OPA

WASHINGTON – Interior Associate Deputy Secretary James E. Cason today announced the selection of Thomas M. Dowd, an enrolled member of the Hopi Tribe of Arizona and a senior Federal executive with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration (ETA), as the new director of the Indian Affairs Office of Indian Education Programs (OIEP). Dowd currently holds the position of Deputy Assistant Secretary for Administration and National Activity within ETA where he is responsible for the agency’s overall administrative activities, national activities and performance. His appointment to the OIEP Director post will become effective on June 11.

“We are very pleased that Tom Dowd has agreed to join our management team,” Cason said. “The OIEP Director’s responsibilities require an extremely high level of technical and executive expertise critical to providing quality education to the American Indian communities we serve. Tom is a seasoned, experienced administrator who will be invaluable in our efforts to improve the delivery of BIA-funded education services to Indian country.”

As OIEP Director, Dowd will oversee the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) school system, which serves approximately 47,000 students and employs 5,000 teachers, administrators and support personnel in 184 elementary and secondary schools located on 63 reservations in 23 States, and the implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (P.L. 107-100) and other applicable laws in the BIA-funded schools. He also will be responsible for directing resources and technical assistance to 122 tribally administered BIA-funded schools and 25 tribal colleges, as well as providing direction and oversight for two BIA-operated post-secondary institutions.

“I am deeply honored to have been selected for this important post,” Dowd said. “The Office of Indian Education Programs, BIA schools and tribal colleges all have important roles in the delivery of quality education to Indian communities. I appreciate having the opportunity to help lead the Interior Department’s efforts to improve its education services to Indian people.”

In his current position, which he has held since February 2003, Dowd directly supervises five Senior Executive Service (SES) executives managing ETA’s Offices of Policy Development and Research, Financial and Administrative Management, Performance and Technology, Foreign Labor Certification, and Apprenticeship, and provides leadership to 700 agency staff and 1,500 contractors. (Prior to April 2006, his responsibilities also included managing the $1.5 billion Job Corps program.) He also is responsible for the formulation and execution of the agency’s $10 billion annual budget.

In July 2002, Dowd was appointed by the Assistant Secretary for Employment and Training to establish and manage ETA’s Business Relations Group (BRG) Office to support the Assistant Secretary’s vision to develop a “demand-driven” public workforce system. His responsibilities included creating and building the new office from the ground up, and developing and expanding public/private partnerships to achieve the Assistant Secretary’s goals for a trained and prepared 21st century competitive workforce. He also oversaw and directed ETA’s 2005 National Office reorganization, which included integrating the BRG Office with the Office of Workforce Investment, and provided leadership for the agency’s activities in support of two Presidential initiatives: High Growth Job Training and Community-Based Job Training.

From January 2000 to July 2002, Dowd served as the Regional Administrator for ETA’s Philadelphia Regional Office where he had the primary administrative responsibility for public workforce resources managed by the Mid-Atlantic States. Dowd managed a staff of 110 career Federal workforce development professionals, approved the provision of technical assistance resources to support state and local workforce development strategies, ensured the proper use of Federal resources and program accountability, and established and maintained effective working relationships with State officials and career employees responsible for workforce development.

From May 1998 to January 2000, Dowd served as Associate Regional Administrator and Regional Administrator for ETA’s Denver Regional Office where he had the primary administrative responsibility for the public workforce resources managed by the Rocky Mountain Region States. There he managed a staff of 75 career Federal workforce development professionals. It was during this time that he also completed DOL’s SES Program.

From August 1994 to May 1998, Dowd served as Chief of the Division of Indian and Native American Programs (DINAP) where he oversaw the reorganization and revitalization of ETA’s Indian and Native American Employment and Training Programs. There he managed a staff of 20 career Federal employees responsible for the oversight and administration of over 200 grants managed by Indian, Native American and Hawaiian Native grantees. He also was responsible for approving the provision of technical assistance resources to support state and local workforce development strategies. Dowd has received numerous Federal service awards including the DOL Secretary’s Exceptional Achievement Award (1997 to 2000, 2002 and 2005), the Senior Executive Service Exemplary Performance Award (2000 to 2005) and the Presidential Rank Award, Meritorious Executive (2004).

