OPA

WASHINGTON, D.C.— Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) Director Keith Moore announced today that the Circle of Nations-Wahpeton Indian Boarding School in Wahpeton, N.D. and the Baca/Dlo' Ay Azhi Community School in Prewitt, N.M. have been nominated to receive the U.S. Department of Education’s (ED) Green Ribbon Schools award.

“I am pleased to see the BIE’s schools meeting the challenging and competitive standards of the Department of Education’s Green Ribbon Schools pilot program,” said Moore. “To be considered candidates for the Green Ribbon Schools award is an honor in itself and allows us to showcase how BIE schools are creating healthier learning environments for our students.”

The Green Ribbon Schools (GRS) program was recently launched by ED to recognize schools that save energy and reduce operating costs, create environmentally friendly learning spaces, promote student health, and provide environmental education to incorporate sustainability into their curricula. The recognition award is part of a larger ED and BIE effort to identify and disseminate knowledge about practices proven to result in improved student engagement, academic achievement, graduation rates, and workforce preparedness, as well as a government-wide aim to increase energy independence and economic security. To date, 35 state agencies, which include the BIE, have announced their participation. Each participating agency has its own unique application meeting ED’s program requirements.

The BIE worked with the Environmental Protection Agency regional offices to review and evaluate the applicants from its schools using a rubric and scoring method assessing the schools’ activities in each of the GRS pillar areas. From here, ED will be assessing all nominations and making a final selection for the awards. Winning schools will be invited by Secretary Duncan to visit DC for the GRS award ceremony in May 2012.

According to ED guidance, Green Ribbon Schools receiving the national award will have achieved or made considerable progress toward the three pillars established in the program:

1) energy efficient buildings;

2) healthy students and school environments; and

3) environmental literacy of all graduates. The combined achievement in these three areas will be the basis for the Green Ribbon Schools award. All schools must meet high college and career-ready standards, be in compliance with federal civil rights laws, and all federal, state and local health and safety standards and regulations.

The Circle of Nations school is one of the select few schools nationwide to achieve the Gold Award for the Let’s Move! cornerstone component known as the HealthierUS School Challenge The Challenge establishes rigorous criteria for schools’ food quality, participation in meal programs, physical activity opportunities and nutrition education–the key components that make for healthy and active kids. BIE Director Moore sent a memorandum out encouraging all BIE funded schools to apply for this challenge. The Gold level is a tremendous achievement. Also noteworthy of great achievement is the Baca/Dlo' Ay Azhi Community School, which has won a number of awards for its environmental and energy efficient buildings and overall approach to the environment within the school and community. The school was the first Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certified building in the entire State of New Mexico.

The bureau has posted additional information on their website, including the BIE Green Ribbon Schools application, training opportunities, and program timeline. For more information about the bureau’s participation in the program visit http://www.bie.edu/greenribbonschools/index.htm or visit the ED Green Ribbon Schools website at www2.ed.gov/programs/green-ribbon-schools to learn more about the program.

As part of this effort to promote a comprehensive approach to creating a healthier school environment in all BIE-funded schools, the bureau committed to the Let’s Move! in Indian Country initiative in 2010 and encouraged all BIE-funded schools to sign up to become Team Nutrition Schools. The LMIC website http://www.letsmove.gov/indiancountry includes information about resources, grants and programs available to assist schools in becoming healthier places of learning.

Immediate questions or inquiries regarding the BIE’s participation in the Green Ribbon Schools initiative can be emailed to greenribbonschools@bie.edu.

The Bureau of Indian Education in the U.S. Department of the Interior implements federal education laws, such as the No Child Left Behind Act, in and provides funding to 183 elementary and secondary day and boarding schools and peripheral dormitories located on 64 reservations in 23 states and serves approximately 48,000 students from the nation’s federally recognized tribes. Approximately two-thirds of the schools are tribally operated with the rest BIE-operated. The bureau also serves post secondary students through higher education scholarships and provides support funding to 26 tribal colleges and universities and two tribal technical colleges. It also directly operates two post secondary institutions: Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence, Kan., and the Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute in Albuquerque, N.M.

WASHINGTON – Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Lawrence S. “Larry” Roberts today announced that the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ Office of Justice Services (OJS) is once again partnering with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) on National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day, which will take place on Saturday, October 22 from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. local time. OJS is working with tribal law enforcement agencies to implement Take-Back Day in their jurisdictions.

