OPA

The Department of the Interior has asked Congress for legislation declaring the Colorado River Indian Reservation, which lies mainly in Arizona and partly in California, to be the property of the Mohave and Chemehuevi Indians now occupying the reservation.

Enactment of a bill proposed by the Department would settle a long-standing controversy which has seriously retarded effective development of the 1,300,000- acre reservation, the Department said.

The reservation was established by an 1865 act of Congress which specified that the area was reserved for the "Indians of said [Colorado] River and its tributaries." Broadly interpreted, this would include Navajo and Hopi Indians and several other southwestern tribes in addition to those which historically occupied the reservation.

In 1954 the Department of the Interior determined that the 1865 law constitutes a continuing offer to Indians of the class mentioned and may be accepted by them until withdrawn. The present occupants of the reservation, who are organized under the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 as the Colorado River Indian Tribes of the Colorado River Reservation, disagree. The bill now proposed by the Department would resolve the dispute in their favor.

In authorizing the Secretary of the Interior (not the Colorado River Tribes) to lease the reservation lands in 1955, Congress provided that the act should not be construed as recognizing any ownership in the Colorado River Tribes, or in any Indians or group of Indians. Subsequent enactments continued the Secretary’s leasing authority until a determination has been made of the beneficial ownership of the reservation.

The reservation, the Department emphasized, has great potentialities for both irrigation farming and recreational development. It is the location of the oldest Federal irrigation project in the United States--a project initiated in 1867 with a potential irrigable area of over 100,000 acres of which only about 35,000 acres have thus far been developed.

"The absence of a determination of the beneficial owners of the reservation," the Department said, "is hampering its orderly development. The present leasing acts provide that the proceeds from leasing may be expended for the benefit of the organized group, but no provision is made for the use of funds from other sources. The organized group has expressed reluctance to consent to grants of rights-of-way over reservation lands in view of the fact that they may not be the sole beneficial owners and the proceeds may not be expended solely for their benefit. With the enactment of this legislation, the owners of the reservation will be clearly defined and the uncertainty which has inhibited the tribes from moving forward with desirable development activities and otherwise making the best use of the lands will be ended."

Under the proposed bill, the unallotted lands comprising all but a minor portion of the reservation would be held in trust by the United States for the Colorado River Tribes in the same manner as other Indian tribal lands. The bill would not cover improvements placed on the lands by colonists from other tribes or by the United States for administrative purposes (including irrigation facilities). It also contains a provision permitting reservation colonists from other tribes to be adopted by the Colorado River Tribes provided they denounce their other tribal affiliations. Applications for membership would have to be filed by such persons within two years after the date of enactment.

Ten young men from Alaska--five Indians and five Eskimos--will soon move into technical jobs in the space exploration program as a result of training received under auspices of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Department of the Interior reported today.

The Alaskans were graduated from an electronics training course at the RCA Institute in Los Angeles August 2 and soon will return to their native State to take jobs at a new data acquisition facility at Fairbanks. It will be operated by RCA Service Company, Cherry Hill, N. J., under contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Featuring an 85-foot parabolic antenna, it is one of the first high-capacity data acquisition stations in support of NASA's new generation of scientific and meteorological satellites.

Training of the ten Alaskans represents the second major phase of an electronics teaching agreement between the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Radio Corporation of America. The first group of trainees was graduated about a year ago from the RCA Institute in New York City and was received by President Kennedy at the White House August 2, 1962, before proceeding to jobs on defense installations in Alaska.

Twenty-five other Alaska natives are now training at the RCA Institute in Los Angeles and will be ready for placement in 1964 in jobs similar to those at Fairbanks. An additional 44 are scheduled to begin training at Los Angeles August 11, and 20 more are scheduled to enroll in January 1964. Job counseling and placement services will be the responsibility of the Bureau and of RCA.

