OPA

Secretary of the Interior Manuel Lujan today denied an application by the Santee Sioux Tribe of Nebraska for the Federal Government to take in trust three acres of land in Council Bluffs, Iowa, as the site for an Indian gaming casino.

The tribe in partnership with Harvey's Wagon Wheel, Inc. has proposed a $67 million hotel-convention-gaming complex to be known as "Ohiya" on a 50-acre site in Council Bluffs. The tribe sought trust status for three acres of the property so that it might qualify for a Class III (casino-type) enterprise as defined in the Indian Gaming Regulatory of 1988.

"I have decided to deny the request of the Santee Sioux Tribe of Nebraska to take into trust three acres of land they own in Council Bluffs, Iowa, on which they had planned to build the casino component of the Ohiya project," Lujan said.

The Secretary said he found no fault with the applicants.

"Because the project crosses the Nebraska-Iowa State boundary, the proposed venture could directly compete with the interests of a tribe in Iowa," Lujan said. "Given the location of the project, I am unable to ignore the interests of a tribe in Iowa in favor of those of a tribe in Nebraska."

Secretary of the Interior Don Hodel today announced an FY 1988 budget "Supports the President's goals of providing a better quality life through a stronger, more productive America.

"We have made decisions in the budget that emphasize our goal of maintaining or improving the multitude of Interior agency facilities and services used by the public while continuing to meet the budget limitations under the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act.

"Interior's budget focuses on the protection of our existing resources," Hodel said. "Continued emphasis is given to operation of national parks and to development of energy and mineral resources. Among the several management efficiencies proposed in the budget are major efforts to strengthen enforcement of the surface mining laws, to improve oversight of the Department's revenue collection and regulatory activities, and to provide ready access by the public to our land and mineral records through automation. The budget also highlights significant new initiatives for American Indians and for the completion of water resource projects."

The FY 1988 budget totals $6.3 billion, $1 million less than the current 1987 estimate, and is consistent with this Administration's past budget priorities. To help meet the government-wide Gramm-Rudman-Hollings target for FY 1988 and bring FY 1987 more in line with FY 1986 and the proposed FY 1988 activities, $303 million in rescissions are proposed in FY 1987.

"National parks, recreation areas and other public lands, which will host over 465 million visitors this year, will have operating levels at or above current funding estimates," Hodel said. "The high quality visitor experience which Americans have come to expect will not be allowed to diminish. Many areas actually will see significant improvement. No national parks, wildlife refuges, fish hatcheries, recreation areas or historic sites will be closed or have their operating hours reduced." Legislation was passed in FY 1987, which permitted a one-time increase in park entrance fees and permanent increases in wildlife refuges fees. These in turn allowed increases for operations and maintenance. Permanent authorizing legislation is being proposed for FY 1988 to increase or institute modest entry fees at generated will result in an overall increase in funds for park operations.

Within an overall funding increase for construction of water resource projects by the Bureau of Reclamation, the Administration is proposing that budget resources be focused on completing projects substantially underway or on meeting more critical needs, such as safety of dams. Conversely, funding is limited or postponed for some projects in the early stages of construction. No projects are being abandoned.

"Over the years, there has been a tendency to continue work on more projects than the limited funding would properly support in any single year. This has resulted in construction delays and stretched-out completion dates, making these projects more costly in the long run and inordinately delaying the important benefits they can provide," Hodel said. "This Administration ~ has attempted to provide adequate funding to maintain efficient and cost-effective completion schedules on as many projects as possible and stay within the deficit reduction goals. In FY 1988, funding again will not be sufficient to maintain all projects on schedule, notwithstanding a $98 million increase over the FY 1987 construction level. Consequently, we propose to fund construction projects selectively to complete them on a more efficient schedule and deliver on their promised benefits. We will allocate a larger share of total resources to some projects in order to maintain or accelerate completion dates. Construction funding for others will be correspondingly postponed.

We also are postponing planning studies for projects which have little chance to receive construction funding in the foreseeable future. In la~ years, as funds become available, funding will be applied to resume efficient construction on postponed projects and to renew worthwhile planning studies which have been delayed."