“By working with the DEA and the National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day initiative, we can help reduce the dangers in Indian Country from the misuse and abuse of expired, unused and unwanted prescription drugs,” Roberts said. “I want to thank the DEA for continuing with this important initiative and our tribal law enforcement partners for joining with us to protect lives. I encourage all members of the tribal public to bring their expired, unused and unwanted prescription drugs to their nearest participating Indian Country location and help prevent the dangers of prescription drug misuse and abuse in their communities.”

This is the 12th year that OJS has partnered with the DEA for National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day. The free service allows members of the public to prevent pill abuse and theft by ridding their homes of potentially dangerous expired, unused, and unwanted prescription drugs. (The DEA cannot accept liquids or needles or sharps, only pills or patches.) In addition to being free, the service is also anonymous with no questions asked.

Members of the tribal public should bring their pills for disposal to the nearest receiving tribal entity listed on the table of participating Indian Country locations. They can also find the site nearest them by visiting the DEA Diversion Control Division’s site search web page.

Last April, Americans turned in 447 tons (over 893,000 pounds) of prescription drugs at almost 5,400 sites operated by the DEA and more than 4,200 of its state and local law enforcement partners. Overall, in its 11 previous Take-Back events, DEA and its partners have taken in over 6.4 million pounds – about 3,200 tons – of pills.

The National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day initiative addresses a vital public safety and public health issue. Medicines that languish in home cabinets are highly susceptible to diversion, misuse and abuse. Rates of prescription drug abuse in the United States are alarmingly high, as are the number of accidental poisonings and overdoses due to these drugs.

Studies show that a majority of abused prescription drugs are obtained from family and friends, including from the home medicine cabinet. In addition, Americans are now advised that their usual methods for disposing of unused medicines – flushing them down the toilet or throwing them in the trash – pose potential safety and health hazards.

For more information about National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day, the October 22 Take-Back Day event, or to find the nearest collection site, visit the DEA Diversion Control Division’s website at https://www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/drug_disposal/takeback/index.html.

-DOI-

Secretary of the Interior Rogers C. B. Morton today announced approval of the largest Land and Water Conservation Fund project to date on Indian Indians. The $550,000 L&WCF grant is for development of the Blackfeet lands. St. Mary's Lake Recreation Complex in Montana.

The Federal monies, matched by the Blackfeet Tribal Council for a total investment of $1.1 million, will be used to provide new campground and outdoor recreation facilities on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation, which parallels the eastern edge of the Glacier National Park, in northwest Montana. The will be located on the northeast shore site --Chewing Blackbones Campground of St. Mary's Lake, adjacent to U.S. Highway 89 between the St. Mary's and Many Glacier entrances to the park.

James G. Watt, Director of the Bureau of Outdoor Recreation which administers the Land and Water Conservation Fund, said, "It is gratifying to know that the Blackfeet Indian Tribe is undertaking a project which" not only will bolster their own economy, but also will provide the vacationing public with much needed accommodati6ns near Glacier National Park."

The St. Mary's Lake Recreation Complex, part of a larger development providing complete services for the area's tourists, will include a campground situated on a peninsula, boating facilities, and a children's fishing pond. Picnic grounds and a par-3 golf course are also planned.

Secretary of the Interior Cecil D. Andrus today signed an order restoring to the Quechan Indians 25,000 acres of land within the original 1884 boundaries of the Fort Yuma Reservation in Arizona and California.

The Secretarial Order transfers administration of the land from the Bureau of Land Management to the Bureau of Indian Affairs as Trustee for the tribe. The action implements an opinion by Interior Solicitor Leo M. Krulitz that the land belongs to the tribe because conditions imposed by the 1893 agreement under which the tribe would have ceded its "non-irrigable" acreage to the United States were never met. Krulitz' ruling reverses two previous Solicitors' Opinions, one rendered in 1936, the other in 1977.

Most of the 25,000 acres are in California with a small portion in Arizona. While most of the land is still considered non-irrigable, it is now thought that between 5000 and 5500 acres are practicably irrigable. The restoration will more than triple the size of the reservation's land base, now an area of around 9200 acres, on which 860 of the tribe's 1725 members live.

The order protects valid third party interests, such as leases, patents, easements and rights of way which have been issued over the years--some before the reservation was established, some since the Department first ruled over 40 years ago the lands did not belong to the Tribe.

