Past News Items

Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall will meet in Washington, D. C., May 24 with representatives of several major electronics companies to explore ways of expanding industrial job opportunities for American Indians.

Mr. Udall said the meeting is the first step in an all-out drive to spur large-scale commercial activity in Indian areas.

Warren W. Frebel, Vice President and Director of Purchasing for the Magnavox Company, will serve as chairman of the meeting.

"SIPAPU" B. drama of authentic American Indian tales, dances and chants, will be presented at the Carter Barron Amphitheatre in Washington, D. C., June 1, 3, 4 and 5 at 8:30 each evening. The show will include a cast of 75 performers representing 31 Indian tribes from virtually all over the country. The drama is sponsored by the Center for Arts of Indian America.

Travelers who are planning a trip to Washington, D. C., next month, can add an Indian Dance Festival to their itinerary. The Department of the Interior's Center for Indian Arts in America will stage a performing arts program made up entirely of Indians and scheduled for Carter Barron Amphitheatre on June 1, 3, 4 and 5. It will be produced by the staff and students of the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, and includes 75 performers representing 31 Indian tribes from all over the United States.

Responsibility for the administration of the Federal Water Pollution Control program was transferred today to the Department of the Interior from the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare.

Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall began immediately to exercise his new authority by issuing guidelines to the States for the setting of water quality standards on the Nation's interstate waters.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs today announced the award of a $161,960 contract for road improvement on the Warm Springs Reservation in Oregon. The reservation was among those hard-hit by floods in 1965 which washed away several accesses to Indian communities.

Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall today urged the tens of millions of visitors who will enjoy Interior-administered recreation areas this year under the “Discover America" slogan to "discover, also, that safe travel begins with the traveler."

Secretary Udall estimated that a record high of approximately 185,000,000 visitor-days of use will be recorded in areas managed by the National Park Service, the Bureau of Land Management, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Bureau of Reclamation. The 1965 total was about 173 million.

INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITION FOR BIA TEACHER--Mrs. Iva Kingsley, the academic head of the Bureau of Indian Affairs School at Kayenta, Ariz., was recently honored as an Outstanding World Educator. The award was presented by the Society of International Educators, headquartered in London, and recognizes Mrs. Kingsleys skilled service in elementary education. Mrs. Kingsley has been a Bureau teacher for the past 26 years, with the exception of three years spent in teaching military dependent children at Flagstaff, Ariz.

The war on poverty, and our strivings toward a Great Society, have brought the American Indian people into the forefront of the national conscience. There are organizations, such as the Indian Rights Association, which have for years plugged away in behalf of reservation Indians, but the voices have been like whispers under the din of other issues. The voice of the Indian people themselves has not yet been raised in one chorus, although there are signs that this is happening now.

I have chosen to discuss two subjects today - - Indian development and the development of the natural resources of the West.

It would be an untoward event if any Secretary of the Interior appeared before "an assembled group of Western Governors and did not discuss natural resources. It is, on the other hand, a rare occasion when any Secretary does discuss the future of our Indian people with a gathering of Governors. However, the time has come for all of us to face up to the failure of many of our Indian programs, and I propose that we confront them candidly here today.

The Department of the Interior today announced the award of a $3,859,000 contract for construction of a new 18-classroom school facility at Sanostee, on the Navajo Reservation in New Mexico.