OPA

The Hopi Tribe will receive $191,699 to plan for an abandoned mine reclamation program under the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977, Secretary of the Interior Cecil D. Andrus announced today.

The Tribe became eligible for the funding on signing a cooperative agreement with Interior's Office of Surface Mining (OSM).

Under the agreement, the Tribe's Office of Natural Resources will compile information needed to develop a priority listing for its abandoned mine reclamation projects. The information will include identification of the areas on the reservation that were adversely affected by past mining practices without proper reclamation. The Hopi Reservation is in Arizona.

The reclamation plan will also provide description of the problem areas, determine how the lands should be reclaimed and the effect of reclamation on prevailing economic, social and environmental conditions.

Funds will be made available on a priority basis to reclaim lands where no legal reclamation responsibility can be established.

From Oct. 1, 1977 through Dec. 30, 1979, OSM has collected more than $1 million from mining operators on the Hopi Reservation. Half of these funds will be available to the Hopi for reclamation purposes when they have approved regulatory and reclamation programs.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs William E. Hallett today announced the appointment of Alex Tallchief Skibine as Commissioner’s personal representative for the southern region, which includes the Muskogee and Anadarko Area Offices.

Hallett said that "filling these key regional representative positions with very able, knowledgeable people like Skibine will improve tribal access to my office and promote effective and efficient delivery of resources and services to Indian people."

Skibine, an enrolled member of the Osage Tribe, received a B.A. from Tufts University in 1973 and was graduated from Northwestern University Law School in 1976. Since then he has worked at the Institute for the Development of Indian Law, in Washington, D. C., where he was most recently the Director of the Legal Research Division.

Hallett recently established four regional representative staff positions, serving the South, the Southwest, the Midwest, and the Northwest, to improve BIA follow-up to tribal requests.

Each representative has two primary responsibilities, Hallett said.

First, when a tribe voices concern, the representative determines the central issues and presents several options for meeting the tribe's need.

Second, the representative prepares an action plan to implement the option chosen.

The regional representative is a primary point of contact between the Commissioner and the tribes of the region. Representatives are also responsible for maintaining communication and relations with the tribe.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs William E. Hallett today announced the appointment of Marilyn Youngbird as his personal representative for the Southwest Region, which includes the Albuquerque, Phoenix, and Navajo Area Offices.

Hallett said that "filling these key regional representative positions with very able, knowledgeable people like Youngbird will improve tribal access to my office and promote effective and efficient delivery of resources and services to the Indian people."

Youngbird, an enrolled member of the ·Three Affiliated Tribes of North Dakota, attended the State School of Science in Wahpeton, North Dakota, and Colorado College in Colorado Springs. She worked in a number of Bureau of Indian Affairs offices from 1962 until 1975, including the office of Water Rights Protection, the office of Forestry, and the office of Indian Services, where she trained tribes and Indian organizations to use the Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act.

During the past four years, Youngbird was the Executive Director of the Commission on Indian Affairs for the State of Colorado, where she served as a personal representative to Governor Richard Lamm on Indian affairs. She also served on five Colorado State Advisory Boards.

Hallett recently established four regional representative staff positions, serving the South, the Southwest, the Midwest, and the Northwest, to improve BIA follow-up to tribal requests.

Each representative has two primary responsibilities, Hallett said.

First, when a tribe voices concern, the representative determines the central issues and presents several options for meeting the tribe's need.

Second, the representative prepares an action plan to implement the option chosen.

The regional representative is a primary point of contact between the Commissioner and the tribes of th4 Region. Representatives are also responsible for maintaining communication and relations with the tribe.

Proposed regulations governing the operation of special education programs for handicapped children enrolled or eligible for enrollment in Bureau of Indian Affairs schools were published September 29 in the Federal Register, Interior Deputy Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Thomas Fredericks said today.

The proposed regulations are meant to combine in a single document all of the Federal requirements directly addressed to the identification and provision of educational services to handicapped children.

The purpose of the regulations is to establish a single comprehensive set of standards for ensuring that all handicapped children enrolled in BIA operated and/or funded schools are provided a free, appropriate public education in the least restrictive educational environment appropriate to their nerds, consistent with their rights and related procedural safeguards.