Interior Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Forrest Gerard said, "With the entire Indian community of the United States, I am pleased to see the rights of the Quechan Tribe acknowledged and upheld by this Secretarial Order. The Order does not give something new to the tribe, but rather recognizes that their property had never been ceded away. The Secretary's Order is an act of justice, not of benevolence."

The Fort Yuma Reservation, situated along both sides of the Colorado River is southern Arizona and California, was established by Executive Order in 1884. In 1893, the Quechan notified the President and the Congress that they were willing to cede their reservation to the U.S. in return for receiving allotments of irrigated land, hoping to improve the tribal economy with smaller, individual plots of productive farm land.

An agreement was negotiated in 1893 for:

• An allotment and irrigation of irrigable land to members of the tribe;
• Sale of surplus irrigable lands to settles under strictly prescribed conditions, after all member were allotted land;
• And the opening of non-irrigable acreage to settlement by proclamation of the President;
• The holing of proceeds from the sale of surplus land in trust for the tribe at 5% annual interest.

The Congress ratified the agreement in 1894, adding two more conditions: an irrigation canal would have to be started within three years or right-of-way granted by statue a year earlier would be fortified; and, each adult Quechan male would receive free water for acre of his allotment over a 10-year period.

"During the following decade, allotment did not occur, the President did not proclaim the non-irrigable lands a part of the public domain and open to settlement and the irrigation canal was not built," said Krulitz in his opinion. "In short, the cession of 1893 was conditional, the United States never met its conditions and the non-irrigable acreage remains in the Tribe." Krulitz said allotment and irrigation did not occur on the reservation until Congress passed the 1904 statue applying the Reclamation Act to the Ft. Yuma and Colorado River Reservations. But the 1904 Act appears to have been completely unrelated to the cession agreement and ratifying statute, said the Solicitor. It therefore did not effect the conditional cession. The terms under the act for the sale of surplus irrigable lands and the handling the proceeds from such sales differed significantly from those in the 1893 agreement and the Congressional ratification a year later.

Departmental records show that until the 1936 Solicitor's Opinion, the Fort Yuma non-irrigable acreage continued to be administered as tribal lands, indicating that the 1904 Act was not viewed within the Department as having fulfilled the cession conditions.

In 1975 a draft Solicitor's Opinion, asserting Indian ownership of the 25,000 acres, was widely circulated within and outside the Department, Krulitz said, and a decision was expected to be issued in favor of the tribe. But in February 1976, the Solicitor upheld the 1936 opinion. The unexpected move sparked a controversy which led to hearings before the Senate Subcommittee on Indian Affairs.

During those hearings, then-Interior Secretary Thomas Kleppe agreed to direct his Solicitor to prepare a formal written opinion explaining the decision to uphold the 1936 ruling. That became the 1977 Solicitor's Opinion, issued on January 17, 1977.

"The sharp and continuing divergence in legal views with respect to this issue persuaded me that the matter merited reconsideration," said Krulitz.

He said the Quechan Tribe has previously recognized that its title to the lands in question is subject to valid existing rights of third parties and also to lands taken by the United States for reclamation uses.

A lengthy list of the third party rights which would be protected is attached to the Secretarial Order. The order also provides for correction, within ninety days, of those rights which may have been erroneously described and inclusion of rights inadvertently omitted.

A concentrated attack on chronic unemployment and hard core poverty among American Indians will begin next April in Madera, Calif., with the opening of an Employment Training Center directed by Philco-Ford Corp. under a $497,846 contract with the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs.

The Center will be a major departure from other programs to increase opportunities for the unemployed. The concept involves comprehensive family training for the world of work. Recognizing that 60 percent of American families today have more than one wage-earner, the Center will provide education, training, urban adjustment orientation, and job p1acement for all family members of employable age.

Robert L. Bennett, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, announced the signing of the contract today. He said;

"This is an experiment. President Johnson has called upon us to use 'imaginative, bold approaches' to combat social and economic ills that plague many Indian families. I believe this intensive training center at Madera is an imaginative departure from our customary adult vocational training and job placement services for Indians. It focuses attention on all the elements that make a person employable -- education, specialized training, health, personal attitudes and aptitudes. For family groups, it takes into account the needs of each individual in the family, from the smallest child to the eldest dependent, providing whatever help each needs to contribute to a solid family life."

Philco-Ford's Tech-Rep Division will operate the Center, and provide personnel, services and training equipment and materials.

