OPA

Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall today announced approval of $1,000,000 in community and urban development projects on 36 Indian reservations and communities in 12 States under the Accelerated Public Works Program.

The projects will provide nearly 1,700 man-months of needed employment for the Indian areas, which are administered by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. They will, in addition, bring long-range benefits to the Indians by promoting the advancement of social and civic standards in their ·communities.

Since inception of the Program, Accelerated Public Works on Indian reser­vations have amounted to more than $20,000,000 in total funds spent or obligated, and are expected to provide a total of 34,000 man-months of employment when all projects are completed.

Following is a State-by-State description of the newly scheduled projects:

ALASKA

Southeast

The villages of Saxman, Hydaburg, Klawock, Kake and Angoon will have $18,000 with which to complete community buildings under construction with previous APW funds.

The projects will provide an additional 30 man-months of employment Kwethluk An investment of $13,000 will be made to upgrade the Kwethluk community-owned electric plant and distribution system. The work will require 24 man-months.

ARIZONA

Colorado River Indian Reservation

Under a $25,000 program providing 38 man-months of employment, community center facilities will be constructed and ground improvements made at Blue Water Park in Yuma County.

Gila River Indian Reservation

A total of $48,000 is scheduled for construction of community centers at Gila Crossing in Maricopa County and at Cosa Blanca and Santan in Pinal County. The project will provide 84 man-months of employment.

Hopi Indian Reservation

A community center project valued at $35,000 is planned for construction and will result in 60 man-months of employment. The work will take place in Navajo County.

Hualapai Indian Reservation

An estimated 28 man-months of employment will be provided in Mohave County under a $15,000 street improvement project at Peach Springs.

Papago Indian Reservation

Expenditure of $109,000, creating a total of 188 man-months of work, is planned for construction or improvement of community centers in three counties; Pima County ($95,000; 165 man-months of work); Pinal County ($4,000; 8 man-months of employment); and Maricopa County ($10,000; 15 man-months of employment).

IDAHO

Fort Hall Indian Reservation

A $15,000 street and sidewalk improvement project at Fort Hall will result in 28 man-months of employment.

MINNESOTA

Leech Lake Indian Reservation

A community center project valued at $18,000 will benefit the village of Onigum in Cass County and provide 30 man-months of work. Similar projects, representing an investment of $38,000, are scheduled for Ball Club and Inger in Itasca County. These will create 65 man-months of employment.

MISSISSIPPI

Choctaw Indian Reservation

The Mississippi Choctaw community of Pearl River in Neshoba County will benefit by a community center construction project valued at $113,000. The activity will create 177 man-months of work.

MONTANA

Blackfeet Indian Reservation

Improvements to a community center, representing an investment of $17,000, will provide .30 man-months of employment. Work will be done at Heart Butte in Pondera County.

Fort Belknap Indian Reservation

A community center will be constructed at Hays, in Blaine County. Valued at $30,000, it will provide 50 man-months of employment.

Flathead Indian Reservation

A $25,000 community center improvement project scheduled at Elmo in Lake County will create 45 man-months of employment.

Fort Peck Indian Reservation

Two community center improvement projects totaling $20,000 will result in .30 man-months of work. The projects will benefit Frazer, in Valley County, and Poplar, in Roosevelt County.

Rocky Boys Indian Reservation

In Hill County, a community center project valued at $25,000 will create 45 man-months of work.

NEBRASKA

Winnebago Indian Reservation

Two Thurston County towns will benefit from an investment totaling $20,000 and providing 30 man-months of employment. Winnebago is scheduled for a $10,000 community center improvement project, and Macy will receive street improvements valued at $10,000.

NEVADA

Pyramid Lake Indian Reservation

Community center improvements at Pyramid Lake in Washoe County will represent an investment of $10,000 and provide 16 man-months of employment.

NEW MEXICO

Acoma Indian Reservation

A $15,000 community park will be constructed in the vicinity of Acomita, Valencia County. The project will provide 24 man-months of work.

Isleta Indian Reservation

Street improvements valued at $20,000 will benefit the Isleta Pueblo in Bernalillo County; 35 man-months of work will be created.

Jemez Indian Reservation

Ghost Springs in Sandoval County will be the site of a park and playground project totaling $15,000. The project will require 24 man-months.

Jicarilla Apache Indian Reservation

In Rio Arriba County, construction of a $20,000 community building will create 35 man-months of work.

