OPA

The Department of the Interior will conduct a series of hearings in late November and early December on the status of Alaska Natives and the implementation of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) of 1971.

Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Kenneth L. Smith will preside over hearings at Fairbanks, November 27; Bethel, November 28; and Juneau, November 30.

Deputy under Secretary William P. Horn will conduct hearings in Alaska at Nome, December 3, and Anchorage, December 4.

The purpose of the hearings is to gather views, opinions, information and recommendations to consider in the preparation of a report to Congress, required by the Settlement Act.

A 600-page draft report was sent in August to more than 250 representatives of Native organizations and other interested persons for review and comment.

Assistant Secretary Smith said the "report is of major importance to the Alaska Natives and the State because of its impact on future Congressional actions, including possible modifications of the ANCSA provisions."

Under ANCSA the Alaska Natives received about 44 million acres of land and about $1 billion in exchange for their aboriginal land rights. The act created 13 regional corporations and about 200 village corporations to receive and administer the Native property.

Information about the hearings, including time and place, will be published in the Federal Register and in newspapers throughout Alaska.

Persons wishing to testify and those seeking further information should contact Glen Robertson or Liz Rummell in the Bureau of Indian Affairs area office, Federal Building, Juneau, Alaska 99802 (907/586-7177) or any BIA agency office in Alaska.

Interior Secretary William Clark announced today that Kenneth L. Smith, Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs at the Department of the Interior, has submitted his resignation to President Reagan, effective December 7.

A Wasco Indian from the Warm Springs Reservation in Oregon, Smith was the first Indian from a reservation background to direct the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Before coming to Washington in 1981 he served for ten years as the general manager of the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation.

Secretary Clark _said, "This Administration has been well served by Ken Smith, and he will be remembered for his many accomplishments and by all who had the opportunity to work with him.

In his resignation letter, Smith noted that he had fulfilled his commitment to serve a full term and it is time for me to take on new challenges and opportunities.

Smith praised President Reagan for his Indian policy which "returned decision making authority to the tribal governments" and for his support of “innovative efforts in developing the economies on reservations."

In October of this year, Smith was honored by the United Indian Development Association as the 1984 Jay Silverheels Achievement Award winner for his significant contributions to the Indian community.

Smith, 49, grew up on the Warm Springs Reservation. After graduating from the University of Oregon in 1959, he went to work for the Confederated Tribes as an accountant and subsequently became controller and then general manager.

At Senate confirmation hearings in 1981, Oregon Senator Mark Hatfield testified that Smith had "utilized his managerial and organizational skills to make the (Warm Springs) reservation a model of economic success with more than 1,000 persons employed and an annual payroll of more than $10 million."

Throughout his term of office, Smith constantly stressed the need for tribes to establish sound, stable tribal governments to provide leadership for tribal programs and to create the environment for economic development on the reservation.

In a June 1984 talk to the National Tribal Chairmen's Association, he "There are breakdowns and insufficiencies and other problems in the BIA and on reservations -- and I am terribly concerned about them, just as you are determined to do whatever I can to eliminate them -- except that I won't go back to the old paternalistic band aid approach that covers up the symptom and does nothing to address the real problems. We are still convinced that Indian self-determination is the most effective policy for producing real change and real improvement in Indian reservation life."

Smith expects to serve as a consultant at Interior for the next month or two. He has announced no other future plans, but indicated he expects to return to Oregon.

Interior's Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Eddie F. Brown said today the President's fiscal year 1991 budget request of $1.7 billion for the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) will reverse a decade-long trend of reducing resources available to carry out the Bureau's responsibilities to the Indian people of this country.

While the total FY 1991 budget request for direct federal appropriations and permanent appropriations and trust funds is $186 million less than the current 1990 estimate, the main operating account for BIA -- Operation of Indian Programs -- shows an increase of over $30 million on direct program impact.