Family counseling, vocational counseling, pre-vocational and vocational training, as well as health services, will be part of the package for the trainees and their families, at no cost to either one. Specialized training for jobs, with job placement and follow-up, are the fundamentals of the program.

The Philco-Ford Corp. is committed to placing all trainees who complete the program. It is expected that more than one job will be generated for each family.

Scheduled to open on or about April 1, the Center will initially enroll 30 Indian families from all parts of the country. An additional 196 single trainees will be added by July 1, 1967. The first group has not yet been selected.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs entered into the contract with Philco-Ford because the Bureau does not conduct vocational training for adults. Contracts for institutional and on-the-job training have been let with several hundred accredited institutions and firms over the past 10 years.

The Madera site, a former Air Force Base, was recently declared surplus by the United States Government. It was selected by BIA as the new Employment Training Center for Indians because of its available housing and recreational facilities and other buildings easily adaptable for education and training purposes. Other deciding factors are its accessibility, making transportation easy, and its mild climate, reducing clothing and heating costs and providing opportunity for year-round out-door activity.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs of the Department of the Interior announced today renewal of a number of contracts for job-training for Indians. Contract value totals nearly $3 million.

Affected are contracts for the year beginning July 1 for programs in California, Arizona, New Mexico, Mississippi and New York. Only programs, funded by the Bureau of Indian Affairs are involved.

These programs include training for whole families, on-the-job work in electronics, garment and textile industries, and a nationwide program of adoptive placement for Indian children.

The largest dollar contract for fiscal 1968 renewals went to the Philco-Ford Corporation's Education and Technical Services Division for their Madera, Calif., Employment Training Center. A new concept in Indian training, the Center prepares entire families for assimilation into the economic, social and political life of America by way of job-training, formal education and instruction in home economics. The contract is for $1,728,600.

Other contract renewals: RCA Service Co. for a community-wide training program for Choctaw Indians at Philadelphia, Miss., $722,131; General Dynamics at Ft. Defiance, Ariz., for on-the-job electronics training being given 223 Indians, $204,044; Burnell and Co., electronics training for 138 Indian trainees at Laguna Pueblo, N. M., $157,088; First Seneca Corp., on-the-job training in textile mill products on the Cattaraugus Reservation near Irving, N. Y., $78,002; a nationwide adoptive placement service by New York's Child Welfare League of America, Inc., $30,800, and on-the-job training in the garment industry, the BVD Co. at Winslow, Ariz., $16,108.

Almost a year has elapsed since I last visited Alaska and met with many of you. It has been an eventful one during which you have made some notable progress.

While I welcome the opportunity to be with you, I regret that there must be a vacant chair at the head table because of the passing of Dr. Henry S. Forbes.

We share warm memories of Dr. Forbes and deep appreciation for a man who accom­plished more in his avocation than many people accomplish in their chosen pro­fessions. Moreover, Dr. Forbes continued to pursue his work with remarkable vigor at a stage in life when men are usually content to reminisce about the past. We owe him a great debt and it is fitting that you have chosen to honor his memory on this occasion.

Since the Tundra Times was so dear to the heart of Dr. Forbes, it is altogether appropriate for me to take a few minutes at the outset to reflect on the paper's accomplishments in its brief six year life span.

During the recent Congressional Hearings on the proposed Native Claims legislation, your leaders received many plaudits for their excellent performance. I wonder, however, whether that leadership would have been so effective without the job the Tundra Times did in communicating the issues to the Native people.

It was instrumental in creating a recognition of the need for leadership, of the need for organization and, yes, even saw fit to take the leaders to task when it felt they were not effectively discharging their responsibilities to the people.

Sometimes we tend to think of the Times' role only as a channel of com­munication among the Native people, but it has also served as the vehicle for communicating the needs and aspirations of the Natives to the people "Outside," including those of us in Washington who are charged with the responsibility for doing something about them.

In its short life span the paper has effectively championed causes in which the Native people have a vital interest. Setting aside for a moment the land claims issue, which I will discuss later, I would like to cite a few of these.

Were it not for the Tundra Times' role in relentlessly calling attention to the serious deprivation of the basic rights of the long-neglected Pribilof Islanders, these Natives would not have had the opportunity to assume an expanding role in business or government.

The Times also alerted the conscience of the Nation to the potential con- sequences of reckless experimentation by stressing the dangers of atomic fall­out and the plight of the Native people involved.

