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Secretary of the Interior Manuel Lujan today announced that he has directed Interior officials to develop "better and stronger" policies to govern the protection and treatment of sacred objects and human remains on Federal lands.

Lujan told Interior bureau heads that the new policies should be based on four areas of special emphasis:

• Public education and participation
• Cooperation in fighting archeological looters
• More interagency information exchange
• Increased site inventories and collections curation.

"America's archeological heritage, the sites from her historical and prehistoric past, needs more protection," Lujan said. "Like rare and endangered species, many archeological sites are threatened with extinction.” Looting, modern development and even careful archeological research have the effect of reducing the number of sites from bygone times, which once lost, can never be restored. We must make the most of the sites we have left, protecting and preserving them so that future generations of Americans will be enriched by the unique information that they hold."

Public education and participation will be the key to the effectiveness of the new regulations, Lujan said, 11 because it builds a sense of awareness, stewardship and pride in our priceless archeological resources which supports the many actions necessary to protect them.” Lujan said he has also directed the National Park Service to develop a new policy statement and revise an existing Department guideline to ensure a more sensitive treatment of archeological human remains and associated objects.

"This is a subject of much concern to many Americans and especially to American Indians. Unfortunately, for many years Indian graves were often desecrated and the human remains and objects within them treated disrespectfully," he said.

Lujan said he was pleased to note that in recent months many archaeologists, anthropologists, Federal land managers, and museum curators have become more sensitive to the cultural and religious concerns of American Indians about the remains and burial objects. The new policy will affirm the right of Tribes and other American Indian groups to determine the treatment these remains should receive, Lujan said.

As part of his campaign to increase public awareness of these issues, Lujan has presented the Interior Department's Public Service Award to Anthony G. "Tony" Hillerman, distinguished author of mystery and adventure stories set on Indian Reservations in the Southwest. “Hillerman’s books increase our understanding of Indian cultures,” Lujan said, “and graphically illustrate the tragedy of archeological looting." The Secretary of the Interior is responsible for the protection of hundred of thousands of archeological sites on public lands throughout the Nation. He is also responsible for providing advice, technical information, and regulations for archeological preservation efforts by Federal and other public agencies throughout the country.

Assistant Secretary of the Interior Eddie F. Brown today announced approval of historic agreements giving five Indian Tribes greatly increased authority in the budgeting and spending of federal funds for Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) programs. "This is a major step toward giving tribal governments full authority and responsibility for governing their reservations," according to Brown, assistant secretary for Indian Affairs. "These agreements are historic for these tribes and for the BIA."

The tribes are the Quinault Indian Nation, Taholah, Wash.; Lummi Indian Nation, Bellingham, Wash.; Jamestown Klallam Indian Tribe, Sequim, Wash.; Hoopa Valley Indian Tribe of Hoopa, Calif.; and the Cherokee Nation of Tahlequah, Okla. Brown signed the three-year agreements as part of a self-governance demonstration project authorized under a 1988 law. "The tribes will assume the responsibility for budgeting and spending most BIA funds being spent on their behalf at the agency, area and central office levels. The tribes will also have the ability to operate programs with minimal regulation and record-keeping requirements and will have the ability to shift funds between programs. These agreements reflect the dynamism of tribal governments as they establish new relationships with the Bureau that transfer the administration of BIA programs to themselves. I congratulate those tribes for their desire to move out front in this big step," Brown added.

Terms of the agreements allow the five tribes to administer and redesign existing BIA programs according to tribal priorities and to receive direct funding from BIA's annual budget appropriations. Under the terms of the authorizing legislation, a total of 20 tribes can participate in the demonstration project. William Bettenberg, an assistant to Interior Secretary Manuel Lujan, acted as Interior's chief negotiator with the · Indian tribes.

"I was impressed with the level of sophistication of the tribes," Bettenberg said. "I found all of the tribes interested not only in their individual demonstration program but also in the viability of the self-governance concept. They all want the demonstration to succeed and to use the agreements and their performance to 'showcase' the viability of this new approach." While the agreements with the five tribes are similar in format, they differ somewhat in the specific programs and funds that are being transferred to the tribes and those that the United States is retaining. The agreements provide adequate audit and recordkeeping provisions, and exclude funds for programs that are specifically restricted. Authorizing legislation also required that the Secretary of the Interior not "waive, modify or diminish in any way the trust responsibility of the United States." Each agreement provides for the Secretary to monitor trust resources to insure that they are protected.