"Over the past 20 years, the service population of the BIA has doubled, while funding for the main operating account has remained essentially the same. This budget increase in the Operation of Indian Programs is reflected in the areas of education, drug abuse prevention and law enforcement programs, and self-determination services. The budget request also recognizes long-standing issues of internal control problems, and increases funding for programs carried out at the agency level either directly by the Bureau or through contracts with tribes and tribal organizations," Brown said.

He pointed out that the $186 million difference in the FY 1991 request and 1990 estimate reflects one-time costs in FY 1990, particularly the $54 million conversion of tribal contracts to calendar year funding, and Indian water and land settlements of $140 million.

The increases in the Operation of Indian Programs is reflected in:

--Education - increase of more than $16 million for school operations;

--Tribal Services - a net increase of $12 million;

--Trust Responsibilities and Natural Resources Development - a net increase of more than $10 million to improve trust property and financial assets held in trust for Indian tribes and individuals; and

--General Administration - An increase of $3 million to address internal controls issues and education program management.

Brown said the requested increases in education will fund the second increment of a phased increase in salaries for teachers and counselors in Bureau schools to better enable the Bureau to effectively compete for the recruitment and retention of skilled professions. The budget retains the FY 1990 Congressional increase for the Gifted and Talented program for a total resource level of $3.6 million. $1 million is requested to provide training in areas such as effective school management, leadership skills, methods for fostering parental involvement in the education of their children, and teaching techniques which have proven successful in raising the achievement of Indian children. The Bureau will also initiate a demonstration program at 10 schools using the nationally recognized 'Parents as Teachers' program emphasizing early childhood education and enhance parental and community involvement in the educational process. A $20 million request to cover the administrative costs of tribal contractors and grantees who operate bureau-funded schools represents a $6 million increase.

In Tribal Services, a program of technical assistance grants to tribes as authorized by the self-determination amendments is proposed to be funded at a level of $4.4 million. This amount includes continuation of the small tribe core management grant program. A $3.5 million increased request will staff and operate emergency shelters constructed under the authority of the Anti-Drug Abuse Act; a $2 million increased request will expand child protection efforts on Indian reservations; and $4 million will support enhanced law enforcement efforts bureau-wide.

In the area of Trust Responsibilities, an increase of $2.5 million is requested to clean up hazardous waste sites, particularly at three reservation sites -- Spokane in Washington state, Cherokee in Oklahoma, and Hoopa Valley in California; an increase of $2.3 million to improve operations of the land title and records offices; an increase of $1 million to address the large backlog of Indian estates awaiting probate action; and $2.8 million for financial trust services. The latter will support additional audits by third parties of funds held in trust by BIA, and will support needed organizational improvements.

In Natural Resources Development, $2 million is requested to eradicate noxious weeds on agricultural and range lands and $1 million is proposed to continue prairie dog control programs. The forest development program will be expanded as the budget request rises to a total level of $10.2 million with the increase of $2 million. These funds will continue the reforestation backlog reduction effort and provide silviculture treatment for those lands previously reforested, and speed forest management inventories and plans allowing BIA to address the needs of additional forested lands which have been acquired by tribes.

Increases requested in the General Administration area includes $1 million to establish an office of audit and evaluation charged with conducting programmatic and financial reviews, working with the Office of the Inspector General and the General Accounting Office in audits conducted by these organizations; and ensuring necessary corrective actions institutionalized within the Bureau. $2.3 million is requested for the Office of Data Systems to replace outdated automatic data 3 processing equipment and to improve services to the field. An increased request of $1 million will expand the participation of volunteers in the Bureau-funded education system, develop research instruments for the conduct of longitudinal studies on student progress, and support monitoring and evaluation teams who will conduct on-site, in-depth reviews of 45 Bureau-funded schools annually. An increase of $200,000 will fund a consolidated training program to improve the presence of women and minorities in the management levels of BIA.

The major decreases in the FY 1991 request includes a $3.1 million reduction in the Johnson-O'Malley Education Assistance programs which provides funds for supplementary programs for students enrolled in public schools. "Our first priority for improving educational attainment of Indian children is to strengthen those schools funded by the Bureau," Assistant secretary Brown said.