Laguna Indian Reservation

Construction of a $50,000 community park and playground at Eucinal Canyon in Valencia County will require 90 man-months of work.

Picuris

This Indian community in Taos County will have a park and playground project valued at $10,000, It will create 15 man-months of employment.

Ramah

A community park and playground activity is scheduled for this Navajo village in McKinley County. The project, valued at $10,000, will create 15 man-months of employment.

Santo Domingo

The Pueblo of Santo Domingo in Sandoval County will receive the benefits of a $10,000 street improvement project requiring 15 man-months of work.

San Juan

Domestic water improvements valued at $15,000 will result in 24 man-months of employment at this Pueblo. Work will be done in Rio Arriba County.

Taos

Needed improvements to the water system of this Taos County Pueblo will be made possible by funds totaling $20,000. The project will provide 35 man-months of employment.

Santa Clara Indian Reservation

An investment of $15,000 will be made to provide a community park and playground at Santa Clara canyon in Rio Arriba County. The activity will create 24 man-months of work.

NORTH DAKOTA

Fort Berthold Indian Reservation

Community center projects valued at $15,000 and $30,000 each are scheduled for Twin Buttes in Dunn County and White Shield in McLean County. The projects will provide 24 and 48 man-months of employment respectively.

Fort Totten Indian Reservation

In Benson County, a community center and park valued at $50,000 will be con­structed. About 76 man-months of employment will result.

SOUTH DAKOTA

Rosebud Indian Reservation

Valued at $24,000, a sewer facility project in Todd County will provide 44 man-months of work.

Pine Ridge Indian Reservation

Kyle, Manderson and Wounded Knee in Shannon County are scheduled for a

$50,000 water and utility project that will create 90 man-months of employment.

Sisseton Indian Reservation

A $15,000 community center to be built at Old Agency will provide 24 man-months of work.

WISCONSIN

Red Cliff Indian Reservation

Improvements will be made to a community center at the Indian community near Bayfield, in Bayfield County, by an investment of $7,000. The project will provide 12 man-months of work.

Danbury

A $10,000 community center will be built near Danbury in Burnett County. The Work will require 15 man-months.

Lac Courte Oreilles Indian Reservation

Community center improvements valued at $5,000 will be made on this reservation in Sawyer County, providing 8 man-months of employment.

New programs instituted by the Department of the Interior during 1961 to stem inroads on vital natural resources by this Nation's explosive growth were outlined today in the Department's annual report entitled "Resources for Tomorrow."

"Because so much of what is happening inside America today is drowned out by the clamor of an embattled world, “Secretary Stewart t. Udall writes in the report, is only recently that we have become aware of a growing internal crisis which deeply affects the lives of all Americans."

The Secretary lists the elements or this "Quiet Crisis" as polluted rivers and lakes, disappearing open space, overcrowded parks, declining mineral resources, threatened extinction of certain species or our wildlife, and "dwindling opportunities for the outdoor experiences which through the years have had profound influence in shaping the national character of America.”

“If our growth in the years ahead is to leave America a better, rather than a poorer, place in which to live," he says, "we must give far more attention to our uses of land and water, forests, fish and wildlife, parks and wilderness, minerals and fuels, and we must embark, while time allows, on an active preservation of the remaining open spaces which surround our populated areas.”

He pointed out that more than a million acres of cropland each year is being taken from “open space” into industrial and commercial developments, highways, and other uses at a time when our population by three million annually. Recognition of this fact was dramatically demonstrated by the creation of a new National Seashore Park on Cape Cod, he said.

"Through this action, “he said, "one of' the most beautiful of America’s remaining unspoiled open spaces will be preserved for all time for the use and enjoyment of this and the generations to come."

The Secretary listed these other highlights of conservation progress through the Department's programs in 1961:

Land and Recreation: The Departments national park service increased its efforts to preserve such outstanding and spectacular areas as Padre Island, Texas; Point Reyes, California, Oregon Dunes, Oregon; and pictured rocks and sleeping bear Dunes in Michigan.

While continued progress was made in the improvement and development of the Nation’s park facilities under the 10 year mission 66 program, the department began work—in cooperation with the National Conference on State Parks, the American Institute of Park Executives, and other groups and organizations—on the organization of a new program known as parks for America.

