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OPA

Office of Public Affairs

BIA Logo Indian Affairs - Office of Public Affairs
Media Contact: Information Service
For Immediate Release: December 14, 1955

The American Indian set an all-time record this past year in accepting job opportunities off his reservation, Acting Secretary of the Interior Clarence A. Davis announced today. According to figures received by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, almost 3,500 Indians moved away from their reservation homes to areas that offered greater employment advantages.

The figures go on to show that most of the Indians who make the voluntary relocation move make a success of their new ventures.

Of the 16 agencies where the Department has a relocation staff, five have reported on the number of "returnees" for fiscal 1955. These reports show that fewer than 13 of every 100 relocates give up and go back to their reservations after trying life in the cities.

One of the best records was posted by 455 relocatees from the Five Civilized Tribes of Oklahoma. Of the number that moved away, only seven per cent returned. The percentage is the same for 229 Indians from Fort Belknap Reservation in Montana.

At the 16 agencies where the Department has relocation officers, their job is to give the Indians interested in relocation the facts as to what the move might mean to them and. their families. The average size of a relocated family is 39. However, about 800 of the 3,500 Indians who relocated were single men and women. Indians who seek relocation are generally the younger members of the tribe--those 45 or under.

On the "receiving end" of the relocation process started at the agency offices, the Department has additional offices in Denver, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Chicago which help the Indian find work and adequate housing, and assist him in making a satisfactory adjustment to city life. In most cases, the Department pays the Indian's expenses to make the move and get settled, and urges him to obtain proper health and hospital insurance.

Indians, unusually adopt with their hands, are making good employment records in automotive, airplane, and electronic fields.


https://www.bia.gov/as-ia/opa/online-press-release/indians-set-new-record-relocation
BIA Logo Indian Affairs - Office of Public Affairs
Media Contact: Information Service
For Immediate Release: December 30, 1955

Appointment of Robert D. Holtz as area director for the Bureau of Indian Affairs at Minneapolis, Minn., was announced today by Acting Secretary of the Interior Clarence A. Davis. He succeeds E. Morgan Pryse who retires from the Bureau December 31, after 35 years of service.

Holtz has been assistant area director at Minneapolis since last July. He first came with the Bureau in 1931 as a forest ranger with the Klamath Agency in Oregon and later served in the same capacity at Zuni Agency in New Mexico, and as forest supervisor at the Papago Agency, Sells, Ariz.

In 1939 he rose to the position of superintendent at the former Truxton Canyon Agency, Valentine, Ariz., and subsequently was superintendent of the Mescalero Agency, Mescalero, N. Mex., and the Fort Apache Agency, Whiteriver, Ariz. In 1951 he became area forester in the area office at Phoenix, Ariz., and after three years in this position he was transferred to the Gallup, N. Mex., area office assistant Director for resources.

A native of Iowa, Holtz received his bachelor of science degree in forestry from Iowa State College at Ames in 1930, and took post graduate work at Oregon State College, Corvallis, Oreg.

As area director at Minneapolis, he will supervise all Indian Bureau operations in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Michigan.


https://www.bia.gov/as-ia/opa/online-press-release/holtz-succeeds-pryse-indian-bureau-area-director-minneapolis
BIA Logo Indian Affairs - Office of Public Affairs
Media Contact: Information Service
For Immediate Release: January 19, 1954

Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay today approved a series of recommendations Lade by a Survey Team which has been studying the organization and operations of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

The Team, which was appointed on October 6, 1953 was made up of Walter Bimson, Phoenix, Ariz., chairman; Robert D, Lutton, Santa Fe Railroad, Chicago, J. R. Johns, Sears Roe buck, Co., Dallas, Texas. Mr. Bimon is chairman of the board, Valley National Bank of Phoenix. George W. Abbott, counsel of the House Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, and three officials of the Department participated in the survey.

The Survey Team began its study in Washington on October 12 and from October 16 to November 16 visited all Bureau area offices except Alaska.

The recommendations are of great practical value, Secretary McKay said, and will provide the Department with better tools to handle important Indian affairs more efficiently on the national level.

