OPA

The National Community Christmas Tree for 1965 which will be erected in the Ellipse, just south of the White House in Washington, is being donated by the White Mountain Apache Indians from the Fort Apache Reservation near White River, Arizona, Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall announced today.

Secretary Udall added that this marks the first time an American Indian Tribal Council has provided a Christmas Tree for the Pageant of Peace ceremony, and the first tree from the state of Arizona tor this pageant.

The tree will be selected by Lester Oliver, chairman of the White Mountain Apache Tribal Council, from three specimens of Engelmann and Colorado blue spruce. These majestic trees tower to heights of 60 or more feet on the higher elevations - above 8,000 feet - in the 1,600,000 acre Apache Reservation.

Following its erection on the Ellipse, the tree will be decorated with thousands of colored bulbs and ornaments by National Park Service personnel.

The National Community Christmas Tree Ceremony has been an annual event in Washington since 1923. In 1954, the Christmas Pageant of Peace, Inc., was organized and the scope of the National Community Christmas Tree Ceremony was expanded to emphasize the desire of this nation and other nations to find peace through the spirit and meaning of Christmas.

The President’s Christmas Message given at the tree lighting ceremony is broadcast throughout the Nation, and by the Voice of America to remote areas of the world.

Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall today announced the appointment of John O. Crow, Deputy Commissioner of Indian Affairs, as Assistant Director of the Bureau of Land Management for lands and minerals.

Secretary Udall also announced that Robert L. Bennett, Area Director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Alaska, would be transferred to Washington as acting Deputy Commissioner of Indian Affairs, and Luther T. Hoffman, now assistant director of the Bureau of Land Management, would undertake a special assignment in the Office of the Secretary involving the leasing and management program of mineral resources on the continental shelf, with coordination and development of a long-range leasing program a major responsibility.

The changes will become effective November 1.

"These new assignments, all involving career veterans of the Department with demonstrated ability, are designed to strengthen execution of the Department's programs," Secretary Udall said.

“Mr. Crow's extensive experience in handling land and mineral matters in the Bureau of Indian Affairs will be invaluable in advancing similar programs in the Bureau of Land Management. Mr. Bennett brings a distinguished record of achievement to his new assignment and Mr. Hoffman is uniquely qualified to make an over -all review of all aspects of the Department's important program for leasing of mineral resources on the continental shelf."

Crow, a Cherokee Indian and a veteran of 32 years' service with the Indian Bureau, was appointed Deputy Commissioner of Indian Affairs in August 1961. A native of Salem, Mo., Crow first joined the Bureau as a clerical worker at the Fort Totten Agency in North Dakota in 1933. After serving in increasingly responsible positions of several Indian agencies, he became chief of the Bureau's realty branch in 1960.

Bennett is a veteran of 29 years' service with the Bureau of Indian Affairs. He was named Area Director of the Bureau in Juneau, Alaska, in December 1961. An Oneida Indian and a native of Wisconsin, Bennett served as assistant area director at the Bureau's office at Aberdeen, South Dakota, from 1958 to 1961. He first came with the Bureau in 1933 and served in Unitah and Ouray, Navajo, and Consolidated Ute Agencies, and in the Washington headquarters office. A 1931 graduate of Haskell Institute, Lawrence, Kansas, Bennett holds a law degree from Southeastern University, Washington, D. C.

Hoffman has been with the Federal Government for 29 years. He was Assistant and Acting Superintendent of Navajos for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, a Project Director with the War Relocation Authority, and since 1948 has been with the Bureau of Land Management, first as regional administrator, and Management, first as regional administrator in California, as California State Supervisor in Sacramento and in 1955 as Eastern States Supervisor in Washington, D. C. He became the assistant director for lands and minerals for BLM in 1961, since which time he has been the Bureau's responsible officer for all outer continental shelf leasing.

Three Alaskan Eskimos have set out to prove that reindeer have other uses than pulling Santa's sleigh. They have joined the ever-growing number of Alaskan "reindeer cowboys" who manage the animals as livestock--a project encouraged by the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs to spur the Alaskan economy.

This month, as weather permits, the Bureau will ship some 200 head from its Nunivak Island herd by Air National Guard planes to Togiak--a distance of about 225 miles. From there, the reindeer will be transferred by boat to nearby Hagemeister Island in Bristol Bay.

The reindeer are furnished by BIA as a loan, to be paid back in reindeer as the herd increases. The Eskimos have leased grazing rights on the island from Interior's Bureau of Land Management, who also furnished a model management plan for the three operators to follow. According to the plan, the animals will be culled carefully to build a strong herd, and the range will be protected from overgrazing. Fencing will be necessary on one neck of the island, officials said, because animals could escape to the mainland during certain low-water periods.

