Final approval of an extensive revision of the Federal regulations on the management of Indian forest lands was announced today by the Department of the Interior.
Among other changes, the new rules provide a system of appeal to the Secretary of the Interior from decisions made by the Bureau of Indian Affairs on timber sales contracts.
Notice of intention to revise the regulations was published in the Federal Register on November 27, 1958. In the period which followed, the Department’s Bureau of Indian Affairs received comments and recommendations from four representatives of Indian tribal groups, from the Western Pine Association, and from its own Area Office at Portland Oregon.
Several of the recommendations received were adopted and incorporated in the finally approved revision of the regulations. The most important of these provides that if an appeal is made to the Secretary by either party to a timber sales contract, the other party will be notified so that he can protect his interests.
In addition, the new regulations contain features carried over from the proposed version as published last November. Among the more important are a provision making it easier for an Indian to cut and sell timber from his own land and a new definition of the kinds of Indian lands that must be managed so as to produce a sustained yield of timber.