Other key provisions of the agreements include program consolidation, program flexibility and redesign, program standards or rules, and the effect of current regulations. Essentially, each tribe starts with the program rules currently in place but is then given broad flexibility to establish its own standards and to shift resources based on its own priorities and procedures. An expedited process is provided for securing waivers of Federal regulations. The demonstration projects will be monitored over the next several years to document changes in program direction and performance. The total funds to be administered by the five tribes for fiscal year 1991 beginning on October 1 when the agreements become effective are: Quinault, $3.9 million; Lummi, $2.2 million; Hoopa Valley, $2.0 million; Jamestown Klallam, $687,000; and Cherokee, $6.1 million. New annual funding agreements will be negotiated for the two remaining fiscal years of the agreement. If at any time a tribe decides that it does not want to continue to administer any, or all, of the programs, it may retrocede the programs and funding to the Department.

The agreement with the Cherokees will have the effect of eliminating the BIA agency office. In the case of the other four tribes, some programs at both the area and agency levels are assumed but, since those tribes are served by multi-tribe agencies, no agency offices would be eliminated at this time. It is estimated that the changes will result in the elimination of 20-30 full-time BIA positions.

Secretary of the Interior Manuel Lujan announced today that he is directing the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM) to issue a renewable 5-year permit for the Kayenta coal mine on Indian land in northeastern Arizona Lujan will defer a permit decision on the adjoining Black Mesa mine pending the analysis of additional information on water resource impacts In addition Lujan has ordered a study of alternatives to the use of the existing slurry-pipeline to transport coal

"Because the tribes depend heavily on the N-aquifer for their municipal water, I am invoking my Indian trust responsibility for the Navajo and Hopi tribes to delay a decision on the Black Mesa mine permit Lujan said

The mines are operated by Peabody Coal Company, on tribal land, using coal resources leased from the Navajo and Hopi tribes. OSM Director Harry Snyder said, "Peabody's lease agreements with the tribes provide for additional study of such impacts, and further review of the Black Mesa permit application is appropriate once that information is available. Therefore, we will not be making a decision to approve or deny the Black Mesa portion of Peabody's permit application at this time." Snyder noted that the Black Mesa portion of the permit decision was pending completion of additional water resource studies. The tribes and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) expressed concern over the impact of groundwater withdrawals for slurry-pipeline transport of Black Mesa coal. By contrast, coal from the Kayenta mine is transported by rail.

Navajo and Hopi concerns about the N-aquifer were raised during OSM's consultations with both tribes regarding Peabody's permit application. EPA's comments were received in response to the OSM environmental impact statement (EIS) on the application.

"The conclusions both in the EIS and in the cumulative hydrologic impact assessment regarding impacts on the N-aquifer are technically valid," Snyder said. "Nevertheless, postponing a decision on the Black Mesa is a prudent move pending the analysis of additional information on the subject"

Approval of the Kayenta portion of the permit application authorizes surface coal mining and reclamation operations. Approximately 10,341 acres will be disturbed and then reclaimed. During the 5-year term of the permit, Peabody Coal Company will mine about 7 million tons of coal per year for delivery by rail.

OSM was established in the Interior Department under authority of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977. OSM administers national standards requiring environmental protection during coal mining and land reclamation afterward, and reclaim abandoned mine lands. The agency provides support and oversight for approved state surface mine regulatory and reclamation programs, and directly carries out such activities on Indian lands, including issuing permits and regularly inspecting surface coal mining and reclamation operations.

Interior Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Eddie F. Brown today announced the appointment of L. W. (Bill) Collier as Area Director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs' (BIA) Anadarko Area Office in Anadarko, Okla. "We are fortunate to have someone with the talents and field experiences of a Bill Collier to take over this important position," Brown said. "His 13 years of experience at the agency and area level of working directly with tribal governments is most important in a time when BIA is moving from a direct service provider to one of technical assistance. Collier is well-equipped to work closely with tribes as they assume more and more of the responsibilities previously administered by BIA."

Since 1985 Collier has been serving as assistant area director for Indian Programs in BIA's Aberdeen, S.D., area office. He joined the Bureau in 1974 as a field supervisor/enumerator in Flagstaff, Ariz. In 1977 Collier began a two-year assignment as a superintendent intern in the Phoenix area office and took his first superintendent's job in 1979 at the Unitah and Ouray Agency in Fort Duchesne, Utah. From 1983 to 1985 he was superintendent at the Wind River Agency in Fort Washakie, Wyo., before becoming assistant area director in Aberdeen. Collier is a native of Tahlequah, Okla., where he is an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation. He attended Central State University in Edmond, Okla., from 1965 to 1966 and has a B.A. in history from Northeastern State University in Tahlequah. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1967 to 1972.