Parks for America represents a concerted national effort to seek authority money to bid successfully in the competitive land market while suitable parklands are still available, and to defend existing parks against the threatened encroachment of commercial development.

To provide still further recreational resources, the Department during the year inaugurated an intensive program for expanded recreational use of public lands. In the past, a stumbling block in the progress of State and local programs was their inability to finance expensive land acquisition. To remedy this, the Department introduced a new pricing schedule for the sale to state and local governments of public lands expressly for outdoor recreation. Such tracts and areas can now be purchased from the Department’s Bureau of Land management for $2.50 an acre.

Fish and Wildlife: America’s wildlife is facing its own subtle challenge. Large number of species can be maintained only if there are large areas of the habitat they require. For example, wetlands are a vital requirement of many forms of wildlife. Great flights of waterfowl are just some of the creatures which need these areas. A wetland inventory published during the year by the Department’s Fish and Wildlife Service listed 38 game and furbearing species reported by the various States as making use of one or more of the 20 types of wetlands.

Yet drainage and destruction over the years has taken a heavy and over-growing toll.

To meet this problem, the congress in one of its major conservation actions 1961 approved a departmental proposal that it be allowed to “borrow” funds against future duck stamp to speed up wetlands purchase.

With a seven-year advance of $105 million under this program, the Department of the Interior will make a major contribution to the preservation or wildlife as a recreational resource for tomorrow.

Simultaneously, the Department ordered an expanded research program-­utilizing twice the funds previously available--to solve the problem of fish passage at high dams in the Pacific Northwest, and greatly increased its oceanographic research programs.

Meeting our water problems: Today in the United States we are using more than 300 billion gallons of water a day. By 1980, we will need 600 billion gallons a day. Finding means to provide this enormous additional supply will be one of our most critical problems in the years ahead.

Acting on proposals introduced by the Department and the Kennedy Administration, the first session of the 87th congress approved a multipronged attack on this problem of growing national concern.

On major conservation action in this field was the authorization of an $SO million investment in 1962 for pollution control programs.

An equally important water conservation action came with the authorization of a. $75 million program which will permit the Department to greatly accelerate work toward development of' the best and most economical processes for inverting saline and brackish water into water suitable for beneficial consumptive purposes.

An example of the progress now being made in this Vital area may be seen in the fact that in June 1961 President Kennedy pressed a button at this desk in the White House which set the machinery in motion--across the Nation at Freeport, Texas--of the first saline water demonstration plant constructed by the Federal Government cooperation with private industry--a million.. gallon-a-day plant that is already in the Freeport municipal water system.

Within months, dedication ceremonies were held marking completion of construction of a 250,000-gallon ... a-day plant to demineralize the brackish well water at Webster, South Dakota, and construction was nearing completion on a second million-gallon-a-day sea water conversion plant at San Diego, California.. Building of two additional plants in New Mexico and North Carolina is scheduled to begin in 1962.

Perhaps the greatest emphasis to Administration efforts to meet the water challenge came in mid-July When President Kennedy delivered to the Congress his proposed "Water Resources Planning Act of 1961", the most far-reaching water policy legislation sent to the Congress by the White House in many years.

Having an important bearing upon all water and related land conservation and development activities, the proposed act pending in the current session of congress would establish a cabinet level water resources council to form the comprehensive structure for water resource planning with the river basins.

Electric Power: Early in the year, the President directed the Secretary of the Interior to develop Plans for the early interconnection of areas served by the Department's hydroelectric power marketing agencies with adequate common carrier transmission lines; to plan for further national cooperative pooling of electric power, both public and private; and to enlarge such pooling as now exists.

A first significant step toward achievement of these aims came during the year when the Department's Bonneville Power Administration, the United States Army Corps of Engineers, and nine private and public owners of hydroelectric generating facilities signed a coordination agreement designed to produce maximum power at existing power plants on Pacific Northwest rivers.

The agreement provides that storage and generating facilities on Pacific Northwest rivers shall be operated in much the same manner as if all were under one ownership.

It also provides for interchanges of energy and power among the signers in order to conserve water in reservoirs, and for coordination of the transmission facilities of the parties to the agreement.

Informal coordination in varying degrees prior to the signing of the agreement had resulted in approximately one million additional kilowatts. A substantial added number of firm kilowatts is expected to result from the agreement.