Despite the deplorable conditions of Native housing to which the Times repeatedly called our attention, the benefits of the Indian housing program could not be realized by the Alaskan Native. However, finally the persistent efforts of Senator Bartlett led to the passage of a $10 million Alaska housing program for which a million dollars to construct 200 houses will be available this year. In addition, the combined efforts of several agencies led by the Economic Development Administration and the Department of Housing and Urban Development will lead to the construction of over 200 new homes in the Bethel area within the next two years.

The Times, with a forceful assist from the Federal Field Committee, has focused the Nation's attention on the problem of native unemployment, At long last we in the Federal Government, the largest employer in the State, have stopped giving lip service to the problem and are finally mounting a concerted effort to do something about it.

Under the leadership of the Committee on Alaska Native Federal Hire, which consists of representatives of all of the agencies with sizable employment in Alaska, each agency has agreed to provide Natives with training specifically tailored to jobs available locally. The Indian Bureau will help the other agencies in screening and selecting the trainees, arranging for housing and providing for the subsistence necessary during the transition period.

At the outset we hope to fill at least 200 job opportunities this year. Our goal is to create employment for 1,600 Natives so that they fill at least ten percent of the Federal jobs in Alaska, aside from BIA and Indian Health which already far exceed that percentage. These will not be low-level, menial jobs, they will involve skills such as electronic technician, plumber, carpenter, and equipment operator, The Bureau of Indian Affairs has a key role to play in this operation and we intend to support it to the fullest extent in terms of funds and manpower.

While I am on the subject of jobs, I would be remiss if I did not mention the splendid performance of the Native fire-fighting crews for the Bureau of Land Management during the recent disastrous fire season in Alaska. I under­stand that over a million dollars was paid to nearly 2,000 Natives for their work.

Another area where I feel we are making significant progress is education, Since 1962 the State and the Bureau of Indian Affairs have been working together in developing a joint plan for providing adequate educational opportunities for the Native people of rural Alaska.

A key phase of the plan has been the cooperative establishment of regional, boarding high schools where the State constructs the school and BIA builds the dormitory and provides the State with funds to operate it, the first such facility, the William E. Beltz School at Nome, is now in its third year. A similar arrangement is being developed at Kodiak where the dormitory will be completed in time for the opening of the next school year. The Bureau expects to obtain funds shortly for the construction of a dormitory at Bethel in con­junction with the expansion of the State high school. In the near future, we plan to establish additional arrangements of this sort, some of them in larger centers of population.

Our capacity to move ahead more rapidly on this front was enhanced appreciably by the decision not to rebuild Mt. Edgecumbe.

It is always difficult to admit a mistake. But, after intensive review of the Mt. Edgecumbe proposal, we concluded that it just did not make sense to put close to $20 million into the construction and rehabilitation of a school for 1,000 students at that location, when only 20 percent of the anticipated enroll­ment would be from Southeast. We plan instead to expedite the construction of facilities closer to the pupils' homes.

In addition, the BIA has been transferring t1ie ownership and operation of its schools to the State. Since 1951, 40 schools have been transferred to State jurisdiction, and the transfer is now occurring at an accelerated pace. The BIA in the past has not always been as careful as it might have been in securing the consent of Native communities before transferring its responsibilities. Today, no school is transferred without the active participation of the local community in the planning process.

In the same vein, the Bureau has during the past two years worked with the village communities in establishing advisory school boards. Now every community with a Bureau school has elected officials serving as school board members. At an early date I expect to see these boards actually making basic decisions in connection with the schools' operations, instead of playing just an advisory role.

While the struggle to provide adequate educational facilities within the State of Alaska is going forward, we cannot foreclose the opportunity for a high school education from today's youth. Consequently, the Bureau of Indian Affairs has found space for 1,000 students from Alaska at high schools in Oregon and Oklahoma. No one believes that this is a satisfactory solution to the problem. No one likes to see young people separated from their homes and communities by long distances over extended periods of time. But it is greatly to the credit of thousands of Alaska youth and their parents that they have been willing to accept the separation rather than miss out on high school education altogether.

I would like to digress for a moment on the role of the Bureau. I have had my share of frustrations with the Indian Bureau for nearly eight years. It has not always been as vigorous as we might have liked, but nonetheless, I bristle when I see sweeping charges that the Bureau is primarily interested in per­petuating its hold on the Indian people.

