OPA

Bids are due to be opened January 7, 1965, on camp facilities required for accommodation of Job Corps enrollees at centers to be operated by the Department of the Interior in California, Colorado, Illinois, and New Mexico.

Invitations to bid were issued by Interior’s Bureau of Reclamation on December 18 for the four projects, comprising the first group among 44 rural centers to be set up for Job Corps camps operated by Interior. The Department is carrying out this work under authority delegated by the Office of Economic Opportunity, which has overall charge of the Administration I s war on poverty.

The buildings now up for bid will help accommodate 500 Job Corps enrollees working on improvement of lands managed by the Interior Department and its bureaus. Facilities will be erected at:

--Mexican Springs, New Mexico, 35 miles north of Gallup, a 200-man camp under supervision of the Bureau of Indian Affairs;

--Crab Orchard, Illinois, near Carterville, a 100-man camp operated by the Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife;

--Toyon Rural Conservation Center, California, about six miles north of Redding, a 100-man camp under direction of the Bureau of Reclamation;

--Collbran Project Camp, Colorado, east of Grand Junction, managed by the Bureau of Reclamation. The bids cover only the education and recreation comp1exer: for this 100-man camp; existing facilities will be used for housing there.

The invitations call for units to be erected which can be transported over highways and readily assembled into groups of units to constitute housing, educational, recreational and other related facilities.

Specifications have been drawn so that the home manufacturing industry--as well as the trailer manufacturing industry--can bid, Departmental officials said. In all, the Department expects it will need a great quantity of such housing and facilities fabricated and erected by mid-1966, averaging 25,000 square feet per 100-man camp.

The Adoption Resource Exchange of North America (ARENA), placed 89 Indian children out of 119 registered with it in 1968, reports the Bureau of Indian Affairs of the Department of the Interior. The BIA works closely with the national organization.

Placement was pending at the end of 1968 for most of the remaining 30 Indian children.

The 89 children ranged in age from birth to 13 years. Of the total, 47 were infants, 23 were pre-school age, and 19 were school-age. Fifty-four of the children were boys, 35 were girls. There were eight sibling groups placed, including three from one family.

The children placed for adoption carne from 13 states, including 37 from Arizona; 11 from Wisconsin; 10 from California; seven from Nevada, and seven from South Dakota.

A total of 21 states provided adoptive parents, including 17 from New York; Pennsylvania, 11; Illinois, 10; Indiana, eight; Missouri, seven; Massachusetts, six, and Delaware, five.

According to Bureau officials, many of the families interested in adopting Indian children claimed some Indian heritage themselves. Taking pride in their Indian ancestry, they are interested in learning all about the child's tribe, and strive to keep the child informed and proud of his Indian background.

At present, ARENA has 145 families registered, waiting for Indian children. The ARENA project is conducted through the Child Welfare League, 44 East 23 Street, New York, New York 10010.

Assistant Secretary of the Interior John A. Carver, Jr., today instructed the heads of two Bureaus to take every action possible to reduce economic losses to the people of flood-damaged West Coast areas.

In a special memorandum to the Director of the Bureau of Land Management and the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Mr. Carver said:

"I hope that you will promptly instruct your field people to cooperate with other government agencies and with communities and private industry in planning the rehabilitation effort, and that you will take necessary action by way of adjustment of (timber) cutting schedules, authorization of temporary repairs, and all other steps to reduce to a minimum the economic impact of the damage in the affected communities, subject, of course, to sound conservation practices."

Carver's memorandum said recent flooding, particularly in the timbered regions of Oregon and California, "is probably more damaging than the Columbus Day windstorm of October, 1962." It is noted that industry-government cooperation had been remarkably successful in the rehabilitation effort then.

A wind and rain storm on October 12, 1962, struck the West Coast with hurricane force and toppled or damaged about 1.25 billion board-feet of Douglas fir and other timber on Interior-managed lands in western Oregon. Damage was scattered and much of it was in inaccessible areas, but the downed timber had to be disposed of before it could become a fire hazard and haven for beetles.

Plans to sell the allowable cut of green timber were abandoned in favor of the cleanup campaign, which involved round-the-clock work by many BLM foresters and special efforts to cooperate with industry and local governments. By the summer of 1964, the downed timber had been cleared out through sale to private loggers.