The two agencies and specialties from the University of Alaska will follow the project closely and gather data for technical studies. After the herd is stabilized, the meat will be sold in Togiak and other nearby villages. Surplus animals will enter the usual commercial channels.

This is the latest move by BIA it its struggle to rebuild Alaska’s reindeer industry, which until 1952 was heading for its last roundup. Not a native of Alaska, the reindeer was introduced from Siberia in the 1890’s as an extra source of meat for the Eskimos. Commercial ventures outside Alaska had killed most of the whales and walrus, and the Eskimo was in danger of starving to death.

The animals thrived for many years. By 1936 there were 600,000 head, but poor “open range” management of the herds soon took its toll. With no knowledge of husbandry, the natives slaughtered whenever they needed meat and hides, giving no attention to perfecting breeds. Forage diminished from overuse and wolves preyed on unprotected herds, particularly during the walrus season when Eskimos abandoned care of the herds in favor of the traditional walrus hunt. Left untended, reindeer became wild and wandered off with migrating herds of caribou. By 1952, the count was down 19,000.

In that year, encouraged by success of Scandinavian countries in the breeding and raising of reindeer as full-fledged industry, BIA began to promote proper management of the animals in Alaska. Goals are far from sight even today, but the reindeer population has more than doubled in the past 13 years.

The Bureau of Land Management has aided the growing industry by issuing 14 free grazing permits covering 8.5 million acres of tundra range on public domain lands. By law, only Alaska Natives can own the animals and there is no open hunting season on them. They are considered livestock, not big game.

The Hagemeister Island project is very important, BIA points out, for many similar projects are hinging on its success. If the fawning season is productive next year—they’ll know by June--other Eskimos will be willing to try starting herds for themselves.

"The odds are on our side," says Wallace Craig, area field office representative for BIA. "The range has a good growth of lichens and sedges-- the reindeer’s basic food--one of the operators has had experience managing reindeer, and Hagemeister has no caribou."

In addition to its herd on Nunivak Island, BIA operates a processing plant and is pursuing new markets for the meat, considered by many a gourmet I s delight. The largest existing markets are in Northern Alaska, primarily in the Nome, Kotzebue, and Bethel areas. Potential markets, however, lie on the Seward Peninsula and the coastal strip south to the Bristol Bay area-- and in the lower 48 States.

BIA leaders realize the uphill struggle ahead in attaining full acceptance of "Alaska venison” as a staple item on butcher counters. In the first place, there is the association with Santa Claus, placing reindeer in the same category as the family’s pet rabbit. But there are other obstacles, including high shipping costs to the lower 48 States.

It is hoped, too, that as Eskimos learn husbandry practices they will be able to control the warble problem. This parasite, which eats into the animal's hide, must be controlled before the Eskimo can build any kind of hide industry in Alaska.

If the market problems can be solved, Alaska and her natives stand to profit from a sizeable new industry. Enjoying a present market for some 480,000 pounds of meat, the industry potential is almost three times as great.

Even at 45 cents per pound, this would amount to a $5 million industry--and that isn't lichen and sedge.

SANTA FE INSTITUTE WORK TO BE SHOWN

The Riverside Museum in New York City, famed for its sponsorship of emerging talent and important art trends, has scheduled a showing of “Young American Indian Artists" November 14, 1965 through January 16, 1966.

Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall and members of Interior's Indian Arts and Crafts Board will be among the sponsors of the exhibit.

Work of young Indian students at the Institute of American Indian Art at Santa Fe, New Mexico, will be featured. The Institute, administered by the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs, was established in 1962 to foster the artistic talents of Indian youths from all parts of the United States.

The nine-week exhibition at Riverside will include approximately 120 selected paintings and items of sculpture from the works of 50 artists.

SECOND SUCCESSFUL YEAR FOR NAVAJO FOREST PRODUCTS

Navajo Forest Products Industries, a tribal enterprise of the Navajo Tribe, reported recently on completion of its second successful year of operation. The enterprise consists of a $7.5 million sawmill, built three years ago on the New Mexico side of the reservation, and related wood processing operations. It employs 460 workers and the annual payroll is more than $1.1 million.

The Navajos reported a cash balance of $837,763, an increase of more than $290,000 over last year. Total assets increased by $190,000, now topping $10 million.