Major recommendations made by the Team pertain to organization problems of the Bureau. These recommendations include:

Continuation of the Area Office form of organization, which is basically sound.

Consolidation of the Window Rock Area Office and the Albuquerque Area Office at Albuquerque, N. Mex. The affairs of the Navajos would continue to be administered by the superintendent at Window Rock.

Consolidation of two area offices in Oklahoma now at Muskogee and Anadarko and the establishment of one office at a central point in the State.

Consolidation at all levels of the branches of soil conservation, extension and irrigation and range management activities now in the branch of forestry and range management into a new branch of land operations.

Reduction of the number of staff technicians at area offices.

Transfer of the branch of credit from the Division of Resources to Division of Administration.

Abolition of the branch of management planning in the Division of Administration and the establishment of an Office of Management Research in the Commissioner’s Office, to include reports control, statistics and information.

Special emphasis was placed by the Survey Team on two of the Bureau’s activities:

  1. There is a tremendous backlog of land transactions which must be eliminated before any real progress can be made in meeting the over-all objectives of the Bureau. Increased funds for this purpose are urgently recommended.
  2. The progress of voluntary and permanent relocation of Indians off reservations should be expanded. The Team considers this one of the most constructive and promising aspects of the Bureau's program.

Other important recommendations, dealing with functional matters, include the following:

Further construction of relatively high-cost boarding schools on the Navajo Reservation should be postponed. The Bureau should concentrate on providing inexpensive facilities of a semi-permanent nature that would increase the number of children in day schools in a comparatively short time.

The Bureau should develop a program, with the cooperation of Congress and the Bureau of the Budget to accomplish early disposition of the backlog of cases involving probate administration of Indian trust property.

Other recommendations dealing with functional changes relate to the maintenance and construction of roads; marketing of mature, overripe and infested timber; standards of eligibility for health, education and welfare services; elimination of reports and the development of an aggressive, well-coordinated public relations program.

In transmitting the recommendations to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs Secretary McKay set February 15 for the initiation of several of the major recommendations. These include the realignment of the branch organization and consolidation, organization, staffing and location of area offices. The Commissioner was also instructed to submit definite proposals for attacking the other major problems delineated by the Survey Team, within 90 days.

The Team pointed out that many of the recommendations provide the Bureau with an opportunity to make substantial savings or to give greater service with no increase in cost.

This would be accomplished through consolidation of several branches in Washington and in each of the area offices in which a number of supervisory positions could be eliminated.

Consolidation of the Window Rock and Albuquerque Area Offices, the Team stated, would eliminate a substantial number of positions in the two offices and a similar saving could be expected in the consolidation of Muskogee and Anadarko Area Offices in Oklahoma. Recommendations to merge the Building and Utilities Branch located in Washington with that activity at Gallup, N. Mex., and a new approach to the work being done by this branch would likewise result in substantial economies.

An effort to place many activities on a more self-sustaining basis is stressed in the recommendations. In this field, increased foes would be charged for special services rendered of direct personal benefit such as in oil and gas leasing and other land transactions, the probating of estates, medical care for other than indigents, and for the supply of irrigation water.

Other recommendations when adopted would result in greater returns from funds now being expended, the Team pointed out. For instance, greater numbers of Navajo children could attend school if facilities are constructed which would cost $600 instead of $6,000 per child as at present. The recommended transfer of various functional activities, such as bringing roads up to acceptable standard for transfer to counties and the transfer of extension activities to State Extension Services would result in substantial savings. The Team paid high tribute to Bureau employees who evidence a high degree of interest and personal devotion to their jobs.

Tracing the 129-year history of the Bureau, from its establishment in 1824, the Team declared that the Bureau’s responsibilities and -programs have varied in content and emphasis with such frequency that a continuity of organization and operating procedures has been difficult. Unlike any other activity of the Federal Government, the responsibilities of the Bureau are determined not, only by acts of Congress but by treaty and moral obligations as well.

The Bureau at the present time has a total of 10,805 full-time employees and 2,348 other employees, on a temporary, seasonal or part-time basis. 55 percent of the employees are Indians, and approximately 726 employees are paid by tribal funds.

