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Regulations to establish rules and procedures for the conduct of an election of an interim Yurok Tribal governing committee are being published in the Federal Register, Interior Assistant Secretary Forrest Gerard announced today.

Gerard said the action is in accord with his November 20, 1978 message to the Hoopa Valley and Yurok people and is intended as one of the first steps leading to participation by the Yurok Tribe in the management of the Hoopa Valley Indian Reservation.

Regulations setting out voters qualifications and establishing procedures for preparation of a Yurok voting list were published April 25, 1979.

Proposed regulations on the election procedures and duties of the interim governing committee were published May 30 for review and comment. Suggested changes to the proposed regulations are discussed in the Federal Register notice.

The new regulations will become effective 30 days after publication.

For further information contact the Office of Indian Services, Bureau of Indian Affairs, 18th and C Streets, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20240 (202-343-2111) or the Area Director, Bureau of Indian Affairs, 2800 Cottage Way, Sacramento, California 95825 (916-484-4682).

The Bureau of Indian Affairs has named new superintendents for the Blackfeet Agency in Montana and the Uintah/Ouray Agency in Utah, Acting Deputy Commissioner Sidney Mills announced today.

Michael A. Fairbanks, superintendent at the Michigan Agency, Sault Ste Marie, Michigan, will be the new agency head at the 950,000 acre Blackfeet Reservation headquartered at Browning, Montana. Fairbanks, age 43, an enrolled member of the Red Lake Band of Chippewas, attended Bemidji State and North Dakota State majoring in social sciences.

His prior BIA service included tours at Red Lake, Minneapolis, Great Lakes and Western Nevada in criminal investigation and tribal operations.

Fairbanks replaces Anson Baker who was appointed Billings Area Director in April. The Blackfeet Tribe was settled on the present reservation in Glacier and Pondera Counties in Montana in 1888 and is organized under the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934;

The new superintendent at the Uintah/Ouray Agency is Lavern W. Collier, age 34, Cherokee Tribe of Oklahoma, who holds a BA degree in public and business administration from Northeastern State University and is a graduate of the Oklahoma Military Academy. Collier, a former United States Marine Corps officer, has prior BIA service in the Joint-Use Administrative Office, Flagstaff, Ariz., Uintah and Ouray Agency, the Office of the Commissioner, Washington, D.C., and the Phoenix, Ariz. Area office in planning, tribal operations and special projects. Collier replaces William Ragsdale who has been appointed Assistant Area Director for Economic Development in the Phoenix Area Office.

The Ute tribal headquarters is at Ft. Duchesne for the 1 million acre Uintah and Ouray Reservation which was established in 1863 and federally chartered under the Indian Reorganization Act of June 18, 1934.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs has been recruiting to fill 45 clerical and professional positions in its Central Office of Indian Education in Washington, D.C., Director Earl Barlow announced today.

Barlow said that the openings have been created by a reshaping and strengthening of the BIA's central education office to meet current education needs of Indians and Alaska Natives.

Eight vacancy announcements for positions of GS-11to GS-15 levels were issued July 9 and the remaining 37 are expected to be issued before the end of the month.

There are positions to be filled, Barlow said, in elementary and secondary education, post-secondary education, education of the exceptional child, student support services, planning and program development and administrative support. They include jobs for clerk-typists, clerk-stenos, analysts, education specialists and supervisory education specialists.

Qualified Indian applicants will be given preference in filling all these positions.

Further information about the specific positions and qualifications requirements may be obtained from local Bureau of Indian Affairs offices or by writing to the Branch of Personnel Services, Bureau of Indian Affairs, 18th and C Streets, NW, Washington, D.C. 20240 (202 343-7581).

Interior Assistant Secretary Forrest Gerard has announced that Sidney L. Mills, Director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs' Albuquerque Area, will serve as Acting Deputy Commissioner of Indian Affairs, beginning July 30.

In this capacity Mills will direct the day-to-day operations of the Bureau of Indian Affairs until, the announcement says, "the appointment of a Commissioner takes place."

Mills replaces Martin E. Seneca, who has been the acting BIA head since October, 1978. Seneca has announced his intention to resign from the Bureau as of September 30, 1979. He will return to his former position as Director of Trust Responsibilities July 30.

Gerard said that he asked Mills to assume the duties as Acting Deputy Commissioner prior to Seneca's resignation "in order to effect an orderly transition." He expressed appreciation to both Seneca and Mills "for their extra measure of performance."

Mills, an enrolled member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, was Executive Assistant to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs prior to his appointment in Albuquerque in March of 1978.

