OPA

The Attorney General, Secretary of Commerce and Secretary of the Interior today announced they will serve for the Carter Administration as a task force to work on the Washington state salmon fishing controversy.

The controversy involves the development of salmon fishing in the context of Indian treaty rights and the economic problems of non-Indian fishermen. The task force will seek to develop discussions that will lead to long-range protection, management and enhancement of the salmon fishing industry.

The task force was set up after discussions among interested parties and at the urging of the Washington state Congressional delegation.

Attorney General Griffin B. Bell said: “It is our understanding from the Congressional delegation and Governor Ray that the climate is right to bring the parties together to discuss problems and achieve progress.” Federal regional officials and Indian tribal representatives concur in this assessment. Significant progress has been achieved already on the Columbia River, where a five-year management agreement has been approved.

Secretary of the Interior Cecil D. Andrus added: “This task force will work with all parties to improve the fisheries resource and this is in the long-term interest of both treaty and non-treaty fishermen.”

Secretary of Commerce Juanita M. Keeps commented: “The Department of Commerce is responsible for the development and conservation of the salmon resource under its fisheries management and economic development mandate.” She noted that Commerce funded a $3.5 million economic relief package for the fishing industry in 1975.

The task force will work on two levels. The primary responsibility for discussions will rest with a regional field team representing the task force, headed by the United States Attorney in Seattle. The Secretaries and the Attorney General also designated the following persons as their representatives in Washington, D.C.: Peter Taft, Assistant Attorney General of the Department of Justice; Leo Krulitz, Solicitor of the Interior Department; Robert L Herbst, Assistant Secretary of the Interior; and Anne Weller, Deputy Under Secretary of Commerce.

The task force will participate in the field discussions as necessary and coordinate federal reviews of fisheries enhancement and economic development programs developed during the field discussions.

The Secretaries and the Attorney General also announced a set of guiding principles for the task force:

1. The optimum use of the fisheries resource, including federal assistance for fisheries enhancement.
2. A healthy commercial and sports fishery that will provide an opportunity for all who depend on salmon fishing for their livelihood to earn a good living.
3. A utilization of the fishery consistent with recognized treaty fishing rights reserved under the Stevens Treaties of 1854 and 1855.
4. Development of management systems that will ensure that the salmon fishery is preserved and developed so as to satisfy points one through three.

In a meeting with task force representatives, the Washington state Congressional delegation agreed to withhold legislative action on this subject pending efforts of the task force.

The regional field team will begin discussions immediately. The task force is not intended to deal directly with 200-mile fisheries management issues.

Answers to 101 commonly asked questions about American Indians are provided in a newly published booklet prepared by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

In 60 attractively illustrated pages, the booklet deals with questions about the legal status of Indians, reservations, religious ceremonials, languages, tribal governments, the Bureau of Indian Affairs and a variety of other topics.

The booklet also contains information about sources for additional information about Indians, brief bibliographies for both adults and children and a listing of museums with Indian collections.

"As an introduction to the Indian world for students and the general public," Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson said, "the booklet is valuable. It provides concise accurate information."

The title of the booklet is The American Indians, with a subtitle, Answers to 101 Questions. It is for sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. 20402. The price is $1.25 and the stock number, which should be used in ordering, is 2402-00040.

Editors: A review copy of The American Indians is available upon request from the Office of Public Information, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Washington, D.C. 20245 .

Because of increasing reports of violence and the alleged breakdown of law and order on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, Morris Thompson, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, today said he was taking several steps to alleviate the situation there and to help the Oglala Sioux Tribe find solutions to the causes which are disrupting the quality of life on the reservation.

Thompson said he was detailing a Bureau of Indian Affairs Special Officer and an assistant, along with 10, members of the Special Operations Service, to Pine Ridge immediately.

He said these men, who are among the most qualified and experienced in the Bureau, will work closely with local BIA law enforcement personnel there. He also said he was asking the Justice Department to assign additional judicial and staff personnel to Pine Ridge. These people would work on eliminating the current backlog of cases pending in the Federal court system.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs also will make available additional funds to the tribal court system to allow the hiring of additional judges, clerks and bailiffs to speed the judicial process in the tribal courts, Thompson said.

The Commissioner was hopeful he would be able to add additional permanent, qualified law enforcement officers, to the force at Pine Ridge and other areas.

