OPA

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Acting Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Aurene M. Martin today announced the appointment of Edward F. Parisian as Director of the Office of Indian Education Programs (OIEP). Parisian, an enrolled member of the Chippewa-Cree Tribe of Montana, has served as OIEP’s deputy director since April 15, 2002. His new appointment is effective August 3, 2003.

“Ed Parisian is well known in Indian education for his leadership, experience and commitment to quality education,” Martin said. “I am pleased that he has accepted this new assignment to bring accountability and improvement to BIA schools.”

“I want to thank Acting Assistant Secretary Martin for this opportunity,” Parisian said. “I am committed to ensuring that all BIA-funded schools comply with the No Child Left Behind Act in holding schools accountable for their students’ academic performance.”

Parisian, 53, has over 25 years experience in Indian education, previously serving from 1990 to 1992 as BIA’s director of Indian Education Programs. From 1983 to 1990, he served as Superintendent of Schools on the Rocky Boy’s Reservation in Montana where he directed all phases of administration and supervision of a 472-student school system from Headstart through Grade 12. From 1992 to 1995, he served as superintendent of Heart Butte Schools on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation in Montana. From 1995 to 2000, Parisian was CEO of the Rocky Boy Health Board where he had previously served as tribal health director and planner in 1980 and 1981. From 2000 to 2002, he was the Education Line Officer for the BIA’s Northern Pueblos Agency in New Mexico.

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 also evaluated over 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.

A native of Rocky Boy, Mont., Parisian holds an M.A. in educational administration from the University of South Dakota (1977), and a B.A. in physical education (1974) and an A.A. in liberal arts (1973) from Eastern Montana College. Since 1973, he has been a member of the National Indian Education Association (NIEA), an association of American Indian and Alaska Native educators, where he served on the board of directors and from 1988 to 1989, as its president. In 1985, Parisian was named to Who’s Who in the West. In 1982, he was named one of the Outstanding Young Men of America, and Outstanding Indian Administrator by the Montana Indian Education Association. He is married and has two children. Note to Editors: A photo of Ed Parisian may be viewed via the Interior Department’s web site at www.doi.gov.

-DOI-

WASHINGTON, D.C.— In a letter to the Tejon Indian Tribe of California, Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk reaffirmed the federal relationship between the United States and the Tejon Indian Tribe. The Assistant Secretary’s letter confirms that the Tribe has a relationship with the federal government.

The Tejon Indian Tribe first requested confirmation of its status in 2006. Due to an administrative error, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) failed for several years to place the Tejon Indian Tribe on the list of federally recognized tribes that the BIA is required to publish annually. That list, entitled “Indian Entities Recognized and Eligible to Receive Services from the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs,” was last published in the Federal Register on October 1, 2010 at 75 FR 60810, and the list was supplemented on October 27, 2010 at 75 FR 66124.

In his letter to the Tejon Indian Tribe, the Assistant Secretary stated that “[u]pon review of the facts and history of this matter, including prior Assistant Secretaries’ decisions, I herby reaffirm the federal relationship between the United States and the Tejon Indian Tribe, thus concluding the long and unfortunate omission of the Tejon Indian Tribe from the list of federally recognized tribes.”

The Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs discharges the duties of the Secretary of the Interior with the authority and direct responsibility to strengthen the government-to-government relationship with the nation’s 566 federally recognized tribes, advocate policies that support Indian self-determination, protect and preserve Indian trust assets, and administer a wide array of laws, regulations and functions relating to American Indian and Alaska Native tribes, tribal members and individual trust beneficiaries. The Assistant Secretary oversees the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Bureau of Indian Education. For more information, visit www.indianaffairs.gov.

-DOI-

The Honorable Kathryn Montes Morgan
Chairwoman. Tejon Indian Tribe
2234 4th Street
Wasco, California 93280

Dear Chairwoman Morgan:

Please accept this response to your June 14, 2009 letter requesting "confirmation" that the Tejon Indian Tribe is a federally recognized Indian tribe, or, in the alternative, permitting the Tribe to organize as a half-blood community under the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 (IRA). My letter is limited to your request for "confirmation" and does not address the alternative request.