A Navy veteran, Mills, 54, entered Federal service in 1973 in the Aberdeen, South Dakota Area Office. He was the Supply and Contract Officer and, for almost a year, the Acting Deputy Area Director before transferring to Washington, D.C., in August 1975. He had previously been Purchasing Manager for the Great Western Sugar Company; Merchandise Control Manager, Creative Merchandising Inc.; and Purchasing Manager for Sundstrand Aviation, all in Denver, Colorado.

The Department of the Interior announced in the Federal Register July 26 that a land use plan and a draft environmental impact statement for the addition of land to the Havasupai Indian Reservation are now available. The Department also announced that public hearings on the land use plan will be held September 11, 12 and 14.

The Grand Canyon National Park Enlargement Act of 1975 restored to the tribe 185,000 acres of land on the rim of the canyon and also designated another 95,000 acres within the Park as a permanent traditional use area of the tribe. This land had been used for about 1,000 years by the Havasupai until about a century ago when land for their reservation was limited to 519 acres at the bottom of the canyon.

Single copies of the draft EIS and the land use plan are available from the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Phoenix Area Office, 3030 North Central Ave., Phoenix, Arizona 85012 (602/261-4195).

These documents are also available for inspection in the BIA office in Washington, D.C. and at the Truxton Canyon Agency, Valentine, Arizona 86437.

Written comments on the documents should be sent to the Phoenix Area Office by September 21.

Hearings on the land use plan will be Sept. 11 at the Havasupai Tribal Council Building, Supai, Arizona; Sept. 12, Chamber of Commerce Building, Kingman, Arizona; and Sept. 14, Holiday Inn, 1000 West Highway 66, Flagstaff, Arizona.

Persons desiring to make an oral presentation at these hearings should either advise the Phoenix Area Office in advance or register prior to the 9 a.m. starting time on the date and the place of the hearing.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs has announced that final regulations to implement the provisions of the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 (P.L. 95- 608) are being published in the Federal Register.

The Act deals with the proper care of Indian children needing adoptive or foster home care. Its main objective is to restrict .the placement of Indian children by non-Indian social agencies in non-Indian homes and environments.

The Act makes clear that tribal courts have jurisdiction over children who live or whose permanent home is on reservations. For other Indian children it provides for the transfer of jurisdiction from state courts to tribal courts, absent the showing of good cause why a case should not be transferred. The regulations include a separate part on tribal resumption of jurisdiction over child custody proceedings in those instances where states have assumed jurisdiction according to federal law.

The new regulations will become effective 30 days after publication

Numerous comments and suggestions were received by the Bureau after publication this spring of proposed regulations. An explanation of changes made in the regulations because of comments received and recommended changes not adopted is published with the new regulations.

As stated in the regulations, "The policy of the Act and of these regulations is to protect Indian children from arbitrary removal from their families and tribal affiliations by establishing procedures to insure that measures to prevent the breakup of Indian families are followed in child custody proceedings. This will insure protection of the best interests of Indian children and Indian families by providing assistance and funding to Indian Tribes and Indian organizations in the operation of child and family service programs which reflect the unique values of Indian culture and promote, the stability and security of Indian families. In administering the grant authority for Indian Child and Family Programs it shall be Bureau policy to emphasize the design and funding of programs to promote the stability of Indian families.

Further information is available from Raymond V. Butler, Chief of the Division of Social Services, Bureau of Indian Affairs, 18th and C Streets N.W., Washington, D.C. 20240 (703/235-2756).

For additional information about the tribal resumption of jurisdiction contact David Etheridge, Office of the Solicitor, Department of the Interior, 18th and C Streets N.W., Washington, D.C. 20240 (202/343-6967).

Interior Solicitor Leo M. Krulitz announced today that a tentative agreement has been reached on a proposed legislative settlement which would give the Cayuga Indian Nation a 548l-acre reservation and an $8 million trust fund in return for extinguishment of the Nation's claim to 64,000 acres in Seneca and Cayuga Counties New York.

"I am delighted to report that all parties to the negotiations--the Cayuga Nation, the State of New York and the Departments of Agriculture and 1nterior--have worked out an agreement on the Cayuga claim," said Krulitz.

A public meeting has been scheduled on the settlement proposal for 7:30 p.m., Tuesday, September 11, in the Delavan Little Theater at Eisenhower College, Seneca Falls, N.Y. Krulitz said the Cayuga Indian Claim work group, which includes federal, state and tribal representatives, will explain the background of the claim and the settlement proposal. The work group will consider modifications to the settlement proposal based on the public's comments before legislation is drafted implementing the settlement. Final settlement will depend upon Congressional approval and a vote of the tribal membership.