Dowd graduated from Grand Canyon High School, Grand Canyon National Park, in 1973. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from the University of New Mexico in 1979 and has completed several hours of graduate work at UNM. Dowd also garnered international experience starting as a Rotary exchange student in Denmark (1971), then as a Peace Corps volunteer in Sierra Leone, West Africa (1979 to 1981), and later as a teacher and consultant in Hamamatsu, Japan (1990 to 1994). More recently, he served as a Labor Department delegate to the U.S./E.U. Conference on Outsourcing in Brussels, Belgium (December 2004) and to the U.S./E.U. Conference on Competitiveness in The Hague, Holland (May 2005).

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WASHINGTON – Interior Associate Deputy Secretary James E. Cason today announced that the Indian Affairs Office of Indian Energy and Economic Development (IEED) has approved a $140,000 grant to the Pueblo of Laguna Utility Authority to study the feasibility of having the PLUA provide affordable electricity service throughout the tribe’s lands in west-central New Mexico. The Pueblo of Laguna is located approximately 45 miles west of the city of Albuquerque.

“When a tribe forms its own electric utility, it takes a first step toward achieving energy independence,” Cason said. “I commend the Pueblo of Laguna and the PLUA on their vision of becoming an electric service provider as one way to support their economic future.”

The study will examine the feasibility of the PLUA operating the electrical utility system serving the tribe’s main reservation and three separate land areas while providing improved service at costs no higher than its customers now pay. The study also will establish electrical reliability standards, and identify the type and cost of electrical distribution system improvements needed to meet those standards, as well as address the practicality of developing village-scale renewable energy projects.

Established by the tribe in 1998 to promote using utility services to improve the health and welfare of tribal members, the PLUA also seeks to improve electricity service in order to attract high technology businesses to the 533,000-acre reservation, which is traversed by Interstate 40, a major east-west thoroughfare spanning the state.

The grant will be administered under IEED’s 477 Program, established in 1994 under the Indian Employment, Training and Related Services Act (Public Law 102-477), which allows federally recognized tribes to combine funds from up to 12 federal employment, training and welfare reform programs administered by Interior and the Departments of Labor and Health and Human Services into a single, tribally operated program with a single reporting system. Participating tribes, which includes the Pueblo of Laguna, can devote up to 25 percent of their total 477 funding for economic development projects to provide employment opportunities for their members.

The Office of Indian Energy and Economic Development was established to provide high-level support for the Department’s goal of serving tribal communities by providing access to energy resources and helping tribes stimulate job creation and economic development, and supporting the President’s National Energy Policy by fostering development of domestic energy resources to reduce the nation’s dependence on foreign energy sources.

The IEED sponsored a conference in March on tribal utility formation at Fort Mojave, Nev. “As a result of that conference, more tribes are showing an interest in establishing their own electric utilities,” Cason said.

For more information on the IEED grant award, tribal utility initiative or the 477 Program’s economic development features, contact Jack Stevens, Chief, Division of Economic Development, Office of Indian Energy and Economic Development, at (202) 208-6764.

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WASHINGTON – Interior Associate Deputy Secretary James E. Cason today announced that the Indian Affairs Office of Indian Energy and Economic Development (IEED) has given final approval to the Tulalip Tribes of Washington State to participate in DOI’s 477 Program, a comprehensive employment, education, training and welfare program for federally recognized tribes to address economic and workforce needs in their communities. According to the 2000 Census nearly 40 percent of the Native Americans who reside on the Tulalip Reservation live below the federal poverty level.

“We are delighted that the Tulalip Tribes has joined the 477 Program,” Cason said. “They, like other tribal 477 Program participants, will be able to streamline the management of their federal workforce, training and welfare funds to better address their employment and economic development needs.”