As part of an Administration initiative, revenue of $154 million is estimated from the sale of Bureau of Reclamation loans in FY 1988. The loans to be sold to the private sector include completed loans to irrigation districts and other public agencies for construction of distribution systems on authorized federal reclamation projects and to non - federal agencies for construction of small water resource projects. Another asset proposed for sale is the government's helium refining and distribution facilities operated by the Bureau of Mines in Amarillo, Texas; Satanta, Kansas; and Keyes, Oklahoma. Legislation which authorized federal helium refining and distribution facilities was intended to ensure that federal agency needs for this lightweight gas were met. Today, the United States has a sizable helium industry that has this capability. The government's helium inventory will be retained for federal agency use and the Bureau will retain its helium resource assessment activities. Revenue from the sale is estimated to be $50 million.

Although there will be no budget impact in FY 1988, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) will undertake a series of initiatives to provide incentives and opportunities for self- improvement of both tribes and individuals. Assistant Secretary Ross Swimmer will undertake four major initiatives, including: localizing education decisions and policies to ( promote greater association with local public education systems; promote tribal and individual incentives for welfare reform, such as education and jobs: stimulating economic development through increased job training and , Investment opportunities, and; seeking to control drug and alcohol abuse through emphasis on motivation and rehabilitation. ''Our ultimate goal is to continue to support self-determination and Indian cultural values while the BIA moves from the role of a 'provider' to one of an 'enabler,''' Hodel said.

Funds for the Dingell-Johnson Federal Aid in Fish Restoration Act will increase dramatically, primarily because of revised estimates of motor boat fuel taxes. For FY 1988, the increase will be $33 million to a level of $174 million or 457 percent of the FY 1985 level. ''The increase in program responsibilities is not supportable in view of the amount of the increase in just three years since FY 85, particularly when compared to maintenance or modest increases in surrounding programs," Hodel said. The budget calls for a one-time transfer of $25 million of this additional new money into the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's basic operating account for program responsibilities related to wildlife and fisheries. The transfer will still allow a substantial increase in funds to states for sport fishery restoration.

Included in the budget is an increase for additional park police and improved facilities and equipment for enforcement personnel. Continued high priority also is given for the investigation and research of environmental contaminants and their impact on wildlife and water resources.

While funds will be available in FY 1988 for the acquisition of lands, other land acquisition funding would be limited to emergency situations. Also consistent with past budgets proposed by this Administration, reduced construction expenditures are proposed for parks, wildlife refuges and Indian reservations although funding is included for high priority dam safety projects. No funds are requested for state grants for recreation and historic preservation programs, endangered species, and anadromous fish.

The budget proposes that the costs of administering federal mineral leasing programs be shared equally with the states before receipt payments are made \o them. ''The philosophy of sharing with the states is sound, but placing the entire cost of collection on one party, the federal government, is not," Hodel said. Under current law, states receive 50 percent (Alaska - 90 percent), pf all receipts derived from minerals on public lands without incurring any of the costs of producing these receipts. Full funding is proposed in The Bureau of Land Management for payments in lieu of taxes to states and counties.

The Interior Department is one of the federal government's largest producers of revenue. Total receipts in FY 1988 are estimated to be $6.5 billion, of which $3.09 billion will come from mineral leasing on the Outer Continental, Shelf and $1.05 billion from mineral leasing onshore.

Interior Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Ross Swimmer said today the President's fiscal year 1988 budget request of $985 million for the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) will enable the Bureau to carry out its responsibilities to the Indian people of this country and still hold the line against increased deficit spending.

The FY 1988 budget request for the main operating account, Operation of Indian Programs, totals $910.2 million, about $11 million less than the current 1987 estimate or about a one percent reduction.

With the budget request, the Bureau is introducing a series of initiatives to "provide incentives and opportunities for self-improvement of both tribes and individual Indians,'' Swimmer said. "All of the initiatives will strengthen the tribes, enhance self-determination, and provide greater opportunity for preservation of Indian culture. This will move the BIA away from the role of 'provider' to the appropriate role of 'enabler'."