A further step toward conservation and better utilization of electric power resources was taken with the beginning of studies looking toward the so-called "pump-back” storage systems which permit the use of generation capacity during slack demand periods to build power reservoirs which can be pumped back into use at peak periods of power demand.

Our Forest Resources: Of all our efforts to conserve vital natural resources for tomorrow’s needs, our forest lands present the sharpest challenge to our foresight. This can be realized more clearly when we consider that the trees we plant today will not reach the minimum sizes needed for lumber until the year 2000. Yet, somehow, we must be prepared to meet a projected doubling of our current plumber consumption within 40 years.

Early in 1961, President Kennedy called upon secretaries of Agriculture and the Interior to coordinate programs and policies of their agencies for improved management of Federal forest lands looking toward greater productivity without diminishing the basic resource.

To help achieve this aim, the Departments of Interior and Agriculture have .undertaken an intensive joint study of existing timber sale and management.

Among recommendations adopted were orders to standardize inventory procedures, and to reconcile differences in determining allowable timber cut.

Mineral and Fuel Resources: One of the most important and dramatic conservation developments of the year came with the launching by the Department of its new helium conservation program.

The program, oil making many months of study and careful planning, is a cooperative undertaking by Government and industry through which privately built and operated plants will capture helium from certain natural gases destined for fuel markets.

Underlying the urgent need for this conservation effort is the fact that the equivalent of a year's supply of helium now is lost every 45 days. If such waste were permitted to continue, the Nation's limited helium reserves could not be relied upon to supply anticipated national requirements beyond 1985.

The new program provides for recovering and storing for future use 52 billion cubic feet of helium which otherwise would be wasted when natural gases containing this valuable element are burned for fuel.

In another important conservation action related to minerals and fuels, the Office of Coal Research was established within the Department to permit accelerated research efforts designed to find new and broader uses for that important fuel.

Improved management of public Domain lands: For 175 years, the public domain has furnished lands and natural resources to help meet the needs of a growing Nation.

Immediately after taking office in 1961, the Secretary of the Interior was fronted with an overwhelming backlog on incomplete applications for public lands, many of them filed three and four years previously. As a result, the Secretary ordered an 18-month moratorium on most types of non-mineral applications and petitions for land of the public domain.

The moratorium allows time for three critical activities by the Department: First: to eliminate the backlog applications.

Second: to conduct a comprehensive inventory, evaluation and classification of public lands, and,

Third: to review and revise regulations of the Department, and to initiate legislative proposals necessary to modernize and streamline the Nation's land laws. · In conclusion, Secretary Udall says in the annual report: "These, then, are a few examples of how the Department of the Interior is moving as speedily as possible to develop our natural resources for tomorrow. There are many others. For instance, new trails are being blazed for the American Indian through implementation of a Kennedy Administration force report calling for greater emphasis on Indian education and the wider use and development of natural resources on the reservations.

“Accelerated programs have been launched through the Department’s Office of Territories which are designed to improve political, social, and economic conditions in the territories for which it has responsibility, particularly in American Samoa.

In Reclamation, work is under way to schedule a progressive, orderly program of starting new projects to meet accumulated demands.

''The Department--at this challenging period in its existence--recognizes that the demands of a growing industrial society at home, as well as the Nation's commitments to defend freedom abroad; presents it with the most serious resource demands.

''Whether our physical and spiritual resources prove adequate to meet our needs tomorrow will be determined by the decisions we make--or fail to make—today.

"This is the moment of decision in resource conservation.

“Our actions toward this goal during the challenging 1960 's will determine the character--and the achievements--of this Nation for many years to come.”

A group of young American Indian and Eskimo trainees in electronics who have prepared themselves for defense and communications jobs in their home State of Alaska under the adult vocational training program of the Bureau of Indian Affairs will visit President Kennedy at the White House at 9:45 a.m. August 2 during the course of a two-day visit to the Nation's Capital, the Department of the Interior announced today.

They will be accompanied by members of the Alaska delegation in Congress, Officials of the Interior Department, and representatives of the Radio Corporation of America, which provided the training under an agreement reached about 18 months ago.

The trainees making the visit represent the first contingent to complete the training under this agreement. Included in the group are five Indians and three Eskimos who finish their 18-month course at the RCA Institute in New York on August 10 and two other Eskimos who still have several months to go. All eight of the graduates will take jobs with RCA's "White Alice" communications system in Alaska. Their beginning salaries will range from $9,357 to $10,209 a year.