The ten latest graduates moving to the Fairbanks facility are Morris S. Thompson, Athapaskan Indian from Tanana; Roy Wesley Snyder, Jr., Eskimo from Nome; Paul Rookok, Eskimo from Mt. Edgecumbe; Lawrence D. Peterson, Athapaskan from Fort Yukon; Albert David Morgan, Tlingit Indian from Ketchikan; Vernon F. Miller, Eskimo from Fairbanks; Vitus Jack, Eskimo from Stebbins; Harold A. Haldane, Tsimshian Indian from Metlakatla; Gerald Evans, Athapaskan from Bettles Field; and Albert Adams, Eskimo from Kotzebue

The Department of the Interior today announced ,approval of a contract for $67,303.30 between the Bureau of Indian Affairs and Aslett Construction Company, Twin Falls, Idaho, for construction of five miles of road on the Fort Hall Indian Reservation near Pocatello.

The contract calls for grading and bituminous surfacing of 4.985 miles of road on the reservation. The road will be used for farm to market access school bus and mail routes. When completed the road will be turned over to Power County, Idaho, for maintenance under an agreement between that county and BIA.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Glenn L. Emmons said the Bureau examined seven bids ranging to a high of $93,760.10 before making the award to the Aslett firm

Two changes in the Federal regulations governing the mineral leasing of land owned by Indian tribes and by individual Indians were announced today by the Department of the Interior.

Underlying purpose of the changes is to provide better protection for the interests of the Indian landowners in the light of current economic conditions in the mining industry.

One of the amendments governing leases for minerals other than oil and gas, provides for an annual rental of not less than $1 per acre and annual development expenses of not less than $10 per acre unless otherwise authorized by the Commissioner. This represents an increase in the rental rates under the former regulations which were fixed on a graduated scale of 25 cents per acre for the first year, 50 cents per acre for the second and third years, and $1 per acre for each year thereafter. Development expense requirements under the old regulations varies with different minerals but were less than $10 per acre for all except coal.

The second amendment affects the term of mining leases on individually owned Indian lands and provides that they may extend for 10 years and as long thereafter as the minerals are produced in paying quantities. A similar provision on term has been in effect for the tribal lands and for oil and gas leasing of individual lands for some years. Under the former regulations, however, leases for minerals other than nil and gas on individual lands were limited to 15 years without regard to production.

Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay announced today that the Department of the Interior has proposed to Congress an amendment of Public Law 280 of the 83d Congress which governs the extension of State criminal and civil jurisdictions to Indian reservations and other similar Indian areas.

Public Law 280, approved by President Eisenhower August 15, 1953, extended State jurisdiction, with certain exceptions, to Indian areas in California, Minnesota, Nebraska, Oregon and Wisconsin, It also gave congressional consent for other States to assume such jurisdiction by appropriate enactment but without any requirement for consultation with the Indians who would be affected.

In signing the law President Eisenhower made a statement objecting to this latter feature and recommending that “the Act be amended to require such consultation with the tribes prior to the enactment of legislation subjecting them to State jurisdiction as well as approval by the Federal Government before such legislation becomes effective."

The proposed amendment is intended to carry out the President’s recommendation. Several bills of this type were introduced in the second session of the 83d Congress but none was enacted.

Under the proposed amendment, in any State where an extension of jurisdiction was contemplated, the first step would be for the Governor to consult fully with the Indians concerned for the purpose of learning their wishes and to report the results of this consultation to the Secretary of the Interior. The second step would be a notification by the Governor to the Secretary that the State had enacted a law extending its jurisdiction to Indian areas. It would then become the duty of the Secretary to find and determine whether the proposed extension of jurisdiction would be in the best interests of the Indians concerned.

If the finding and determination should be negative, the Governor would be so notified and the extension of State jurisdiction would not become effective. If the finding was affirmative, a notice to that effect would be published in the Federal Register. On the 90th day after publication, the State jurisdiction would be extended to the areas of Indian country listed in the notice,

The proposed amendment would also make the same procedure effective for any extensions of State jurisdiction that might be contemplated at the Red Lake Reservation in Minnesota and the Warm Springs Reservation in Oregon, two areas that were exempted from the provisions of Public Law 280.