The four major initiatives include: moving education away from Bureau control to local communities; an economic self-assistance/self-help program that will reform the general assistance grant program; increased assistance to small tribes through revenue sharing, and; control of drug and alcohol abuse through motivation and rehabilitation.

"These new initiatives are not budget driven, but we are introducing them in the budget process so that we will have the remainder of the current fiscal year to think about them and formulate them into final policy after input from the tribes and from Congress," Swimmer said. "Comments from the tribes and the Congressional hearing process will further shape these programs."

Swimmer said the education initiatives focus on the quality of education for Indian children and propose moving the management of BIA schools to the tribal or state school system. The Bureau has simply not been doing a good job of educating Indian children," Swimmer said. "Despite the fact that the Bureau spends more per student in its schools than public and private schools, test scores by McGraw-Hill reveal that by the time BIA students reach the 12th grade, they are over three years below the national norm. He said that there is need to get away from a system that permits as many as five separate school systems on a reservation to vie for Indian student enrollment and where students move from BIA, to tribal, to public, private and even to off-reservation boarding schools. "Common sense suggests that such a system is not conducive to quality education," he added. The Bureau operates or contracts for the operation of 181 schools in 23 states.

In its post-secondary schools, Haskell Indian Junior College, Lawrence, Kansas; Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute, Albuquerque, H.K., and; Institute of American Indian Arts, Santa Fe, N.M., the Bureau will require students to pay a tuition of approximately $850. Students currently not paying any tuition are eligible for all U.S. Department of Education campus-based financial aid as well as BIA higher education grants. In the higher education area, BIA will develop a program in which recipients of higher education scholarships for post-graduate studies will be required to serve in either the BIA or their tribe after graduation in order to receive college grants. Such a "service obligation" requirement has worked successfully for the Indian Health Service.

Another initiative proposes implementation of an economic self-assistance/self-help program that requires able-bodied recipients of general assistance payments to work or enter job training programs to receive their grants. "We anticipate that most of the jobs or training programs would be in public service, building and repairing homes, laying water lines, sewers, and other needed services on the reservation,•• Swimmer said. The programs would be similar to the Tribal Work Experience Program (TWEP) currently used by some tribes. Recipients would receive some pay for their work or training in addition to their general assistance grant and would eventually leave the "welfare" rolls. Tribes would have an incentive for .putting their members in paying jobs by receiving a share of the savings achieved due to a decreasing percentage of grants paid out in general assistance.

Swimmer said that the initiative would combine the general assistance program ($66 million in 1987); employment assistance ($26 million); and, housing improvement program (about $16 million). The basic mission of the three programs would not change, but would be redirected to encourage and enable self-assistance by Indian individuals.

Small tribes of from 150 to 1,500 members would receive direct funding to operate their tribal governments under another initiative. The current small tribes program funded in FY 87 at $2.8 million would be raised in FY 88 to $6.8 million with expanded criteria of eligibility and purpose.

Continued efforts will be made to reduce the use of drugs and alcohol by Indians, with renewed emphasis on motivation and rehabilitation programs, especially through school counseling and construction or rehabilitation of emergency shelters. Nationally operated programs already proven effective against alcohol and drug abuse will be implemented on the reservations through joint efforts of the BIA and the Indian Health Service.

NOTE: Re attached budget comparison tables showing FY 87 and 88 budget figures. A FY 87 proposal for a single tribe/agency line item was not implemented at the direction of Congress. In FY .1988, five separate sub-activities have been established for requesting tribe/agency funding. As a result, comparisons between the individual line items in the 1988 budget request and the 1987 appropriation are generally meaningless. Major differences in the 1988 request generally reflect the tribe/agency line changes.