TAOS RIGHTS TO SACRED LAKE RECOGNIZED

The Taos Pueblo Indians of New Mexico had aboriginal title to their sacred Blue Lake according to a ruling by the Indian Claims Commission on September 8. The lake and surrounding lands, a total area of approximately 50,000 acres in northwestern New Mexico was designated national forest by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1906 and is now in the care of the United States Forest Service.

The Claims Commission held that the Taos are entitled to be paid for some 37,000 acres for which they received no compensation when the area was taken by the Government in 1933. The award recommended is for $297,684.47, less the value of the use permit granted earlier to the Pueblo and less existing offsets.

The Taos Pueblo Indians are known to have lived near Blue Lake as long ago as 1300 A.D. and later received specific land grants from the Spanish. Every August the adult population of the tribe has carried out ancient and secret religious ceremonies at Blue Lake, excluding non-Indians from the area. The shrine is also used daily by individual Indians for private religious meditation.

DURANT STARTS PRODUCTION

Durant Electronics Corporation, at Durant, Oklahoma, has announced the start of production of electronic parts for the parent company, Strombecker Corporation of Chicago. At least one-third of the present force of thirty workers are Choctaw and Chickasaw Indians.

The Company expects to begin parts assembly operations soon, hiring an additional 30 to 40 Indian workers. It then plans to negotiate an on-the-job training contract with the Bureau of Indian Affairs, to provide training for about 95 Indian employees when full-scale assembly operations commence.

SCENIC ROADS SPECIALIST FOR BIA

A specialist in scenic roads recently joined the staff of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The Bureau, Which carried out a $23 million road construction and maintenance program on Indian reservations during fiscal year 1965, is mapping policy on scenic roads, overlooks, and other features to beautify reservation roadways.

PER CAPITA DISTRIBUTION FOR EASTERN SHAWNEES

Members of the Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Indians in Oklahoma will share this month in a judgment of more than $110,000, awarded them by the Indian Claims Commission and authorized for distribution by Congress on August 20, 1964. The 813 Eastern Shawnee members whose names appeared on the approved tribal membership roll on that date will each receive about $135. Shares of deceased eligible members will go to their legal heirs.

The sum represents additional payment for lands ceded to the United States during the last century.

REA PROJECT SUCCESSFUL AT METLAKATLA

At Metlakatla, on Annette Island in southeastern Alaska, the Indian community has successfully operated a hydroelectric power system since 1957. Financed with $1.8 million from the Rural Electrification Administration, the system supplies light and power to the members of the Metlakatla Indian Community, and to Island residents and businesses. A primary user of power is the Metlakatla commercial airport, which is owned by the Community and leased to commercial airlines and Government agencies.

The 1965 annual audit of the power system recently indicated total assets of more than $2.1 million and net profits of more than $100,000 annually for the past three years. The Indians have reduced the original REA loan to about $1.4 million and have prepaid nearly $150,000.

Indian tribes have found that projects to enhance natural beauty get more results than meet the eye, according to the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Clean-up campaigns have prevented accidents and fires.

Efforts to stop unsightly erosion and to start landscaping programs have resulted in better soil conservation.

But, best of all, "face lifting" of the reservations has helped the tribes' tourist business and lifted the morale of tribal members.

"Acre by acre, BIA personnel and tribal officials are attacking eyesores on the reservations and we're making progress," says Commissioner Philleo Nash. "We believe visitors are noticing a constant improvement in appearance of the 50 million acres of Indian lands in this country."

Nash said that Indian beautification projects have centered on three main themes: (1) recreational development; (2) community improvement; and (3) natural resource conservation. All Bureau area offices have reported accomplishments in one or more of these activities, he said.

Spurred by the need to attract more visitors to reservations, tribes are developing more recreation facilities each year and improving their appearance. More than 100 campgrounds are under tribal management, with many reservations offering motel and restaurant facilities for tourists, also. Encouraged by public response, they have embarked upon many scenic roadside projects, including the control of billboards and standardization of information signs. The largest project is the clearing of junk and trash--an accumulation of many years--from beside major roadways.

Greatest need in community areas has been the establishment of sanitary landfills for garbage and refuse disposal. On the Gila River Reservation in Arizona, for example, refuse had been dumped about a half-mile from the main entrance to the Pima Agency, in full view of all residents and visitors. Through a joint BIA-tribal project, the dump has been moved to a convenient but outlying area, and the refuse is plowed under periodically.

Other projects include paving of streets and sidewalks, extensive building repairs, landscaping, and fencing. Community-wide clean-up campaigns have been initiated in all areas, sometimes by means of tribal-sponsored contests.

