OPA

Interior Secretary Cecil Andrus said today he was "pleased by the White House announcement that President Carter had nominated William Hallett, a Red Lake Chippewa, to be Commissioner of Indian Affairs."

Andrus said that the "filling of the Commissioner's post with a competent, knowledgeable man like Bill Hallett will be good for both the Indian community and the Department of the Interior."

Hallett's nomination was sent to the Senate September 28. A tentative date of November 13 has been set for the confirmation hearings.

Hallett is the HUD Assistant Regional Administrator, Office of Indian Programs, in the Denver region.

As Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Hallett would be responsible for directing the programs and day-to-day operations of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Interior Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Forrest Gerard, a Blackfeet Indian, said Hallett would be filling a "key role in the administration of Indian programs." He said that Hallett's nomination was preceded by an exhaustive search for the highly qualified individual needed

for the position." Gerard said that he looked forward to working with Hallett to "improve services to the Indian community."

Hallett was born May 18, 1942 in Red Lake, Minnesota. He graduated in 1960 from the Red Lake Indian High School. After two years at Brigham Young University, Hallett completed studies for a Bachelor's degree in business administration at Bemidji State College, Minnesota in 1965. He did post-graduate work in public administration at the University of New Mexico under the HUD Career Education Program.

From 1965 to 1967 Hallett was a personnel technician for the Chicago Police Department. He then became director of housing and manpower programs on the Red Lake Chippewa Reservation, where he set up and directed the Tribal Home Construction Company. From 1968 to 1970 he was director of industrial development for the National Congress of American Indians.

In 1970 Hallett served as a consultant to the National Council on Indian Opportunity and the President's National Advisory Council on Minority Business Enterprise.

Hallett went to the Denver HUD office in 19 70 as a special assistant to the regional administrator for Indian affairs. He was named assistant regional adn1inistrator in 1975.

Proposed revisions to regulations dealing with the tribal purchase of certain property interests of decedents under special laws applicable to the Yakima Tribes of Washington, the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon, and the Nez Perce Tribe of Idaho are being published in the Federal Register, the Department of the Interior's Office of Hearings and Appeals announced today.

The proposed revisions, which incorporate suggestions offered by the tribes concerned, are intended to improve procedures for administration of the tribal purchase statutes and to simplify language in the regulations.

The two major changes are: (1) blood quantum and enrollment in a tribe will not be contested before an Administrative Law Judge but instead will be determined by the official tribal roll which will be binding on the Judge;

(2) valuation of the property taken for purposes of just compensation under the tribal purchase statutes will no longer be determined as of the date of inspection but instead will be made as of the date of taking by a tribe.

The date of taking occurs when a tribe files a written notice of election with the Superintendent along with payment of at least 10 percent of the appraised value.

Written comments, suggestions or objections should be submitted within

60 days after publication of the proposed revisions in the Federal Register.

Such comments should be addressed to the Director, Office of Hearings and Appeals, U.S. Department of the Interior, 4015 Wilson Blvd., Arlington, Virginia 22203.

Burton Rider, a Gros Ventre-Cree Indian, has been named Assistant Area Director for the Bureau of Indian Affairs' Billings, Montana office, Acting Deputy Commissioner Sidney L. Mills said today.

Rider, 49, has been Superintendent of the Fort Peck Agency at Poplar, Montana. His appointment in the area office will be effective October 21 He succeeds Maurice W. (Bill) Babby who has accepted a position in the Office of the Commissioner in Washington, D.C.

A United States Army veteran, Rider began working with BIA in 1954 and has held increasingly responsible jobs in various agency and area offices. He was named Superintendent at Fort Peck in 1975 and, for four years before that, was the Employment Assistance Officer at the Minneapolis Area Office.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs has established a new agency at Siletz, Oregon to serve the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians, Acting Deputy Commissioner Sidney Mills announced today.

The federally recognized status of the Siletz Tribes, ended under the Termination Act of 1954, was restored by an Act of November 18, 1977.

The BIA has had a field office at Siletz under the direction of a field representative, Bernard Topash. He will continue as the officer in charge until further notice. Steps are now being taken to fill the position of agency superintendent, Mills said.

Interior Solicitor Leo M. Krulitz said today that any water needed for mineral development on western public lands will have to be acquired by developers through states systems and under applicable state law and not through the assertion by the United States of a federal water right.

Krulitz, speaking to the annual convention of the Wyoming Water Development Association in Casper, said it has been and continues to be the policy of the Carter Administration that the states must be allowed to allocate their water resources in their own way.

"President Carter's statement in Albuquerque earlier this month on state management of water resources left ID room for doubt about how this Administration feels on the question," said Krulitz. "The President pointed out that Western states' systems for allocating and

Managing water resources have evolved over decades, recognizing the high value and relative scarcity of the resource and must be protected."

Krulitz said another example of this administration's support for state water systems is the Interior Department's position on coal slurry pipelines. He said he recently testified before the House Interior Committee on a bill to authorize federal certification of such lines. In that testimony he supported a number of provisions aimed specifically at ensuring state water laws will not be circumvented. In addition, he urged the committee to adopt another provision to further toughen the language.