Comments on the regulations should be sent within sixty days of publication to Earl Barlow, Director of Indian Education Programs, Bureau of Indian Affairs, 18th and C Streets, N. W., Washington, D. C. 20240. For further information contact Charles Cordova at the above address on 202/343-4071.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs William E. Hallett today announced the appointment of new superintendents for the Bureau of Indian Affairs' Umatilla and Pima Agencies.

William D. Sandoval, a San Juan Pueblo/Navajo Indian, is the superintendent at Umatilla in Pendleton, Oregon. Edmund L. Thompson, an enrolled member of the Pima Tribe, has been selected as the superintendent at Pima in Sacaton, Arizona.

Sandoval has worked for the Bureau in the Southwest for six years. During the past three years he has been the Administrative Officer and then the Program Analysis Officer at the Umatilla Agency. Sandoval attended the New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, New Mexico, and the College of Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Thompson has worked for the Bureau for ten years, including employment from 1973 to 1978 as Reservation Program Officer for the Pima Agency, and from 1978 to 1980 as a Superintendent Intern in the Phoenix Area Office. He was the Acting Director and Deputy Director of the Model Cities Program's Tribal Planning Department from 1970 to 1973 and the manager of the Pima Tribal cattle operation from 1967 to 1970.

Thompson received a B.S. in agricultural management from the University of Northern Colorado.

Secretary of the Interior Manuel Lujan and Secretary of Agriculture Edward Madigan today announced approval of a historic agreement in principle to resolve a century-old land dispute between the Navajo and Hopi Indian tribes in Arizona. "For the first time we have an agreement in principle between the two tribes," Lujan said. "We cannot pass up this Once-in-a-century opportunity to settle this bitter dispute." The agreement in principle, approved earlier this week by the Hopi and Navajo tribal councils, was achieved after 17 months of intense negotiations conducted by U.S. Magistrate Harry R. Mccue of San Diego who acted as federal mediator.

"We congratulate Navajo President Petersen Zah, Hopi Chairman Vernon Masayesva, and Judge Mccue for their dedication and determination to reach an agreement," Lujan said. Under the agreement, the Hopi tribe would acquire more than 500,000 acres of federal, state and private land, and would receive $15 million from the federal government.

The land proposed for acquisition to resolve the dispute is within the boundaries of areas traditionally known as the co Bar Ranch, the Hart Ranch and the Espil Ranch, to the north and east of Flagstaff, Arizona. About 200,000 acres are under the Agriculture Department's Forest Service jurisdiction, 8,000 acres are under the Interior Department's Bureau of Land Management, 165,000 acres belong to the State of Arizona, and 165,000 acres are privately owned. The private and state lands would be acquired through purchase or exchange.

The 150 Navajo families remaining on land designated as part of the Hopi Reservation under a 1974 law would be allowed to lease current homesites and grazing areas for 75 years. As part of the agreement, the Hopi Tribe will permit members of the Navajo Tribe to continue to live on the Hopi reservation despite prior congressional enactments requiring those Navajos to move. This agreement by ·the Hopi Tribe is based upon Hopi humanitarian concerns for the Navajo who do not wish to move. The land that will be transferred to the Hopi will allow them resources to support their own tribal members in lieu of the resources they are permitting the Navajo to use under this agreement. Tribal lawsuits against the federal government would be dismissed. The next step in the process is expected to be the drafting of legislation that would be required to implement the agreement. Lujan and Madigan said they will insist on provisions in the proposed legislation to protect private property owners who do not wish to sell and to maintain public access to the land for established recreational purposes. "There will be public hearings and ample opportunities during the legislative process for people to express their concerns," Lujan said. "We certainly do not propose solving one long and painful Indian land claims problem by creating an equally painful land claims controversy for others."

Final 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 purpose of the revisions, which incorporate suggestions offered by interested persons as well as by the tribes concerned, is to improve procedures for the administration of the statutes and to simplify and reduce language in the regulations.

