OPA

Cash income from Indian-owned forests in the United States has trebled in the last decade and the interest of Indian tribes and individual Indians in the scientific management of their woodland assets has greatly increased during the same period, the Department of the Interior reported today.

The 6,600,000 acres of commercially valuable forestland under supervision of the Department's Bureau of Indian Affairs have been managed since 1910 on a “sustained yield basis”, designed to balance the cutting of old trees by the growth of new trees in line with highest conservation standards. But surveys recently made show that many inventories and management plans adopted several decades ago are now obsolete and that annual maximum logging figures can be safely raised.

Partly because of these increases in cut limitations and partly because of rises in lumber prices, annual cash receipts from all Indian forests (except the Klamath reservation in Oregon) have soared from $2,500,000 in the calendar year 1948 to approximately $8,500,000 in 1957. (Klamath figures, although substantial, are omitted because they have fluctuated widely in recent years due to special circumstances occasioned by pending termination of Federal trusteeship of the tribe's affairs.)

Comparable figures for recent years are:

Although the totals of timber cut declined in the last two years, because of a slackened demand for lumber, the average price remained high, with the result that cash receipts did not slump so severely. All cash receipts go to the Indian owners except for a 10 percent management charge which the Federal Government makes when it arranges and controls the stumpage sales. The charge covers in whole or in part the costs of timber sales and general forest administration.

Most of the new forest inventories, in which aerial photography plays an important and expensive part, have been financed by the Indian tribes themselves. Since 1953 more than two thirds of the Indians 1 major forests have been resurveyed and the task is continuing. Among inventories which have been completed or are nearing completion are those on the Navajo reservation in New Mexico and Arizona, the Hoopa Valley and Tule River reservations in California, the Fort Apache and San Carlos reservations in Arizona, the Jicarilla in New Mexico, the Northern Cheyenne in Montana, the Klamath and Warm Springs in Oregon, the Yakima and Colville-Spokane in Washington, the Red Lake in Minnesota and the Menominee in Wisconsin. Softwoods or conifers predominate in the Northwest and Southwest, with ponderosa pine being the principal tree harvested. In the Lake states of Wisconsin and Minnesota hardwoods provide the chief product, with oak, maple, birch and beech prevailing.

The value of the new inventories may be seen in the case of the Navajo reservation. Until about four years ago logging operations by the Navajo tribal sawmill had been held to a cut of about 13,000,000 board feet a year because facts then available indicated that this was the maximum allowable under sustained yield management. The new inventory, completed in 1954, indicates that the annual cut may be increased to 34,000,000 feet, and even to 49 million feet for the next few years. Actual experience under such a rate of cutting will demonstrate what modifications, if any, of annual cut may become desirable. Plans for utilizing this increased allowance are being actively developed by the Tribe in consultation with the Bureau.

In addition to voting funds for new inventories, most of the forest-owning tribes have shown increased interest in their valuable resources in other ways as well. Tribal officers now usually take an active part in planning logging and reforestation programs, reviewing proposed contracts, and in the administration of active timber sales. Tribal sawmill enterprises have long been operated by the Menominee Indians in Wisconsin, the Red Lake in Minnesota and the Navajo in the Southwest. A few individual Indians are now operating as loggers or running sawmills of their own. An important factor in the harvesting of Indian timber as carried on today has been the almost complete replacement of the railroad by the heavy-duty logging truck, which permits much greater flexibility in logging operations.

But the two ancient enemies of the forest, fire and infestation or disease, persist. In its battle against the latter the Bureau of Indian Affairs depends largely on the research and experimental activities of the Forestry Service of the Department of Agriculture. In recent years the Bureau, with such assistance, has been combatting the southern pine beetle on the Cherokee Reservation in North Carolina, the walking stick insect on the Menominee reservation, the Black Hills beetle on the Navajo, and the white pine blister rust in the Lake states area. One objective of selective cutting operations is to remove the trees that are most susceptible to insect and disease infestations. All Indian reservations maintain, of course, continuous provisions for the prevention and suppression of forest fires.

