OPA

Award of a $78,643 contract for development and rehabilitation of approximately 500 acres on the Duck Valley Indian Reservation on the Nevada-Idaho boundary was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

The contractor will level the land and construct canals, laterals, and water control structures for irrigation purposes.

This is part of an over-all program to develop available resources on the Duck Valley Reservation for use by Indian families. These improvements will assist in stabilizing the livestock program in this isolated community where it is necessary to feed approximately five months during the winter season.

Kimberly Construction Company of Kimberly, Idaho, was awarded the contract. Six higher bids ranging from $79,440 to $97,320 were received.

The Department of the Interior today recommended enactment of legislation that would turn over to the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Indian Tribes of Montana 527 acres of Government-owned land on the Flathead Reservation valued at $38,207.

The acreage recommended for transfer was bought by the Government from the Indians in 1904 for $958.75 as part of an area to be used for Indian Bureau administration. It is no longer needed for this purpose. The only building on the land is owned by the tribal organization.

In reporting to Congress on S. 3004 and H.R. 10208, two identical companion bills, the Department recommended enactment but proposed for main amendments.

One amendment would identify more clearly the lands involved and would exclude from the transfer lands that are still needed by the Government and others that have been alienated and are no longer owned by the Government, The bill in its present form provides for transfer of 705 acres and includes 178 acres recommended by the Department for deletion.

A second recommended amendment would permit the Indian Claims Commission to decide whether the present value of the transferred lands should be deducted from any judgment awarded to the tribes under the Indian Claims Commission Act. In its present form the bill prohibits such deduction.

A third amendment would eliminate a provision in the bill directing the Department to transfer to the tribes other similar properties when they become excess to its needs. The Department's report called this provision "premature" and recommended that decision be deferred until the properties become excess.

The fourth amendment would eliminate a section in the bill which provides that the legislation is to become effective only after acceptance by the tribal council. Pointing out that the tribal council has already asked for the legislation, the report stated that the "effective date" section was thus not needed and would only complicate title records.

Secretary of the Interior Fred A. Seaton today announced the adoption of changes in the Federal regulations that will make it possible to grant certain rights-of-way permits for oil and gas pipelines across Indian lands for terms up to a maximum of 50 years.

Under the former regulations the maximum term was 20 years with a 20-year renewal. Consent of the Indian landowners was required in connection with both the original term and the renewal. Existing permits are not affected by the new regulations.

Secretary Seaton emphasized that the new rules will not automatically grant 50-year permits. New applications will be required in each case, and they will be decided on their merits, he said. The Secretary also stressed that every application for a 50-year right-of-way across Indian lands will have to be accompanied by a new statement of proof of consent of the Indian landowners, the 50-year period will not be considered a minimum, but a maximum, he said. All existing safeguards for the Indians' welfare will remain in force, he said.

The changes also simplify the procedure involved in filing applications for rights-of-way across Indian lands and reduce the number of maps that must accompany an application. A notice of intention to adopt the new rules was published in the Federal Register. Most of the contents received from interested parties were in favor of the changes that have been adopted.

Award of a $30,700 contract to begin construction of a new student union building at the Haskell Indian Institute, Lawrence, Kansas was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

The contract covers the installation of concrete piling and grade beams for the new structure. When completed, the building will provide improved scholastic and recreational facilities for about 1,100 Indian students at the nationally famed Kansas institution.

Haskell Institute is an accredited high school offering postgraduate vocational training and a two-year course in commercial work for high school graduates. It enrolls Indian pupils from widely scattered and remote reservation areas of the West and Southwest who do not have access to adequate or suitable education facilities in their home communities. For the past several years all Haskell graduates have been placed in jobs following graduation.

The contract was awarded to Constant Construction Company of Lawrence. Two other bids were received ranging up to $37,854.

A sale of oil and gas leases on Indian lands of the Blackfeet Reservation in northern Montana which brought in high bonuses totaling over $200,000 for the Indian landowners was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

The bids were opened at Browning, Montana, August 24. Bids were received on 51 tracts totaling 13,770 acres. The total of the high bids on 33 tracts of tribal land amounted to $193,444.10. On 18 tracts owned by individual Indians high bonus offerings totaled $19,645.05.

The highest amount per acre bid on any one tract was $52.48.

The Blackfeet Tribal Council has voted to accept the bids on the tribal lands. Action on the others will be up to the individual landowners.

In addition to the bonuses, the Indian lessors will receive annual rentals of $1.25 per acre and royalties of 12 1/2 percent on the oil and gas produced.

Adoption of new Federal regulations to govern the -handling of public appeals from administrative decisions made by officials of the Bureau of Indian Affairs was announced today by Secretary of the Interior Fred A. Seaton.

The procedure being established, decisions or actions by Indian Bureau person's legal rights or privileges. Which are merely directed against the decisions or actions.

Secretary Seaton explained, applies only to officers which are claimed to violate a It does not cover the handling of complaints legal or administrative correctness of such Under the new rules an appeal may be filed by or on behalf of any person who believes that his legal rights or privileges have been violated. No degree of formality is required, a simple letter will suffice, and the appellant need not be represented by counsel.

Three levels of appeal are provided. Appeals may be made to area directors of the Bureau of Indian Affairs from decisions made by officials under their supervision. Decisions of area directors may be appealed to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs. And decisions of the Commissioner may be appealed to the Secretary of the Interior.

The regulations provide generally that appeals shall be filed with the official making the decision and that they must be received within 20 days after the mailing of the notice of decision. Additional briefs or arguments may also be submitted by the appellant within 10 days after the original appeal is filed.