Last year we spent considerable time and effort developing legislation that would permit us to turn over to Indian tribes the authority to manage their own lands. Much to my surprise and chagrin this move met with widespread opposition among Indian leaders, who would rather have the Bureau to "lean on," frequently in both senses of the term. Fortunately, most of your leaders in Alaska are willing to accept the responsibility of managing your own affairs. As you are growing to assume that role, I ask you to avoid the easy course of blaming BIA for all of the failures along the road. When you believe that the Bureau should be taken to task, do so, but try to be both specific and constructive with your criticism.

Last November when we met, the Native land claims issue seemed to be in the doldrums. Today it is, in my opinion, on the verge of resolution. This is due in large part to the fact that the Native leadership, the Congressional delega­tion and the State have all been pulling in the same direction.

I hope you are not disheartened by the failure to get a bill enacted this year. Issues of this magnitude are just too formidable to speed through the legislative process. Two decades were required to obtain passage of the Central Arizona Project. Those years were devoted to much hard work on the part of the proponents and the Congress. However, hard work alone did not put that project over the top. Unless the advocates had been willing to compromise by giving up features which, although desirable, were not essential, we would not have legis­lation today.

If you are to be successful in this struggle your leaders will undoubtedly be called upon to exercise their judgment on short notice without time for consultation at the village level. Bear in mind that they are leaders, not messengers. You chose them because you felt that they possessed the quali­fications and good judgment to represent you. They may not be able to obtain everything that you and they would like. It is far easier to be doctrinaire and intransigent, than it is to make the hard decisions that will bring results.

At the time when we submitted our first Departmental proposal I was proud to be the first Secretary of the Interior to tackle this longstanding problem. In retrospect I see that our proposed solution left much to be desired. However, I need make no apologies for the principles for a just settlement that were laid down by President Johnson. Under any equitable settlement, the Natives should receive:

(1) title to the lands you occupy and need to sustain your villages;

(2) rights to use additional lands and water to maintain your traditional way of life if you so choose; and

(3) compensation commensurate with the value of lands taken from you.

I believe that it is incumbent upon the Native leaders to make a convincing case for translating these principles into concrete terms. Their presentation to the Congress last July contributed appreciably toward that end.

I hope that the time for results will be at hand in the next session of the Congress. But, while there has been widespread agreement on the principles for a just solution, and the Administration and the Native leadership are much closer to agreement than we were a year ago, the basic issues of how much land and how much money are far from being resolved.

As one who will no longer be involved in the struggle, I shall take the liberty of offering you my counsel. In short, it is for you to try to put yourselves in the shoes of the parties with whom you are dealing -- to appreci­ate their points of view and the constraints under which they are operating.

I have yet to speak to a member of Congress, or a representative of the Execu­tive Branch, who does not believe that you have a worthy cause and that settle­ment is long overdue. Yet, they view the subject from a very different perspective.

Many of the Congressional leaders who will have to approve, and perhaps even formulate, a settlement played key roles in shaping Alaska Statehood legislation. They believe, correctly in my opinion, that the Congress dis­charged its responsibilities to the 49th State in a most generous fashion, more generously than it had treated their States.

Many of these Congressmen were instrumental in establishing the Indian Claims Commission. They are distressed at the length of time it has taken the Commission to dispose of its proceedings and consequently are anxious to pro­vide a more expeditious settlement for Alaska. At the same time they are aware that the total value of all of the awards made by the Commission to date is roughly $282 million, and that the Court of Claims placed a value of only $7.S million on practically all of Southeast Alaska. Accordingly, they will not be easily convinced that the claims of the Natives of Alaska should be valued at $500 million.

In addition, they have handled scores of bills authorizing the expenditure of judgment awards by Indian tribes. They have been unwilling to give tribal leaders a completely free hand in spending this money, and have seen fit to require that the Secretary of the Interior approve their plans.

They are also well aware of the vast acreages of Indian lands that have gone out of Indian ownership, often at small fractions of market value, and are reluctant to legislate a settlement that does not provide adequate safeguards to prevent the recurrence of this experience.

You should also bear in mind that the next Secretary of the Interior, whether he be a Democrat or Republican, will not be a completely free agent. He will, hopefully, be your advocate as I have endeavored to be to the best of my ability. At the same time in this role he will be faced, as I have been, with the job of presenting your case to others within the Administration who have competing responsibilities and do not share his viewpoint. He will be faced with the task of recommending a settlement that will provide the maximum opportunity for Native initiative, management, and control, while at the same time providing a measure of protection that will guarantee that the fruits of any settlement are equitably distributed among the Native people and that they are not dissipated without lasting benefit.