Under limited circumstances, Indian tribes omitted from a list of Indian Tribal Entities because of an administrative error can be placed on the current list without going through the Federal acknowledgment process at 25 CFR Part 83. As a threshold matter, I find that an Assistant Secretary's authority to make this determination is not limited by the regulations at 25 CFR Part 83. In addition, pursuant to 25 CFR Part 1.2, a waiver of the regulations at 25 CFR Part 83 is permissible for my review of your request.

Upon review of the facts and history of this matter, including prior Assistant Secretaries' decisions, I hereby affirm the Federal relationship between the United States and the Tejon Indian Tribe. This concludes the long and unfortunate omission of the Tejon Indian Tribe from the list of federally recognized tribes.

Henceforth, the Tejon Indian Tribe will be included on the list of "Indian Entities Recognized and Eligible to Receive Services from the United States Bureau of lndian Affairs." The BIA last published this list in the Federal Register on October 1, 2010, at 75 FR 60810 and supplemented the list on October 27, 2010, at 75 FR 66124.

By copy of this letter, I am directing the BIA and specifically the Pacific Regional Office in Sacramento, California, to take appropriate action to deal with the Tejon Indian Tribe in accordance with this action.

Corrected Copy

WASHINGTON – President Obama’s Fiscal Year 2013 budget request for Indian Affairs, which includes the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE), is $2.5 billion – a $4.6 million decrease below the FY 2012 enacted level. The proposed budget maintains the President’s commitment to meeting the government’s responsibilities to the 566 Federally recognized American Indian and Alaska Native Tribes, while holding the line on fiscal responsibility and improving government efficiency.

“The budget request maintains President Obama’s commitment to strengthening tribal nations by making targeted increases in Indian Affairs programs that support tribal self-determination in managing BIA-funded programs, increase public safety in tribal communities by strengthening police capabilities, improve the administration of tribal land, mineral, timber and other trust resources and advance Indian education,” said Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk. “Indian Affairs is sensitive to the need for achieving greater results at a lower cost, and the proposed budget reflects the tough choices that will make us more cost efficient in carrying out our missions.”

Strengthening Tribal Nations Initiative

The Strengthening Tribal Nations Initiative is a comprehensive, multi-year effort to advance the President’s commitments to American Indians and Alaska Natives to improve conditions throughout Indian Country. The FY 2013 budget request continues the initiative, which was the result of meetings with tribal leaders in 2009, 2010, and 2011. The request includes $43.8 million in targeted program increases for this initiative in the areas of Advancing Nation-to-Nation Relationships (+$12.3 million), Protecting Indian Country (+$11.0 million), Improving Trust Land Management (+$15.4 million) and Advancing Indian Education (+$5.2 million).

Advancing Nation-to-Nation Relationships

Under Advancing Nation-to-Nation Relationships, the FY 2013 budget request for Contract Support is $228.0 million – an $8.8 million increase over the FY 2012 enacted level. Contract Support enables a Tribe operating BIA-funded programs to meet administrative costs without decreasing program funds. It is a key factor in the decision a Tribe makes to assume responsibility for operating a Federal program, and is considered by many Tribes as their top priority. The budget includes an increase of $3.5 million for Indian Land and Water Claim Settlements including funds to continue work on the Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project.

Protecting Indian Country

The FY 2013 budget request for BIA Law Enforcement is $353.9 million with targeted increases of $11.0 million over the 2012 enacted level for Law Enforcement Operations, Detention Center Operations and Tribal Courts. The 2013 budget request for Law Enforcement Operations builds on increases from previous years with a $3.5 million increase from 2012, for a total of $189.7 million, for Criminal Investigations and Police Services to enable the BIA to continue improving its recruitment and hiring efforts for law enforcement officers and detention center staff, including veterans.

The request includes $88.2 million for Detention Center Operations, a program increase of $6.5 million, for staffing, training and equipment to increase capacity to hold and process detainees and to fund operations at newly constructed detention facilities opening in 2012 and 2013. The request includes $24.6 million for Tribal Courts, an increase of $1.0 million above the 2012 enacted level, to support the enhanced capabilities given to tribal courts in the Tribal Law and Order Act of 2009.

The funding also supports the expansion of a successful pilot program launched in 2010 to reduce crime on four reservations with high violent crime rates. The targeted, intense community-safety pilot program resulted in a combined reduction in violent crime of 35 percent – far exceeding goals and expectations. Two additional reservations with high crime rates will be added to this initiative in 2012.