"Use of technically trained Indians and Eskimos to staff the installations in Alaska," Commissioner of Indian Affairs Philleo Nash pointed out, "is beneficial in two ways. It provides excellent employment opportunities for young Alaska natives immediately and over the longer pull it will undoubtedly produce a more stable work force, with a far lower rate of turn-over, than will the employment of technicians brought in from other States.

"We in the Bureau of Indian Affairs are particularly proud that the first contingent of Alaska natives to enter training have all successfully completed the course which is exceptionally difficult."

Under the contract with RCA the Bureau of Indian Affairs paid the costs of tuition and provided living expenses for the trainees as part of its adult vocational training program.

The program arranged for the trainees on August 2 includes the meeting with President Kennedy a conference with Commissioner Nash and other Bureau officials at 2:00 p.m. in the Interior Building, a reception later in the afternoon and a moonlight cruise on the Potomac in the evening.

The August 3 program will include a luncheon at the Capitol as the guests of the Alaska Congressional Delegations and a sightseeing tour.

The eight graduating trainees are:

Russell W. Attwood, 21, Tlingit Indian from Ketchikan;

Morgan Aukongak, 19, Eskimo from Nome;

Percy Ipalook, 22, Eskimo from Kotzebue;

Harry Kito, 21, Tlingit Indian from Petersburg;

Sam Kito, Jr., 24, Tlingit Indian from Petersburg;

Herman Kitka, Jr., 20, Tlingit Indian from Sitka;

Arthur H. Peterson, 22, Athapascan Indian from Fort Yukon;

Joseph Pungowiyi, 22, Eskimo from Savoonga.

The other two trainees, who will complete their courses late in 1962 or early next year, are:

Peter J. Tocktoo, 21, Eskimo from Shishmaref;

Gordon Upicksoun, 21, Eskimo from Point Lay.

The trainees will be accompanied on their Washington trip by G. F. Maedel, president of RCA Institutes, Inc.; Harold Metz, vice president of RCA educational services, and Harold Fezer, director of the RCA Institute in New York City.

Assistant Secretary of the Interior Roger Ernst today emphasized that Commissioner of the Bureau of Indian Affairs Glenn L, Emmons is to be credited for the recent decision to establish a new arts and crafts course at the Santa Fe (N. Mex.) Indian School this coming fall.

The statement was made in a letter to Oliver LaFarge of Santa Fe, nationally known author. Mr. LaFarge wrote in an article published by the Santa Fe New Mexican on June 26 that the decision to establish the course was the result of intervention of the Secretary of the Interior, at the urgent request of the Indian Arts and Crafts Board.”

“On this point, “Assistant Secretary Ernst told Mr. LaFarge, “I am afraid you have been seriously misinformed. “

The text of the letter to Mr. LaFarge follows:

“My attention has just been called to an article by you in the Santa Fe New Mexican of June 26 concerning the decision to establish a new arts and crafts course for Indian students at the Santa Fe Indian School this coming academic year. In writing the article you were apparently under the impression that the course was established over the opposition of the Bureau of Indian Affairs through intervention by the Secretary of the Interior.

“On this point I am afraid you have been seriously misinformed. The fact is that the decision to establish the arts and crafts course at the Santa Fe school was made solely by the Commissioner of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Glenn L. Emmons. Neither I nor any other officer of the Department outside of the Bureau intervened in the making of this decision; none of us was ever asked to do so by members of the Indian Arts and Crafts Board.

"Commissioner Emmons decided to establish this course after long and thoughtful consideration for two major reasons. One was his deep personal interest in the future of Indian arts and crafts, the other was his equally profound desire to provide artistically talented Indian youngsters with training which will sharpen their skills and enhance their earnings prospects in their chosen vocation. He deserves full credit for the decision and your impression that the Bureau of Indian Affairs was opposed on this matter by the Indian Arts and Crafts Board and overruled by the Department of the Interior is apparently based on an unfortunate misunderstanding of the facts.

“Since your article was given newspaper publicity, I am taking the liberty of releasing this letter to the press as a means of setting the public record straight.”

Good morning - distinguished members of the press, Representatives of the Indian desks, ladies and gentlemen.

