OPA

The Office of the Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs and the Bureau of Indian Affairs in a cooperative effort with the Department of the Interior's Office of Budget have initiated a study of 14 off-reservation Indian boarding schools, Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs Forrest Gerard announced today.

The purpose of the study to be completed this fall is to provide a basis for planning more effective and efficient uses of the facilities, funds and personnel of the schools.

Assistant Secretary Gerard said the off-reservation schools were “a priority issue demanding a resolution of some basic questions." He said he wanted "answers on the role and function of these schools, what students they would serve, how they fit into the comprehensive educational plans of the Bureau and what could be done to eliminate under-utilization and cost inefficiencies."

The off-reservation schools have generally served three groups of students: (1) those living in isolated areas with no suitable school accessible to them; (2) those with home or family problems and (3) those with social or educational problems. For this latter group, the off reservation boarding schools have often been schools of last resort.

The review will be conducted through both on-site visits and documentary sources.

A public meeting will be held in the Eisenhower College Athletic Center, Seneca Falls, New York, September 11 to discuss the proposed Cayuga Indian Land Claim Settlement announced on August 20.

The meeting will begin at 7 p.m. The time is a half hour earlier than originally announced and the place has been changed from the Delavan Little Theatre to allow ample room and time for all who wish to comment on the proposed settlement.

Members of the Cayuga Land Claim Settlement Work Group will sit as a panel at the meeting. They will explain the background of the land claim and proposed settlement and will receive public comment on it. The group includes Interior Department attorney Tim Vollmann, who chaired the group during the past year; Chief James Leaffe of the Cayuga Nation and other tribal leaders; tribal attorney Arthur Gajarsa; Robert C. Batson of the New York Secretary of State's Office; Jeremiah Jochnowitz and Frank Bresler of the State Attorney General's Office; and Arthur Jutton, administrative aide to U.S. Rep. Gary Lee.

Anyone wishing to make an oral presentation at the public meeting should contact Vollmann in writing at the Division of Indian Affairs, Office of the Solicitor, U.S. Department of the Interior, Washington, D. C. 20240.

All written statements on the proposed settlement are welcome and should be mailed to the same address.

All public comments will be carefully considered before the introduction of legislation in the Congress to provide for the settlement of the Cayuga Indian claim.

Bureau of Indian Affairs education administrators nationwide met August 7-9 in Duluth, Minn., to discuss the implementation of new Federal laws affecting Indian education programs, BIA Director of Indian Education Programs Earl Barlow said today.

Barlow said that major changes in Indian education programs will be introduced in the 1979-80 school year through the implementation of the Education Amendments Act of 1978 (P.L. 95-561). He said that the Bureau's education programs were also being affected by legislation on the education of the handicapped (P.L. 94-142) and the Indian Tribally Controlled Community College Act (P.L. 95-471).

The three-day program consisted of workshops and presentations on the regulations and implementation procedures for these Acts and discussions of other matters pertaining to Indian education programs.

Barlow said that the sessions were important "because the administrators are the individuals responsible for making the programs work at the local level in classrooms where children come to learn He said that the administrators would be bringing information from the meeting back to their teachers, dormitory supervisors, school boards and other persons involved in the education of Indian students.

The Crow Indians are the first Indian Tribe to receive advanced funding to plan abandoned coal mine reclamation, Secretary of the Interior Cecil D. Andrus announced today.

The Tribe will get $156,545 to help prepare its reclamation program. The funding became available with the signing of the cooperative agreement between the Tribe and Interior's Office of Surface Mining (OSM).

"Our authorization for the expenditure of these funds under Title IV of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 is consistent with previous advance funding to coal-producing States," said Andrus. "In the State advance funding program, we have been able to give each State needed funds to plan its reclamation program with the signing of a cooperative agreement.”

The Crow Tribe's Division of Natural Resources, which has been designated as the responsible agency to govern the use of the funds, will use the money to compile a general description of the reclamation activities ultimately to be conducted with money from the fund.

The funding will help the Tribe identify those lands, rivers, lakes, streams and water tables that were adversely affected by past missing practices and have not been fully reclaimed. The crow reservation is in Southern Montana.