Finally, the next Secretary will be faced with the very difficult decision as to whether to continue the land freeze.

I am well aware that under the terms of the State's Native claims legis­lation I must lift the freeze by next week if the Natives are to receive any benefits. My views on the land freeze are well known. Frankly, I do not be­lieve we would have made any significant progress on the Native claims issue if we had not held everybody's feet to the fire, or perhaps I should say to the ice, with the freeze. As I have said many times before, I do not intend to lift it. While I believe that one objective of the State legislation was to obtain Native support for the lifting of the freeze, I believe that it should also be construed as a good faith offer by the State of assistance to the Native people. If that view is correct, I would expect that the offer will be renewed subse­quently by the State in a form that will complement the federal legislation.

As you know, the U. S. District Court recently ruled against us on that part of the freeze involving our refusal to patent State selections. Our lawyers tell me that we have a good case and we intend to appeal. I am hopeful, however, that the appeal will become moot through the speedy enactment of claims' legislation.

There is one facet of the freeze on which I have had very little to say -­the purported revenue loss to the State of Alaska, because of our failure to issue oil and gas leases. It has been argued that the State has been deprived of its 90 percent share of the SO-cent per acre rental that is received under these leases. - However, I would like to point out that under the present law virtually all leases on public lands in Alaska, including millions of acres which are believed to have great oil and gas potential, must be issued on a non-competitive basis. We are hopeful that Congress will soon see fit to revise this anachronistic law so that the Government can obtain fair market value for its resources. In the meantime, it is just not good management for the Federal Government to lease valuable acreage non-competitively that would doubtless bring bonuses running into hundreds of millions of dollars if it could be leased competitively. While the State might obtain several millions of dollars in the short run by our leasing, it would do so at the expense of losing many times that amount in the long run.

In closing, I would like to thank Howard Rock and Emil Notti once again for their kind invitation to be with you at this impressive gathering. I am hopeful that next time we meet it will be to celebrate the enactment of legis­lation resolving the Native claims issue.

The Department of the Interior is publishing notice in the Federal Register on its proposal to acknowledge the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians bf Northern Michigan as an Indian tribe, Assistant Secretary Forrest Gerard said today

The formal acknowledgment as an Indian tribe, which includes the recognition of a government to-government relationship with the United States, would entitle the Grand Traverse Band to the same privileges and immunities available to other federally recognized tribes by virtue of their status as Indian tribes.

Under regulations made effective in October of 1978, persons wishing to challenge the acknowledgment may submit their factual or legal arguments within 120 days of the publication of the notice. A report summarizing the evidence for the proposed decision is available from the Assistant Secretary - Indian Affairs, Department of the Interior,

18th & C Streets N.W., Washington, D.C. 20240. Comments on the proposed acknowledgment should be sent to the above address.

The Grand Traverse Band, which has about 300 members, is expected to be the first group formally acknowledged as a tribe under the 1978 regulations. The tribe has a 147.4 acre reservation in Leelanau County.

A total of 497 Indian or Alaska Native groups are now acknowledged by the Federal Government to be tribes. These groups are located in 27 states and include 218 Alaskan village groups.

Distribution plans for judgment funds awarded to three western Washington Indian tribal groups are being published in the Federal Register. The awards, made by the Indian Claims Commission, are for additional compensation for land taken as a result of the point Elliot Treaty of 1885.

The tribes involved are the Lummi, Lower Skagit, and Kikiallus.

The Lower Skagits and the Kikiallus have ceased to exist as identifiable tribal entities so their awards will be distributed on a per capita basis among lineal descendants of the tribes as they existed in 1859. The Secretary of the Interior will publish enrollment procedures for sharing in these awards. Skagit ancestors accepted as proof of Upper Skagit descent for inclusion in that judgment roll will not be accepted as proof of Lower Skagit ancestry.

The award for the Lower Skagit Tribe is about $75,000 and that for the Kikiallus approximately $6,000.

The Lummi Tribe, with headquarters at Marietta, Washington, were awarded $57,000. These funds will be held and invested by the Secretary of the Interior until a further plan for the use and distribution of the funds is approved by Congress.