It is my privilege and honor to address you as the newly elected president of the national tribal chairmen's Association. There are 146 federally recognized tribes in the organization, represented by their chief elected official. We have a 12 member board of directors. The Tribal chairmen who sit on this board were elected as area representatives. The NTCA began in 1970 with a meeting held in Denver, Colorado. Since then we have come a long way in establishing the NTCA as an effective arm of the tribes on both the state and national scene. Our offices are located with the offices of the NCIO staff in the new executive office building.

First, I would like to express my thanks to the tribal chairmen of the country for giving me the opportunity to work with them in the American Indian transition as we mark the beginning of the Indian age. The role; of the national tribal chairmen's association is to be the advocates of and for our Indian people. NTCA has directed itself to the immediate and future needs of our humble Native Americans. Immediate and future needs of our humble Native Americans. The tribal chairmen are duly elected representatives of their reservations and strive to serve the needs of their people. The NTCA was established primarily to enable the leaders of our sovereign Indian nations to speak with one voice to the federal sector. We must be vigilant and guard against efforts to weaken this voice and the strong tribal leadership it represents, and to obstruct our direct relationship with the federal government. Our Indian lands must be kept in trust status and we must strive to have the submarginal land turned over to the tribes as soon as possible.

Today, the emphasis must be based on some identifiable factors relating to Indian people. Consultation, involvement, legislation, tribal domestic planning and Indian program budgets, only to mention a few. Principally, I am concerned with the seven bills that were produced by the present administration in the July 8, 1970 message which expressed self-determination of Indian people. If in fact the president is attempting to implement an Indian policy than he must be given the opportunity. NTCA is concerned with fulfilling the American Indians needs instead of being continuously used for individuals self-gains in our political system;

Let us address ourselves to the identifiable factors that were mentioned above.

1. Consultation - programs and policies are most applicable when people have some knowledge and understanding of them. We must communicate national direction for our people back home. Sharing our opinions helps to draw some conclusions on where our national effort should be placed.
2. Involvement - there is absolutely no reason, in the shape of national Indian affairs, why the Indian leadership should not be called upon to become involved in developing methods of protecting their own destiny. Indians understand themselves, so federalists should not attempt to interpret what is best for us. If programs policies and legislation are going to serve our best interest then we must be consulted and involved from the very beginning'; the significant interest of Indian people should be to react favorably and use constructive means to enhance our people in all phases of our life-style. Since this country has ours in the beginning it is our birth right; and we should involve Indian people in any transitions that effect their immediate and future needs.
3. Legislation - we have found that legislative branch is big medicine. Today, among Indian people there is a monumental concern regarding legislation. We become more concerned about the maneuvers of congress to arrange Indians in some match box configuration or even cage us forever. We need help in the vast area of legislation because we do not know the internal structures that exist in the house and senate: the NTCA is presently working with the national council on Indian opportunity to gain some understanding of legislative process. The American Indian person must have good government and legislation benefiting the Indian people.
4. Tribal domestic planning - the NTCA must be involved in an adequate overall planning to advocate constructive programs, to gain some measure of success from allocations by congress and office management and budget. The Indian people must use planning schedules to utilize available resources and planning mechanism to insure proper funding to carry out our objectives.

The NTCA is deeply concerned when tribal plans are not carried out. They are a meaningless exercise without the funds to carry our people’s plans through to completion. Every tribe has taken steps of some kind to develop tribal programs and priorities to better utilize the federal dollar for the people. Although, the tribes find it hopeless if our tribal program priorities are cut to serve off-reservation priorities when the funds should remain with the reservations. Our Indian programs funds should remain at the tribe's discretion to expend at the local level for the tribe's presently, I am concerned with the bureau of Indian affairs budget cuts because it has a direct impact on our local tribal efforts. For example, we are being told that congress appropriated funds for an Indian claims bill which is a sum of $50,000,000 and the BIA has the responsibility to pay the 50 million out of its budget for FY1974 with no increase in funds. This means that the other tribe’s budgets will be cut to scrape up the 50 million to pay the claims bill. The BIA should not have to cut other tribes budgets- to make up for the 50 million. BIA should have a special allocation from OMB as an add on to pay off the claims bill. We must admire the commissioner of Indian affairs, Louis R. Bruce, for his heroic stand in refusing to cut his budget at the interior department’s request.

I am hoping the OMB will allocate funds to the new Indian Education Act, Title IV, PL 92-318 for this present fiscal year to assist our Indian children. We hope some funds will be placed in the act to start the Indian education program wheels rolling.

