OPA

Millions of dollars’ worth of brainpower, representing a "who's who " of management, labor, higher education, and science, is helping guide the administration of America's natural resources, the Department of the Interior said today.

This talent, virtually free to the government, is found in the nearly 50 advisory committees and panels which regularly counsel Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall and other top Interior officials. Advisers are specialists in virtually every field of administration and research, from mine safety to weather modification; Indian education to grazing on the public lands; water research to preservation of historic sites.

"Without the help of these experts, who give unselfishly of their time and talent, Interior I s resource programs would be far less successful, II Secretary Udall said. “They give us their advice and constructive criticism - - and we listen.”

Although many of the advisers are in the high-income bracket and are nationally and internationally known for their expertise, Interior's costs for their services usually is $16 per day for subsistence, plus travel expenses to and from Washington, D. C.

­­Most advisory groups meet once a year, but the frequency increases if critical or extremely complex problems are encountered.

Nearly every field of science is represented in the advisory groups, includ­ing medicine, physics, metallurgy, hydrology, geology, zoology, chemistry, limnology, oceanography, and archaeology.

"Such assistance represents the highest form of public service, “he added. “We simply cannot afford to employ all the brainpower we need. So we ask for help and are very gratified by the response. The services of these groups have saved the government untold millions of dollars. They have helped us to avoid mistakes, to move rapidly and positively, and to accomplish much, much more than we could working in a vacuum of government-dominated thought.”

Secretary Udall also commended the assistance of the many federal em­ployees, from Interior as well as dozens of other government agencies, who often serve as committee members in addition to their regularly assigned duties.

Committee membership ranges from three (Advisory Committee on Natu­ral Science Studies) to 106 (National Petroleum Council). Following is a list of typical advisory groups serving the Department of the Interior and its programs:

Assistant Secretary -- Water Pollution Control

Advisory Committee on Water Pollution Control Administration

Assistant Secretary -- Fish and Wildlife and Parks

Marine Resources Development Program Advisory Committee

Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife

Director’s Waterfowl Advisory Committee

National Fisheries Center and Aquarium Advisory Board Annual Dove Conference

Bureau of Reclamation

Advisory Committee on Atmospheric Water Resources Board of Artistic Consultants

Bureau of Land Management

National Advisory Board Council

State Advisory Boards

Oregon and California Advisory Board (State) Oregon and California District Advisory Boards Alaska State Advisory Board

Bonneville Power Administration

Bonneville Regional Advisory Council

Geological Survey

Advisory Panel of the Geological Survey’s National Center for Earthquake Research

Advisory Committee on Water Data for Public Use

National Park Service

Historic American Buildings Survey Advisory Board

Wildlife Advis<?ry Committee

Advisory Board on the San Jose Mission Historic .Site

Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace and Sagamore Hill National Historic Site Advisory Committee

New York City National Shrines Advisory Board

Advisory Board on National Parks, Historic Sites, Buildings and Monuments Minute Man National Historic Park Advisory Commission

Independence National Historic Park Advisory Commission.

Hot Springs National Park Federal Registration Board

Consulting Committee for National Survey of Historic Sites and Buildings National Park Service Senior Executive Committee

Cape Cod National Seashore Advisory Commission

Examining Board for Technicians, Hot Springs National Park

Ozark National Scenic River ways Commission

­ Fire Island National Seashore Advisory Commission Advisory Committee on Natural Science Studies

Committee for the Preservation of the White House Advisory Council on Historic Preservation

U.S. Territorial Expansion Memorial Commission Advisory Committee for Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site

Office of Geography

Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names

Bureau of Indian Affairs

National Indian Education Advisory Committee

Federal Water Pollution Control Administration

National Technical Advisory Committees (5)

Technical Committee to the Great Lakes - Illinois River Basin Project

Bureau of Commercial Fisheries

American Fisheries Advisory Committee

Office of Coal Research

General Technical Advisory Committee

Petroleum Advisory Committee

National Petroleum Council

Foreign Petroleum Supply Committee

Foreign Petroleum Supply Committee, Petroleum Security Subcommittees Emergency Advisory Committee for Natural Gas

Office of Water Resources Research

Advisory Panel on Water Research

Bureau of Mines

Lignite Advisory Committee

Department’s Industry Advisory Committee on Coal Exports

Advisory Committees on Health and Safety Standards in Metal and Nonmetallic Mines (3)

Defense Electric Power Administration

Industrial Advisory Committee to the Defense Electric Power Administration

Wilma Louise Victor, a Choctaw Indian and the Bureau of Indian Affairs' top-ranking woman educator, has been selected as one of the six women in Government to receive the coveted 1967 Federal Woman's Award.