Preliminary estimates of flood damage by the Department's Bureaus this week have run high--not counting expected damage to valuable timber stands. BLM estimated its damage in Oregon at more than $22 million, mostly in washed-out roads and bridges. Since most of these structures are in timbered country, the losses will complicate the problem of removing downed and damaged timber, officials said.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs estimated damage at nearly $1 million, mostly on the Warm Springs Reservation, with damage also reported on the Umatilla Reservation. About three-fourths of the total damage was to Government property, and the remainder to tribal and individual Indian property, according to estimates.

As Assistant Secretary for Public Land Management, Carver has direct supervision over the two affected Bureaus. President Johnson last week designated Carver Under Secretary of the Interior, subject to Senate approval.

A series of three prize-winning travel posters designed by American Indian art students are now available for sale to Indian tribes and Indian-interest organizations and through them to the general public, it was announced today.

Priced at $1.75 each, subjects include a classic Katchina figure; a black and white Indian on a horse against a brilliant yellow and range background; and a psychedelic design.

All three posters carry the theme, "Discover America with the First Americans," an invitation to visit Indian reservations at vacation time.

Designers of the posters are students at the Bureau of Indian Affairs' Institute of American Indian Arts, Santa Fe, New Mexico. They are: Delbridge Honanie, Hopi; Joe Powskey, Hualapai-Hopi, and Ben Martinez Navajo.

The contest was co-sponsored by the Bureau of Indian Affairs and ARROW, Inc., an Indian-interest organization with headquarters in Washington, D.C.

G. H. & E. Freydberg Co., a New York manufacturer of girls' dresses, advanced the funds for printing the posters with the stipulation that all profits would go into scholarships for Indian students.

Indian tribes and Indian-interest organizations may purchase the posters for resale. Inquiries should be addressed to the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Department of the Interior, 1951 Constitution Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20242.

The general public may order posters from the American Indian Society of Washington, 519 5th St. SE, Washington, D.C. 20003. Add 25¢ to cover postage and handling.

The award of a $659,850 contract for the construction of new vocational training facilities at Haskell Institute, Lawrence, Kansas, was announced today by Philleo Nash, Commissioner of Indian Affairs.

The project marks the first major step toward conversion of the 80-year-old high school for Indians into a post-secondary technical institute.

In announcing the construction contract award Nash said:

"The new look we plan for Haskell Institute reflects the nationwide trend toward free schooling beyond the high school level to prepare young people for jobs in the world of science and technology. Haskell will be the equivalent of the community and junior colleges that are emerging in many of the better public school systems throughout the country. Haskell, traditionally serving Indian youth, will continue to offer academic as well as vocational programs, with stress upon the special counseling and guidance services that ease the transition of Indian boys and girls into the world beyond the reservations."

The construction plans call for two new vocational education buildings to supplant limited facilities currently devoted to building trades training. Emphasis will be upon high skill training in such occupations as air conditioning and refrigeration technology, sheet metal work, drafting, carpentry and masonry, and painting.

The new facilities will help provide not only the construction skills but classroom curricular in mathematics as applied to construction and design; physics and chemistry as applied to metal composition and use of new alloys; and electronics as related to air conditioning, heating, lighting and motor generating systems commonly used in modern construction.

The new facilities are expected to be completed by the beginning of the September 1965 school term. The contractor is L. R. Foy Construction Co., Inc., of Hutchinson, Kansas, the lowest of three bidders.

A total of 159 entries was submitted from 11 Bureau of Indian Affairs schools in the first travel poster contest sponsored by the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs and ARROW Inc., an Indian interest organization with headquarters in Washington, D.C.

Although all of the winners were from the Bureau's Institute of American Indian Arts, Santa Fe, N.M., David Young, BIA Art Director, was highly pleased with the general level of the entries.

First prize of $150 will go to Delbridge Honanie, Hopi; second prize, $100, to Adrian Pushetonequa, Sac and Fox; and third, $50, Ben Martinez, Navajo.

Three honorable mention awards of wrist watches were also made.

First honorable mention, Delbridge Honanie, also winner of the first prize; second, Joe Powskey, Hualapai-Hopi; and third, Ben Martinez.