"I want to congratulate everyone woo worked so hard to reach this agreement. It proves again that negotiation can result in satisfactory settlements without years of costly court fights," said Krulitz.

The Interior and Justice Departments determined in 1977 that the Cayuga Indian Nation had a credible claim to the return of 64,000 acres--its former reservation, confirmed in a 1794 treaty with the federal government. The lands were later lost in transactions with the State of New York. The transactions were never ratified by the Congress and so are allegedly invalid under the Indian Non-Intercourse Act of 1790.

The Bureau of Reclamation has awarded a $6.6 million contract for relocating and lining 61/2 miles of main canal on the Colorado River Indian Reservation surrounding the town of Parker, Ariz., Secretary of the Interior Cecil D. Andrus announced today.

The contract goes to McCutcheon-Peterson, Arcadia, Calif., on the lowest of six bids opened June 5 in Phoenix, Ariz. Ball, Ball and Brosamer, Inc., Danville, Calif., ,vas second low bidder with an offer of $6.9 million while Collavino Brothers, Jackson, Mich., was third with a bid of $7.6 million. The Engineer's Estimate was $5.4 million. The contractor must complete the work in 600 days.

The new concrete-lined canal, 24 feet wide at the bottom and 13 feet deep, is part of the main canal which serves about 60,000 acres of irrigated land on the Colorado River Indian Reservation. Water for the reservation is diverted at Headgate Rock Dam, on the Colorado River 12 miles downstream of Parker Dam. The dam was completed by the Bureau of Indian Affairs in 1942.

The Bureau of Reclamation prepared the designs and specifications and will supervise construction of the new canal section as delegated by the Colorado River Agency, Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Established in 1865, the Colorado River Indian Reservation is the oldest irrigation development on the Lower Colorado River.

The final report of the Indian Religious Freedom Task Force has been sent to the Congress Secretary of the Interior Cecil D. Andrus said today.

Andrus chaired the task force, which was established pursuant to President Carter's signing into law the American Indian Religious Freedom Act of 1978. More than thirty Federal agencies were represented on the task force. The report to the Congress was mandated by the Act.

In preparing the report, the Federal agencies and the task force conducted formal consultations with Native traditional religious leaders in Alaska, Hawaii, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Washington.

The Act declares that it is United States policy for Federal agencies to respect the customs, ceremonies, and traditions of Native American religions. For one year, Andrus said, the agencies have examined their policies and procedures, -as required by the Act. They have worked with Native religious and tribal leaders to assure that the interference and insensitivity of the past will not be repeated in future practice.

He said that with this new policy, it is now possible to accommodate administratively most of the Native traditional religious needs under existing statutory authority. He also said many agencies have already removed impediments to Native religious freedom and developed internal mechanisms for continuing consultation on specific concerns. They also are preparing policies which will assure Native religious freedom in relation to Federal actions, incorporating the new policy into existing procedures and practices at the local level.

The report follows the categorical areas of the Congressional resolution, including land and access to sacred sites, including cemeteries; the use and gathering of sacred objects, including those transported across borders and possessed by museums; and ceremonies and traditional rites as they relate to Federal agency practice.

The formula for distributing Johnson-Q' Malley Act funding to schools serving Indian students will be determined by a run-off election to be conducted this fall, Interior Deputy Assistant Secretary Rick Lavis announced today.

The 1978 Education Amendments Act (P.L. 95-561) requires that the distribution formula be chosen by a majority vote of the tribes and Alaska village groups.

The Johnson-O'Malley funds are used to provide supplemental programs for Indian students in Public schools and other non-Federal education programs. In fiscal year 1979 the appropriation for this purpose, serving approximately 171,000 students, was $31,675,000.

Following the publication of proposed formulas this spring, hearings were held at seven locations between March 28 and April 13.

The task force, appointed by Lavis to work on this project, received more than 300 comments on the proposed formulas, including recommendations for 28 additional formulas. After reviewing the hearings testimony, the comments and recommendations, the task force submitted eight formulas May 25 for voting by the tribal groups. None of the eight formulas, however, received the required 51 percent (the votes cast.

The two formulas receiving the greatest number of votes will be submitted to a tribal vote in the run-off election this fall. One of the two formulas has been used for the past four years. It provides straight per capita payments for all students, with increases allowed for states which spend above the national average for education.

The other formula is a straight per capita plan which makes no allowance for cost of education in the state.