WASHINGTON – The National Park Service today announced nearly $40,000 in repatriation grants under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) to assist museums, Indian tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations in returning ancestral human remains and cultural objects to their people.

“NAGPRA provides an opportunity to correct the mistreatment of native peoples' ancestral dead by returning the sacred objects and cultural heritage that have been removed from their communities,” said National Park Service Director Jonathan B. Jarvis. “These grants will continue the process by which more than 10,000 Native American human remains and one million sacred objects that have been returned to tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations.

Enacted in 1990, NAGPRA requires museums and federal agencies to inventory and identify Native American human remains and cultural items in their collections and to consult with federally recognized Indian tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations regarding the return of these objects to descendants or tribes and organizations. NAGPRA also authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to award grants to assist in implementing the law.

The grants announced today support the efforts of museums and Indian tribes to pay for the costs associated with the return of the human remains and objects to their native people. NAGPRA also supports the efforts of museums, Indian tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations to consult and document NAGPRA-related human remains and cultural items in non-federal collections through consultation/documentation grants.

Projects funded by the grant program also include training for both museum and tribal staff on NAGPRA, digitizing collection records for consultation, and consultations regarding cultural affiliation and culturally unaffiliated individuals.

For additional information regarding these awards, contact Dr. Sherry Hutt, National NAGPRA Program Manager, at 202-354-1479 or via e-mail at sherry_hutt@nps.gov.

FY2014 NAGPRA Repatriation Grant Recipients

www.nps.gov

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The Office of the Secretary previously announced that it will conduct a listening session on the status of implementation of the Land Buy-Back Program for Tribal Nations. The purpose of the session is to meet with Indian tribes to discuss progress to date and receive feedback. Indian landowners may also attend to provide input. This notice corrects the previously published notice to provide RSVP and testimony information and an agenda.

Visit the Government Publishing Office to read the Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 100/ Friday, May 23, 2014 / Notice (page 146)

It is a great honor to be invited to participate in the annual ceremonies of the Ponca tribe and be the guest of the respected leaders of the tribe, chairman John William and councilman Dana Knight.

He's also distinct pleasure to appear before the Ponca City Chamber of Commerce forum and renew my acquaintance with so many of my longtime friends.

I thank you for the privilege and high honor of speaking to you and you want to express my gratitude for this hearty reception and the opportunity to discuss both problems and accomplishments I have experienced as head of Indian Affairs of our federal government.

Ponca City is one of the many cities in the United States that has the honor of being the namesake of the Great American Indian tribe. It has a large Indian population has shared the Heritage culture and economy of many tribes and yet, I wonder if it is like other communities in our society or indeed the nation itself understands the first responsibility, to the Indian citizen.

For this reason, I want very much to use this opportunity to speak to you as Community leaders and through you to others of the nation.

I was asked by the secretary to come to Washington in February of this year to assist him with the Bureau of Indian Affairs I had suffered an unprecedented amount of disarray.

Commissioner had been dismissed in the top election of management had resigned the Washington office had fallen victim to your militant takeover with records stolen and destroyed. Field offices and Indian schools had come upon an easy times and tribal governments had the eerie experience of being threatened. The general public, and to some extent, the federal government, was not only confused but demanded affirmative action. The incident at Wounded Knee had its roots in the fall of last year and bloomed into a confrontation at about the same time I arrived on the Washington scene.

Having been the head of an Indian tribe for many years and knowing firsthand the frustrations of the American Indian it was not difficult to have a feeling of compassion and understanding for all factions the Indians, Government and the General Public. Although many inequities have befallen the American Indians, all tribes, individuals and organizations seek the same things equality, opportunity and justice none can afford the luxury of division of thought or purpose.