Judges for the contest were: Earl Palmatier, Supervisor of Art, Prince Georges County Schools, Md.; Emil Hrebenach, Supervisor of Art, Montgomery County Schools, Rockville, Md.; Jack Hammond, Assistant to the Executive Secretary, National Art Education Association, and Washington, D.C.

ARROW and BIA officials plan to reprint some of the posters for sale to the public, with the proceeds to go toward scholarships for Indian students.

The winners were brought to Washington March 7 and are scheduled to reach New York March 13 for visits to prominent museums, and art schools.

The nomination of Harrison Loesch, a Montrose, Colo., lawyer specializing in land and water law, to the post of Assistant Secretary for Public Land management in the Department of the Interior was announced today.

The announcement, on behalf of President Nixon, was made by Interior Secretary Walter J. Hickel.

Loesch, 53, has lived in Western Colorado most of his life. As a practicing attorney, he has had extensive experience with Interior Department agencies including the Bureau of Land Management, the National Park Service, the Bureau of Reclamation and the U. S. Geological Survey. He is also intimately familiar with the regulations and procedures of the Taylor Grazing Act.

The new assistant secretary-nominee holds a bachelor of arts degree from Colorado College, and a law degree from Yale University. He has also studied at Denver University Law School.

He was discharged from the U. S. Army as a major in 1945 after serving in the European Theater.

Since 1961 he has worked with the Montrose law firm of Loesch, Kreidler and Durham, and he is a past president of the Colorado Bar Association.

Loesch and his wife, the former Louise Mills, have one son, Jeffrey, 22, in the Peace Corps.

The Department of the Interior has proposed regulations to simplify and standardize procedures for compiling Indian tribal rolls and disposing of enrollment appeals.

The new enrollment regulations would eliminate the need to issue and publish in the Federal Register procedures governing preparation of rolls each time the Secretary of the Interior is directed by Congress to prepare an Indian tribal roll. However, qualifications for enrollment would not be standardized under the proposed regulations.

The proposed new regulations on appeals establish uniform procedures by which persons may appeal exclusions from tribal rolls.

The changes are considered necessary because of the increasing roll-making activity in recent years, particularly in connection with determining eligibility of persons to share in distribution of Indian judgment funds. The proposed appeal procedures, setting forth clearly defined conditions and methods of appeal, should expedite the handling of appeals by the Secretary of the Interior, who is often, by law, designated final arbiter in enrollment disputes.

The proposed new regulations are being published in the Federal Register.

Interested persons may submit written comments, suggestions or objections concerning the proposed regulations to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Department of the Interior, Washington, D. C. 20240, within thirty days of the dates of publication of the notices in the Federal Register.

Secretary of the Interior Walter J. Hickel announced today the creation of a pilot training program for Indian policemen. Training will take place at the Bureau of Indian Affairs Roswell Employment Training Center, operated by the Thiokol Chemical Corp., at Roswell, N.M.

"This program will improve the basic skills of policemen serving Indian areas and thereby increase protection given Indian citizens. It also will help improve efficiency in the wide range of public service activities traditionally performed by police officers," Hickel said.

The first class of 40 will begin the nine-week training program March 2, he said. Trainees will be men with at least six months experience as tribal or Bureau of Indian Affairs policemen who have potential for development as career officers. Thiokol, which has corporate offices in Bristol, Pa., will conduct the program under a $40,000 Bureau of Indian Affairs contract.

"Indian communities deserve and need basic protection under our laws," Hickel said, "and well trained policemen are essential to that job. Further, the policeman is the most visible symbol of government at the local level. How well he performs his job determines in many respects how much trust and confidence a citizen has in his government.

Hickel noted that Thiokol has gained valuable experience in Indian adult education in the operation of the Employment Train­ing Center at Roswell and "this combination of private and Government initiative is an efficient and effective way to meet these pressing needs."

At present there are 550 members of the Indian Police Ser­vice, which consists of Bureau and tribal enforcement officers serving 280,000 Indian people on 83 reservations. On some reservations law enforcement is a state responsibility.

"The scattered populations and rugged terrain on many reservations make it imperative that we have the best trained men using the most modern equipment and techniques, if we are to get the job done properly," Hickel said.

Additional classes may be scheduled after a review of the results of the first session, he said. The new program is the first of its kind to be tried on a nationwide basis by BIA.