All three of the plans have been approved by Congress. The effective date for the Lower Skagit and Kikiallus plans is February 18; for the Lummi plan it is March 3.

The per capita distribution to the Lower Skagit and Kikiallus descendants will be made after the completion of the rolls.

Professional Indian artists and artisans have received 12 first place awards and student Indian artists and craftsmen nine first place awards plus other honors, in the 1967 Biennial Exhibition of American Indian Arts and Crafts. The exhibition is sponsored by the Center for Arts of Indian America, a non-profit organization.

The exhibition is open to the public through December 15 at the Department of the Interior Art Gallery, Interior Building, 18th and C Streets, N. W., Washington, D.C.

Entries for the exhibition were gathered on an invitational basis from 138 Indian artists and craftsmen representing more than 40 tribes throughout the Nation. The over 250 items entered include paintings, sculpture, graphic arts, pottery, textiles, basketry, jewelry, and carving.

Prizes and awards include Bureau of Indian Affairs purchase awards and Center-donated prize funds, Oklahoma State Society, Arizona State Society, Qualla Arts and Crafts Mutual, Inc., special cash awards, and a student grand award contributed by Phillips Petroleum Co., The American Indian Society of Washington, D.C., Arrow, Inc., Indian and Eskimo Cultural Foundation, and the Interior Department Recreation Association.

Judges were: James McGrath, Director of Arts, Institute of American Indian Arts, Santa Fe, N.M.; Jack Perlmutter, Head, Graphic Arts Department, Corcoran School of Art, Washington, D.C.; and Warren M. Robbins, Director, African Art Museum, Washington, D.C.

Mrs. Stewart L. Udall, president of the Center, said the judges were impressed and stimulated to find not only that the works of art were based on the rich tradition that is the background and the environment of these artists, but that the artists are also concerned with contemporary expressions, and searching for a synthesis that combines the modern and traditional.

Exhibits were divided into two categories -- professional and student.

The Grand Award of $500 in the professional category went to Fritz Scholder, California Mission Indian, and Sacramento, Calif. The Grand Award of $275 in the student category went to Elmer Yazzie, Navajo, Shiprock, N.M.

Among other awards in the professional category were:

Special Award, Ruthe Jones, Delaware-Shawnee-Cherokee, Okmulgee, Okla.; Marie Tsosie, Navajo, Window Rock, Ariz.; ,Josephine Peters, Karak, Hoopa, Calif.

Special Cash Awards to first place winners: painting, Earl Eder, Sioux, Poplar, Mont.;

Graphic arts: Linda Lomahaftewa, Hopi-Choctaw, Second Mesa, Ariz.; sculpture, Peter Seeganna, Eskimo, Sitka, Alaska;

Pottery: Margaret Tafoya, Santa Clara Pueblo, Espanola, N.M.; Dolores Castillo, Spokane, Oswego, N.Y.;

Baskets: Lucy George, Cherokee, Cherokee, N.C.;

Jewelry: Charles Loloma, Hopi, Hoteville, Ariz.;

Textiles - woven: Lola Yazzie, Navajo, Window Rock, Ariz.;

Printed: Edna Massey, Cherokee, Stillwell, Okla.;

Carvings: Lawney Reyes, Colville, Seattle, Wash.;

Mixed media: George Morrison, Chippewa, Providence, R.I.;

Other: Alice Cadotte, Sioux, Fort Yates, N.D.

Bureau of Indian Affairs purchase awards for first prize items were made to seven of these professional artists and craftsmen in six categories. These winners were Earl Eder, Linda Lomahaftewa, Peter Seeganna, Margaret Tafoya, Dolores Castillo, Lucy George, and Lawney Reyes.

In the student classification nine Stewart L. Udall Cash Awards were made to first place winners in seven categories. They were: Painting, Connie Red Star, Crow, Lodge Grass, Mont.; graphic arts, Brenda Holden, Miwok, Phoenix, Ariz.; sculpture, John Co Romero, Taos Pueblo, N.M.; pottery, Johnny Romero, Taos Pueblo, N.M., and Eugene Stabler, Omaha, Macy, Neb.; jewelry, Isaac Koyuk, Eskimo, College, Alaska; textiles, Eliza Vigil, Tesuque Pueblo, N.M., and James Holmes, Potawatomie, Neillsville, Wis.; other, Herbert Stevens, Apache, San Carlos, Ariz.