Improving Trust Land Management

The BIA’s trust programs assist Federally recognized Tribes in the management, development and protection of Indian trust land and natural resources on 56 million surface acres and 57 million acres of subsurface mineral estates. As part of Interior’s commitment to breaking the logjam on taking land into trust to restore tribal homelands, the Department has undertaken the most substantial overhaul of the Federal fee-to-trust process in 50 years. As a result, between 2009 and 2011 the Department has processed 697 applications, resulting in the acquisition of more than 157,000 acres of land into trust on behalf of tribes and individual Indians.

The FY 2013 budget request supports Improving Trust Land Management through a program increase of $15.4 million for:

• Rights Protection Implementation (+$3.5 million) to support the implementation of Federal court orders resulting from decisions in off-reservation treaty rights litigation.
• Tribal Management Development Program (+$2.0 million) to support Tribes in the management of their on-reservation fish and game programs.
• Cooperative Landscape Development (+800,000) to support greater participation for the bureau and Tribes in the Landscape Conservation Cooperatives for a total program of $1.0 million.
• Invasive Species (+$500,000) to support tribal programs that control, manage, and eradicate harmful plant and animal species from reservations.
• Forestry Programs (+$1.0 million) that develop, maintain, and enhance tribal forest resources.
• Trust Services (+$5.5 million) to support the BIA’s responsibilities in the areas of trust services, probate and land titles and records as well as the Department’s trust reform improvement efforts, and to support the objectives of the Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement signed in February 2010.
• Litigation Support/Attorney Fees (+$1.5 million) to assist Tribes in protecting their tribal trust resources.
• Other Program Management Construction (+$550,000) for the Fort Peck Water System as a new water treatment plant facility is expected to become fully operational in 2012.

Advancing Indian Education

This initiative addresses the full spectrum of educational needs in Indian Country from elementary through post secondary and adult education, including a focus on critical safety and security issues at school facilities to ensure instructional environments are safe and nurturing for students, and an educational reform effort to increase student academic achievement in Bureau of Indian Education funded schools. The FY 2013 budget request for the Bureau of Indian Education is $796.1 million, an increase of $653,000 above the 2012 enacted level, with targeted increases for:

• Tribal Grant Support Costs (+$2.0 million) to help Tribes operating BIE-funded schools cover administrative and indirect costs. As with Contract Support, to which this is comparable, funding for this program is a top priority for Tribes.
• Tribal Colleges and Universities (+2.5 million) to support efforts to assist in the economic development of tribal communities as they offer resources and facilities to teach community members workplace skills and to support tribal plans for development.
• Scholarships (+$710,000) for the BIE’s Scholarships and Adult Education program and Special Higher Education Scholarships program to help adults obtain a GED, provide job skills training, and provide financial aid for Indian post secondary and graduate students pursuing degrees in professions that meet the needs of tribal communities.

Indian Land and Water Claim Settlements

The FY 2013 budget request of $36.3 million for BIA Land and Water Claim Settlements will fund ongoing settlements to help deliver clean drinking water to Indian communities and provide certainty to water users across the West. The investments include:

• The seventh and final payment for the Nez Perce/Snake River Water Rights Settlement ($9.5 million).
• The fourth of five payments for the Shoshone-Paiute Tribes of the Duck Valley Reservation Settlement ($12.0 million).
• The fourth payment for the Navajo Nation Water Resources Development Trust Fund ($6.0 million).

The request also includes $7.8 million, a program increase of $3.4 million, for the Navajo Gallup Water Supply Project and $1.0 million for other smaller Indian land and water settlements.