The Tribe's agency will also provide OSM with descriptions of problem areas and how the proposed reclamation relates to land use planning, as well as detailed information on the economic, social and environmental conditions that prevail in the Tribe's abandoned mine lands.

This information, in addition to assisting the Tribe, will help OSM develop a national priority reclamation program, and assist the Soil Conservation Service of the Departmental of Agriculture to develop its Rural Abandoned Mine Program.

Funding for the abandoned mine land programs comes from fees paid by active coal mining operators in the Nation. They pay 35 cents a ton for coal that is surface mined; 15 cents a ton for deep-mined coal, and 10 cents a ton for lignite. Half of these fees are returned to the State or Indian Tribe once they have approved regulatory and reclamation programs.

Since October 1, 1977, when the fee collection system began, coal producers on Crow lands have paid over $2 million into the abandoned mine lands fund -through July 30, 1979 -making the Tribe eligible for over $1 million once it has OSM-approved regulatory and reclamation programs.

In addition to the Crow Tribe, 13 States have received advance planning funds for their reclamation programs. The States are Arkansas, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Missouri, Montana, New Mexico, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia. Over $2.5 million has been allocated to these States and the Crow Tribe for program development.

Jon C. Wade, an enrolled member of the Santee Sioux Tribe, has been appointed President of the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) at Santa Fe, New Mexico, Acting Deputy Commissioner of Indian Affairs Sidney Mills announced today.

Wade has been director of the Division of Education Assistance for the Bureau of Indian Affairs since 1975. He had previously been Superintendent of the Phoenix Indian School and educational assistance officer for the BIA's Aberdeen, South Dakota area office.

The art institute, started in 1962, is a post-secondary school serving Indians from all tribes.

Wade, 40, completed/course requirements for a Ph.D. in Educational Administration at the University of Minnesota in 1971. He received a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics at Northern State College, South Dakota and a Master of Arts from the University of South Dakota.

Wade was a member of the Special Education Subcommittee of the National Council on Indian Opportunity and from 1964 to 1966 served as Vice Chairman of the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe.

W. Richard West, a Cheyenne artist, sculptor, and educator from Oklahoma, has been appointed a Commissioner of the Indian Arts-and Crafts Board, Secretary of the Interior Ceci1 D • Andrus announced today.

West's art work is in many major museum and private collections, and he has received numerous awards including the Waite Phillips Trophy presented by the Philbrook Art Center. From 1947 to 1970 he was director of the Art Department of' Bacone College, and then until 1978 he served as chairman or the Humanities Division at Haskell Indian Junior College. He

ho1ds B.F.A. and M.F.A. degrees from the University of' Ok1ab.oma, and an honorary D.F.A. from Baker University.

The Indian Arts and Crafts Board promotes the development of Native American arts and handcrafts-the creative work of Indian, Eskimo, and Aleut people. The Board provides professional advisory services and operates three museums located in Browning, Montana; .Anadarko, Oklahoma; and Rapid City, South Dakota, which function as centers for exhibition study and the sale of contemporary Native .American arts and crafts.

Other Commissioners of the Indian Arts and Craft’s Board are Lloyd Kiva New past president of' the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico; Royal B. Hassrick, author and anthropologist William H. Crowe designer-craftsman in wood; and Gerald J. Gray, bilingual-bicultural education specialist.

Regulations implementing the provisions of Public Law 95-471, the Tribally Controlled Community College Assistance Act of 1978, are being published in the Federal Register, Interior Deputy Assistant Secretary Rick Lavis said today.

The regulations prescribe procedures for providing financial and technical assistance to Indian community colleges and, in a separate part, to the Navajo Community College.

The regulations state that it is the policy of the Department of the interior "to support and encourage the establishment, operation and improvement of tribally controlled community colleges to ensure continued and expanded educational opportunities for Indian students, and to assist the Indian tribes in implementing social and economic development efforts leading to the fulfillment of tribal goals and objectives."