Bureau of Indian Affairs

1988 Budget Initiatives

The following is a summary and background on several of the BIA's major 1988 budget initiatives:

Indian Education

Elementary and Secondary Schools:

• In order to offer Indian students a better quality of education, the BIA in 1988 will expand the use of alternative delivery systems for federally funded Indian schools. The BIA proposes to increase the use of contracting and cooperative agreements with tribal governments and public school systems.
• Federal funding will remain near the 1987 level for schools that enter into cooperative agreements with state education or into self-determination contracts with tribal governments. The Bureau was allocated $153.8 million in fiscal year 1987 to operate its elementary and secondary schools. In 1988 the Bureau is requesting $163.1 million.
• The BIA will retain oversight to ensure that cultural and traditional opportunities continue and to monitor academic progress. Federal responsibility will be enhanced rather than ended.
• Indians in public schools oftentimes score higher in basic skills tests than Indians in BIA schools. In New Mexico, for example, Indian students in public schools out perform Indians in BIA schools at every grade level.
• Approximately 40,000 or ten percent of all Indian children attend the BIA's 181 schools. The education they receive there oftentimes is alarmingly substandard. In some states, eighth graders in public schools test a full year ahead of BIA students. By the time BIA students reach the 12th grade they test on average at the eighth grade level, according to McGraw-Hill test scores. Nevertheless, the Bureau spends more per student than the nation's public school systems. Despite that, most BIA elementary and secondary schools are not in compliance with academic standards set by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
• A 1986 field study conducted by the Edwin Gould Foundation for Children reported that "the quality of education on the reservation is poor" and "school administration is badly fragmented." There can be as many as four school systems on one small reservation, according to the report. BIA, public, private and contracted schools cause a duplication of services.
• "Despite improving scores from 1984 in every area of achievement, BIA students in grades 1-12 performed substantially below the national norms in reading, language and mathematics," according to McGraw-Hill researchers
• While 66.6 percent of all students in the United States graduate high schools, only 48 percent of the Indian population graduated, according to the 1980 Census. Nationwide, 16.2 percent of all students graduated college in 1980 while only 7.7 percent of the Indian population graduated.
• Except for minor adjustments in the elementary and secondary school budget, this initiative is revenue-neutral.

Higher Education:

• The Bureau of Indian Affairs in 1988 proposes to develop a program in which recipients of BIA graduate scholarships will be required after graduation to serve in either the Bureau or a tribe in order to receive college grants.
• A "service obligation" requirement has worked successfully for the Indian Health Services in the Department of Health and Human Services.
• More than 250 Indian graduate students receive funding each year through the BIA's special higher education program. Those students fall under these categories: 73 percent, master's degrees; 22 percent, doctorates; and five percent, certificates. Most are in the priority fields of health, business, education, natural resources and engineering.

Post-Secondary Schools:

• The Bureau of Indian Affairs proposes in 1988 to require students attending the BIA's three post-secondary schools to pay a tuition. Approximately 1,400 students attend the BIA-run Haskell Indian Junior College, Kansas; Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute, New Mexico; and the Institute of American Indian Arts.
• Students, who currently pay no tuition, will be required to pay approximately $850 per year. They are eligible for all U.S. Department of Education, campus-based financial aid as well as BIA higher education grants.
• The BIA spends $12.2 million to operate the three schools.

Self-Assistance

• The Bureau of Indian Affairs in 1988 proposes to implement an economic self-assistance program that will require able-bodied recipients of BIA general assistance payments to work or train in order to receive their grants. This initiative relies heavily on the concept of self-help, in which local residents work in their own communities on projects like building waterlines, housing and other needs.
• The plan coordinates three BIA programs -- General Assistance, which paid more than $66 million last year to 70,500 low-income Indians; Employment Assistance, a $26 million program designed to provide job training; and the Housing Improvement Program, which renovates sub-standard Indian homes. By coordinating these efforts, the self-assistance program opens a workforce in Indian Country that will continue to receive a check while working or training in the private sector as well as in self-help community projects.
• The short term goal of this initiative is to move general assistance recipients from unproductive roles to productive ones. The long-term goal is move recipients from the welfare roles to nonsubsidized payrolls.
• Unemployment oftentimes is the key to many of the socio-economic problems Indians face today. Alcoholism, which is responsible for 30 percent of the deaths per 100,000 Indians, is prevalent in areas of high unemployment. Nearly 30 percent of all Indians live below the poverty level. Indian unemployment, which stood at 13 percent nationwide in 1980, is the highest of any other race.