According to the Tribes’ 477 Program mission statement, they are seeking “to empower unemployed and underemployed community tribal members; to provide a one stop for support services; job coaching and life skill workshops that will uplift; and bring tribal members to a level of success and get them on the path to self-sufficiency.” They plan to incorporate more than $1.3 million of federal resources from Interior and the Departments of Labor (DOL) and Health and Human Services (DHHS) into a comprehensive employment, training and welfare reform program to help tribal members succeed in the job market, improve each individual’s social and economic conditions, increase employment opportunities and prevent future generations from becoming welfare dependent.

The 477 Program, established in 1994 under the Indian Employment, Training and Related Services Act (Public Law 102-477), allows federally recognized tribes to combine funds from up to 12 federal employment, training and welfare reform programs administered by Interior, the lead agency, DOL, DHHS and the Department of Education into a single, tribally operated program with a single reporting system. Participating tribes can devote up to 25 percent of their total 477 funding for economic development projects to provide employment opportunities for their members.

In Fiscal Year 2006, the 477 Program serves over 243 federally recognized tribes with a combined funding of approximately $100 million. Since its inception, the 477 Program has enabled the tribes to use federal funds more effectively to educate and train an estimated 44,000 children, youth and adults.

The program has been highly rated under the Office of Management and Budget’s Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART) for meeting Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) standards for accountability and efficiency.

The Office of Indian Energy and Economic Development was established to provide high-level support for the Department’s goal of serving tribal communities by providing access to energy resources and helping tribes stimulate job creation and economic development. IEED also supports economic development on Indian lands by identifying economic opportunities, assisting in the development of tribal workforce capacity, providing low-cost loans for business development and facilitating partnerships between tribes and the federal or private sector. The Office also supports the President’s National Energy Policy by fostering development of domestic energy resources to reduce the nation’s dependence on foreign energy sources.

For more information, contact Lynn Forcia, Chief, Division of Workforce Development, Office of Indian Energy and Economic Development, U.S. Department of the Interior, at (202) 219- 5270.

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WASHINGTON – Interior Associate Deputy Secretary James E. Cason today announced that the Indian Affairs Office of Indian Energy and Economic Development (IEED) has published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking regarding tribal energy resource agreements (TERAs) designated under Title V, Section 503, of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 in the August 21, 2006, issue of the Federal Register. TERAs offer federally recognized tribes a new alternative for overseeing and managing energy and mineral resource development on their lands: the authority to enter into energy-related business agreements and leases and for granting rights-of-way for pipelines, electric transmission and distribution lines.

“To foster economic development within Indian country and to promote energy self-sufficiency by tribes, I am delighted to make public proposed regulations for tribal energy resource agreements,” Cason said. “TERAs will bring efficiency to the tribal energy resource development process, enhance tribal self-determination and improve economic development opportunities on tribal lands while supporting the administration’s National Energy Policy to increase use of domestic energy resources.”

The proposed rule is intended to provide a process under which the Secretary would grant authority to a tribe through an approved TERA to review and approve leases, business agreements and rights-of-way for specific energy development activities on tribal lands. Currently, tribes must first seek secretarial approval of such actions through the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA).

The Department is seeking comments on the proposed regulations from all stakeholders. The 30-day comment period for the proposed rule ends September 20, 2006. Comments must include Regulatory Information Number (1076-AE80) and a contact name and return address. Comments may be submitted to DOI in any of the following ways:

• By email at IEED@bia.edu
• By telefax at (202) 208-4564, or
• By mail or hand-delivery to: U.S. Department of the Interior, Office of Indian Energy and Economic Development, 1951 Constitution Avenue, N.W., Room 20–South Interior Building, Washington, D.C. 20245.

The Office of Indian Energy and Economic Development was established to provide high-level support for the Department’s goal of serving tribal communities by providing access to energy resources and helping tribes stimulate job creation and economic development, and supporting the President’s National Energy Policy by fostering development of domestic energy resources to reduce the nation’s dependence on foreign energy sources.

Questions concerning this proposed rule may be directed to (202) 219-0740. All public comments received will be reviewed and considered before the proposed rule is finalized.

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WASHINGTON – Associate Deputy Secretary James E. Cason today issued a Final Determination in which he declined to acknowledge that a group known as the Burt Lake Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, Inc. (BLB), located near Brutus, Mich., is an Indian tribe within the meaning of Federal law. The evidence reviewed for this Final Determination showed that the petitioner failed to meet three out of seven mandatory criteria – 83.7(b), (c) and (e) – under 25 CFR Part 83, the regulations that govern the Federal Acknowledgment Process.