A native of Idabel, Oklahoma, Miss Victor is Superintendent of Intermountain School in Brigham City, Utah, which is a home away from home for 2,100 Navajo youngsters from Arizona, New Mexico and Utah.

She was selected for her “exceptional creative and executive ability in the administration of a unique and complex school program for disadvantaged Indian youth".

Miss Victor is the second Bureau of Indian Affairs careerist and the third Interior Department woman to receive the Federal Woman's Award, which was instituted seven years ago. In 1964 the honor went to Selene Gifford, now retired from her post as BIA's Assistant Commissioner for Community Services. Mrs. Ruth G. Van Cleve, Director of Interior's Office of Territories, was one of the recipients in 1966.

The panel of judges for the 1967 awards were: Robert Manning, editor of the Atlantic Monthly, Betsy Talbot Blackwell, editor of Mademoiselle, Kenneth Crawford, Newsweek columnist, Margaret Mary Kearney, WCAU-TV educational director, and C. Easton Rothwell, president of Mills College.

Miss Victor is a member of the Governor's Commission on Indian Affairs for the State of Utah, the Utah State Conference on Social Welfare, and the Council for Exceptional Children.

Her service with the Bureau of Indian Affairs began in 1941 at the Shiprock, N.M. Federal school on the Navajo Reservation. She enlisted in the Women's Army Corps in 1943 and was discharged in 1946 as First Lieutenant. She has been affiliated with the Intermountain School during most of the past l5 years, since it was opened in 1950 on the site of the old Bushnell General Hospital. As supervisor of academic programs, she developed a special program for Navajo youngsters who came to Intermountain in their sub-teens with little or no formal schooling.

When the Bureau launched another innovative education program five years ago -- the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, N. M. -- Miss Victor was appointed principal. She was recalled to Intermountain in 1964 when the need developed there for an expanded four-year high school program of academics and vocational training.

The Federal Woman’s Award winners were announced today by Mrs. Katie Louchheim, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Federal Woman's Award and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State.

Other recipients of the Award are Miss Elizabeth Ann Brown, Director of the Office of United Nations Political Affairs, Department of State; Dr. Barbara Moulton, a medical officer, Bureau of Deceptive Practices, Federal Trade Commission; Mrs. Ann Mason Roberts, Deputy Regional Administrator (New York), Department of Housing and Urban Development; Dr. Kathryn Grove Shipp, Organize Research Chemist, U. S. Naval Ordnance Laboratory, Department of the Navy and Dr. Marjorie J. Williams, Director of Pathology and Allied Sciences Service, Department of Medicine and Surgery, Veterans Administration.

Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall has approved changes in Federal regulations governing conduct of certain tribal elections authorized under the Indian Reorganization Act. The changes, which are being published in the Federal Register, are designed primarily to facilitate tribal government.

Comments received by the Bureau of Indian Affairs since proposed changes were announced in February have been considered in preparation of the new regulations.

The Bureau informed Secretary Udall that shifting Indian populations have had the effect of often invalidating elections because only a small percentage of a tribe voted.

Under the revisions, which are in keeping with national, state, and local custom, tribal members would be required to register in order to vote in elections authorized by Section 16 of the Indian Reorganization Act. At least 30 percent of those on the registration list would have to cast ballots for an election to be valid.

Under present procedures, registration is not a factor. Rules require that at least 30 percent of "all" eligible voters have to vote for an election to be valid. This often results in no decision, because many eligible voters lack interest and do not bother to vote.