Tribal Government Assistance

• Recognizing the special needs of tribal governments, the Bureau of Indian Affairs proposes to establish Tribal Government Assistance, a program that will award revenue sharing grants to small tribes with populations between 150 and 1,500. These grants will enable tribal governments to maintain the basic management functions necessary to their survival.
• Tribal Government Assistance also will provide specialized technical assistance to any tribe whose ability to govern is threatened by indebtedness and other financial management problems.
• Tribal Government Assistance replaces and strengthens the BIA's "Small Tribes Initiative," which in 1987 offered $2.8 million to troubled tribes. In 1988 the BIA requests $6.8 million to better enable tribal governments to carryout their administrative responsibilities

Equity Funding

• The Fiscal Year 1988 budget request includes $700,000 to conduct a special study that will identify criteria and methods for determining equity in the allocation of BIA funding to tribal governments. Approximately $300 million in BIA funding currently goes directly to tribal governments.
• Tribes and other groups have expressed concern about the method by which the Bureau establishes funding for each tribe. The BIA has received numerous recommendations, most of which call for more "equity" in Bureau allocations.
• A federal court in 1980 required the Indian Health Service to develop an equity funding method.
• The Bureau of Indian Affairs is committed to maintaining a government-to-government, self-determination relationship with tribal governments. Therefore, federal funding levels should be distributed among the tribes based upon a rational and equitable method.
• BIA funding for tribes has evolved through arbitrary executive and legislative directions.
• The analysis envisioned for this initiative must review each BIA program in sufficient detail to determine the many factors leading to an equitable formula for resource allocation.

Improving Trusteeship

• In order to raise the quality and standard of trust responsibility, the BIA in 1988 will increase internal modernization of trust programs and systems and acquire private sector services that enhance the Bureau's trustee capabilities. To accomplish this, the BIA proposes the following initiatives:
• Establish agricultural technical assistance centers - Private sector contractors will offer technical assistance to tribes and individual Indians in the extension areas of agribusiness, soil conservation and range management.
• Offer forestry marketing assistance - Approximately six million commercial acres of forests held in trust make Indian umber owners a potential economic force in the timber and fiber industries. In order to maximize profits and better manage forest assets, the BIA will offer quality technical assistance from the private sector to improve marketing and sales incomes.
• Increase energy and mineral development opportunities - The BIA will emphasize offering contracts for energy and mineral development directly to Indian tribes. In the past, the BIA has conducted mineral inventory and assessment studies on its own. This will allow tribes locally to determine what opportunities exist and which ones to pursue.

Distribution of Bureau and Tribally-Contracted Schools by State

The following is a break down by state of BIA-funded schools run by either the Bureau or contracted by a tribal government:

Ross Swimmer, the Interior department's assistant secretary for Indian affairs, told tribal leaders, state officials and his own employees in New Mexico and Arizona that the Bureau of Indian Affairs is looking for a new way of doing business.

Swimmer began a four day speaking tour Jan. 12 in the two states to explain several major initiatives being proposed in the BIA's 1988 budget request.

The assistant secretary met on Jan. 12 in Albuquerque with the All Indian Pueblo council and several other New Mexico tribes. He met later in the day with New Mexico Governor Garrey Carruthers in Santa Fe. Swimmer also discussed his plans with the editorial boards of the Albuquerque Journal and The New Mexican newspaper.

Swimmer attended the Jan. 13 inauguration of Navajo Chairman Peter MacDonald in Window Rock, AZ, briefed BIA employees in the Navajo area office, toured the Navajo Times Today and met in Phoenix with tribal leaders from Arizona, Nevada and Utah.

Swimmer spoke on Jan. 14 to BIA employees in the Phoenix area office and met with Arizona Governor Evan Mecham and state education officials.