Anadarko is one of 12 BIA area offices that together provide services to more than 500 Indian tribes and Alaska Native groups. As area director in Anadarko, Collier will be responsible for providing services to 18 Indian tribes in western Oklahoma, four in Kansas, and two in Texas. In his new position, Collier becomes a member of the senior Executive Service. collier is married to the former Johanna Barnebee. They have three children and will reside in the Anadarko area.

Extensive investigations by the Bureau of Indian ·Affairs (BIA) have exonerated Kenneth Whitehorn, former BIA agency superintendent for education on the Tohono O'odham reservation, of allegations he had prior knowledge that an employee he hired had been involved in a child abuse case in Arizona.

Thomas Goff, hired by Whitehorn in July, 1985, as principal of the Santa Rosa Boarding School at Tohono O'odham, had previously served for nine and one-half years as superintendent of the Polacca Day School on the Hopi Indian reservation where a former teacher, John Boone, was charged in 1987 with multiple counts of child molestation.

After the arrest of Boone, allegations surfaced that Whitehorn had prior knowledge of the child abuse which had not come to light when Goff was hired at Santa Rosa. Subsequent investigations by BIA found no truth to the allegations, and that Whitehorn had no knowledge or involvement in the Boone case whatsoever.

Goff retired from the BIA earlier this year. Whitehorn declined to accept reassignment to Washington, D.C. and has been separated from the federal service. Boone pled guilty to charges against him and is serving a life sentence.

The report of the Presidential Commission on Indian Reservation Economies, submitted to the President today, will receive "immediate and thorough review. The Department is committed to improving the economic strength and independence of Indian reservations, 11 Interior Department spokesman Rusty Brashear said today.

Brashear noted the report "is a study of reservation economies that is both detailed and complex. As a major administrator of Federal Indian programs and as trustee for reservation lands, this Department is obligated to move quickly to analyze this document and to recommend appropriate action.

President Reagan established the Commission in January 1983 to provide advice on how to develop a stronger economy on Indian reservations and to strengthen tribal government.

The nine member commission contains both Indian and non-Indian members. It held public meetings in many parts of the country, concentrating on those areas with large Indian populations.

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EDITORS NOTE: The Commission's charter provides that the Interior Department provide it logistical support. As part of that effort, copies of the Commission report are available from the Office of Public Affairs, U.S. Department of the Interior, Washington, D.C. 20240, telephone 202/343-3171.

The Department of the Interior has scored notable successes this summer in its war on drugs. Interior Secretary Don Hodel emphasized that drug enforcement is a top priority in his Department.

The summer-long effort to eliminate illegal drug activity on the Nation's public lands has led to the destruction of more than 166,000 marijuana plants on Interior lands. Almost 400,000 additional plants were eradicated in immediately adjacent areas in cooperative enforcement actions with state, local and other federal agencies.

"The President and Mrs. Reagan have ed the Nation's war on drugs," Hodel said. "Like most Americans, I wholeheartedly support this cause and am delighted by the Interior Department's contribution to the anti-drug campaign."

The number of sites and arrests for marijuana cultivation exceeds all previous yearly counts since statistics began being kept in 1982. Plants on more than 430 sites were eradicated in national parks, wildlife refuges, Indian reservations, and other tribal and public lands. A total of 93 individuals associated with marijuana growing were arrested, and another 650 were arrested for illegal drug trafficking, use or possession.

Enforcement officials are not certain whether Interior1s statistics, which are up significantly from last year's figures when 110,000 marijuana plants were seized, mean that drug activity actually is increasing on federal lands or whether it merely reflects the Department's intensified enforcement efforts uncovering existing illegal activities.

"This summer’s results indicate that marijuana growers have modified their tactics for the current growing season, possibly as a reaction to increased enforcement activities in recent years," Hodel said. "Interior agents are finding fewer large open fields, but many smaller, well concealed plots consisting of a few dozen to several hundred plants."