A net reduction of $4.8 million is proposed for Wildlife and Parks -- $2.3 million in rights protection implementation in Western Washington: $300,000 in the Columbia River fisheries programs: and $837,000 in funding for the Voight case fisheries.

Interior Under Secretary Frank Bracken will open the first in a series of regional conferences with Indian tribal leaders designed to increase economic development on Indian reservations. The first conference, scheduled March 1-2 in Scottsdale, Arizona, will include tribal representatives from Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Nevada and Colorado and business and industry leaders from the private sector. Interior's Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Eddie F. Brown said the purpose of the meetings would be to highlight successful Indian economic development efforts and, through consultation with tribal chairmen, to define the role for the Bureau of Indian Affairs in the development of Indian community economies. The conference will also present an overview of the roles of Federal and tribal governments in economic development and will offer information to tribal leaders on policy options for economic development.

"We are delighted that Under Secretary Bracken will keynote this conference," Brown said. "He has an important role in Indian Affairs within the Department, and has responsibility for seeing that other agencies within Interior are supportive of our programs and our goals." Brown said he has been impressed by the variety of approaches that tribes have used to develop their economies. "This diversity among tribes suggests that there is no single magical formula that will solve all the problems of unemployment and poverty on Indian lands," Brown said. "The key is to develop a partnership between tribes and the Bureau of Indian Affairs for both economic development issues and the approaches to resolve them."

The first regional conference will be held at the Safari Resort Hotel, 4611 Scottsdale Road in Scottsdale. Under Secretary Bracken will give the opening address at 9:30 a.m., March 1. The next economic development conference is tentatively scheduled for April 15-16, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Interior Under Secretary Frank Bracken will open the second in a series of mini-summits on education with Indian tribal leaders and educators aimed at improving the quality of Indian education in Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) funded schools. The meeting is scheduled for March 12-13, 1990, in Rapid City, South Dakota, and will include tribal and state representatives from North and South Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, Nebraska, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan.

"We want to hear the ideas from tribal leaders throughout the Northern Plains on how we can bring the quality of education up to, or above, national standards for the eleven percent of the Indian students attending these institutions," Bracken said. This second mini-summit follows a successful session held February 12-13 in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where more than 900 Indian tribal leaders and educators from the Southwest helped the BIA to develop new ideas to enhance the education of the 40,000 Native American students attending schools funded by the BIA.

Interior Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Eddie F. Brown said the Indian education mini-summit will focus primarily on four areas needing major improvements: (1) parental and community involvement; (2) early childhood development; (3) the elevation of expectations in Indian schools; and (4) effective evaluation of schools, students, and teachers. "The ideas we gather from participants in this conference will guide us in preparing our fiscal 1992 budget request to Congress so that we can improve Indian education in areas important to the Indian people," Brown said.

The Rapid City meeting will consist of a series of panel discussions, addresses and workshops, and will take place at the Howard Johnson Motel, 2211 LaCrosse St., Rapid City. The Under Secretary will give the opening address at 9:45 a.m. on March 12. The next conference is scheduled in mid-April in Spokane in conjunction with the National Indian Education Association.

Interior Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Eddie Brown will open the second in a series of regional economic development conferences with Indian tribal leaders March 15-16 in Hollywood, Florida. The conference will include tribal representatives from Florida, Louisiana, Maine, New York, North Carolina, Mississippi, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Minnesota, Iowa, Michigan and Wisconsin and business and industry leaders from the private sector.

Brown said the meeting would highlight successful Indian economic development efforts and, through consultation with tribal chairmen, define the role for the Bureau of Indian Affairs in the development of Indian community economies. The conference also will present an overview of the roles of federal and tribal governments in economic development and will offer information to tribal leaders on policy options for economic development. "The diversity of economic development projects among tribes suggests that there is no single magical formula that will solve all the problems of unemployment and poverty on Indian lands," Brown said. "The key is to develop a partnership between tribes and the Bureau for both economic development issues and the approaches to resolve them."