Total appropriations from Treasury funds for the Bureau Is operations this fiscal year total $284,122,760, which is less than its highest appropriation. 24 percent, or $21,082,334, was specifically earmarked for the Navajo-Hopi area.

In discussing the recommendation for the Window Rock-Albuquerque consolidation, the Team stated "the assignment of one man to the dual role of area director and superintendent is unsound, and practically results in too great a load for one man to carry in view of the inherent difficulties and size of the operation.

Heretofore subordination of the Hopi Reservation to an area director who was also superintendent of the Navajos has produced friction between the tribes. This situation will be corrected by the reorganization.

Adequate housing and offices are available in Albuquerque and that office at present has a relatively light workload and is near enough to all the reservations to facilitate communication. Gallup was considered as the location of the combined area office but was not selected primarily because of shortages of housing and office space and because of a limited supply of office workers. However, the Team recommended that the headquarters of the Buildings and Utilities Branch of the Bureau be located in Gallup. The Team also recommended reestablishment of the superintendency of the United Pueblos agency in New Mexico, distinct from the area director at Albuquerque.

Practically the same reasons are given for recommending consolidation of the two Area Offices in Oklahoma and the location of one office in the central part of the State. The consolidation of administrative and other functions would result in savings which would more than offset the increased cost of reestablishing the two superintendent's positions.


https://www.bia.gov/as-ia/opa/online-press-release/survey-team-recommends-indian-bureau-changes
BIA Logo Indian Affairs - Office of Public Affairs
Media Contact: Information Service
For Immediate Release: January 7, 1954

Appointment of Halter O. Olson as superintendent of the Mescalero Agency, Mescalero, N. Mex., was announced today by Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay. Mr. Olson succeeds Lonnie Hardin who was transferred to Fort Apache Agency as reservation principal.

Mr. Olson joined the Bureau of Indian Affairs in June 1940, as a trainee in the Southwest field training program under a Rockefeller Foundation grant, National Institute of Public Affairs. In 1941, he was named assistant superintendent, United Pueblos Agency, Albuquerque , N. Mex. In 1946 he was named superintendent of the Zuni Agency in New Mexico and in 1948 became associate area director, Navajo-Hopi jurisdiction, Window Rock, Ariz. In 1952 he transferred to the Technical Cooperation Administration as deputy assistant administrator for Near East and Africa.

He was born in St. Anthony, Idaho in 1914 and attended the University of Idaho, and was graduated in 1940. He took leave of absence from the Bureau in 1947 to get a master’s degree at the University of Idaho.


https://www.bia.gov/as-ia/opa/online-press-release/olson-appointed-mescalero-agency-superintendent
BIA Logo Indian Affairs - Office of Public Affairs
Media Contact: Information Service
For Immediate Release: January 12, 1954

Transfer of Benjamin Reifel from the superintendency of the Fort Berthold Indian Agency, New Town, N. Dak., to the superintendency at Pine Ridge Agency, Pine Ridge, S. Dak., was announced today by Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay.

At Pine Ridge Mr. Reifel replaces Ole H. Sande who has requested transfer to educational position with the Bureau of Indian Affairs, IU.s new assignment has not yet been determined. Ralph Shane, supervising highway engineer, at Fort Berthold will serve as acting superintendent pending selection of Mr. Reifel’s successor.

Mr. Reifel, who will report at Pine Ridge, January 17, joined the Indian Bureau in 1933 as farm agent. From 1935 to 1942, he was organization field agent, helping Indian tribes and bands organize tribal and business councils under the Indian Reorganization Act. After four and one-half years of military service, he returned to the Bureau in 1946 as tribal relations officer at Billings, Montana. In 1949 he took three years' leave of absence for graduate study at Harvard University and was awarded a doctorate in public administration in 1952. After a brief tour of duty in the Bureau's Washington Office, he was appointed to Fort Berthold in 1952.

Mr. Reifel was educated in the public school and the Federal Indian School at Rosebud Reservation, and at the School of Agriculture and the State College, Brookings, S. Dak., where he received a Bachelor of Science degree in agriculture in 1932. He is a Sioux Indian and was born on the Rosebud Reservation in 1906.