Proposed revisions to the regulations were published in the Federal Register on October 9, 1979 (44 FR 57948) and the public was given until January 24, 1980, to comment on the proposals. In light of the comments received, several changes to the proposed revisions were made in drafting the final regulations. The major changes are:

1. Fair market valuation of property purchased by a tribe is to be determined as of the date of decedent's death rather than as of the date of taking by the tribe. As a result of this change, a second appraisal report is no longer necessary and its requirement has been removed.
2. There is now only one 60-day period after issuance of the probate decision in which: (a) a party aggrieved by the probate decision can file a petition for rehearing; (b) a tribe can purchase available interests; and (c) a party aggrieved by the exercise of the tribal option or the valuation of the interests purchased can file a demand for hearing; provided, however, that an aggrieved party will have at least 20 days from the date the tribe exercises its option to purchase available interests to file such a demand.
3. A tribe no longer has to deposit 10 percent of the value when it elects to purchase available interests, paying off balance plus interest within 1 year from the date of election. Instead a tribe now has 2 years from the date of decedents or 1 year from the date of election, whichever is later, to pay free the full fair market value of the property purchased. The procedure for payment, default and damages in the event of default, because they are substantive matters, are not to be determined by an Administrative Law Judge.

Proposed regulations governing mining and mineral development on Indian lands are being published in the Federal Register, Deputy Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Thomas W. Fredericks said today.

The proposed regulations are designed to enable Indian mineral owners, both tribal and individual, to exercise greater responsibility in the development and management of their minerals and other natural resources. They permit the Indian owners to attempt to maximize the economic return on mineral development and to minimize the adverse effects of such development on Indian culture and the environment.

Coal mining operations on Indian lands are governed by separate regulations and are not included under these proposed regulations.

Comments on the regulations should be sent within 60 days of publication to the Office of Trust Responsibilities, Bureau of Indian Affairs, and Washington, D.C. 20245. For additional information contact Tom Riggs at the above, address, 202/343-3722 or David Jones, Office of the Solicitor, Department of the Interior 202/343-9331.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs William E. Hallett today announced the appointment of Nathan Stoltzfus to his public information staff.

Stoltzfus will head the internal communications function for the BIA He has responsibility for soliciting and disseminating information about significant Interior Department and BIA issues, policies, and programs among Department and BIA officials. His duties include editing the biweekly newsletter, preparing briefing materials, writing speeches for the Commissioner, and writing press releases

Hallett said Stoltzfus comes highly qualified for this appointment as the former Editor of the American Indian .Journal in 1978-79. Early in 1980 he drafted the National Advisory Council on Indian Education's Seventh Annual Report to Congress. He was an editor with the Mennonite Central Committee and interned with the American Civil Liberties Union

Stoltzfus graduated from Goshen College, Goshen, Indiana in 1978.

Deputy Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs, Thomas W. Fredericks today said he was pleased to accept the Overall Plan of Operation for the Osage Tribal Education Committee of Oklahoma

To date, the committee has approved 209 applications for grants totaling $61,900. Fredericks said scholarships for the 1980-81 school year are expected to exceed the 1980 total and will help more than 300 Osage students to meet the cost of higher education.

The Osage Tribal Education Committee was established by regulations issued in the Federal Register on August 22, 1978 and is charged with the responsibility for managing the use of interest accumulated from the investment of $1 million authorized for education and other socio-economic programs for the benefit of the Osage Tribe by the Act of October 27, 1972.

The Education Committee is comprised of five Osage Tribal members and two BIA representatives. The Committee has the authority to provide funding for scholarships and economic development grants to Osage tribal members. The approved plan spells out details of membership, duties, officers, powers, authorities and responsibilities of the seven-member committee.

Eligibility for the scholarship program is limited to Osage students enrolled in an accredited post-secondary education program including college/ university programs and vocational/technical programs. The deadline for applying for a scholarship is July 1 of each academic year. Information concerning the scholarships can be obtained by writing to:

Osage Tribal Education Committee

C/o Muskogee Area Education Program Administrator

Old Federal Building, Room 301

Muskogee, Oklahoma 74401

For more information on the education committee, contact Leroy Falling, Chief of the Division of Post-Secondary Education, Office of Indian Education Programs, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Washington, D.C. 20240, (202) 343-7387.