OPA

The Department of the Interior announced today that it is withdrawing a proposal submitted to Congress on March 4, 1960, for the enactment of legislation that would end Federal trusteeship and supervision over the property of the Lower Elwha Band of Indians in Clallam County, Washington.

The Department’s proposal has been introduced as H. R. 11104.

In a letter to Chairman Wayne N. Aspinall of the House Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, Under Secretary Elmer F. Bennett explained that the Departments proposal was submitted to Congress in early March after the Lower Elwha tribal council passed a resolution actively supporting and endorsing such legislation.

“When the bill was scheduled for hearing before the Indian Affairs Subcommittee on April 4, 1960,” Mr. Bennett added, “we learned for the first time that some of the Indians may have changed their minds. We have since received a copy of the minutes of a special tribal meeting held on March 29, 1960, at which by a vote of 12 to 0 the Indians withdrew their support of the bill.

“Although the Indians may have acted under a mistaken belief about some of the facts, their present wishes are clear. Under these circumstances, the Department withdraws its recommendation that the legislation be enacted. “

The bill would affect a reservation of 372 acres in Clallam County near Port Angeles. The Lower Elwha Band has about 80 members.

Under Secretary Bennett also pointed out that a question of the same kind has arisen about the wishes of the Shoalwater Bay Indians of western Washington concerning H, R. 11098, a similar bill affecting their property which was likewise based on a proposal submitted by the Department. In this case, Mr. Bennett said, the Department is still investigating the facts and will report further to Congress when the investigation is completed.

Two changes in the Federal regulations governing the preparation of an up-to-date membership roll for the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians of North Carolina were announced today by the Department of the Interior.

Both modifications were recommended by the tribal council of the Eastern Cherokee Band to clarify the intent of the regulations which have been in effect since January 1959.

One of the changes relates to the residence requirements for enrollment. The former language of the regulations stated merely that an applicant, to be eligible, must "have actually lived at some time during the period from June 4, 1924, to August 21, 1957, on the lands of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians in the counties of Swain, Jackson, Graham, Cherokee, and Haywood in North Carolina ... " Under the amendment this has been interpreted to mean that either the applicants themselves or their parents must "have maintained and dwelt in a home" on the reservation at some time during the specified period.

The other amendment deals with the deadline date for filing applications for enrollment. Under the tribal program that has been worked out, the general deadline for such applications was established as November 12, 1959. An exception was made in the regulations, however, for persons in the armed forces of the United States, under the rules they are permitted to file their applications within 120 days of the date of discharge. The amendment which has now been adopted makes it clear that not only the persons in military service but the members of their immediate families living with them away from the reservation are to come within the scope of this exception.

Both changes will affect a number of people of Eastern Cherokee blood living in various parts of the country.

The Department of the Interior announced today it has submitted to Congress proposals for legislation that would end Federal trusteeship and supervision 0ver two small Indian reservations in western Washington.

The reservations affected are Lower Elwha embracing 372 acres in Clallam County near Port Angeles and Shoalwater Bay which comprises 334.75 acres in Pacific County southwest of Hoquiam. There are about 80 Indians in the Lower Elwha group and 11 residing on the Shoalwater Bay Reservation.

Under the Department's proposals, which have been endorsed by a majority of the Indians in both groups as well as by State and county officials, the lands on the reservations would be conveyed to the Indians in fee simple or unrestricted status.

In the case of Lower Elwha, the governing council of the Band would provide for a division of the lands among the enrolled members. In the case of Shoalwater Bay, where there is no tribal organization, the legislation divides among the 11 residents all reservation lands except for a cemetery which is to be turned over to a public or nonprofit body.

On both reservations the Indians are well assimilated with the surrounding Don-Indian communities and have been managing their own affairs for a generation more with only a minimum of assistance from the Indian Bureau.

Promotion of Llewellyn Kingsley from the post of administrative officer at the Uintah and Ouray Indian Agency, Fort Duchesne, Utah, to the position of superintendent of the Winnebago Agency, Winnebago, Nebraska, was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

Mr. Kingsley will assume his new duties effective March 6. He succeeds Allan M. Adams who recently transferred to the Washington Office of the Bureau of Indian Affairs as a realty officer.

The new Winnebago superintendent first came with the Bureau in 1936 as an assistant clerk at the Navajo Agency, Window Rock, Ariz. Two years later he moved to the Hopi Agency, Keams Canyon, Ariz., as foreman of water development. After 13 years in this post he was named chief clerk of the Hopi Agency in 1951 and was then promoted to administrative officer of the same agency in 1953. Three years later he transferred as administrative officer to the San Carlos Agency, San Carlos, Ariz., and in 1958 moved to his present position at Fort Duchesne.