Reservation leaders have found that what is good for soil conservation is also good for natural beauty. Old car bodies removed from roadside areas have been put to good use as rip-rap for controlling erosion on streams and canals, for instance. After this is done, vegetation is planted at stream side to screen the rip-rap. Farm ponds established for water conservation also add to the beauty of the countryside, as do the seeding of roadsides and other erosion control projects.

By far the greatest advancement in beautifying reservations, however, has come with the new Indian housing program developed by BIA in conjunction with the Public Housing Administration. As time and funds permit, low-rent housing units and attractive individual homes are being constructed by tribal members in planned residential areas in many cases, replacing the scattered sub-par dwellings on the reservation. Construction of 560 low-rent units and nearly 300 individual homes has been completed or started already, and the housing program is beginning to swing into a 2,000-units-a-year pace.

"Within a few years," Nash said, lithe tribes will have eliminated many of the eyesores detracting from the natural charm of their reservations. We look for more and more travelers to visit these areas as Indian paved road networks are linked to State and Federal highway systems."

A complete do-it-yourself house planning service has been packaged by the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs to accelerate "mutual help" housing projects on Indian reservations, Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall announced today.

"The new service is expected to step up housing on the reservations to a 1,500 units-a-year pace," Udall said. He termed it "the most important move yet n Interior's campaign to offer Indian families an opportunity for decent, safe and sanitary housing--a 'must' if the reservation Indian is to adjust to modern day America and compete on an equal basis with other citizens."

Since programs of the Public Housing Administration became available to Indian reservations in 1961, tribes have established 73 housing authorities to handle contracts for low-rent projects and individual homes. The mutual-help program was launched by BIA and FHA in 1962. It enables Indians with incomes below the ordinary PHA minimum requirements to contribute their own labor and land as down payment on their homes.

"The mutual-help idea has proved very popular with the tribes," Udall said. The new packaged plans, already approved by PHA, will help accelerate the program by simplifying the design problem which often was a delaying factor in getting the program underway, he explained.

"Low-rent housing projects have been of great help to Indian tribes and more are needed," Udall said. "But many Indians cannot afford to pay even the low rental figure and most of them want to own their homes. The mutual-help program enables them to substitute time and labor for cash, and to help themselves acquire a decent home with low monthly payments."

Udall pointed out that the housing program is a major factor in improving living conditions among some 60,000 Indian families, who are now living in overcrowded, unsafe and unsanitary dwellings.

"We are aware that mutual help is not an easy way to build a house," Udall stressed. "It requires an enormous effort and much persistence by the Tribal Housing Authority and the individual Indian workers, but we feel the program offers many benefits. Not only will Indians raise their standard of living; they will experience e pride of ownership and a sense of accomplishment which justifies the entire effort."

With the packaged plans, prospective Indian homeowners will have 44 variations of a standard floor plan to choose from, each designed to blend well with the landscape on any reservation. Exteriors include concrete block, frame and adobe, with foundation plans also varying to suit the section of country. Concrete block will be used mainly in parts of the West and Southwest, and well-insulated frame construction will be used in northern States. The adobe house was designed especially for areas accustomed to this type of architecture.

Each home will have three bedrooms, kitchen, dining area, living room and bath. The enclosed area contains 916 square feet of floor space.

The package comes complete with a step-by-step construction manual and list of materials. PHA makes loans to a tribal housing authority for the purchase of materials and the employment of skilled labor where needed. BIA organizes the projects and supervises all construction.

Officials estimate that the value contributed by the Indian families through their labor and land will average about 15 to 20 percent of the value of the house. The homeowner will pay his own utilities and be responsible for maintenance.

Projects are coordinated with the Public Health Service, providing for adequate water and sewerage disposal facilities at each location.

At present, 300 mutual-help homes are under construction on 23 reservations, with 1,100 additional units to be started during the spring and summer of 1966. The States where tribes have begun mutual-help projects are Arizona, Montana, New Mexico, Alaska, California, Nevada, Utah, Idaho and Washington.

The program is expected to result in twice as many mutual-help homes being built by Indians next year as during the last four years combined.

BIA has requested that the Public Housing Administration reserve funds for several thousand Indian units--low-rent and mutual-help--under the Public Housing Act of 1965. This is in addition to the 3,300 authorized under the previous Act. The majority of the units probably will be built under the mutual-help plan, BIA officials said.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs has terminated supervision of the Big Valley Rancheria, in Lake County, California, the Department of the Interior announced today. The action was taken with the consent of the Indian group, and in conformance with provisions of the California Rancheria Act of August 18, 1958 (P.L. 85-671) as amended in 1964.