"The amendment I proposed ti.0uld make the matter absolutely clear," he said. "It would provide that all water rights needed for any coal slurry pipeline proposed under the bill must be acquired pursuant to state law--both procedural and substantive--before the

Secretary of the Interior may grant a certificate to build the line.

The same support for state systems was one of the major guidelines Interior attorneys used when drafting the Solicitor's Opinion on federal reserved and non-reserved water rights, Krulitz said.

"We knew that the states must be at the very center of the process, that the President wanted us to move as quickly as possible to eliminate the uncertainty about how much water the federal government was entitled to and to construe federal water rights in responsible way, rather than to advance highly speculative legal theories, " said the Solicitor. "I believe we achieved that. The conclusions in my opinion are logically consistent and are supported by the holdings of the Supreme Court."

Krulitz said that the Supreme Court's decision in the case of United States v. New Mexico forced federal land management agencies to re-examine federal water rights. Before that decision, federal agencies had assumed they could get 1IDSt of the water they needed to

carry out the mandates of Congress under the reserved rights doctrine. Dating from the landmark 1908 case of Winters v. United States, the doctrine holds that in setting aside federal lands for specific purpose, the Congress also set aside enough water to carry out those purposes. Though the original case involved an Indian reservation, the Supreme Court applied the same principle to all federal reservations in the 1963 case, Arizona v. California.

"With the New Mexico case, we had to decide how we could obtain the water we needed," Krulitz said. "We rejected the creation of new federal reserves and new federal reserved rights. The federal reserved right is loaded with uncertainty. It is open-ended.

"The states have been complaining--justifiably, I think- for years about precisely these characteristics of the federal reserved water right. That's why we rejected this alternative. The one we finally decided to emphasize was the non-reserved right, perfected

under state procedures, for the water we need to carry out congressionally-mandated purposes."

Krulitz said the mu-reserved right fits easily into Western states' appropriative system for acquiring and perfecting water rights. The federal non-reserved right is dependent upon actual use. It is not open-ended and it cannot unexpectedly extinguish state water rights acquired after the federal claim is made. Under non-reserved rights, the federal government stands in line like all other water users and can claim, from unappropriated water only, no more that it needs to manage the public lands as the Congress has directed.

Record highs for conveyances of Federal land in Alaska to both the State of Alaska and Alaska Native corporations were set in the year ended September 30, the Department of the Interior announced today. A total of 1.5 million acres passed to the State under the terms of the Statehood Act and 4.8 million acres were conveyed to Native ownership under the provisions of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act.

"The acreage conveyed both to the State and Natives was the result of a strong policy to emphasize conveyances, and a tremendous effort on the part of the reorganize

State and ANCSA divisions of the Bureau of Land Management," Interior Secretary Cecil D. Andrus announced. "Through the efforts of many people in BLM and the Department, the conveyance record has been turned around."

The conveyances to the State are the first major transfers of land since 1974 and bring the total acreage in State ownership to 38 million acres. Andru5 indicated that it is only the beginning of an accelerated process. The Bureau of Land Management is planning to increase its Conveyances to 13 million acres for FY 1980, and is prepared to continue at an accelerated rate until the total 104 million acres provided by the 1959 Statehood Act are in State ownership.

"Although the State selections have been slowed in the past by unsettled land patterns brought about by the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act and the pending Alaska Lands (d-2) legislation, this renewed effort to convey as many acres as possible to the State is a high priority that is beginning to show results," Andrus said.

"We consider the work of the ANCSA staff a most promising sign that the conveyance process is on track," Andrus continued.

Since land conveyances began under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, a total of 10.4 million acres or almost a quarter of the total entitlement has been turned over to Native corporations with only 5.6 million acres of that figure conveyed before 1979. It is anticipated that at this rate, the bulk of Native and State entitlements will be realized within the next 3 years. "The process is in motion and the Department of the Interior's priority for conveyances is solid," Assistant Secretary for Land and Water Resources Guy Martin said.

Martin credited the progress to Secretary Andrus who was willing in 1977 to make the major policy decisions to expedite Native conveyances and in 1978 to give BLM essential funds and staff to speed up the State conveyance process and move towards faster resolution of the status of all Alaska's lands. "Clearly, the conveyance record indicates that the commitment made by the Secretary reaches throughout the Department of the Interior," Martin commented, "and the benefits are being realized by the people of Alaska."

Under Secretary of the Interior James A. Joseph has directed the Bureau of Indian Affairs to take action against the Red Lake Indian Tribe-- including the possible rejection of applications for federal grants and contracts--until the tribe allows auditors access to its

books to ensure federal funds are being properly spent.

Joseph asked the Department conduct a thorough review of the tribe’s financial records following a disturbance at the Minnesota youths died of gunshot wounds 1 related to the disturbance. Member of a tribal faction took over the BIA's criminal justice facilities, held some hostages for several hours and eventually caused over $4 million in damages to several vehicles. Some tribal and private property was also damaged.

