will result in a just resolution of the long-standing conflict and the fair and proper use of the resources of the reservation." In a November 20 message to the Hoopa and Yurok Indians of the reservation, Gerard said that the Secretary has the obligation to remove all doubt about who is entitles to use and benefit from the reservation and, consequently, he was designating the Hoopa Valley Tribe and the Yurok Tribe as such beneficiaries.

He said that the membership of the Hoopa Tribe is known, but membership standards and criteria for the Yurok Tribe would be established and a roll developed. The standards would be similar to those used during the construction of the Hoopa roll.

Other parts of the action plan outlined by Gerard were:

• Until the organization of the Yuroks is completed and the two tribes agree on a reservation-wide management and coordination body, the Department of the Interior, through the Assistant Secretary's office, would assume complete management of the reservation assets on behalf of both tribes. During this interim management there would be a moratorium on all per capita payments beginning February 1, 1979.
• Work would begin immediately on creating a Yurok voters list and the election of an interim Yurok committee which would be given authority and responsibility to draft a proposed Yurok tribal constitution and to carry out other tribal organizational activities.
• After the Yuroks are organized and the membership roll certified, the Secretary will make available for the use of the Yurok Tribe trust funds which have been set aside since 1974
• The Present 70%/30% split of the reservation trust income will continue until February 1, 1979, when a single reservation account will be established. When the reservation-wide body is formally established, it will determine, under the general trust authority of the Secretary, the use of funds flowing into this account until this reservation-wide body is established, only the amount necessary for tribe will be made available in amounts approved by the Secretary. No per capita payments will be made from this account until the reservation-wide body is established.

Gerard described these actions as "indispensable first steps toward the realization of self-determination on the Hoopa Valley Reservation."

Commissioner of Indian. Affairs Morris Thompson announced today the appointment of Jon C. Wade as Superintendent of the Phoenix Indian School. Wade a member of the Santee Sioux Tribe, will take office January 5.

“Jon will be an excellent Superintendent,” Commissioner Thompson said. “There are several fine candidates for the job, but he was the unanimous recommendation of the Area Inter-Tribal School Board.” Wade, 36, has been Education Program Administrator in the Bureau’s Aberdeen Area Office since 1968. That area includes the three states of North Dakota, South Dakota and Nebraska. In 1970 he was named one of the Outstanding Young Men of America by the National Junior Chamber of Commerce.

A graduation of Northern State College in South Dakota, Wade earned a Masters degree in Education Administration at the University of South Dakota. He has completed the course requirements for a Ph. D. in Education Administration at the University of Minnesota.

Wade, who is a native of Flandreau, South Dakota, was Vice Chairman of the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe from 1964-1966. He has had classroom teaching experience in both BIA and public schools. He was director of Indian Education for the State of South Dakota for three years and served on an intermittent basis as a member of the Subcommittee on Education for the National Council on Indian Opportunity.

He is married and has two daughters.