Rancherias are small tracts of California Indian land under Federal trust. Big Valley, which contains 120 acres, is the 21st rancheria to be terminated under the 1958 Act. The Act called for distribution of rancheria assets to the Indian owners and the termination of Federal services they receive because of their status as Indians.

Upon termination the same laws apply to rancheria residents that apply to other citizens in the State.

Approximately 225 Big Valley Indians are affected by this action. They belong primarily to two Indian groups: the Pomos, who once ranged through central California from the coast to the crest of the main range of the Coast Range Mountains, and a small section of the Sacramento Valley; and the Pit River, or Achomawi Indians, who once occupied the Pit River country of northeastern California.

Termination becomes effective upon publication of a notice in the Federal Register. Notices are simultaneously being sent to all Big Valley Rancheria Indians.

Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall today announced a new Departmental order which will require bidders on all Interior building construction work throughout the Nation to list with their bids the names and addresses of their subcontractors. This new policy supersedes experimental procedures which had been in effect since December 1963, but which were limited to Interior construction projects in Arizona and New Mexico and 'parts of the Navajo Indian Reservation in Utah and Colorado.

Under the terms of the new directive, all building construction and alteration projects estimated to involve over $150,000 are to be covered by the subcontractor listing requirement. Illustrative of the types of construction projects affected are visitor centers, school buildings, dormitories, employee housing and hospitals. The requirement applies to both negotiated and formally advertised contracts.

Secretary Udall stated:

"Our new procedures, which closely follow the pattern of regulations on subcontractor listing issued by the General Services Administration, are designed, to promote maximum stability in subcontractor selection, and to eliminate as far as possible the practice of ‘bid peddling.’ In a very real sense, the policy is advantageous to small business."

Secretary Udall pointed out that the required listing of subcontractors is to include such subcontracting activities as plumbing, heating, ventilating, air-conditioning, masonry, elevators, and electrical work when the estimated cost of each of the categories is equal to or greater than 2 percent of the total estimated cost of the entire project. If a contractor's own firm is to be subcontractor, that fact is to be listed.

Selected categories of work to be listed also may be broadened to include categories valued at less than 2 percent "when, in the judgment of the contracting bureau or office, such listing is appropriate to protect the interests of the classes of 'subcontractors eligible to bid on such categories," Secretary Udall's order says.

The Second Annual Invitational Exhibition of American Indian Paintings will open November 30, at the Department of Interior Art Gallery.

The exhibition is composed of 91 paintings and 12 works of sculpture, assembled and organized through direct invitation to the outstanding Indian artists in the Nation. The exhibition illustrates the great diversity of fine artistic expression among contemporary Indian, Eskimo and Aleut artists living in the United States. The majority of these works were created in 1965 and will be offered for sale to gallery visitors.

Collectively the present exhibition illustrates the various creative manifestations of recent Native American art, and presents some insight into its roots and development for the past quarter century. The show includes works of several recent students of the Institute of American Indian Art, located at Santa Fe, New Mexico, Which vividly reflect the new spirit of experimentation and invention characteristic of the younger school of Native American artists.

William Walton, Chairman of the D. C. Commission of Fine Arts; Designer George Nelson, New York; Warren Robbins, Director of the Museum of African Art, in Washington, D. Co; and Miss Yeffe Kimball, one of the outstanding Indian artists in the Nation, made up the selection committee.

The Department of the Interior Art Gallery, located on the seventh floor of the Interior building at 18th and C Streets, NW., will be open to the public from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m., from November 30 through January 2S. Special arrangements have been made to provide school groups with information and guides. Tours may be scheduled by calling 343-6S66 during Gallery hours.

An $878,780 contract for construction of a 128-pupil dormitory and other facilities for Choctaw Indian high school students and their teachers at Pearl River, Mississippi, was announced today by the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs. The new buildings, slated for occupancy next fall, will complete a school complex for Choctaw Indians, which includes a new high school opened this fall, an elementary-junior high school and a 40-pupil dormitory for elementary students.

The new dormitory will accommodate high school students who live beyond school bus lines (some live as far as 50 miles from the school). At present, some students are living in foster homes which are nearer to the school but are inadequate to care for their needs, Bureau officials report. Many others are not attending school at all.

The contract was awarded to Building Service Company of West Point, Mississippi. Four higher bids were received, ranging from $919,400 to $1,122,067.

The Choctaws' new high school facilities include an 8-classroom academic building with science laboratory, home economics classroom and an instructional materials center; gymnasium, including stage and band-choral room; and kitchen-dining room large enough to accommodate students from both schools. This is the only high school operated by the Bureau in Mississippi, to serve the Indians residing on nontaxable trust lands and the only one available to Choctaw Indian residents of the State.