Achieving Better Results at a Lower Cost

In accordance with President Obama’s February 2011 memorandum to Federal agencies entitled “Administrative Flexibility, Lower Costs, and Better Results for State, Local and Tribal Governments,” the FY 2013 budget request includes reductions and identifies efficiencies that can be achieved through horizontal consolidation, cost-cutting, realignments and program decreases. The request proposes to Achieve Better Results at a Lower Cost through: Improved Management (-$19.7 million) includes measures taken, and those anticipated in consultation with Tribes to ensure that their needs and priorities are addressed, to significantly reduce Indian Affairs program administrative costs. Realignment (+$1.3 million) includes an increase to reflect the transfer of the Indian Arts and Crafts Board from the Office of the Secretary to Indian Affairs, which would oversee the implementation of the Indian Arts and Crafts Act of 1990, as amended. Program Reductions in funding for:

• Law Enforcement Special Initiatives (-$2.6 million) reflecting reduced participation on collaborative activities such as intelligence sharing. • Information Resources Technology (-$6.1 million) due to standardization and consolidation of IT infrastructure.
• The Indian Student Equalization Program (ISEP) (-$4.5 million) to reflect a slight decline in student population.
• Replacement School Construction (-$17.8 million) as the program focuses on addressing improving conditions of existing school facilities.
• The Indian Guaranteed Loan Program (-$2.1 million) while being evaluated for effectiveness.

Indian Affairs’ responsibility to the Federally recognized American Indian and Alaska Native Tribes is rooted in Article I, Section 8, of the United States Constitution, treaties and Federal law. It is responsible for the management, development and protection of Indian trust land and natural resources, providing for public safety and justice in Indian Country, and promoting tribal self-determination and self-governance. Through the Bureau of Indian Education, it funds 183 elementary and secondary day and boarding schools, of which two-thirds are tribally operated, located on 64 reservations in 23 states serving 41,000 students. It also provides funding to 27 tribal colleges and universities and two tribal technical colleges, operates two post-secondary institutions of higher learning and provides higher education scholarships.

-DOI-

WASHINGTON -- Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today announced $8.4 million in grants to 131 American Indian tribes to support Tribal Historic Preservation Offices under the National Historic Preservation Act. The National Park Service awards grants to these tribes to assist in carrying out national historic preservation program responsibilities on tribal lands.
“The participation of American Indians in the national historic preservation program is a major step forward in how we tell the story of our land and its people,” Secretary Salazar said. “These grants will help tribes recount their histories that date back centuries before Europeans set foot on this continent. As they tell the story, all Americans can gain a greater appreciation of their rich traditions and cultures.”
Tribes can use the grants to fund projects such as nominations to the National Register of Historic Places, preservation education, architectural planning, historic structure reports, community preservation plans, and bricks-and-mortar repair to buildings. The grants are derived from revenues from federal oil leases on the Outer Continental Shelf and can help catalyze private and non-federal investment in historic preservation efforts nationwide.
“Increased attention to the preservation of significant tribal places, as well as tribal culture and tradition, is important to all Americans,” said National Park Service Director Jonathan B. Jarvis. “This grant program provides important funding to protect the cultures of the first Americans.”
For more information about the National Park Service tribal preservation programs and grants, please visit: http://www.nps.gov/history/hps/tribal/ 
Amounts made available are listed below.

FISCAL HEAR 2012
HISTORIC PRESERVATION FUND APPORTIONMENT TO INDIAN TRIBES Under Public Law 112-74

BADLANDS NATIONAL PARK, S.D. — Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and National Park Service Director Jon Jarvis today announced the release of the final General Management Plan/Environmental Impact Statement for the South Unit of Badlands National Park, recommending the establishment of the nation’s first tribal national park in partnership with the Oglala Sioux Tribe.

“Our National Park System is one of America’s greatest story tellers,” Salazar said. “As we seek to tell a more inclusive story of America, a tribal national park would help celebrate and honor the history and culture of the Oglala Sioux people. Working closely with the Tribe, Congress, and the public, the Park Service will work to develop a legislative proposal to make the South Unit a tribal national park.”

The South Unit of Badlands National Park is entirely within the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in southwestern South Dakota. The Park Service and the Tribe have worked together to manage the South Unit’s 133,000 acres for almost 40 years. If a tribal national park is enabled by Congress through legislation, the Oglala Sioux people could manage and operate their lands for the educational and recreational benefit of the general public, including a new Lakota Heritage and Education Center.

The GMP/EIS reflects the goals of the National Park Service’s recently released “A Call to Action” plan for the Service’s next 100 years that emphasizes a system of parks and protected sites that more fully represent our nation’s natural resources, history and cultural experiences. The tribal national park would seek to promote an understanding of Oglala Sioux history, culture, and land management principles through education and interpretation.