Provision is continued for registered, eligible tribal members to vote by absentee ballot. When prepared, the life of any list of registered voters will extend for three years, with the responsibility upon the registrant to make changes in his status as necessary.

Another change establishes a definite, consistent standard for deciding whether sufficient eligible voters 'actually sign an election petition when such a procedure is recognized for effecting elections.

In conjunction with elections, the tribal election board will be required to notify by mail all adult Indians of the tribe of the need to register if they intend to vote.

Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall announced today that Charles N. Zellers, Deputy Associate Commissioner, Bureau of Elementary and Secondary Education in the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, has been named Assistant Commissioner for Education in the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Udall said that he and Indian Commissioner Robert L. Bennett believe that Zellers "is the kind of administrator the Bureau needs to fulfill President Johnson's mandate that we provide every Indian child and youth the finest quality education program possible." The Secretary pointed out that "more than one-half of the budget and more than one-half of the total number of employees in the BIA are involved in educational programs."

Zellers, 49, was born in Columbiana, Ohio and received a BA degree from Youngstown University. He also has a Master's Degree in Business Administration from the University of Pennsylvania and a certificate from the Harvard Graduate School of Business.

After serving as Assistant Professor in the School of Business Administration at Youngstown University, Zellers was named Deputy Superintendent for the District of Columbia School system in 1951. In that position he worked on fiscal, administrative and legislative activities. In November, 1957, he was appointed Comptroller for the University of Pittsburgh.

Zellers joined the staff of the Office of Education in the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare in 1960 as Executive Officer, Division of State and Local Schools. He was promoted to Deputy Associate Commissioner in 1966.

He has worked with the Elementary and Secondary Education Act programs, the Educational Television Facilities Act program, the implementation of the National Defense Education Act, the National Teacher Corps and a wide variety of administrative programs involving legislative policy, church-state relations, interagency activities and state and local school policy coordination.

He received a quality salary increase in 1964, and an HEW Superior Service award in 1965.

A veteran of Navy service during World War II, Zellers lives in Alexandria, VA with his wife and 4 children.

Zellers will assume his new duties September 3.

Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall has ordered rolls prepared for use in distributing judgment funds awarded by the Indian Claims Commission to six tribes.

To share in the awards~ which were ordered in five separate cases, are the Miami Indians of Oklahoma and Indiana; the Omaha Tribe of Nebraska; the Quileute Tribe and the Hoh Indians of Western Washington; and two other Western Washington Tribes -- Nooksack and Duwamish.

Legislation authorizing the distribution of the judgment funds was enacted during the closing days of the 89th Congress. Laws governing disposition of the judgment funds prescribe that payment rolls be established. Requirements for enrollment differ in each case.

Attached are rules governing enrollment applications for each of the six tribes. Application forms and detailed information may be obtained from the Bureau of Indian Affairs offices indicated in the filing requirements for each tribe.

Requirements for Tribal Enrollment and Deadlines for Filing Enrollment Applications

MIAMI INDIANS OF OKLAHOMA AND INDIANA For Docket 124-A

All persons of Miami Indian ancestry born on or prior to October 14, 1966, and still living on that date shall be entitled to share if their names, or the names of an ancestor through whom they claim eligibility, appears on one of the following rolls:

• roll of Miami Indians of Indiana (June 12, 1895);
• roll of "Miami Indians of Indiana now living in Kansas, Quapaw Agency, Indian Territory, and Oklahoma Territory";
• roll of Eel River Miami Tribe (May 27, 1889) prepared and completed pursuant to 25 Stat. 223 of June 29, 1888.

For Dockets 67 and 124

All persons of Miami Indian ancestry born on or prior to October 14, 1966, and living on that date, whose names or the name of an ancestor appears on any of the rolls listed above under Docket l24-A or on the roll of the Western Miami Tribe (June 12, 1891) prepared pursuant to 26 Stat o 1,000 of March 3, 1891.

Filing Requirements: Applications must be postmarked no later than July 34 1967. They may be filed at either of these addresses: (1) Area Director, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Federal Building, Muskogee, Okla. 74401; (2) Mr. David McKillup, 222 Spencer Hotel, Marion, Ind. 46952.