The BIA, which educates only about 10 percent of the nation's Indian children, is not providing the quality of education available in local systems like the public schools and oftentimes duplicates existing educational facilities, according to Swimmer.

Ross Swimmer, the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs, has sent Indian tribes, organizations and Congressional leaders a nine-page paper that provides answers to 48 of the most commonly asked questions concerning a contract with Mellon Bank of Pittsburgh for trust fund services.

In an attached letter, Swimmer said he or his representative will be visiting each of the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ (BIA) 12 area offices to meet with tribes and employees about trust fund changes.

In October of last year the U.S. Department of Treasury announced the selection of Mellon from a competition with other financial institutions to provide depository, accounting and investment services for the $1.7 billion the BIA holds in trust for tribes and individual Indians. The BIA is working with the Treasury Department to finalize a contract with the Mellon Bank.

Mellon was founded in 1869 and is the 12th largest bank in the nation. Its trust department is the third largest in the country and it does business in all 50 states.

Studies by government and private accountants dating back to 1982 have recommended improvements in the trust fund management program. Swimmer, who took office in December of 1985, moved quickly to use private sector information on services available that could assist the BIA in making needed improvements.

"Many of the benefits from the contract will be in the form of (improved) accounting and quicker investment of trust collections," the question and answer paper says. "BIA employees will have a direct access to information about collections, deposits, investments and earnings by account on a daily basis.

"Tribes and individual Indians also will benefit from immediate access to account information and improved reporting both in terms of quality and timeliness."

The contract will be for three years with an option to renew for two additional years. It is expected to cost around $4 million annually.

"Mellon's proposal of approximately $4 million is about what we spend (on trust fund services) but less than what it would cost the BIA to make the kind of improvements Kellon will provide," Swimmer told the United South and Eastern Tribes in Washington. D.C. earlier this month.

Swimmer said it is unlikely that many BIA employees will lose their jobs as a result of the contract. He said many of the employees affected can be absorbed within the Bureau during the contract's two year implementation and there will be a need for clerks at each BIA agency office as well as central office personnel to monitor the contract. Any reduction in force will be through attrition of jobs.

The Billings Area Office will be used as the test site for contract implementation. Swimmer told USET it will be up to two years before the contract is implemented fully at every area.

Swimmer discussed the trust fund improvements with tribal leaders in Portland Feb. 12 and in Billings Feb. 13. He will speak with Oklahoma tribes Feb. 27 and will be in Phoenix the first week of March.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) announced today that it would reopen competition by conducting a new full-scale procurement for financial trust services to strengthen internal management and administration of more than $1.7 billion of Indian trust funds.

"This will give Indian tribes a chance for greater input on this important decision," said Ross Swimmer, Interior's Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs. "Many tribes have indicated a strong interest, and have requested additional consultation. By consulting the tribes in conjunction with a full competition, we hope to increase understanding and secure the best possible contract."

Swimmer said that he is drafting a letter to the chairman of all Indian tribes to discuss the anticipated procurement and how their concerns will be covered.

"BIA will prepare a new request for proposals (RFP) ensuring full and open competition among financial institutions at large through the regular procurement process," he said. "We will develop a new proposal to meet the needs of the BIA which will include the same components that were in our original proposal -- collection, accounting and investment services," he said. "In addition, we will develop a comprehensive consultation plan for publication in the Federal Register that informs and seeks input from tribes and individuals with monies invested in the trust fund."

BIA announced last October that BIA and the U.S. Treasury Department had selected Mellon Bank of Pittsburgh from among six competing banks already providing "lock box" services to Treasury to handle the Indian trust fund account. A three-party agreement had been anticipated among BIA, Treasury and Mellon. At the time, it was believed that the accounting and investment services would simply be enhancements to the already existing "lock box" arrangements between Treasury and the banks. Recently, however, Treasury officials became concerned about certain technical aspects of the competition, including the limitation of competition to Treasury's six primary depositories.

"Although we will not be able to proceed with the proposed contract, we very much appreciate the interest and cooperation of Mellon Bank officials," Swimmer said. "Mellon is a highly professional financial institution and we hope it will continue its interest in assisting the BIA in improving its trust fund management.