“Continuing our long‐standing partnership with the Tribe, we plan to focus on restoration of the landscape, including the reintroduction of bison that are integral to the cultural stories and health of the Oglala people,” said NPS Director Jon Jarvis. “We will offer expanded access and opportunities for visitors to experience the beauty and utility of the prairie as the Oglala Sioux have for centuries.”

The National Park Service, Oglala Sioux Tribe, and the Oglala Sioux Parks and Recreation Authority have been cooperatively developing the GMP/EIS for the South Unit of Badlands National Park since early 2006. The management plan acknowledges the important partnership between the National Park Service and Oglala Sioux Tribe and establishes a common vision for managing resources and visitor use in the South Unit.

Under the plan, the National Park Service and the Tribe will focus on restoring the health and vibrancy of the prairie to enhance wildlife habitat, expanding bison into the South Unit, providing roads and trails and providing greater opportunities for visitors to experience the natural grandeur of the South Unit and the heritage of the Oglala Sioux people.

The National Park Service is expected to sign the Record of Decision for the GMP/EIS this summer; however, congressional legislation is necessary before the Service can implement the Plan’s Preferred Management Option. In the meantime, the Park Service and Tribe may prepare for and implement appropriate parts of the plan and identify the components of a tribal national park that need to be addressed by legislation.

Depending on Congressional action, the South Unit could be being administered through a variety of options, including as a unit of the National Park System managed by tribal members hired as NPS employees or managed by tribal members as employees of the Tribe. The plan proposes no change in overall responsibility or management absent Congressional legislation.

The “Call to Action” goal of engaging youth has already begun at Badlands where tribal and non‐tribal students will work together as seasonal NPS employees this summer, receiving training and experience in the responsibilities of being National Park Service rangers.

“These are our future rangers,” said Badlands Superintendent Eric Brunnemann. “These are the young people that may lead a tribal national park into the future. I do see a time when our rangers will routinely work side‐by‐side with tribal biologists, archeologists, and paleontologists.”

In 2010, nearly 1 million visitors traveled to Badlands National Park and spent $23 million in the Park and surrounding communities. This spending supported more than 375 area jobs. With expanded future opportunities for recreation and education in the South Unit, a tribal national park is an exciting prospect for South Dakota.

During World War II, the War Department established the Pine Ridge Aerial Gunnery Range from lands within the Reservation. In 1968, the Gunnery Range was declared excess, and Congress conveyed most of the lands to the Tribe with the provision that the South Unit be administered by the National Park Service.

In 2003, the Tribe formally requested government‐to‐government negotiations regarding management control of the South Unit, and the Park Service, the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Tribe agreed to use the general management plan process to explore options for greater involvement in the South Unit.

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The 1978 calendar of Indian fairs, exhibits, ceremonials, dances, feasts and other celebrations is now available, the Bureau of Indian Affairs announced today.

Most of the events in the state-by-state listings occur in the summer or fall months and are open to tourists and other visitors. The pocket-size booklet lists more than 500 items, giving the nature of the activity, dates and locations.

The booklet also contains some summary information about Indians in the United States and the addresses of Bureau of Indian Affairs field offices.

The calendar may be obtained for $2.25 from the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. 20402 The stock number is 024-002-00062-4.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson announced today that 112 tribes have qualified for participation in the BIA's Tribal Government Development Program for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 1975. These tribes may receive up to $50,000 under contracts for programs to strengthen and make more effective their tribal governments.

The program is designed to help the tribes with the least resources per capita to help themselves. The funds provided are to be used for training tribal officials or employees in skills needed by the tribe, the establishment of sound record keeping systems, the revision of tribal election ordinances and other projects aimed at producing better tribal governments.

"To implement the policy of Indian self-determination," Commissioner Thompson said, "we must have tribal governments capable of assuming responsibility for reservation programs. The TGDP program helps the neediest tribes achieve this capability. It has been very well received by the Indian community.

Tribes with less than 50members are not eligible for the program. About 50 tribes that applied were determined ineligible either because their service population was too small or their resources per capita too great.

It is expected that about $2.8 million will be distributed among the 112 tribes.

Editors: A listing by state of the eligible applicants and the accounts for which they qualify is enclosed.