Award of a $94,357 contract for construction of a new water supply system and a new sewage disposal system to serve dormitories housing Blackfeet Indian school children at Cut Bank, Montana, was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

The contract will provide two new drilled wells, discharge lines and chlorination system, and a new sewage lagoon-type oxidation system. This will improve the sanitation conditions affecting the dormitories at Cut Bank which house 106 Indian boys and girls who attend the public schools at Browning, six miles away.

The successful bidder was Kalispell Plumbing and Heating, Inc., Kalispell, Montana.

Award of a $35,438 contract for the construction of two bridges on the Menominee Indian Reservation, Shawano County, Wisconsin, was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

The project involves the construction of an 80-foot composite steel I-beam bridge over the Wolf River and an identical structure over the West Branch of the Wolf River. The road which crosses both of these bridges is a school bus route which serves the residents of the West Branch Indian community. The construction of these two bridges will also provide an important route for the hauling of timber products since the two bridges which are being replaced were too light for this type of traffic.

The successful low bidder is Dey's Ready Mix Concrete Company, Shawano, Wisconsin. Seven other bids were received ranging from $42,373.50 to $67,692.50.

Proposed regulations governing the removal of Federal trust restrictions from lands belonging to Indians of the Five Civilized Tribes of eastern Oklahoma, in response to requests from the owners, were announced today by the Department of the Interior.

Regulations covering such removal in cases where there is no 'application from the owner were recently adopted by the Department and published in the Federal Register August 22, 1958.

To a large extent the proposed new rules follow the pattern of those adopted earlier. Under a delegation of authority already made, the initial determinations regarding removal will be made by the Indian Bureau's Area Director for eastern Oklahoma with headquarters at Muskogee.

Under the proposed regulations, the Area Director would be called upon to consider a wide range of factors in making such determinations. These include the Indian applicant’s education, training and experience; his record in making an adequate living for himself and his family; the extent of his assets not covered by trust restrictions and acquired through his own efforts rather than inheritance; his record in using assets or funds coming into his possession; and other similar factors.

he principal effects of an order removing restrictions would be to give the Indian full ownership and control of his property and to end his eligibility for special services provided to him by the Department of the Interior because of his status as an ,Indian. Exceptions on this latter point would be made, however, in cases where the Department determined that termination of services would result in substantial hardship. Any existing exemption from taxation that constitutes a vested property right would continue in effect until it terminates by virtue of its own limitations.

Under the proposed regulations, if an application for removal of restrictions is disapproved by the Area Director or not acted on within 90 days, the applicant would have the right of appeal either to the Secretary or to the county court in his county of residence.

Interested parties are given 30 days after publication of the proposed regulations in the Federal Register to submit their comments to the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Washington 25, D. C.

Award of a $375,000 construction contract that will more than double the capacity of an Indian Bureau school at Cove, Ariz., on the Navajo Reservation was announced today by the Department of the Interior

The project covers construction of a four-classroom building, a kitchen and multipurpose room, a storage and generator room, and expansion of all utilities.

Once completed, it will enlarge the capacity of the Cove Day School from 57 pupils to 120. It is part of the Indian Bureau’s over-all program to make school facilities available for the steadily increasing school-age Indian population.

The successful bidder was Goodman and Sons of Farmington, N. Mex. Ten higher bids were received ranging from $401,854 to $563,553.

Bureau of Indian Affairs today announced changes in two superintendencies in the Pacific Northwest involving the Yakima, Colville and Klamath agencies.

Portland Area Director Don C. Foster said that Floyd H. Phillips, superintendent of the Colville Agency since 1951, i, being transferred to the Yakima Agency to replace Dannie E. LeCrone, who transferred recently to the Phoenix area office. and Elmo Miller will transfer from the Klamath Agency where he has been superintendent since June, 1957. to the Colville Agency to replace Phillips. Martin Zollar will be acting superintendent at Klamath pending designation of a new superintendent for that agency. The changes are effective November 2.