"Numerous reports from Congress and the Department of Interior have pointed out the deficiencies of our system and recommended that we obtain help in administering our trusteeship from the private sector, however, until then we have no choice but to continue the use of existing internal systems until a contract is signed," the Assistant Secretary pointed out. "I think it is important that tribes and individuals understand that it is not practical to develop an in-house computer system and acquire full-time money managers. The time and cost of doing so would be prohibitive."

A Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) investment that created three "business opportunity centers" last September is paying off with real jobs for Indian people.

The Rensselaerville Institute of Rensselaerville, N.Y., one of the three new centers, has been working with tribes and individual Indian entrepreneurs across the country. It has created and saved a total of 84 jobs.

"Our focus for these centers is on creating jobs," said Ross Swimmer, the Interior Department's assistant secretary for Indian affairs and director of the BIA. "We certainly encourage major industrial development but I think it's the jobs created by individual entrepreneurs and small businesses that will add up to success for Indian Country."

Swimmer announced last fall that the BIA had awarded $250,000 contracts to three organizations that proposed to create 1,081 jobs over a three year period. In addition to Rensselaerville, those centers are the Fairbanks Native Association in Alaska and the United Indian Development Association (UIDA) in California.

Their method is to link the resources of Indian Country with the needs of industry.

That approach has worked on both the Seneca Nation's Cattaraugus Reservation and the St. Regis Mohawk Reservation in upstate New York.

Rensselaerville had been meeting with managers at Eastman Kodak Company and learned that a number of small contracts were available through the company for skilled craftsmen.

David Gordon, executive director of the business opportunity center, contacted the Seneca Nation and found that a BIA vocational training program was nearing the completion of classes and 13 tribal members with metal working skills would be out of a job.

The business opportunity center brought Kodak and the Seneca Nation together to sign a contract in which the Tribe will hire the 13 members to refurbish metal storage bins, which require sand blasting, welding and painting skills. There is a potential for nearly 25 jobs.

"Their work is very good," said Kodak's Dennis W. Zink, the investment recovery manager in the manufacturing resources division. "It meets company needs, it helps Kodak, and I'm certainly pleased that this relationship is helping create jobs for these highly-skilled people."

Bob Hoag, president of the Seneca Nation, also is pleased with the results and looks forward to future successes.

"This gave us an opportunity to keep the people going, and able to subsidize themselves. That's the name of the game. There is a lot more to be done. It’s strictly up to us to prove we can compete in the outside world, Hoag said.

The BIA-funded opportunity center did much the same thing on the St. Regis Mohawk Reservation, where the tribe had trained five wood workers that needed jobs.

The Mohawk tribe now is employing five tribal members to build precision wood parts for Kodak.

The students were unemployed, going through training and had no place to go," said Gordon. This was a case where we found a training program that was about to end and brought jobs to the people that were consistent with the skills they had learned."

In New Mexico, Rensselaerville conducted an extensive study of the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center in Albuquerque. The center was in the process of foreclosure.

Gordon, working with local BIA credit officials, recently recommended a comprehensive management plan that includes management reform, consolidation of debt and BIA loan guarantees for property renovation.

Those recommendations could save up to 66 jobs, according to the cultural center's Chief Executive Officer, George Wickett.

He said the BIA stepped forward last fall to make an interim loan that kept the center open until a complete business plan could be written. Rensselaerville's business opportunity center worked with Wickett to produce the plan.

It took an outside professional to take a fresh look at our project. It was very instrumental to our staying open," said Wickett.

More than 700 Indian tribes, organizations and individuals have been invited to nominate individuals to serve as voting members on the Board of Trustees of the newly-established Institute of American Indian and Alaska Native Culture and Arts Development, a successor to the current Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Interior’s Assistant Secretary for Indian Affair's Ross Swimmer, soliciting nominations on behalf of President Reagan, said the 13 voting members of the board will be appointed by the President subject to confirmation by the U.S. Senate. The authorizing legislation (Title XV, P.L, 99-498) signed by the President last year' requires that the board be selected “from among individuals from private life who are Indians, or other individuals, widely recognized in the field of Indian art and culture and who represent diverse political views.” The legislation also directs that due consideration be given to the appointment of individuals who will provide appropriate regional and tribal representation on the board and that the majority of member's be Indians."