Numerous comments on proposed rules published in the Federal Register May 22 were received. A summary of recommendations adopted in the final regulations, and those not adopted, is part of the Federal Register notice

The regulations will be effective 30 days after publication. For further information contact Rick Lavis, Deputy Assistant Secretary - Indian Affairs, Department of the Interior, 18th and C Streets, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20240 (202 343-7163)

Acting Bureau of Indian Affairs Deputy Commissioner Sidney L. Mills has announced that the Minneapolis Area Office reorganization task force is working on the implementation of the reorganization of the Minneapolis office. The final restructuring of the office is scheduled to be completed by April, 1980.

The change is a continuation of Assistant Secretary of Interior for Indian Affairs Forrest Gerard's commitment to provide better service to the tribes in the five states covered by the Minneapolis area office.

All area offices nationwide are undergoing extensive review to determine how they can best provide management and technical assistance to Indian tribes and agencies.

The reviews are being conducted under the direction of Assistant Secretary Gerard's management improvement program in consultation with Indian tribes, Alaska Natives, employees and unions. Implementation of the reorganization recommendations is the responsibility of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs.

Interior Secretary Cecil D. Andrus said today that the energy crisis presents Indian tribes with opportunities to break the cycle of dependence which has plagued their people for more than a century.

"For too long, too many Indian people have been -- through no fault of their own -- too dependent upon the Federal government," Andrus said in a speech before the National Congress of American Indians in Albuquerque, N.M. "The energy crisis offers an opportunity for many tribes to break that cycle of dependence which has plagued your people."

The Secretary praised the Indians for their efforts to accelerate energy development on reservations and to become active partners in energy-producing projects.

"You are seeking independence -- the type of independence that comes with employment opportunities on the tribal lands, from adequate housing, from improved health," Andrus said.

"By developing your resources wisely, you can attain the independence American Indians seek while helping all Americans attain the national energy independence goal."

The Secretary said that President Carter's program, including the Windfall Profits Tax, Energy Security Corporation, and the Energy Mobilization Board, were of vital importance to the tribes. He said that to be effective, the national program would have to include measures to help Indians develop the vast energy resources on Indian lands.

"This is not only equitable, it is essential to increased energy supply, Andrus said.

The Secretary reviewed efforts by the Department of the Interior to help tribes make informed decisions regarding energy development and to better manage all their natural resources.

"Decisions on the development of energy resources on tribal lands will be made in the final instance by tribal leaders," Andrus said, responding to concern expressed by Indian leaders that the proposed Energy Mobilization Board would override established rights of tribes to control their own natural resources.

"In the vast majority of cases, I believe that you can make decisions regarding resources development which will be not only in your own best interest, but in the best interest of the Nation," Andrus said.

The Bureau of Reclamation has awarded a $20.4 million contract for construction of laterals and pumping plants for Block 5 of the Navajo Indian Irrigation Project in New Mexico, Secretary of the Interior Cecil D. Andrus announced today.

Granite Construction Co., Watsonville, Calif., has received the contract based on its low bid at the August 6 bid opening in Farmington, N.M., where the project headquarters are located. Granite has 580 days to complete the work.

Commissioner of Reclamation R. Keith Higginson said the major work will consist of furnishing and laying about 26 miles of 6- through 66-inch-diameter pipe, constructing about 4 miles of concrete-lined laterals and appurtenant structures, and constructing 12 pumping plants.- Other work items are furnishing and erecting three elevated steel tanks, two air chambers, and one surge tank and constructing approximately 9.2 miles of 34.5-kilovolt distribution line.

The Bureau of Reclamation is constructing the Navajo Indian Irrigation Project for the Bureau of Indian Affairs to supply irrigation water to the Navajo Nation. Work started in 1962 and the first water was delivered about 31/2 years ago. The 110,000-acre project is being developed in 10,000-acre blocks, and Block 5 covers an area alongside State Highway 44 south of Bloomfield.

Second low bid was $20.9 million by C. R. Fedrick, Inc., Novato, Calif. and third low was $22.9 million by Martin K. Eby Construction, Inc., of Omaha, Neb. The engineer's estimate was $16.9 million.