Before joining the Bureau of Indian Affairs, he was associated for nine years with an oil company in Oklahoma. He was born at Canton, Oklahoma, in 1904 and attended the University of Colorado from 1923 to 1926.

Education and training programs of the Bureau of Indian Affairs benefited an increasing number of Indians of all ages during the fiscal year 1959, Secretary of the Interior Fred A. Seaton said today in releasing the Department1s annual report.

Adult vocational training under Indian Bureau contracts with trade schools throughout the country was furnished to 1,547 Indians during the year. This contrasted with 376 trainees in 195B, the first year of the Bureau's adult vocational training program.

Enrollment of school-age Indian children in schools of all types increased to an all-time high figure of approximately 132,000, about 92 percent of the school-age children Sixty-one percent were enrolled in public schools, 30 percent in 285 Federal schools operated by the Indian Bureau, and 9 percent in mission and other private schools.

Adult education courses on the reservations for the benefit of illiterate or inadequately educated Indians were conducted by the Bureau at 80 locations in 1959 as compared with 75 in 1958.

Grant funds were made available by the Bureau to help over 500 Indian students in obtaining an education beyond the high school level.

Another major development of the fiscal year, according to the Bureau’s section of the annual report, was Secretary Seaton’s radio address of September 18, 1958, clarifying the Department's position on the centrally important question of determining trust responsibilities for Indian tribal groups.

Referring to the resolution on this subject adopted by Congress in 1953 (House Concurrent Resolution No. 108 of the 83d Congress), the Secretary cited varying interpretations given to this document over the preceding five years and mentioned the impression created by some interpreters that "it is the intention of Congress and the Department of the Interior to abandon Indian groups regardless of their ability to fend for themselves.

Secretary Seaton strongly repudiated any such interpretation. Summarizing his position, he said: " ••• no Indian tribe should end its relationship with the Federal Government unless such tribe or group has clearly demonstrated--first, that it understands the plan under which such a program would go forward, and second, that the tribe or group affected concurs in and supports the plan proposed."

The one piece of new Indian terminal legislation enacted by Congress during fiscal 1959 was in full harmony with the Department's position. It covers 41 small Indian groups in California which had explicitly asked for such legislation and provides for a referendum on each property distribution or termination plan before it becomes effective. By the end of the period 23 of the groups had submitted such plans and all of these had been tentatively approved by the Department.

Income to Indian tribes and individuals from leasing of their lands for oil and gas development declined for the second year in a row from the record-smashing total of nearly $72,000,000 reached in 1957. In 1959 the income from this source totaled $46,587,458. This was the third highest figure ever recorded. Although, there was a substantial decrease in bonus income during 1959, the increasing production on Indian (especially Navajo) lands was reflected in an all-time-high royalty income figure of $30,172,382. This compared with $18,453,532 in 1958.

Sales of timber from Indian lands advanced during the reporting period and cash receipts from this source totaled about $9,000,000 as compared with approximately $8,500,000 the preceding year

Promotion of Martin N. B. Holm to the position of Area Director at Aberdeen, South Dakota, in charge of Indian Bureau operations in North Dakota, South Dakota and Nebraska was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

Mr. Holm has been serving as Assistant Area Director in charge of community services at the Bureau's area office in Portland, Oregon since 1954. He will take over his new duties at Aberdeen around May 21, succeeding Benjamin Reifel who resigned March 11.

Prior to 1954 Mr. Holm's service with the Bureau had been wholly in the field of education. He first carne with the Bureau in 1940 as an elementary school teacher on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. From 1946 to 1951 he served in positions of steadily increasing responsibility on the Pima Reservation in Arizona, on the Jicarilla Apache Reservation in New Mexico, and in the area office at Juneau, Alaska.

In 1951 he was named superintendent of the 600-pupil Indian boarding school at Chemawa, Oregon, and one year later was promoted to be area director of schools at the Portland office. He served in this latter post for two years before his appointment as assistant area director.

Born at Denver, Colorado, in 1910, Mr. Holm holds both a bachelor’s and a master's degree from the Colorado State College of Education. He served over two years with the Army during World War II and had eight years of public school teaching experience in Colorado before joining the Bureau.

The Department of the Interior today announced its support of legislation that would give the Nez Perce Indian Tribe of Idaho beneficial ownership of about 1,700 acres on the Nez Perce Reservation subject to the right of the United States to use the land for agency, school or administrative purposes.