NOOKSACK TRIBE

All persons born on or prior to October 14, 1966, and still living on that date, who established that they are descendants of members of the Nooksack Tribe as it existed in 1855, shall be entitled to be enrolled to share in the Nooksack judgment.

Filing Requirements: Applications for enrollment must be filed with the Area Director, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Box 3785, Portland, Ore. 97208; and must be postmarked no later than September 1, 1967.

DUWAMISH TRIBE

All persons born on or prior to October 14, 1966 and still living on that date, who establish that they are descendants of members of the Duwamish Tribe as it existed in 1855, shall be entitled to be enrolled to share in the distribution of judgment fund.

Filing Requirements: Applications for enrollment must be filed with the Area Director, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Box 3785, Portland, Ore o 97208; and must be postmarked no later than September 1, 1967.

OMAHA TRIBE OF NEBRASKA

The membership roll of the Omaha Tribe prepared pursuant to 75 Stat. 508 of Sept, 14, 1961 shall be brought up to date by adding the names of children born after lepta 14, 1961 and still living on Nov. 2, 1966, who possess at least one-fourth degree aboriginal Omaha Indian blood o Children who are enrolled with any other tribe shall not be entitled to have their names added to the Omaha roll.

Filing Requirements: Applications for enrollment must be filed with the Area Director, Bureau of Indian Affairs, 820 South Main St., Aberdeen, S. Dak. 57401; and must be postmarked no later than April I, 1967.

QUILEUTE TRIBE

Prior to establishment of a current roll, a base roll is to be established for the Quileute Tribe. This shall be done by the Secretary of the Interior with the assistance of the tribal governing body. Applicants for base enrollment must establish that they were born on or prior to Dec. 31, 19400 No persons deceased as of that date would be eligible for base enrollment. The base roll so established shall henceforth be considered the base roll for all purposes.

Applicants for enrollment on the current tribal roll must first establish membership or derivation from the base roll. They must have been born on or prior to October 14, 1966, and be still living on that date. They must further meet the following specifications of the tribal constitution:

(1) that they were born to any member of the tribe who resided on the reservation at the time of the applicant's birth; or

(2) that they possess 1/2 or more degree Indian blood and were born to a nonresident member of the tribe; or

(3) that they possess any degree of Indian blood and were born to parents who were both members of the tribe.

No person enrolled with any other tribe shall be eligible for the Quileute roll unless such person files a formal statement relinquishing membership in another tribe including all right, title and interest in undistributed assets of the other tribe

Filing Requirements: Applications for enrollment must be filed with the Superintendent, Western Washington Agency, Bureau of Indian Affairs, 3006 Colby Ave., Everett, Wash. 98201; and must be postmarked no later than April 1, 1967.

HOH TRIBE

To be included on the base roll of the Hoh Tribe an applicant must establish that (1) he was born on or prior to October 14, 1966, and was still living on that date; (2) his name or the name of a lineal ancestor is listed on the, Census of the Hoh Indians of Neah Bay Agency, Wash. (June 30, 1894); and (3) he is not enrolled with any other tribe.

No person who is enrolled with any other tribe shall be eligible to have his name placed on the Hoh base roll unless such person files a formal statement relinquishing his membership in the other tribe, including all right, title, and interest he may have in the undistributed assets of the other tribe.

Filing Requirements: Applications for enrollment must be filed with the Superintendent, Western Washington Agency, Bureau of Indian Affairs, 3006 Colby Ave., Everett, Wash. 98201; and must be postmarked no later than April 1, 1967.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs has announced the recent reassignment of three officials to posts in its field installations.

Fred H. Massey, Assistant Commissioner in the Bureau's Washington, D.C., central office, has been temporarily assigned as acting area director for the Bureau's Anadarko, Okla., area office. He will fill the post left vacant by the assignment of Leslie P. Towle, former area director, to the Portland, Ore., area office. The assignment, which is for an indefinite period, became effective January 29.