"Visitors to parks deserve credit for increased detection of marijuana growing since they were directly responsible for several of these cases, including the largest one," Hodel said. In June, Hodel called on the 500 million visitors who visit Interior lands each year to report suspicious activity. In August, a visitor to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park reported suspected marijuana fields in an area he thought was in the park. The area, actually just outside park boundaries, was searched and 20,000 marijuana plants were destroyed.

"Many of the sites are equipped with sophisticated irrigation systems, some with portable pumps and hundreds of yards of hose where a constant supply of water can be fed to parched soil," Hode1 said. Earlier this year, 1500 feet of PVC tubing was seized from a marijuana site in Yosemite National Park. The pipe was diverting water from a makeshift dam constructed on a stream with hoses running to five separate plots.

To avoid detection from the air (marijuana plants have a characteristic green color) growers often hide plants under tree canopy, in heavy brush and in corn rows with every second or third stalk replaced by a marijuana plant. Some "gardens" are equipped with camouflage netting attached to wires which can be immediately raised should helicopters approach. Military ground sensors, the type used in Vietnam to warn of troop movement, have been discovered at some sites. Interior law enforcement officers also report an increase in the number of booby traps they have encountered this year.

"We may be seeing the return of satellite marijuana gardens because we have found so many small time operations," said Jim Donovan, Chief of Law Enforcement for the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). "There also seems to be a change from drying and processing at the growing site to cooperative processing areas in large barns away from the growing area."

Both Bureau of Land Management and BIA enforcement agents report that marijuana growers are planting later this year than in the past and that the drought seems to be stunting their crop.

Interior has employed modern, sophisticated technology to combat the marijuana growers' tactics. This summer a satellite orbiting 320 miles above the earth was used for drug enforcement activities on Interior lands for the first time". BLM geologists and law enforcement agents developed a technique using the satellite, LANDSAT IV that enables them to concentrate enforcement resources in high potential areas.

This year the Bureau of Indian Affairs expanded its Marijuana Eradication and Reconnaissance Center in Eugene, Oregon. The center specializes in providing basic and advanced courses in marijuana eradication. More than 150 officers from BIA, tribal governments and state, county and other federal agencies were trained in the spring, double the number last year.

U.S. Park Police also have increased their drug enforcement activity in urban parks and monuments in San Francisco, New York, and Washington D.C. with 524 people arrested since mid-June for trafficking, use or possession of illegal drugs. Park police have noticed an increase in use and trafficking in PCP and LSD, both hallucinogens, and in crack-cocaine, and increasing contacts with armed drug dealers. "Since public lands comprise a significant portion of our coastlines and borders use of these areas as transshipment points for drug smuggling continues to be a problem" Hodel said. "Interior enforcement agents in cooperation with the Drug Enforcement Agency and U.S. Customs Service have uncovered a number of huge shipments of cocaine heroin and marijuana

'"We will not tolerate any level of illegal drug activity on our public lands. These areas are for the enjoyment of the American people and we are determined to keep them drug free." Below is a list of States where marijuana eradication activities have occurred on Interior lands this summer:

Note: In most instances, several marijuana cultivation sites were eradicated on each of the Federal land areas identified above. The term "public lands" refers to areas managed by the Bureau of Land Management.

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Interior Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Eddie F. Brown will keynote the fourth in a series of regional economic development conferences with Indian tribal leaders May 21-22 in Seattle, Washington. The conference will include tribal representatives from Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Alaska and California and business and industry leaders from the private sector.

Brown said the meeting will 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, state 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 Seattle conference will be held at the Radisson Hotel at the Seattle Airport, 17001 Pacific Highway south. Brown will give the opening address on May 21 at 9:45 a.m. He will hold a press conference at 1 p.m. on May 22 at the hotel.

This fourth economic development conference follows similar consultation sessions with Indian tribal leaders in Scottsdale, Arizona, Hollywood, Florida and Oklahoma City.

Secretary of the Interior Manuel Lujan said today the confirmation of Carl J. Kunasek of Arizona as Commissioner of the Office of Navajo &Hopi Relocation signals the beginning of the final phase in settling the century-old land dispute between the two Indian tribes. President Bush nominated Kunasek and the U.S. Senate confirmed the appointment on May 22, 1990, after a hearing before the Senate Select Committee on Indian Affairs.

"Carl Kunasek has pledged to complete the congressionally-mandated relocation program in a fair, equitable and compassionate manner," Lujan noted. "His impressive record as a leader in the Arizona Legislature and his work in the private sector indicate that he is well-qualified for this demanding assignment. He will have the strong support of my office and the entire Interior Department." Kunasek becomes the first full-time commissioner of the relocation program, replacing a three-member, part-time commission established under a 1974 law.