Provision is also made in the regulations for serving notice of appeals on interested parties who may be adversely affected. Such parties are given 20 days in which to file a written answer and 10 additional days for the submission of further briefs or arguments.

The regulations explicitly provide that no appeal shall be dismissed because of a procedural error or informality which is satisfactorily explained as the result of ignorance, mistake or circumstances beyond the control of the appellant.

A notice of intention to adopt the appeals regulations was published in the Federal Register on November 28, 1959. Several suggestions and comments were received by the Bureau of Indian Affairs and were considered in the drafting of the final regulations.

The regulations, as now approved, will be published in the Federal Register shortly and will go into effect on the 30th day after publication.

The Department of the Interior today announced the award of a $1,011,750 contract for the construction of a new 12-classroom high school on the Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation at Belcourt, North Dakota.

The new school will provide seats for 360 Indian students. It will serve the dual purpose of relieving overcrowding in the Indian Bureau's present combined elementary and high school at Belcourt and of accommodating 260 additional high school pupils.

In addition to the 12 academic classrooms the facility will include a kitchen designed to provide a noon lunch for the entire student body, a standardize high school gymnasium, a science laboratory} a school library and a classroom for home economics.

The successful bidder was T. F. Powers Construction Co. of Fargo, North Dakota. Eight higher bids were received, ranging from $1,049,000.00 to $1,168,000.00.

The Department of the Interior announced today the award of a $144,840 contract for the construction of a 128.-pupil girl’s dormitory at Wingate Vocational School for Indians at Fort Wingate, New Mexico.

This dormitory, when completed, will relieve overcrowding of the present dormitories and provide for an enrollment of 820 pupils.

The successful bidder was Hesselden Construction Company, of Albuquerque, New Mexico. Nine higher bids were received, ranging from $146,592.00 to $192,976.00.

The Department of the Interior today announced the addition of two new sections to the Code of Federal Regulations to provide for leasing of lands on the Colorado River Indian Reservation within the State of Arizona and the leasing of lands on the Navajo Reservation for periods up to a maximum of 99 years.

Both changes are in line with laws recently enacted by Congress.

On the Colorado River Reservation, where beneficial ownership of the lands has not been determined, the Department was given authority to lease the lands under a 1955 law which expired in 1957. Under a more recent enactment, approved June 11, 1960, authority was provided for leasing the lands in the Arizona portion of the reservation but not the much smaller acreage which lies in California. The new section of the Code will make the leasing of these lands subject to the same regulations which apply in other Indian areas.

Under previous law and regulations, leasing of lands on the Navajo Reservation of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah has been permitted for a maximum of 25 years with a 25-year renewal on nonagricultural leases, Leasing for 8S long as 99 years for nonagricultural purposes will be permitted under the new law and regulation. Authority for 99-year leasing of Indian lands has been provided only on the Navajo Reservation and the Palm Springs Reservation of California.

The new regulations will be published in the Federal Register shortly and will become effective 15 days after the date of publication.

The Department of the Interior today released the text of letters from Under Secretary Elmer F. Bennett to Rep. Lee Metcalf of Montana and Rep. George S. McGovern of South Dakota on the Indian revolving loan fund. The text of the identical letters follows:

Office of Under Secretary

October 3, 1960

Dear Mr. Metcalf:

Our attention has recently been directed to a news report of an exchange of correspondence between you and Senator Kennedy. It was amazing for us to read that portions of the Indian program recommended by this Department to the Congress on June 5, 1959, more than 15 months ago, has now received your support and that of Senator Kennedy.

As you know, this Department recommended to the Congress that the Indian revolving loan fund be increased from $10 million to $25 million. This recommendation was made in connection with legislation designed to resolve the problems of Indian heirship.

We suggested legislation which would prevent the loss to Indians of important heirship lands while at the same time permitting the Indians to deal with lands or interest in lands that are now in multiple ownership. We informed the Congress that more than one-half of the 60,000 allotted Indian tracts apprising more than 13 million acres are now in multiple ownership and that an additional 2,000 estates are being probated each year. In some instances the interests of individual owners have to be expressed by fractions with denominators in the millions. Rental payable to the Indian owners of these lands sometimes amounts to only a few pennies a year and in many instances proper use cannot be made of the land because one of the joint owners is either absent or his whereabouts is unknown.

After we suggested the $15 million increase in the tribal loan fund, the House of Representatives enacted H. R. 1150 7lhieh substantially accepted our suggestions with the execution that the heirship provision was limited to the State of Minnesota rather than applicable to all of the United States. That bill was reported from the House Interior and Insular Affairs Committee on May 25 end passed on June 6 in an admirable display of bipartisan interest in the welfare of our Indian citizens.

It is reported in the press that you stated “Kennedy threw his weight behind a House--approved bill to increase the authorization of the Indian Revolving Loan Fund and the bill cleared the Senate Indian Subcommittee.” We are pleased to have this expression of new interest in the welfare of our Indian citizens. Furthermore, it is unfortunate, in our opinion, if this indication of his support is correct, that he did not request the Senate to complete the action begun by the House. Certainly" with the Senate of the United States controlled by an overwhelming majority of members of the Senators political party, it would seem it Gould have been enacted. Particularly is this true since this bill passed the House without objection end, as we said previously, with bipartisan support.

In closing, let me state that we commend the expression of your interest in the problems involved in Indian Affair’s. Perhaps this much-needed legislation will reach fruition in the next session with more active leadership and coordination among those in the Congress who are interested in Indian affairs.

Sincerely yours,

(Sgd) Elmer F. Bennett

Elmer F. Bennett

Under Secretary

Honorable Lee Metcalf

Member of Congress

P. O. Box 1694

Helena, Montana