We hope federal agencies will make every effort to place Indian women as well as men in positions of responsibilities, based on qualifications. As the president of the NTCA I would like to express my appreciation to the present administration for the turning' back of 21,000 acres of national forest land to the Yakima Indian tribe in the state of Washington and the restoration of blue lake to the Taos Indians in New Mexico.

In conclusion - let ls understand ourselves as human beings placed on earth in service of others and direct our energies towards dedicating ourselves to complete protection of Indian lands, water, resources, and the education and welfare of Indian people.

Ada E. Deer announced today that a settlement has been reached in a lawsuit filed on behalf of the Sac and Fox Nation of Oklahoma (the Nation) by the federal government. "This settlement will bring to a conclusion almost five (5) decades of dispute over the issue of pollution, caused by oil and gas drilling, of groundwater used by the Nation," Ms. Deer said.

The Department of Justice at the request of the Bureau of Indian Affairs instituted a lawsuit against Tenneco Oil Company, this year, for contaminating the water supply and lands used by the Nation. Tenneco implemented a process which involved the injection of saltwater into the ground in large volumes under high pressure in order to force oil and gas into adjacent wells to be pumped to the surface. The federal government contended that the Nation's sole source of drinking water was ruined by Tenneco's failure to properly construct and maintain the water flooding and oil production systems.

The settlement will provide the Nation with a new water system and $1.16 million in compensation for contamination to the water supply and tribal lands. Additionally, Tenneco will reforest a pecan grove, restore an area of tribal land damaged by oil and gas related activities and install a water recovery system on the Deep Fork River, which crosses tribal lands, enabling the Nation to irrigate the land and develop a farming economy.

The federal government filed the lawsuit under the provisions of the Safe Drinking Water Act. This lawsuit demonstrates the cooperation which exists among various federal agencies (in this case, the Department of the Interior, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Department of Justice) in protecting the interests of federally recognized tribes. "The BIA will continue to support tribal governmental sovereignty by ensuring that the federal government properly exercises its trust responsibility," Ms. Deer said.

Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall said today that ten more conservation projects totaling $927,400 and assuring more than 100 man-years of employment have just been approved under the Accelerated Public Works Program for administration by the Department of the Interior.

The projects are in addition to the $4,970,000 in public works allotments announced January 30 by Secretary Udall for 49 projects in 18 States.

The latest job generating betterments, certified by the Area Redevelopment Administration for areas with a high rate of unemployment, will be in seven States as follow:

Arizona

Navajo Indian Reservation

In Apache, Navajo, and Coconino counties, $203,400 will be invested in improving forest stands and in soil and moisture conservation activities.. Thirty man-years of employment will result.

California

Round Valley Reservation--Mendocino County will be the site of $20,000 in forest improvements. The equivalent of three man-years of employment is assured.

Minnesota

Fond du lac Reservation--In St. Louis County, in the Hibbing-Virginia area, $25,000 will be invested in forest stand improvements, creating four man-years of work. In the same reservation in Carlton County, $67,000 will be invested in grading and surfacing roads and in forest improvement. Seven man-years of new employment will result.

Agassiz National Wildlife Refuge--A total of $39,000 will be invested in this strategic refuge in Marshall County to promote development of wildlife. Four man-years of employment will be created.

Montana

Hungry Horse Project--This well-known Bureau of Reclamation dam in Flathead County will be provided with a tour center building, a parking area, a picnic area, and other betterments for serving the visiting public. The work will result from an investment of $175,000, creating the equivalent of 12 man-years of employment.

Lake Mason National Wildlife Refuge--A $40,000 project will center on digging of wells, installation of fencing, cleaning ditches and repairing water control structures, and creating a shelter belt to guard against fire. The equivalent of four man-years of new employment is assured.

Oklahoma

Shawnee Reservation--In Pottawatomie County, 17 man-years of employment will be created in a $140,000 project of grading and surfacing roads, improving timber stands, and conducting soil and moisture conservation work.

Washington

Quinault Reservation--The equivalent of 30 man-years of employment will result in the Aberdeen area of Grays Harbor County through $200,000 in betterments on this reservation. Work will include grading and surfacing roads, timber stand improvements, and soil and moisture conservation jobs.