Massey, a native of Oklahoma and a member of the Choctaw Tribe, has been with the Bureau of Indian Affairs since 1936, except for two years of military service. He attended Oklahoma schools and Haskell Institute, at Lawrence, Kan., where he graduated in 1935.

He has served in various administrative capacities. Prior to his appointment as Assistant Commissioner he was chief of the budget and finance branch in the Washington central office.

Towle, who became a Special Field Representative of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs in the Portland office, effective January 15, had been Area Director at Anadarko since August 1963.

Towle joined the Bureau as an auditor accountant at Billings, Mont., in 1933 and has held progressively responsible assignments in Montana, Oregon, South Dakota and Washington, D.C. Prior to his recent service in Oklahoma, he was superintendent of the Pine Ridge, S. Dak., (Sioux) agency for six years. He was born at Littleport, Iowa, and graduated from the University of Iowa in 1922.

The Bureau announced the transfer of Stephen W. Smith from the Juneau, Alaska, office to fill the post of assistant area director at Anadarko, vacant since the' retirement of Harry L. Gardner last December.

Smith is a native of Casper, Wyo., and began his Bureau career in 1937 at the Ft. Washakie, Wyo. (Shoshone) agency. He has since served in administrative positions in Arizona and Alaska. In December, 1962 he was promoted to the post of Assistant Area Director for Administration in the Juneau office, a position he held until his present reassignment, effective January 29.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs today announced the assignment of new supervising engineers for two major Indian irrigation projects w_ the Navajo project on the New Mexico side of the reservation, and the nearly completed Wapato project on the Yakima Reservation at Wapato, Wash.

J. Y. Christiansen, 44, a native of Monroe, Utah, has been named Supervising General Engineer for the Navajo project. He will serve as liaison between the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Indian Affairs and its Bureau of Reclamation which is performing the construction work. The project as authorized would supply up to 508,000 acre-feet of water annually from Reclamation is Navajo Reservoir to irrigate 110,000 acres of Navajo Reservation lands south of the San Juan River.

Christiansen began his BIA service in 1952 at the Yakima Agency in Washington. He has since held engineering posts at Albuquerque, N.M.; Parker, Ariz.; and most recently at the Wapato Irrigation Project. His appointment became effective Feb. 5, 1967.

He holds a degree in civil engineering from Utah State University at Logan, Utah, is married and has four children.

Lew Judd Allsop, 42, succeeds Christiansen at Wapato, Wash., effective Feb. 5, 1967. Allsop began his BIA career in 1953 at the United Pueblos Agency, Albuquerque, N.M. where he supervised the installation of domestic water systems for Pueblo communities. He has since served at the Colorado River Reservation in Arizona and the Missouri River Basin Investigations Project, Billings, Mont.

Last year he was selected by the Bureau to attend a middle management training course in the Washington, D.C. central office. The course began on Sept. 1, 1966 and ended January 27, 1967, just prior to his reassignment.

A native of Smithfield, Utah, Allsop received a BS degree in civil engineering from Utah State University in 1952. He is married and has eight children.

The Department of the Interior has recommended enactment of a bill which would amend the Indian Claims Commission Act of 1946, extending its life for five years beyond the present expiration date of April 10, 1967.

The Commission was established as an independent tribunal to hear and decide all tribal claims against the United States that existed before 1946. Over half the claims cases are still undecided.

In its recommendations regarding legislation to extend the Commission's life, the Department raised a question as to whether all stages of remaining Indian claims could be prepared, tried, and decided during the five-year time limit.

Department of the Interior recommendations regarding the amendment, which adds a new Section 27 to the Indian Claims Commission Act, included:

• Elimination of a provision in the proposed amendment requiring all claims to be set for trial by 1970, substituting a requirement that the Commission prepare a trial calendar to include all cases;
• Elimination of a provision granting only one six-month continuance for claims cases, substituting a provision for further continuances when justified by factors beyond the control of the claimant;
• Addition of a provision that claims of tribes not represented by attorneys be examined by the Investigation Division of the Indian Claims Commission and, if the situation warrants, continued for trial until the tribe has sufficient time to obtain legal counsel and prepare its case;
• Elimination of a provision that a Commission order dismissing a claim shall be final and not subject to review by a Court; normal judicial processes provide for at least one appellate review.