Mr. Sande was born at Vik, Norway in 1892. He came to the United States at an early age and received his elementary education in the public schools of Thief River Falls, Minnesota. In 1929 he received the degree of Bachelor of Education from Minnesota State Teachers College. His post-graduate work was done at the University of Minnesota.

Mr. Sande has been in the Indian Bureau since 1943, and for three years was associate director of education in the Washington Office. For the following three years he served as regional supervisor of public school relations and as Area Educationist in Minneapolis. He was named superintendent at Pine Ridge Agency in October 1950.


https://www.bia.gov/as-ia/opa/online-press-release/indian-bureau-transfers-announced
BIA Logo Indian Affairs - Office of Public Affairs
Media Contact: Information Service
For Immediate Release: January 19, 1954

Leon V. Langan, assistant to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, was today designated by Commissioner Glenn L, Emmons to act as his representative in putting into effect the recommendations for reorganization recently made by the survey team which studied the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Mr. Langan will begin this assignment immediately.


https://www.bia.gov/as-ia/opa/online-press-release/langan-named-carry-out-indian-bureau-survey-team-report
BIA Logo Indian Affairs - Office of Public Affairs
Media Contact: Information Service
For Immediate Release: January 21, 1954

Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay today said the Department has submitted for congressional consideration a series of bills providing for orderly termination of Federal administration of Indian Affairs in eight tribal jurisdictions.

The bills, prepared in compliance with House Concurrent Resolution No. 108 adopted at the last session, affect all Indians in California, Florida, and New York, also the Flatheads of Montana, the Klamath and Grand Ronde-Siletz groups of Oregon, the Turtle Mountain Chippewas of North Dakota, and four tribes under jurisdiction of the Indian Bureau’s Potawatomi Area field Office at Horton, Kansas. Two other groups designated in the Concurrent Resolution, the Menominees of Wisconsin and the Alabama-Coushattas of Texas, are covered by bills now pending from the preceding congressional session. The termination bills now before Congress cover more than 66,000 Indians in ten States, roughly one-seventh of the Indian population of the country as estimated by the Indian Bureau.

While the bills vary greatly in detail, they all provide for eventual termination of Federal trusteeship over Indian property, and would make the Indians subject to the some Federal and State laws as other citizens. Federal responsibilities for special services to these Indians, such as roads, health and education, would also be terminated. Ample time is allowed, however, for the completion of arrangements under which the Indians would receive customary services from State and local agencies on the same basis as other citizens.

The bills were developed in consultation with the tribal groups affected and many contain provisions suggested by the groups or by individual tribal members. All contain provisions designed to protect the interests of minors, incompetents and other individual Indians who will need such protection after termination of Federal trusteeship.

Whenever tribal property is involved, the bills provide the Indians with a range of choices concerning its management or disposition. One alternative is transfer of unrestricted title to a corporation or other legal entity organized by the Indians under State law. Another is liquidation of the property and distribution of the proceeds among enrolled tribal members. A third is transfer of the property to a private management trustee, chosen by the tribes. If the tribe fails to decide on one of these alternatives within the specified time limit, each of the bills authorizes the Secretary to turn the property over to a private trustee for liquidation and distribution of the proceeds., One exception to this pattern is the bill involving, the Alabama-Coushatta Indians of Texas which provides for transfer of the tribal property to the State of Texas to be held in trust for the tribe.

The bills also provide, that the Secretary will help individual Indians owning an undivided interest in trust land to partition or sell the land - a service the Indians would otherwise have to pay the courts to perform.

Distinctive features of the individual bills are summarized as follows:

The California bill, affecting an estimated 31,000 Indians of the State, provides for termination of Federal responsibilities within five years of the date of enactment. It also provides tax exemption for a limited time on land owned by minors and lifetime tax exemptions on the lands of elderly Indians. Other provisions restrict the alienation of land owned by elderly Indians without the consent of a State agency to be designated by the Governor and authorize the transfer of any irrigation facilities on Indian lands either to an irrigation district or to the landowners who use the facilities.