The Florida conference at the Diplomat Hotel in Hollywood will consist of a series of panel discussions, addresses, and work groups. Brown's keynote address is scheduled for 9: 30 a.m. on March 15. The first regional conference was held March 1-2 in Phoenix, Arizona. A third conference is tentatively scheduled for Portland, Oregon.

Ross Swimmer, Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs, has reassigned Wilson Barber, Jr., currently Navajo area director in the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) office at Window Rock, Arizona, and James H. Stevens, currently BIA area office director in Phoenix. Barber will be moving to Phoenix and Stevens will take over the area director's job in Window Rock.

"This is a move that will utilize and broaden the management experience of these two professional managers," Swimmer said. "It also will benefit the Bureau and the Indian tribes in the two respective BIA service areas because of the different challenges and problems these individuals will face in their new assignments. Both men have served the Indian tribes well in their current locations, and I am confident that kind of service will continue in their new positions."

Barber joined the Bureau in 1967 as a realty specialist in the Navajo area after having worked seven years for the Navajo Tribe. He received his first assignment as a superintendent at the Cheyenne River Agency in Eagle Butte, S.D., in 1975. He served subsequently as superintendent at Mesca1ero Apache Agency; Northern California Agency, and in Rosebud, S.D., before being assigned as assistant area director for Indian programs in the Aberdeen, S.D., area office in 1984. He has served as the Navajo area director since March 1985.

Barber, 47, a native of Rehoboth, N.M., and an enrolled member of the Navajo Tribe, attended the University of New Mexico and New Mexico State University. His new assignment is effective Sept. 11, 1988.

Stevens, area director in Phoenix since 1982, is a member of the San Carlos Band of Apache Indians and holds a B.S. in mining engineering from the University Of Arizona School Of Mines. He worked in that field in California before joining the Bureau in 1963 as a supervisory roads engineer at the Fort Apache Agency. He later held that same position at the Nevada Agency before becoming assistant to the superintendent in 1968. In 1972, Stevens received his first assignment as superintendent at the Spokane (Washington) Agency where he served for nine years before becoming director of the Office of Trust Responsibility in the BlA’s headquarters office in Washington, D.C., in 1981. Stevens, 58, is a native of Holbrook, Ariz. He will take over his new position Oct. 26, 1988.

The Department of the Interior today signed a contract with Security Pacific National Bank of Los Angeles to strengthen internal management and administration of more than $1.8 billion in Indian trust funds.

"This contract will provide better management of resources belonging to individual Indians and tribes," Secretary of the Interior Don Hodel said at a contract signing ceremony in his office. "And the federal government will save almost $3 million over a five-year period in costs of administering trust funds

"This does not relieve the federal government of any trust responsibilities," Hodel said. "As trustee, what we are doing is assuring that the Indians will get the best possible administration and accounting of the assets involved." Hodel praised Ross Swimmer, Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs, for three years of intensive effort to bring about this improvement in the handling of Indian trust funds.

"There were times when a person less committed to improving the administration of federal Indian programs would have given up, but Assistant Secretary Swimmer went the extra mile to see this through," Hodel said. "Time will demonstrate that this is a landmark improvement in U.S. Indian affairs." Today's action followed extensive consultations with Indian leaders.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) opened competitive bidding last February on a proposal to procure collection, accounting, advisory investment services and custodial services for funds held in trust for Indian tribes, individuals and others. The more than 300,000 accounts represent land claims or damage awards, income from trust lands, oil and gas revenues, timber sales and the like. Bidding for the contract was open to all financial institutions for the single contract to run for one year with four one-year renewable options.

An Interior Department interagency committee and three tribal consultants reported in July that the Security Pacific National Bank proposal would cost $21.2 million over a five-year period. Added to that cost would be a conversion differential of $9809000 to change from government management of the funds; the committee estimated that an in-house BIA proposal would cost $25.2 million, almost $3 million more than the contract signed today

Swimmer, designated by Hodel as trustee of Indian trust funds, signed the contract for the government with Michael J. Barrett, vice president of Security Pacific's Government Services Division. Security Pacific, the Nation's sixth largest banking company with over $70 billion in assets and more than $147 billion in assets under management, has teamed with Computer Data Systems, Inc., of Rockvi1le, Md., to support the trust fund accounting and data processing services.