Yeffe Kimball, an Osage Indian artist, will have an exhibition of her work beginning March 1 through April 7 in the Art Gallery of the Department of Interior.

Sponsored by the Center for Arts of Indian America of which Mrs. Stewart L. Udall is president, the show is entitled, “A 30 Year Retrospective of an American Woman Painter.” It is the first one man showing of Indian art to be sponsored by the Center.

Thirty-five Kimball paintings are included in the show, progressing through several periods from her student works to present day, famous “Space Concepts." It covers the years from 1935 to 1965 and includes drawings, collages, paintings and sculpture-paintings that show the tremendous versatility of this Oklahoma artist, born in the small town of Mountain Park.

The exhibition has been shown in museums from coast to coast and will be retired after its run at Interior. Other Kimball works have been exhibited in Athens, London, Paris, Brussels and Edinburgh.

Miss Kimball has a reputation as an innovator in the use of acrylic resins and sculpture-painting. The sculptured forms and surfaces reflect a deep appreciation of the phenomena of nature, here, an abyss of a moon crater; over there the image of a red-hot star burning in space; elsewhere, the mystery of the cold outer planets.

Titles relating to astronomical phenomena dot the showing. “Solar Aurorae,” “Cepheid Cluster” "Eridames Spiral” and “Pluto" are some of the paintings executed with resin, the pigment being applied pure with various tools including the brush and sponge. The purity of the resultant color is a major distinction of this part of the exhibition, particularly the cool blues, the blazing oranges, reds and occasional sunny yellows.

Some of her paintings of animals, for example, represent a sophisticated development of primitive Indian paintings. In some, she uses early Indian art in a manner not unlike that in which European artists have drawn from primitive African sculpture.

She is currently commissioned to do one of her space paintings for NASA at the Apollo Launch Center at Cape Kennedy which will be placed in the permanent collection of the Space Gallery Smithsonian.

Yeffe Kimball’s painting is grounded by years of training at the Art Students’ League, New York, and additional work and study in Paris and throughout France and Italy. She has not associated herself with any particular art movement. Since her first one-man show in New York in 1946, her paintings have been acquired by museums, including the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Dayton Art Institute, Portland Art Museum, Chrysler Art Museum, Baltimore Art Museum, the Philbrook Museum in Tulsa, Mattatuck Museum, Conn., Washington Lee University, Va., the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Art and Crafts Department of Interior, in addition to numerous private collections.

Hours for the Interior Department showing will be from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Monday through Friday.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Robert L. Bennett has endorsed in principle the construction and operation of Indian-owned motels under franchise arrangements with interested regional or national motel groups, the Department of the Interior reported today.

In a letter to area industrial development officials of the Bureau of Indian Affairs and to reservation superintendents, Bennett pointed out that such arrangements could provide training for Indians in motel management and staffing, national advertising and public relations, standardized accounting and bookkeeping, architectural service, and discount purchasing of equipment and supplies.

The Commissioner's letter followed a meeting in Washington, D.C., earlier this month, at which H.H. Mobley, executive vice president of Quality Courts Motels, Inc. outlined the possibilities for successful establishment of Indian-owned and operated motels under a franchise system. Individual establishments would benefit by referrals from more than 500 other Quality Courts.

Mobley said such motels could be designed in keeping with traditional tribal architecture and decor, and staffed by Indian personnel in tribal costume. Each could feature a jewelry and arts store, selling Indian effects from the entire country, he said.

Tribes interested in further information on the program will inform the area directors and through them will be supplied by Quality Courts a detailed kit explaining the plan, Bennett said. Representatives of the Quality group will then investigate those sites which appear to have good development potential. Meetings would be held with tribal members to discuss mutual interests in proceeding with a development program.

Bennett again underscored the point that the Bureau is acting only as intermediary in the negotiations and that the acceptance of the plan is up to individual tribes.

"The Indians, themselves," he said, "must take the lead in expanding the potential of their reservations."