Last year the Bureau completed a comprehensive study of law enforcement and detention needs throughout the BIA, he said, and the recommendations in the study would go far in solving problems such as those which exist at Pine Ridge today.

Among the recommendations are the hiring of additional, well trained officers, upgrading and renovation of detention centers and jails on reservations, and a general upgrading to the tribal court systems.

Thompson emphasized, however, that while the temporary assignment of additional enforcement and judicial personnel to Pine Ridge will alleviate the situation on a short-term basis, permanent long range solutions must be found, not only in law enforcement, but also in the other matters which are affecting the quality of life on the reservation.

To accomplish this goal Secretary of Interior, Rogers C.B. Morton, on Thompson's recommendation, has appointed a six member commission from key offices within the Interior Department including the BIA. They will look at law enforcement and tribal functions, the development of policies, programs and services to meet the needs of the reservation communities and individuals and communications on or near the reservation.

And Thompson said while at Pine Ridge the commission will work closely with the tribal government, staff, Indian community leaders and individuals. The Commissioner will go to Pine Ridge Thursday to meet with the Commission and tribal leaders.

Thompson said his actions today should in no way be thought of as a "takeover" of the Pine Ridge reservation or its tribal government. Rather, he said, they should be viewed as a positive action by both the Bureau and the tribe to find the best possible solutions to the problems which exist there.

Proposed new regulations governing mining and mineral development contracts on Indian lands were published in the Federal Register April 5, Acting Commissioner of Indian Affairs Raymond v. Butler announced today.

Butler said that "new regulations, when completed and made effective, will have a major impact on the Indian community by furthering Indian self-determination, providing for new types of mineral development contracts and reflecting national and tribal environmental concerns. "

The proposed regulations are designed to enable Indian mineral owners, both tribal and individual, to exercise greater responsibility in the development and management of their minerals and other natural resources. They permit the Indian owners to attempt to maximize the economic return on mineral development and to minimize the adverse effects of such development on Indian culture and the environment.

Comments, suggestions and objections regarding the proposed regulations should be sent by June 6 to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Washington, D.C. 20245.

Public hearings on the proposed regulations will be scheduled and the dates, times and places announced in the Federal Register.

Prompted by a drought-related crisis in the water-short Pacific Northwest, Secretary of the Interior Cecil D. Andrus has urged the Federal Power Commission to intercede in a water use dispute which involves the spring run of salmon in the Columbia River.

In the spring, young salmon (called smolts) about 4 inches long begin a migration from freshwater where they hatch to the open sea where they mature. In the autumn, three years later mature salmon return from the ocean and swim upstream to spawn.

The Governors of the four States of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Montana, various fish interests including American Indians in those States, the Bureau of Reclamation, the Bonneville Power Administration, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have agreed upon an arrangement which would provide from Federal reservoirs an artificial spring freshet of 2.5 million acre-feet of water to ensure the continuation of this spring’s anadromous fish run to the open sea.

The success of this effort is dependent upon those releases of water and young fish passing the five non-Federal public utility dams in the mid-Columbia River area. To date, the public utility districts (PUD’s) have refused to agree to the controlled release of the 2.5 million acre-feet over their dams to save the salmon run.

“I would appreciate your consideration and issuance of a special order at your earliest opportunity requiring the PUD’s to make the necessary water releases,” Andrus wrote in a letter to FPC Chairman Richard Dunham.

The Secretary of the Interior explained that, “the denial of water to the run of salmon smolts would wreak serious and grave consequences on the salmon resource, particularly in 3 years when an adult class of salmon would be expected to return to the Columbia to spawn.

“If this year’s class of smolts salmon do not migrate down river there simply will be no significant return of adult salmon to spawn in 1980, a consequence that scientists do not take lightly, as the Pacific Northwest fishery resource is dependent upon the annual cycle of fresh-to-salt water and later sea-to-river migration for its continuation,” he said.

Joseph E. Kahklen, a member of the Tlingit Indian Tribe, has been appointed Assistant Area Director (Administration), in the Bureau of Indian Affairs' Juneau, Alaska, office. Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson announced the appointment would be effective March 16, 1975.

Kahklen's previous position was Area Personnel Officer, but he has been Acting Assistant Director since his predecessor, Clarence Antioquia, was named Area Director.