Under criterion 83.7(a), the available evidence demonstrated that external observers have identified the petitioning group as an American Indian entity on a substantially continuous basis since 1917.

Because the U.S. Department of Justice argued on their behalf in U.S. District Court for Eastern Michigan in 1917, the BLB were able to use a provision in the regulations that reduces the evidentiary burden placed on them under the regulations to demonstrate they have continuously existed as an Indian tribe.

Under criterion 83.7(b), with the reduced evidentiary burden, the BLB only needed to demonstrate that it is a distinct community at present. The evidence does not show that BLB members form a distinct community. Rather, it shows that the petitioner’s members are active participants in a social community comprised principally of former BLB members and other Burt Lake descendants enrolled in a federally recognized tribe, the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians (LTBB). Over half of BLB members participate only rarely in social events with other BLB members. They link to other BLB members only through a parent or grandparent enrolled in LTBB. The petitioner is not a distinct social community at present.

Under criterion 83.7(c), the available evidence prior to 1978 demonstrates, with one exception, political activity by Burt Lake band descendants within entities much larger than the petitioner, often organizations of Ottawa Indians in northern Michigan. This historical pattern persists to the present. In 1978, Lansing-based BLB members led the formal organization of the BLB. When Congress recognized nearby LTBB in 1994, many BLB members joined it. Both these LTBB members and BLB members participate informally in BLB political affairs within a group of Burt Lake band descendants larger than the current membership of the petitioner. The evidence does not demonstrate a bilateral relationship between leaders and members within the petitioning group.

Under criterion 83.7(d), the petitioner presented a copy of its current governing document, which includes its membership criteria and the processes by which it governs itself. The members voted via absentee ballots in February 2005, and certified that constitution as the group’s governing document by a resolution dated April 9, 2005.

Under criterion 83.7(e), the petitioner submitted a membership list that identified 320 members, but documented that only 68 percent, or 218 of the 320 current BLB members, have ancestors who were a part of the historical Burt Lake band, also known as the Cheboygan band. Under criterion 83.7(f), the petitioner demonstrated that its membership is composed principally of persons who are not members of any federally acknowledged North American Indian tribe.

Under criterion 83.7(g), the evidence demonstrates that neither the petitioner nor its members are the subject of congressional legislation that has expressly terminated or forbidden the Federal relationship. This determination will become effective 90 days from publication of the Final Determination in the Federal Register, unless the petitioner or an interested party requests reconsideration before the Interior Board of Indian Appeals (IBIA).

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WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Carl J. Artman this week invited leaders from the 562 federally recognized tribes to attend a national meeting in Washington, D.C., on January 30, 2008, on the Indian Affairs Modernization Initiative. The one-day event will take place at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, Horizon Room, 1300 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W., from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (EST).

“Your expressions of frustration with the current delivery of Indian Affairs services illustrate the necessity for a review of the Indian Affairs structure and business processes,” Artman said in his January 14 letter to tribal leaders. “As we have stated since the start of this dialogue, the modernization effort must be Tribally driven to ensure that any revisions are directly responsive to tribal concerns.”

Assistant Secretary Artman launched the initiative last September with a series of dialogue meetings around the country to discuss with the tribes how his office, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) should prepare for projected staff retirements and rising operational costs and seek ways in which to use future technology to improve efficiency in their business processes.

The January 30 meeting will provide tribal leaders with another opportunity to discuss with Indian Affairs officials improvements in a number of Indian Affairs areas. In addition to topics such as improving staff retention and recruitment, business processes and utilizing technology, other areas of discussion will include the tribal self-governance initiative, resolving fractionated land ownership issues, and tribal self-sufficiency and economic development.

A projected goal of the meeting will be to establish an advisory group comprised of tribal representatives to help the Department identify and focus on specific areas of Indian Affairs operations to be improved under the modernization initiative.