A 1975 calendar of Indian celebrations, ceremonials and other special events open to the public has been published by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Included in the 60 page booklet is information on a variety of Indian arts and crafts fairs, native dances, rodeos, pow-wows, religious observances, historical commemorations, Indian athletic events and other tourist attractions.

In Alaska, for example, one is informed of events such as the World Eskimo Olympics, Native Foods Day -- offering fare such as Muktuk and caribou, shee fish, and snow shoe and dog sled races.

The events are listed by state, dates and locations. Very brief, general advice for potential visitors is included.

The 1975 American Indian Calendar is for sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. 20402. The price is 80¢ and the stock number, which should be used in ordering, is 024-002-00044-6.

Editors: A review copy of 1975 American Indian Calendar is available upon request from the Office of Public Information, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Washington, D.C. 20245.

New industrial development opportunities for the 16 largest Indian land areas should result from a recent Labor Department ruling, on their eligibility for Federal contracts, Robert L. Bennett, commissioner of Indian Affairs, Department f of the Interior, said today.

Bennett said the Labor Department's Bureau of Employment Security has designated the 16 areas eligible for the first preference in Federal procurement contracts as the result of negotiations conducted by the Bureau of Indian Affairs' Branch of Commercial and Industrial Development.

Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall endorsed the Branch's proposal to Secretary of Labor Willard W. Wirtz as another means of aiding Indians.

The 16 Indian areas now classified as sections of concentrated unemployment Jr underemployment are: Fort Apache, Hopi, Gila River, Papago and San Carlos, all in Arizona; Navajo in Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah; Blackfeet, Crow-Northern Cheyenne and Fort Peck in Montana; Acoma-Laguna-Canoncito-Isleta and Zuni in New Mexico; Cherokee in North Carolina; Standing Rock-Cheyenne River in North Dakota and South Dakota; Turtle Mountain in North Dakota; and Pine Ridge and Rosebud in South Dakota.

"This action means that industrial plants located in or near these Indian areas are now eligible for first preference in the award of certain Federal procurement contracts if the firms have an approved plan for employing a portion of the Indian work force on the contract," Commissioner Bennett said.

"This should assist in stabilizing operations of such plants and possibly lead to expansions.

"The possibility is also opened for establishment of new industries in or near these Indian areas if the plants can be established so as to produce the required materials within the contract terms," Bennett added.

The Labor Department announcement explained that employers wishing to establish individual eligibility for their plants must obtain a certificate through the state or local employment offices.

Bennett said this recognition of the need for employment by Indians is another in an increasing list of cooperative actions by Federal agencies to extend more fully to Indians the benefits afforded generally by Federal programs.

The new Economic Opportunity Act offers American Indians their greatest chance for self-help, Assistant Secretary of the Interior John A. Carver, Jr., last night told the 19-5tate Governors' Interstate Indian. Council.

Carver, whose six-Bureau supervision includes the Bureau of Indian Affairs, addressed the Council's seventeenth annual convention in Denver, Colorado. The member States have interest and responsibilities for Indian affairs.

"The old cry that the Federal Government should withdraw--that there should be less government--is a blind and shortsighted one in the West," he said. "It is strange that this is where most of it is heard.

“The point has now been reached, I am convinced, at which further accomplishments, further planning, will depend very greatly upon increased coordination among local, State and Federal Governments--and upon more and more participation by the Indians themselves."

Assistant Secretary Carver said “many Indian people themselves are unaware of how greatly their ultimate destinies rest with themselves," adding that they "contain within themselves the basic elements for their own resurgence as a self-supporting segment of our society."

He said the Economic Opportunity Act, embodying President Johnson's antipoverty crusade, offers Indians increased opportunities for employment, education, agricultural improvements, better health, new industries and a fuller life.

"The Indians are a proud and able people," Mr. Carver told the Council. "They don't want handouts. They want, in their innermost hearts, to be in control of their own destinies. This hope can become reality both for the Indians who prefer to live on their reservations and for those who prefer to leave. In either case, the thing they need remember--or learn, if they have not yet learned it--is that poverty is not necessarily the price to pay for retaining their Indian identity."

The Governors' Council includes representatives· of Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Montana, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Washington, Wisconsin and Wyoming.