Phillips, a native of Wisconsin and a graduate of the University of Montana in forestry, has been with the Bureau of Indian Affairs since his graduation in 1930. His first position was as a forest ranger on the Klamath reservation in southern Oregon and he moved from there in 1934 to become forest supervisor at the Black Feet Agency at Browning. Montana. where he served until 1939. He served successively as superintendent of the Red Lake (Minnesota) Agency in 1939 and 1940, superintendent of the Taholah (Washington) Agency in 1940 to 1943. regional forester for the forest area from 1943 to 1945, regional forester at Spokane in 1945 and 1946, and regional forester in the Portland Area office 1n 1946 to January 1951, when he became superintendent of the Colville Agency.

Miller's appointment represents a return to the Colville Agency where he served from April, 1951, to January, 1955, as agricultural extension agent. He is a native of Utah and came to the Pacific Northwest after serving with BIA in Alaska as administrative officer at Nome. A graduate of Utah State Agricultural College, he was a farmer and rancher before joining BIA as a field 41de in May. 1941, at the Cheyenne River Agency in South Dakota. He also did agricultural work at Tongue River Agency in Montana. He was at Nome, Alaska, for four years before coming to the Pacific Northwest .8 superintendent of the Northern Idaho Indian, Agency in January, 1955. He became superintendent of the Klamath Agency in June. 1957.

Award of a $68,257.15 contract for the construction or a road and bridge on the Bad River Indian Reservation, Ashland County, Wisconsin, was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

The project involves the grading, drainage and surfacing of 4.2 miles of road and the construction of an 80-foot composite steel I-Beam bridge over the Potato River. This will provide a road in the southeastern portion of the Bad River Reservation where only minor trails existed previously and will connect with Wisconsin Highway No. 169 south of Gurney, Wisconsin. When the construction is completed, Ashland County will take over the road for maintenance.

The successful bidder was Frank Brevak, Ashland, Wisconsin, Seven other bids were received ranging from $71,274.00 to $118,822.00.

Award of a $344,435.33 contract for irrigation construction work on the Hogback Unit of the Navajo Indian Reservation near Shiprock, New Mexico, was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

The project covers construction of 14,558 linear feet of main canal with a capacity of 180 cubic feet per second and the subjugation of approximately 1,000 acres of irrigable land. After subjugation, the land will be divided into farm units of about 100 acres each and assigned to Indian trainees who will take a course this year in irrigation farming techniques that is being given by the Navajo tribal organization.

When completed, the Hogback Unit will include 15,000 acres of irrigated land and will provide a livelihood for about 500 Navajo families. The project is now approximately 70 percent complete.

The low and successful bidder was Henry Thygesen and Company, Albuquerque, New Mexico. Ten other higher bids were received ranging from $364,714 to $482,422.73.

Award of a $465,056 contract for construction of a 90-foot bridge and for grading, draining, and asphalt paving about 19 miles of a north-south road through the Colorado River Indian Reservation in Arizona was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

The road to be improved connects State Route 72 at Parker, Arizona and U. S. lute 60-70 near Ehrenberg, Arizona. When completed, it will serve as an outlet for population along the route to either termini and will save considerable mileage for motorists between Blythe, California and Parker, Arizona.

The successful bidder was W. R. Skousen, Mesa, Arizona. Fifteen other bids were received ranging to a high of $672,000.

Award of a $46,458 contract for construction of a temporary movable school on the Navajo Indian Reservation at Inscription House, Arizona, was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

The school, designed to accommodate 60 pupils, is intended to test whether the Inscription House location, 130 miles northeast of Flagstaff, will have sufficient school population to warrant the installation of permanent school facilities later. The temporary facilities will include eight units of the house trailer type, four metal buildings, four gas storage tanks, gravel roads, concrete work, and utility services.

The successful bidder was Taylor and Medley Construction Company, Albuquerque, N. Mex. Six higher bids were received ranging from $62,913 to $79,870.