“These sessions will provide Tribes an opportunity to engage in proactive dialogue to determine the future of Indian Affairs,” said Artman in his letter. “I am confident a joint Indian Affairs/Tribal effort will result in a progressive, efficient Indian Affairs organization that will improve the delivery of services to Indian people, strengthen Tribal government and promote Tribal sovereignty.”

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WASHINGTON, DC -- Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne will discuss Indian issues and be joined by Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Stephen Johnson and other Administration officials to launch a new Native American-focused online training course for federal employees at a press conference at the National Press club on Thursday, January 31.

Secretary Kempthorne will also announce progress on two Department of the Interior initiatives important to Indian Country. The Improving Indian Education Initiative, announced as part of the President's FY 08 budget, included a request for $15-million to improve Indian student academic achievement. The Safe Indian Communities Initiative, announced at the same time, included a request for $16-million to combat a methamphetamine crisis in Indian Country by improving policing capabilities in Indian Country.

Secretary Kempthorne, Administrator Johnson and the other Administration officials will launch the on-line training course for federal employees. This new training will strengthen working relations with Tribes and serve as a primer for federal employees charged with the important responsibility of working with Indian tribes. The course focuses on cultural and governmental issues unique to American Indian tribes.

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Carl J. Artman will host the Interior Department’s kick-off event for its intertribal economic consortium initiative, which will take place on Monday, February 11, 2008 with a signing ceremony between the Department, the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe of Connecticut and the Seminole Tribe of Florida to honor the memorandum of understanding that formalizes the two tribes’ cooperative economic relationship. The ceremony will take place at the Interior Department building at 1849 C Street, N.W., Room 7000 A&B, in Washington, D.C., starting at 11:00 a.m. (EST).

“This intertribal economic consortium initiative will create a platform for tribal economic growth,” Artman said. “It is a platform that helps resource-rich, cash-poor tribes by linking them to those with purchasing power. Forging those links between supply and demand is necessary for building strong tribal economies, and that is good both for Indian Country and all Americans.”

The concept of tribes with purchasing power buying from tribes with goods or services to sell has been further developed by the DOI’s Office of Indian Energy and Economic Development as a way to build and strengthen tribal reservation economies. The IEED will assist in this unique collaboration by linking producer tribes and Indian-owned businesses with purchaser tribes, helping tribes explore opportunities to collaborate economically and connect participating tribes with Federal procurement opportunities and commercial markets world-wide.

The intertribal economic consortium initiative had its beginnings in mid-2007 when the Mashantucket and Seminole tribes, who rely on a broad network of vendors and producers of raw materials for their businesses, decided to buy from American Indian-owned vendors and producers for their needs wherever and whenever possible. The IEED has worked with these and other tribes to help them maximize their purchasing power and develop new commercial markets for their products.

The IEED works with federally recognized tribes seeking to create demand for their livestock, seafood, agricultural products, raw materials and mineral assets. It also works with tribes seeking to invest in exploration for and production of natural resources such as sand and gravel, energy resources such as coal, coal-bed methane, gas and oil, and alternative energy resources and technologies such as wind, biomass, geothermal, solar, hydroelectric and tidal resources on or near Federal Indian lands.

CREDENTIALS: This invitation is extended to working media representatives, who are required to display sanctioned media credentials for admittance to the event.

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WASHINGTON, D.C. – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Carl J. Artman today issued a Final Determination to decline acknowledgment of the Federal Acknowledgment Process petitioner known as the Steilacoom Tribe of Indians (STI), located in Steilacoom, Wash., as an Indian tribe within the meaning of Federal law. The petitioner has 612 members.

Under 25 CFR Part 83, the regulations that govern the Federal Acknowledgment Process, failure by a petitioning group to meet seven mandatory criteria will result in the group not being acknowledged as an Indian tribe. The available evidence demonstrates that this petitioner does not meet four of the seven mandatory criteria as set forth in 25 CFR Part 83.7.