Interior's Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Eddie F. Brown today announced the appointment of Edward F. Parisian as Deputy to the Assistant Secretary and Director of Indian Education Programs in the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Parisian, an enrolled member of the Chippewa-Cree tribe of Montana, has served as Superintendent of Schools of the Rocky Boy Indian reservation in Box Elder, Montana, since July 1983. His new appointment is effective Feb. 1.

"I am pleased that Ed Parisian has agreed to come aboard to direct our education program in the Bureau of Indian Affairs. This is an exciting time in education: President Bush has committed his Administration to improving education at all levels and we have the active support of Secretary Lujan as we work with the tribes to finalize our education goals for Indian children for this decade," Brown said. "Ed Parisian has the educational background and experience to lead our efforts."

"It is an honor to be asked to head up the education program in the Bureau of Indian Affairs. I look forward to working closely with Assistant Secretary Brown to make the necessary changes in Indian education programs to better serve our young people. I know that we have the support and commitment of President Bush and Secretary Lujan; together, we can make a difference," Parisian said.

Parisian, 40, has more than 19 years experience in the field of education. As superintendent of Schools at Rocky Boy, he directed all phases of administration and supervision of a 472-student school system from Headstart through 12th grade. Prior to his appointment as superintendent in 1983, he served for two years as director of the Rocky Boy tribal education program. From 1980 to 1981, Parisian was tribal health director and planner for the Rocky Boy Health Board while pursuing his doctoral degree in educational administration at Montana State University. His teaching experience includes courses in human growth and development at Stone Child College, and social studies .at Browning (Mont.) Junior High School. He has evaluated more than 30 Indian education programs under Title IV and Title VII for school systems in North and South Dakota, Washington, D.C., Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, Mississippi and Utah.

The Fort Belknap, Montana, native holds an M.A. in educational administration from the University of South Dakota (1977), and a B.A. in physical education (1974) and a A.A. in liberal arts (1973) from Eastern Montana College. He has been a member of the National Indian Education Association since 1973, a member of its board of directors since 1982, and served as its president for the 1988-89 term. He is a member of Phi Delta Kappa, American Association of School Administrators, National Indian Impact Schools, and Montana Indian Education Association.

Parisian was named to Who's Who in the West in 1985; Outstanding Indian Administrator by the Montana Indian Education Association, 1982, and one of the Outstanding Young Men of America the same year.

He is married to the former Barbara Racine. They have two children.

Secretary of the Interior Manuel Lujan today announced that he will hold a series of mini-summit meetings around the country with tribal chairmen and educators aimed at improving the quality of Indian education in America. The first of these meetings is scheduled for February 12 - 13, 1990, in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and will include representatives from Arizona, New Mexico and Utah.

The Secretary, who recently announced the appointment Edward Parisian to be Director of Indian Education in the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), said he expects the Santa Fe meeting will develop new ideas to enhance the education of the 40,000 Native American students attending schools funded by the Bureau. "Eleven percent of all Indian children attend those schools, and it is my goal to bring the quality of education at these institutions up to, or above, national standards by the year 2000," Lujan said.

The Indian Education mini-summit will focus primarily on four areas identified by Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Eddie Brown as needing major improvements. These are: parental and community involvement, early childhood development, the elevation of expectations in Indian schools and effective evaluation of schools, students, and teachers.

The Santa Fe meeting, which will consist of a series of panel discussions, addresses and workshops, will take place at the Santa Fe Indian School, 1300 Cerrillos Road, Santa Fe. Secretary Lujan will give the opening address at 10:00 am on February 12. The next conference is tentatively scheduled for March 12, in Rapid City, South Dakota.