Commissioner Philleo Nash summarized the past year's accomplishments of the Bureau of Indian Affairs in a publication released today entitled "Indian Affairs 1964".

Emphasis is upon education and economic development," Nash said in announcing the new publication. "We are striving toward greater Indian participation in their own affairs--activity rather than passivity--with the end goal of maximum self-sufficiency for the Indian population.

"We are not yet at the boasting stage," Nash continued. "Our accomplishments only serve to bring into conspicuous light the social and economic problems that remain. But the Bureau's programs in the past four years--and particularly in the past year--surely make up the advance guard in the war on Indian poverty."

Nash pointed out that the Bureau's efforts are in line with pledges made four years ago to the Indian people. These pledges, he said, included economic aid to depressed areas; increased credit for Indians to help prevent forced sales of land; new housing; greater opportunities for education; expanded vocational training; development of Indian land resources; and greater cooperation between the Federal Government and Indian tribes.

Accomplishments reported in “Indian Affairs 1964" are summarized below. Individual copies of the publication may be obtained through the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Quantity copies may be purchased for 15 cents a copy through the Superintendent of Documents, Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C.

Education: More than half the Bureau's funds went into education--chiefly for teachers' salaries and construction of schools, dormitories and related facilities. Enrollment of Indian children of school age increased 9.4 percent in the school year 1963-64 as compared to the preceding year. The Bureau operated 263 schools, serving 46,000 students from the primary grades through post-secondary technical institutes, and 19 dormitories for approximately 4,100 children attending public schools. Education highlights in 1964 included emphasis on post-secondary technical training in Bureau-operated schools; summer school enrichment programs which served 20,000, and financial aid to approximately 1,300 college youths in 1964.

More than 30,000 adults were enrolled in basic education on the reservations. An additional 2,350 received vocational training in public or private institutions or on-the-job training, all financed by the Bureau. These and another 2,000 were placed in skilled jobs off the reservations.

Housing: For the first time, Public Housing Administration loans became avail<~ able to reservation Indians and 3,200 housing units were approved in 17 States, about half of which are to be built under a cooperative plan whereby the Indian contributes his labor to give him equity. Sixty-three reservations established public housing authorities, and 400 houses were constructed in 1964. Loans: More than $6,700,000 was advanced in new loans for Indian tribes or individuals from the able to reservation Indians and 3,200 housing units were approved in 17 States, about half of which are to be built under a cooperative plan whereby the Indian contributes his labor to give him equity. Sixty-three reservations established public housing authorities, and 400 houses were constructed in 1964.

Loans: More than $6,700,000 was advanced in new loans for Indian tribes or individuals from the Bureau's revolving loan fund in fiscal year ended June 30, 1964. This compared with $5,900,000 in 1963. The availability of Federal funds stimulated tribal investment in the amount of $25,000,000 and private investment of $100,000,000.

Economic Development: Of 51 plants that the Bureau has assisted in locating on or near reservations, 21 began operation in 1964 and negotiations were under way with another 12. Moreover, 75 feasibility studies had been undertaken by FY 1964 to determine economic potentials such as tourism, food processing, lumbering, arts and crafts production, mineral development and soil and water development. Fiscal 1964 showed revenues from oil and gas leases of $66,000,000 as compared to $37,400,000 in the previous years. Stepped up real estate appraisal services by the Bureau resulted in a 22 percent increase from range rentals and a 45 percent increase from agricultural land.

The sale of Indian owned timber reached an all time high in fiscal 1964 with the cutting of 741 million board feet, sold for $11,400,000, creating 700 man-years of employment.

Public Improvements: During the 20-month period ending June 30, 1964, more than 30,000 man-months of Indian employment were created through public works projects on 89 reservations in twenty-one States, costing $21,000,000, and financed through the Public Works Administration. These permitted improvements long deferred because of lack of Bureau funds and included road construction, forest preservation, soil and moisture conservation, recreational site building and construction of community facilities.

Bureau road programs, conducted in 22 States, created substantial employment opportunities for Indians. These programs included maintenance of nearly 16,000 miles of reservation roads and construction on the $1,000,000 Toreva-Winslow road, a major project on the Navajo and Hopi reservations in Arizona. When completed, this road will become a State highway providing quick access to both reservations.