The STI claims to have descended as a group from the historical Steilacoom Indian tribe that occupied territory in the western part of Washington State. The STI claims its ancestors signed the Medicine Creek Treaty in 1854 and that its ancestors resided briefly on the reservations created by the treaty. The STI further contends that some of these Indians left the reservations, settled in “community pockets” in their traditional homelands, and formed an unbroken line of leadership and a continuous community existence to the present. The available evidence does not support these claims showing only that three of the STI members descend from individuals identified in historical documents as Steilacoom Indians. The evidence also did not demonstrate that the STI maintained a distinct community from historical times to the present, or that there was such a group that maintained political influence over its members.

The four criteria the petitioner does not meet are criteria 83.7(a), 83.7(b), 83.7(c) and 83.7(e).

Criterion 83.7(a) requires that external observers have identified the petitioner as an American Indian entity on a substantially continuous basis since 1900. The available evidence demonstrates that external observers identified the petitioner as an American Indian entity on a substantially continuous basis only since 1974.

Criterion 83.7(b) requires that a predominant portion of the petitioning group has comprised a distinct community since historical times. The available evidence does not demonstrate this.

Criterion 83.7(c) requires that the petitioning group has maintained political influence over its members as an autonomous entity since historical times. The available evidence does not demonstrate this.

Criterion 83.7(e) requires that a petitioner’s members descend from a historical Indian tribe. Over 90 percent of the STI’s 612 members documented that they are Indian descendants, but only three of them document descent from persons described as Steilacoom Indians in 19th and early 20th century documents. Most of the STI members descend from other Indians in the Pacific Northwest or from Métis people from the Red River Valley in Manitoba, Canada.

The three criteria the petitioner does meet are criteria 83.7(d), 83.7(f) and 83.7(g). Criterion 83.7(d) requires that the petitioner provide a copy of its governing document. Criterion 83.7(f) requires that the petitioner’s membership be composed principally of persons who are not members of another Federally recognized tribe. Criterion 83.7(g) requires that the petitioner not be subject to legislation forbidding the Federal relationship.

This Final Determination follows a review of petitioner and public comments on the Department’s Proposed Finding issued on January 14, 2000. The Final Determination will become effective 90 days after its publication as a notice in the Federal Register unless any interested party requests reconsideration with the Interior Board of Indian Appeals (IBIA).

Copies of the Final Determination and the Federal Register notice will be posted on the Interior Department’s website at www.doi.gov.

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WASHINGTON – Bureau of Indian Affairs Director Jerold L. “Jerry” Gidner today announced that he has named Dale Morris as Regional Director of the BIA’s Pacific Regional Office in Sacramento, Calif. Morris, an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, had been serving as chief of the regional office’s natural resources division since 2004. His new appointment became effective on April 27, 2008. The Pacific Regional Office oversees four agencies serving the 102 federally recognized tribes located within the State of California.

“Dale Morris is an experienced Federal manager who brings tremendous leadership qualities to the Pacific Region,” Gidner said. “He is a welcome addition to my regional management team.”

Morris began his career with the BIA as a forester at the Bureau’s Central California Agency in Sacramento in February 1993. He has held several positions within the Pacific Region since then, including serving as Regional Fire Management Officer from 1993 to 1998 and Regional Natural Resources Officer from 1998 to 2004. He also served as acting superintendent of the Palm Springs Agency in 2002 and Central California Agency in 2005.

In 2007, he was selected to participate in the Interior Department’s Senior Executive Service Candidate Development Program. Under the program, he served 60-day details as a special assistant to the BIA Director at the Bureau’s headquarters in Washington, D.C., and as a special assistant to the United States Fish and Wildlife Service Regional Director for the California and Nevada Region, respectively.

Morris began his Federal career in 1980 with the United States Forest Service as a Forester with the Targhee National Forest in Idaho. He also worked as a forester with the Lassen National Forest in California from 1984 to 1986.

Morris was raised in Woodland, Calif. He attended the University of California-Davis and the University of California-Berkeley where he received a Bachelor of Science degree in Forestry in 1981. He also received a Single Subject Teaching Credential from California State University-Chico in 1990. After receiving his Teaching Credential, Morris worked as a science and math teacher in northern California from 1990 to 1992.

Note to Editors: A photo of Dale Morris may be viewed via the Interior Department’s website at www.doi.gov.

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