The federal government assumed an obligation by treaty or agreement to a limited portion of the total Indian population. Many tribal groups are not federally recognized and are not extended the services of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. For the most part, those served by government or those tribes having a land based in which government has a trust responsibility.

From this responsibility came the obligation for education and eventually ability of services. When we measure Indian achievement, we note a remarkable Improvement in the past 20 years. This Improvement is attributable to many things the public and private sectors, local communities and individuals but most of all, the initiative of the Indian himself.

The American Indian has a basket of mixed blessings in his relationship to the federal government. On the other hand, he has the resources of government to sustain him and provide some degree of self-development. On the other hand, he's the victim of our political process. The Bureau of Indian Affairs is his only exclusive agency in government and while we hear a great deal about its omissions as expressed by the Indian Community, seldom do we hear of the ill-treatment it gets from the many agencies government as it carries out the role of being an advocate for the Indian in government.

At the outset I started there are four things I deem important to the protection of the American Indian and have laid the groundwork for their future development.

First, an amendment to the United States Constitution that lays to rest once and forever the matter of termination of federal Services by the unilateral action of any branch of government.

Second, a better opportunity for participation in the financial resources of our country. this can be done in three ways, an improved budget process the use of Revenue Bond financing physical improvements national banking system for the Indian Community.

Third, A massive Indian Reservation renewal act that would provide 250 million each year for 10 years to bring not only needed improvements in the reservation properties, but simultaneously eliminate unemployment and within the 10-year develop a “gross national product” each reservation area. Today the federal dollar merely passes through the reservation without the benefit of being “turned over” to generate a local economy.

Fourth, a complete study of all laws, rules, regulations, codes and manuals that affect the federal relationship to the American Indian.

All of these girls are in direct support of the policy announced by President Nixon in a message to Congress in July 1970, a policy of Greater self-determination for the Indian tribes and their people. The president reaffirmed the policy in his message of last March 1st, when he said:

“What are Indian people the policy of this Administration will continue to be one of advancing opportunities for self-determination, without termination of the special Federal relationship with recognized Indian tribes.

In keeping with that policy, the Bureau of Indian Affairs is structured to reflect the thinking and the feelings of the majority of Indian people. These include:

1. Encouraging tribes to participate in the redirection of existing programs in order to insure private priorities.
2. Increase resistance to the Indian people for employment of tribal members in their own communities.
3. Prediction of Indian Resources, with the highest priority given to Land Titles, boundaries, and water rights.
4. Increase in the number of quality of roads on Indian reservations to accelerate their economic potential.
5. Increasing tribal control over Indian education.

Each of these major items is intended to move government toward Indian orientation rather than a controlled environment at the federal level. And each is succeeding in its purpose.

Now let's look at some of the accomplishments and see if we have made any progress in the past 6 months.

To the credit of all, there is nobody greater cohesiveness of purpose in the Indian Community hostility among Indians has substantially that subsided and unity of purpose is now more evident.

The governmental agencies, and particularly the Bureau of Indian Affairs, are recovering from management deficiencies and operating more normally. In turn, they will become more responsive to the needs of tribes and individuals.

Progress is being made in the Congress and legislation that will provide many opportunities for advancement on Indian reservations and protect the rights of the tribes and the individuals.

An American Indian national bank, owned by the Indian Community has been formed and will become operative this fall. It will be headquartered in Washington with access to the financial Circles of the dominant Society.

The justice department has activated a civil rights division for the exclusive protection of the American Indian in his constitutional and tribal privileges.

A bill has been introduced into the Senate to establish commission to study and recommend revision of the last governing the relationship of the federal government to the Indian.

Tribal governments are now more active in exercising the prerogative of a sovereignty and revising their constitutions to become responsive to the needs of their constituents.

Indian schools are now supervisors to buy school boards with Indian parents serving as members to assure responsive education for the Indian youth. Some schools are being contracted to Indian Organization for total operation of educational system.