The western Oregon bill, covering approximately 2,000 Indians formerly under jurisdiction of the Indian Bureau's Grand Ronde-Siletz Agency, provides for termination within two years. It follows the general pattern outlined above and has no especially important distinctive features.

The Klamath bill involves roughly 2,000 Indians and provides for a three-year termination date. It makes Indian lands within the irrigation projects assessable for construction and operation costs and authorizes the Secretary to transfer operation and maintenance responsibilities for these works to an irrigation district by agreement. Pending the completion of such an agreement, Federal operation of the irrigation facilities would continue.

The Flathead bill affects about 4,200 members of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes and provides for a three-year termination. It makes Indian lands within the Flathead Indian Irrigation Project assessable for construction and operation and maintenance costs, and authorizes the Secretary to cancel operation and maintenance assessments that he deems to be inequitable. Additional legislation will be required to transfer operation and maintenance responsibilities on the irrigation project from the Federal Government to a local organization.

The Kansas bill covers approximately 2,400 Indians in four tribal groups – the Potawatomi and Kickapoo groups located in Kansas and the Sac and Fox and Iowa groups located partly in Kansas and partly in Nebraska. It has a two-year termination period and provides that any tribal member occupying land under an assignment from the tribe may have the privilege of buying it. It also stipulates that any land occupied by an Indian as a home site may be sold only subject to lifetime use of the site by the occupant.

The Turtle Mountain bill, involving about 8,900 Indians, is centered around a proposed program to assist the tribal members in finding employment and resettling away from the reservation. It provides for termination of the Federal trusteeship in five years out permits continuation of Federal services until the relocation program is completed.

The Florida bill affects approximately 870 Seminoles and provides for a three-year termination. It HJ.so conveys to the tribe the equitable title to sub marginal lands acquired by the Federal Government during the depression years and assigned to the tribe for use by executive order. These lands would be managed or disposed of as prescribed in the other bills.

The legislation for New York State has no specified time limit and involves more than 11 000 Indians of the Iroquois Confederation of the Six Nations including about 3,600 members of the Oneida Tribe residing in Wisconsin. These Indians have no land in Federal trusteeship and are not receiving any Federal services in such fields as health or education. The principal obligations of the Federal Government are to distribute among the Six Nations a perpetual annuity of $4,500 (partially distributed in the form of cloth) established by a treaty of 1794 and to distribute among the Seneca Indians an annuity of $6,000 established by a statute of 1831.

At the request of the Indians, the legislation was divided into two separate bills. One provides for capitalization of the $4,500 treaty annuity at three percent interest, a total of $150,000 and for payment of proper shares of this fund to each of the Six Nations. Such payment would be made, however, only with the consent of' the tribe concerned. This bill also makes inapplicable to the Indians in New York all laws of the United States, with a few exceptions, that apply uniquely to Indians and not to other citizens. The exceptions relate to special Federal statutes defining criminal and civil jurisdiction of the State over Indians and their property, regulating the leasing of Indian lands, and making State fish and game laws applicable to some of the reservations. The second New York bill provides for capitalization of the $6,000 statutory annuity at 3 percent, a total of $200,000, and for distribution of the capitalized fund, together with some miscellaneous accounts in the United States Treasury, among the Seneca Indians.

The Texas bill is H. R. 6282 which was introduced in the 1953 session of Congress. It affects about 420 members of the associated Alabama and Coushatta Tribes and has no specified time limit. In addition to transferring the tribal land to the State of Texas, it also cancels a tribal debt to the United States of approximately $39,000 which could be collected only by selling the tribal land.

The Menominee bill is H. R. 2828 now pending from the preceding congressional session. It affects approximately 3,000 Indians and provides for termination of Federal responsibilities by December 31, 1956. In the meantime the tribe would be authorized by the bill to employ specialists to plan for future management or disposition of the tribal assets. The bill also provides for immediate payment of $1,500 to each tribal member from tribal funds on deposit in the United States Treasury.


https://www.bia.gov/as-ia/opa/online-press-release/legislation-terminating-federal-controls-over-eight-indian-groups
BIA Logo Indian Affairs - Office of Public Affairs
Media Contact: Information Service
For Immediate Release: January 27, 1954

Appointment of William H. Olsen, Anchorage, Alaska, as director of the Juneau Area Office of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, sometimes known as the Alaska Native Service, was announced today by Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay. Mr. Olsen succeeds Hugh J. Wade who was relieved of responsibilities as Area Director last November.