Kunasek, 58, served 16 years in the Arizona Legislature, and was President of the State Senate in his final term. He owned and operated a pharmacy in Mesa, Arizona, from 1961 to 1984, and worked in the real estate business the past two years. After graduating from the Creighton University College of Pharmacy in 1955, Kunasek served three years as a Medical Service Corp Officer at Stead Air Force Base, Reno, Nevada. Kunasek returned to his native Omaha Nebraska, in 1958 to work as a pharmacist for several years before moving to Arizona. Kunasek and his wife, Kathryn Frances, have three grown children.

In a 1988 law, the Congress eliminated the three-member relocation commission and established a new Office of Navajo &Hopi Relocation under the Secretary of the Interior. The commissioner is appointed for a 5-year term. Previously, the commission has been semi-autonomous, operating with administrative support from Interior. The law revamping the relocation commission also mandates an updated report on the status of the program and the development of a new plan for completing the relocation. The relocation program was initiated by Congress after courts settled boundary disputes dating back to 1885.

-- The Tribes have the option to market about 130,000 acre-feet annually of storage space in Palisades and American Fall Reservoirs, providing income for the Tribes and allowing water for fishery purposes;

-- Federal funding of $7 million would be provided over 20 years to encourage the Tribes to develop a water code and modernize their water management system;

-- Mechanisms are provided to resolve conflicts between Indian and non-Indian water users, including an Inter-Governmental Board, provision for non-Indian purchase of tribal water during times of shortages, and allowance for non-Indians to contract for 99,480 acre-feet annually of storage space in Bureau of Reclamation projects without assuming construction costs of those projects.

The Fort Hall Reservation, more than 540,000 acres in southeastern Idaho, was created by Presidential Order in 1867. A negotiating team, representing the Federal Government, worked with the Tribes, the State, and local non-Indian water users to resolve longstanding disputes over the water rights. Negotiating teams including representatives from the Department of the Interior, Justice Department and Office of Management and Budget are involved in efforts to settle various other Indian water claims cases throughout the Nation.

Secretary of the Interior Manuel Lujan today announced proposed guidelines to govern future decisions on the granting of trust status for off-reservation lands acquired by Indian tribes

11 Many tribes are seeking to acquire land outside of their historic reservations to improve their prospects for economic development, and Interior has proposed a new policy to guide the acquisition process," Lujan said in remarks prepared for the Western Governors' Association in Fargo, North Dakota.

The Secretary said proposed new acquisition rules include the following:

-- An economic development plan must be submitted by the tribes, specifying how the land will be used;

-- A consultation process with local, city, county and state governments to resolve possible conflicts over zoning, taxation and other jurisdictional issues;

-- A limitation that tribes may acquire trust land only in states where they already own trust land.

"We have proposed additional guidelines relating to Indian trust acquisitions for gaming purposes: Regulations that would require tribes to explore economic alternatives to gaming, and a requirement that any gaming establishment must meet all local safety and health ordinances," Lujan said.

"Assist ant Secretary - Indian Affairs Eddie Brown and I look forward to working with tribal governments and all of you as we consider these guidelines," Lujan told the Governors. "I'm certain these proposed regulations will strengthen the economic development of Indian communities as we help pave the road to self-determination for all American Indians."

Lujan said the proposed guidelines are in keeping with the Interior Department's commitment to encourage and support Indian tribes in their efforts to develop economically and to strengthen tribal sovereignty.

The Secretary directed Interior officials to work on the guidelines because of the many requests that have been made by Indian tribes to have off-reservation land approved for federal trust status. A number of these requests involve land in or near large municipalities where tribes propose operating bingo or other gaming enterprises.

Lujan said he expects a newly established Indian Gaming Commission headed by Tony Hope to be II at full speed" by October.

The Secretary also noted that the Interior Department is working with Indian tribal governments in a demonstration program of self-governance and self-determination.

"This month, as part of our efforts to help tribes establish economic independence, the Bureau of Indian Affairs increased tribal authority over the federal funds they receive, 11 Lujan said. 11 Now, six western tribes have control over more than $15 million in federal funding. This is an impressive step forward for these ambitious Americans. 11 The tribes in Washington, California, Oklahoma and Minnesota will have the authority to establish budgeting procedures and shift federal resources based on changing tribal needs.