Wisconsin

Lac du flambeau Reservation--In Oneida County, $18,000 will be invested in grading and surfacing roads. The equivalent of two man-years of employment will result.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Louis R. Bruce today announced that Richard S. McDermott is Sacramento Area Field Representative for the Bureau of Indian Affairs with offices in Palm Springs, California. In this position he will work closely with the Agua Caliente Band of Mission Indians. He has served in the acting capacity since the fall of 1971.

Commissioner Bruce said in announcing the appointment: "We feel particularly fortunate to have Richard McDermott in this post. ‘The Palm Springs office carries the burden of the negotiation of leases in concert with the Indian owners of Agua Caliente land, and the management and, investment of their assets. - McDermott is an attorney who has practiced law privately and has also been chief of the branch of real property management for the Crow Indian Agency, Montana. This is an unusually suitable background for the post he fills.

McDermott received his A.B. from Western State College, Gunnison, Colorado and his J.D. from the University of Colorado, Boulder.

He was an attorney-at-law in Las Animas, Colorado and County Attorney for Bent County for seven years. He then was attorney adviser to the Office of the Solicitor, Department of the Interior, Gallup, New Mexico. He was a member of the law firm of Perry & McDermott, Gallup, New Mexico for six years and joined the Bureau of Indian Affairs to be chief of the branch of real property management, Crow Indian Agency, Montana in 1965.' He then became chief of the realty branch of the Bureau at Palm Springs.

He served in the United States Army, is married and the father of three children.

Interior Solicitor Leo M. Krulitz announced today he will not ask the Justice Departn1ent to go to court on behalf of the Shinnecock Indians who are seeking restoration of 3,150 acres in the Town of Southampton, New York, which they claim is their aboriginal territory most in violation of federal law.

The Shinnecocks asked the Interior Department to help them recover the land, occupied by them since the early 17th Century and secured to them for a period of 1000 years in a 1703 lease from the Town of Southampton. In 1859 the New York legislature authorized the Town to negotiate with the Shinnecocks for the relinquishment of the land. The Shinnecocks gave up the land in return for a small reservation.

The Shinnecocks argue that since the federal government was neither involved in nor consented to the transactions in which the land was lost, the transactions are void under the Non-Intercourse Act of 1790.

In a letter to the Native American Rights Fund, which is representing the Shinnecocks, Krulitz explained that there has been no formal determination by the federal government that the Shinnecocks constitute an Indian tribe. Until there is, he said, the Interior Department cannot acknowledge a trust relationship with them under the Won-Intercourse Act. In addition, Krulitz said, there remains a serious question as to whether the Shinnecocks had an interest In land protected by the Non-lntercourse Act.

The Solicitor said that nothing in his decision prevents the Shinnecocks from pursuing a suit on their own, or from continuing to pursue acknowledgement as an Indian tribe with the Bureau of lndian Affairs.

Secretary of the Interior Rogers C. B. Morton, acting on requests by the Pauma and Pala Bands of California Mission Indians, has instructed the Director of the Bureau of Land Management to issue trust patents to those Bands for certain public lands in California.

The directive was issued as a memorandum dated November 4, 1971. The BLM Director was also instructed to notify the Department of Agriculture prior to issuance of the trust patents, inasmuch as some of the lands lie within the boundaries of the Cleveland National Forest. The lands also include several sections in San Bernardino Meridian, San Diego County.

Secretary Morton's move gives recognition to the longstanding continual use that the two groups of Mission Indians have made of the land sections in question. Under a 1907 statute, the Secretary of the Interior is authorized to select public lands to patent to Mission Indian groups whose occupancy and possessory claims to such lands had not been protected by patenting authorities residing with the Commissioner of Indian Affairs.

The original Mission Reserve includes the lands now to be patented to the Pauma and Pala Bands that had been "temporarily" withdrawn in 1903 and remained withdrawn until this time.

In July 1970 both Bands, at general meetings of their respective memberships, voted unanimously to request the Secretary of the Interior to issue them patents in trust. Previously, the Bureau of Indian Affairs had recommended the action.

The new Secretarial directive states: "I hereby make the required finding that the lands identified in the Pala and Pauma tribal resolution were in the occupation and possession of' the respective bands of Mission Indians prior to, and on, March 1, 1907, and that the lands were at that time required and needed by them. I also find that each Indian band has a present use for the lands it seeks pursuant to its respective resolution."