“The job of Area Director for the Indian Bureau in Alaska," Secretary McKay said, “is one of the most difficult and challenging assignments in the field service of the Department of the Interior, It covers a tremendous geographic area and involves many complicated problems in the fields of health, education and resources. Each of these is of deep and continuing interest to the Department. In selecting William H. Olsen for this assignment, the decision was made to have the post filled by an Alaskan fully qualified by his background of knowledge of the Territory to fulfill the duties of the office. Under Mr. Olsen’s direction I am confident that the Alaska Native Service will develop among the native peoples an outstanding citizenry prepared to make its contribution to the future growth and progress of Alaska."

The new appointee, who is 33, is a former municipal judge at Anchorage and has been practicing law in that community since 1945. During World War II, he served in the Army for five and a half years. He holds a law degree from LaSalle Extension University and was admitted to the Alaska Bar in December 1944.

In addition to his law practice, Mr. Olsen has been active in many types of civic affairs in Alaska. He served for two years as chairman of the Anchorage Chapter of the American Red Cross and was appointed chairman of Alaska World War II Veterans Board by Territorial Governor Frank Heintzelman. He was formerly national director from Alaska of the United States Junior Chamber of Commerce and is now vice president of the Junior Chamber of Alaska.

Mr. Olsen is married and has six children, one of whom is now serving a minority enlistment in the United States Navy.


https://www.bia.gov/as-ia/opa/online-press-release/william-h-olsen-named-indian-bureau-area-director-alaska
BIA Logo Indian Affairs - Office of Public Affairs
Media Contact: Information Service
For Immediate Release: February 11, 1954

Transfer of 603.2 acres of land in Sawyer County, Wisconsin, together with the buildings, from jurisdiction of the Bureau of Indian Affairs to the Wisconsin Department of Public Welfare was announced today by Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay.

The transferred property is part of the former Hayward Boarding School and Hospital for Indians which originally embraced a tract of 640 acres. In May 1953, the hospital and 36.8 acres of the land were transferred to the Hayward Area Memorial Hospital Association, Inc. The remainder of the property has now been turned over to the State Department of Public Welfare for public purposes.

The transfer was made subject to the Federal reservation of mineral rights and is essentially a land transaction since most of the buildings are old and dilapidated.


https://www.bia.gov/as-ia/opa/online-press-release/indian-bureau-property-sawyer-county-wisconsin-transferred-wisconsin
BIA Logo Indian Affairs - Office of Public Affairs
Media Contact: Tozier - Interior 4306
For Immediate Release: December 28, 1961

Selection of Hans Mork Jensen, a fish biologist with 13 years' experience in the Washington State Department of Fisheries, to fill the newly established position of fisheries management specialist in the Portland area office of the Bureau of Indian Affairs was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

The new position was set up by the Bureau to provide Indian tribes of the Pacific Northwest with specialized technical assistance in developing and conserving their fishery resources and making the most effective use of them commercially, Fisheries are a major undeveloped resource of Indians in the area.

Jensen, who will move into the new position on February 1, 1962, was born at Gig Harbor, Washington, in 1915 and graduated from the University of Washington in 1942, He came with the Washington State Department of Fisheries in 1948 as a biologist and served as a senior project leader working with commercial fishery management, Indian fisheries and the international aspects of the State's salmon fishery problems. His present post is assistant supervisor of the reimbursable contracts division of the Department of Fisheries. Before joining the Department he worked as a biologist with the International Fisheries Commission and held a number of other similar positions.

He is the author of several professional papers on fishery matters and has appeared as an expert on the subject in two documentary motion pictures.


https://www.bia.gov/as-ia/opa/online-press-release/jensen-named-new-fisheries-job-portland-office-indian-bureau

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