The Juneau office serves approximately 61,000 Indians, Eskimos and Aleuts in Alaska.

Kahklen, who is the son of a long-time BIA educator, lived as a boy in six communities in Alaska and several locations in the Southwest United States. His high school education was split between Sheldon Jackson in Sitka, Alaska, and Snohomish in Snohomish, Wash. He did his college work at the University of Washington and the Northern Arizona University, where he received a Bachelor of Science degree in 1962.

Kahklen came to the Juneau office in 1970 as a personnel management specialist. He had held similar positions in the Navajo and Albuquerque Area offices.

Kahklen, 38, is married and has three children. He is active in volunteer work with Native organizations in Juneau.

Under Secretary of the Interior James Joseph met April 13 with a delegation from the Crow Indian Tribe from Montana.

Joseph told the delegation the Department of the Interior stands solidly behind its trust obligation to Indian tribes to protect their lands and natural resources and supported strong tribal governments.

The Crow delegates discussed recently adopted tribal codes including a new law and order code which has brought some unfavorable reactions from non-Indians in Montana. The code provides for the exercise of criminal jurisdiction by the tribe over non-Indians on the reservation.

The delegates told Joseph they desire to meet with state and local officials in Montana to work out plans agreeable to both sides on the jurisdiction issue. They said they are concerned with the protection of the rights of all people involved -- both Indian and non-Indian.

The Crow delegates said that they will be holding public hearings on the whole matter of jurisdiction so that all residents of the reservation Indian and non-Indian can express their concerns.

The reservations in Montana have a high percentage of non-Indian residents and non-Indian landowners. About 2,000 of the 6,500 residents on the Crow reservation are non-Indians.

Indian tribal leaders in Montana have said that the tribes "have asserted jurisdiction over non-Indians only to the precise and limited extent provided by Federal law and decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court."

The Under Secretary indicated that he was pleased with the positive attitude of the meeting and expressed hope that any difficulties would be resolved amicably.

William J. Lawrence has been named Superintendent of the Bureau of Indian Affairs' Colorado River Agency at Parker, Arizona.

Lawrence, a Red Lake Chippewa, graduated from the University Of North Dakota School Of Law in 1972 and had been working for the Terry C. Holter Law Firm in Bemidji, Minnesota. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1962 from the Bemidji State College.

A former Marine Corps officer with service in Vietnam, Lawrence has been Industrial Development Director and Executive Director, Economic Development and Community Planning Staff for the Red Lake Reservation. He has also been the Assistant Director Indian Education Section in the Minnesota Department of Education and Director of the Indian Adult Basic Education program at the Bemidji Center.

Lawrence, 35, is married and has two daughters and one son. He was an elected member of the school board at Bemidji and a past member of the Minnesota State Advisory Council on Vocational Education. He played professional baseball for two years in the Detroit Tigers organization and is still active in recreational athletics.

Elsie A. Begaii, a Bureau of Indian Affairs' employee at Window Rock, Arizona, has been chosen to receive the Department of Interior's "Woman of the Month" award. Deputy Commissioner of Indian Affairs Harley Frankel will present Mrs. Begaii with a commemorative plaque and certificate on March 21 in Washington, DC.

Mrs. Begaii, a member of the Navajo Tribe, has worked 27 years with the Bureau. She is the Assistant Employment Assistance Officer for the Navajo Area Office.

Mrs. Begaii has been very successful in working with State and Federal agencies to assist Navajo Indians to receive vocational training and to get jobs. Her ability to speak the Navajo language and her knowledge of the culture and customs of the tribe have been valuable assets in her relationships with the Navajo people and the tribal council.

Mrs. Begaii was chosen for this honor by the Department's International Woman's Year Committee.

Acting Commissioner of Indian Affairs Raymond V. Butler announced today that he has extended the period for review and comment on proposed regulations governing the adoption of tribal water codes on Indian reservations published in the Federal Register March 17. The deadline has been extended from April 18 to June 2, 1977.

The regulations establish standards which tribal water codes must meet to be approved by the Secretary of the Interior.

Tribal water codes deal with the use on reservations of water subject to tribal control.

The proposed regulations do not determine what waters are subject to tribal control. They neither increase nor reduce tribal water rights.

Comments should be sent to the Commissioner, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Attention: Office of Rights Protection, Washington, D. C. 20240.