The unrest between tribal elements stemmed from actions of the Red Lake Tribal Council which removed the tribal treasurer from office. The treasurer's supporters condemned the action as illegal and also accused the tribal government of fraudulent use of federal funds.

Joseph said that tribal officials agreed at a June 7 meeting to make tribal records available for a thorough audit of federally funded activities.

The unrest between tribal elements stemmed from actions of the Red Lake Tribal Council which removed the tribal treasurer from office. The treasurer's supporters condemned the action as illegal and also accused the tribal government of fraudulent use of federal funds.

Joseph said that tribal officials agreed at a June 7 meeting to make tribal records available for a thorough audit of federally funded activities. But since then, efforts by auditors to gain access to the records have failed. On August 24, tribal officials were warned that continued denial of access to its records could result in the discontinuation of all federal contracts and funds to the tribe.

Noting that there may have been some initial confusion due to the various federal inquiries following the disturbance, Joseph said: "Any early misunderstanding on the part of tribal officials that the comprehensive federal audit had already been completed should now have been cleared up.

Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Forrest Gerard and Acting Deputy Commissioner, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Sidney Mills today announced a revised Action Plan for improving personnel management in the Bureau.

The revitalized Personnel Management Action Plan which is now being implemented places renewed emphasis on many continuing needs and adds a number of new items of major import to the effective accomplishment of the Bureau's mission. Highlights include:

--Implementation of the Civil Service Reform Act including the Senior Executive Service, merit pay and performance appraisal based on results;

--Developing and operating a new personnel system for the Bureau's Indian Education function in accordance with Public Law 95-561;

--Designing and operating a comprehensive manpower planning and recruiting system including an expansion of the prototype Indian intake and development program;

--Improving the interpretation and guidance of qualification and classification material including the application of the knowledge-skillability (KSA) approach mandated by the Federal Uniform Guidelines; and

--Various actions in the labor-management relations, affirmative action,

and troubled employee program areas.

The action plan has been developed and will be implemented in close coordination with the Department's Assistant Secretary for Policy, Budget and Administration and representatives of the Office of Personnel Management, who are providing assistance and monitoring to the improvement effort. Other bureaus in Interior have also been given the chance to participate by contributing skilled employees on a temporary project basis.

Under the leadership of Assistant Secretary Gerard, many significant problem areas of management in the BIA are being addressed through a comprehensive Management Improvement Program (MIP) including financial integrity, field organizational structures and relationship, administrative processes, automated information systems, and technical assistance and training.

The improvement needs in the Bureau's own personnel system and operations were the subject of a previous actions plan thrust starting in early 1976, and were reemphasized by subsequent reports of the American Indian Policy Review Commission and of the Department's BIA reorganization task force.

A full-time project manager will assist in the coordination of the multi-action effort and prepare monthly progress reports for Bureau,-Departmental and OPM management.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs has scheduled eleven field hearings to discuss education policies and standards for Indian schools funded by the Bureau, Director of Indian Education Programs Earl Barlow announced today.

Policies for the Bureau-funded schools were published October 9 in the Federal Register and a draft statement of standards has been circulated by mail to tribal officials and school boards.

At the field hearings the policies will be explained and comments received for future changes. The statement on standards will be presented for initial comments to be used in drafting proposed regulations for publication not later than May 1, 1980.

The development of the regulations is part of the Bureau's implementation of the recent Indian education legislation (P.L. 95-561).

The hearings will be at Anchorage, Alaska November 1-2; Billings, Montana,

November 14-15; Aberdeen, South Dakota, November 19-20; Minneapolis, Minnesota,

November 26-27; Portland, Oregon, November 29-30;

Nashville, Tennessee, December 3-4; Norman, Oklahoma, December 6-7; Albuquerque, New Mexico, January 7-8; Window Rock, Arizona, January 10-11; Phoenix, Arizona, January 14-15 and Sacramento, California, January 17-18.

For additional information contact the local BIA Area Office or the Office of Indian Education, Bureau of Indian Affairs, 19th and C Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20240 (202-343-2175).

The Bureau of Indian Affairs has announced the appointments of Everett Prince as Superintendent of the Bethel, Alaska agency and Irving Billy as Superintendent of the Western Navajo agency at Tuba City, Arizona. Both appointments were effective November 4.

Prince, the land operations officer at Bethel since 1976, had served as an education specialist for the agency from 1973 to 1976. He joined the BIA as a teacher in 1961 at Chinle, Arizona and subsequently taught at Tuba City and Crownpoint, New Mexico. He graduated from Oklahoma State University and earned a Masters' degree from the University of Western New Mexico.

Billy, 40, was administrative manager for the BIA at Gallup, New Mexico since 1975. He had previously worked at Tuba City as employment assistance specialist, 1973-75, and administrative assistant, 1971-73. He attended Phoenix College and Northern Arizona University. In 1976, he was the nominee from the Navajo Area for the Department of Interior Managers Development Program Award.