The Tribe has indicated that it intends to use a substantial portion of the land for the development of an "Indian village" as a tourist attraction.

In a report on S. 2711, a bill that would declare the land to be held in trust by the United States for the Tribe, the Department expressed its support of the tribal development plan and pointed out that the project will provide jobs for some of the older tribal members who are currently unemployable.

After completion of the Indian village, camping grounds and other tourist facilities would be added later. With the completion of the Lewis and Clark Highway, the site will be only three miles from a major intersection of interstate highways and readily accessible to tourists.

The land that would be affected by S. 2711 has been the subject of litigation brought by the Nez Perce Tribe against the United States. Originally the lands were in tribal ownership but the Department contends that they were ceded to the United States under terms of an 1893 agreement. The tribe, on the other hand, has maintained that this particular acreage was exempted from the agreement and has always been in tribal ownership.

In 1955 the Tribe sought an injunction to prevent the Secretary of the Interior from conveying 19 acres of this land to a local school district. The U. S. District Court for the District of Columbia dismissed the complaint on the ground that the suit was in substance one against the United States and that the United States had not consented to be sued. The Court of Appeals affirmed on the same ground but pointed out that the opposing claims of the Tribe and the United States on the merits were "highly debatable." The Tribe's petition for a writ of certiorari was subsequently denied by the Supreme Court.

Resignation of Benjamin Reifel as area director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs at Aberdeen, South Dakota, was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

Mr. Reifel, who has been serving as area director at Aberdeen since 1955, submitted his resignation for personal reasons. It was effective March 11 Robert Bennett, program officer at the Aberdeen office; was designated acting area director pending appointment of a successor.

Born on the Pine Ridge Reservation of South Dakota in 1906 of German and Sioux Indian parentage, Mr. Reifel has been associated with the Bureau of Indian Affairs since 1933. After graduating from South Dakota State College at Brookings in 1932, he was appointed the following year as farm agent at the Pine Ridge Agency. From 1935 to 1942 he served as organization field agent, helping Indian tribes to form tribal or business councils under the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934.

After four and a half years of military service, he returned to the Bureau in 1946 as tribal relations officer at Billings, Mont. In 1949 he took three years leave of absence for graduate study at Harvard University and was awarded the degree of doctor of philosophy in public administration in 1952. Following a brief tour of duty in the Bureau’s Washington Office, he was named late in 1952 as superintendent of the Fort Berthold Agency, then located at Elbowwoods, North Dakota. Two years later he was transferred to the post of superintendent at Pine Ridge Agency and in 1955 he was appointed as Area Director at Aberdeen in charge of all Bureau operations in North Dakota, South Dakota, and Nebraska.

The Department of the Interior today announced its endorsement of legislation that would permit the leasing of Indian lands on the. Navajo Reservation in Arizona, New Mexico and Utah for periods up to a maximum of 99 years.

Under present law the maximum term permitted for such leases is 25 years with an option to renew for an additional 25 years. In a report on H. R. 9382, Assistant Secretary Roger Ernst pointed out that the bill is needed to permit leases with a long enough term so that the lessee can obtain financing for the type of real estate development contemplated on the Navajo Reservation. In some parts of the reservation intensive development for residential or commercial use is being considered.

Mr. Ernst explained that difficult problems arise under present laws limiting leases to what is the equivalent of a 50-year period due to the fact that by the time financing is obtained by the lessee, the lease has less than 50 years to run, while the Federal Reserve Act and the National Housing Act require a minimum of 50-year leases before approving loans secured by lease holdings.

In its report the Department called attention to the 99-year leasing legislation enacted last year for the Palm Springs Reservation in California and pointed out that H. R. 9382 in its present form would substitute the Navajo for the Palm Springs Reservation. The Department recommended that the bill be modified so that the Navajo authorization would-be in addition to rather than in lieu of the Palm Springs authority.

The Department of the Interior has submitted to Congress a proposal for legislation that will eliminate numerous administrative problems that have been encountered in the sale of timber from Indian lands, Assistant Secretary Roger Ernst announced today.

Two main types of changes are involved. One would permit a continuation of contract sales of timber from lands owned by individual Indians after the trust or other restriction on alienation is removed, in whole or in part. The other would authorize the Department to enter into timber sale contracts for tracts in multiple ownership with the approval of those owning a majority interest. Present law requires the approval of all owners in such cases, Mr. Ernst said, and this is frequently difficult to obtain.

A number of other less significant changes are also involved in the proposal. The proposal is in the form of an amendment of the Act of June 25, 1910, which governs the sale of timber grown on Indian trust lands.