“Nominations are being sought from a wide range of interested individuals and organizations,” Swimmer said. "All nominations will receive due consideration by a select screening committee which I will appoint."

Four of the 13 voting members of the board will be appointed for two-year terms of office; four for four-year terms; and five for six-year terms, as determined by the drawing of lots during the first meeting of the board. In addition, the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President Pro-Tempore of the Senate will appoint four of the six nonvoting members of the board. The president of the Institute and the president of the student body will make up the other two nonvoting members.

Requests for nomination forms should be addressed to: Assistant Secretary - Indian Affairs, ATTN: Pat Keyes, IAIA Nominations, Mail stop 4160-MIB, 18th and C Sts. NW, Washington, D.C. 20240. Nominations must be postmarked by April 16.

Secretary of the Interior Don Hodel and Health and Human Services Secretary Otis Bowen, M.D., have signed a memorandum of agreement to coordinate implementation of the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986. A portion of the law is devoted to the prevention and treatment of alcohol and substance abuse among American Indians and Alaska Natives.

“This is the first step in a unified, coordinated approach to fight this devastating problem," Hodel said. "This Administration has demonstrated its commitment to achieving sobriety throughout America. Coordination of resources and expertise between our departments is a positive move in that direction.” “The IHS and BIA recognize alcohol and substance abuse as a disease which is both preventable and treatable," Bowen said.

"The IHS and the BIA recognize chemical dependency as a major serious health and social problem affecting the individual, family and tribe.”

The agreement coordinates the programs in the Interior Department's Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and HHS' Indian Health Service (IHS), which were appropriated $45 million in FY 1987 for prevention, intervention, treatment and follow-up aimed at stopping substance abuse.

The act points out that Indians between ages 15-24 are twice as likely as the general population to die in automobile accidents, more than 75 percent of which are alcohol-related. It also notes that four of the top 10 causes of death among Indians stem from alcohol and drug-related injuries.

Interior's Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs, Ross Swimmer, said the BIA program has one goal -- sobriety.

The agreement identifies a number of short-term responsibilities required by the law. The two agencies will publish a newsletter, fund community training, identify available substance abuse resources and programs, determine the scope of the problem in Indian Country, set standards for establishing and opening emergency shelters, publish an annual comprehensive report for tribes, compile data on child abuse, develop curriculum on substance abuse prevention for Indian students, provide crisis intervention at BIA schools and develop a model juvenile code.

The BIA will be working with tribes as they develop tribal action plans that design local solutions to alcohol and substance abuse in Indian Country.

The MOA was published in the Federal Register March 26 and will be mailed to all federally-recognized Indian tribes.

The Interior Department's Bureau of Indian affairs today recommended that the Agriculture Department provide emergency grain to feed cattle on the Tohono O'Odham Reservation in Arizona, where overstocking has brought about emergency conditions requiring a supplemental food supply.

The BIA recommended that the Agriculture Department's Agriculture stabilization and Conservation service (ASCS) provide only the grain necessary to feed the carrying capacity of the reservation. The BIA estimates that the reservation is 158 percent overstocked and has stipulated as part of its approval that the tribe prepare a management plan on how it will reduce livestock.

“Although we are recommending some federal relief, we cannot condone overstocking." said Hazel Elbert, the BIA's acting assistant secretary. "We are forwarding a request to the Agriculture Department for grain to feed the carrying capacity but we also are asking the tribe to develop a plan to ensure this doesn’t happen again.”

The tribe is now grazing about 26,300 head of livestock, while the reservation's capacity is only 10,550. Reports indicate as many as 1,000 head have died of starvation this summer.

The BIA, which is the federal government's branch concerned solely with Indian affairs, merely processes ASCS requests for relief and final approval comes from the Agriculture Department.