Needless to say we have a long way to go, but compared to the State of Affairs a few months ago, the probability of success looks much brighter today.

American flute by coding hearty agreement, the words of Secretary of the Indian Affairs Rogers C.B. Morton:

“My great hope for the Indian that the feelings he has about himself. My prayer is that soon he will sit at his table and in truth be thankful for the bounties of this land his land our land. I want his heart to swell with pride that he is an American, and that's for him there is an American Dream. He must be comfortable in his Heritage and proud of his ancestry. I pray that he will kill himself a part of the speed and strength of America.”

In that sentiment, I know you will join with me.

WASHINGTON – The National Park Service today announced more than $1.5 million in grants under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) to assist museums, Indian tribes, and Alaska native villages to document and return human remains and cultural objects to their native people.

Grants were awarded both to support the efforts of museums, Indian tribes, Alaska native villages and Native Hawaiian organizations in the documentation of NAGPRA-related objects (consultation/documentation grants), and to pay for the costs associated with the return of the remains and objects to their native people (repatriation grants). This year, 29 grants totaling $1,471,625.00 are going to 24 recipients for consultation/documentation projects, and $95,423.40 is going to eight repatriation projects.

“NAGPRA provides an opportunity to correct the mistreatment of native peoples' ancestral dead by returning the sacred objects and cultural heritage that have been removed from their communities,” said National Park Service Director Jonathan B. Jarvis. “These grants will continue the process by which more than 10,000 Native American human remains and one million sacred objects that have been returned to tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations.

Projects funded by the grant program includes consultations to identify and affiliate individuals and cultural items, training for both museum and tribal staff on NAGPRA, digitizing collection records for consultation, consultations regarding culturally unaffiliated individuals, as well as the preparation and transport of items back to their native people.

Enacted in 1990, NAGPRA requires museums and federal agencies to inventory and identify Native American human remains and cultural items in their collections, and to consult with federally recognized Indian tribes, including Alaska Native villages, and Native Hawaiian organizations regarding the return of these objects to descendants or tribes and organizations. The Act also authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to award grants to assist in implement provisions of the Act.

For additional information regarding these awards, contact Sherry Hutt, National NAGPRA Program Manager, at 202-354-1479 or via e-mail at sherry_hutt@nps.gov.

WASHINGTON – On Thursday, July 9, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell will deliver opening remarks at the first-ever White House Tribal Youth Gathering, part of the Obama Administration's Generation Indigenous (Gen-I) initiative to remove barriers standing between Native youth and opportunities to succeed. The Gathering provides Native youth from across the country the opportunity to interact directly with senior Administration officials and the White House Council on Native American Affairs, chaired by Secretary Jewell.

The White House Tribal Youth Gathering is a collaboration between the White House and UNITY Inc. The event builds upon the President’s continued commitment to improve the lives of Native youth across the country. Nearly half of Native American people (42 percent) are under the age of 24. More than one-third of Native children live in poverty and Native youth have the lowest high school graduation rates in the country, according to a recent White House report.

Under a Council initiative, Secretary Jewell and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan issued a Blueprint for Reform in June 2014 to transform the Department’s Bureau of Indian Education (BIE). The goal of this transformation is to give tribal nations the ability themselves to provide an academically rigorous and culturally appropriate education to their students, according to their needs.

Following her remarks at the July 9 Gathering, Secretary Jewell and BIE Director Dr. Charles ‘Monty’ Roessel will participate in a panel discussion at the Native American Journalists Association conference on Friday, July 10.

Who: Sally Jewell, U.S. Secretary of the Interior

What: Opening remarks at White House Tribal Youth Gathering

When: Thursday, June 9, 2015 9:00 a.m. – Remarks during the opening ceremony

Where: Renaissance Washington, DC Downtown Hotel Grand Ballroom 999 9th Street NW Washington, DC 20001

Media: Credentialed members of the media must RSVP here.