OPA

The Bureau of Indian Affairs ship North Star III sidled up to craggy Little Diomede in the Bering Strait between Siberia and Alaska last month and the, skilled crew worked for 43 straight hours --helped by the fact that there are now only about four hours of darkness a day on the tiny island to upload more than 400 tons of building material under conditions that would have challenged the Navy Seabees.

The material is now being assembled so that nineteen Eskimo families will light their seal oil lamps in snug new homes when the daylight there narrows to a few hours in the- Artic winter, Marvin L. Franklin, Assistant to the Secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs, announced today.

This is a unique building project so difficult to get underway that many said it couldn't be done," Franklin pointed out.

Eskimos on a sister island to Little Diomede --about three miles away that were a part of Russia --were moved off by the Soviet government some time ago. But the United States Eskimos told Bureau of Indian Affairs officials that they wished to remain on their island. The housing, however, was as dilapidated as to approximate packing cases in poor repair. Could something be done about it, they asked the Bureau.

Little Diomede is about a mile and a half long and perhaps three quarters of a mile wide. It is entirely granite rock that slopes in a 45 degree angle to the ocean's surface.

The Eskimos said they wanted improved housing, but they still wanted to live in it in an Eskimo way. So the Bureau of Indian Affairs housing people went to work to give them a one-room dwelling, open-space, with p1'ovisions for a bathroom. The design takes into account that seal oil will be used for both fuel and light, again at the request of the future inhabitants.

When the North Star III was at anchor alongside Little Diomede, the stevedores unloaded polyurethane panels that have a core sandwiched by two plastic walls. These have the high insulating ability needed to stave off the Arctic cold. They are to be the basic building material for the new houses.

They also unloaded lumber for piers and pilings, since there is no wood on the island. Wood is set on top of the solid boulders that are the island, as the foundations for the new Eskimo houses. Some houses have a corner or side on pilings ten to 15 feet high because of the severe slope.

Then they also unloaded cable -- since lengths of it, from three to 6,000 feet: will help keep the houses in place on their rocky perches.

Materials for water and waste disposal that were supplied by the Indian Health Service of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare also came off the North Star III in the hazardous landing operation,

Eighteen Eskimo men, the entire labor force of Little Diomede, are now building the homes that will shelter nearly 100 under a Bureau Housing Improvement Program. (HIP). The cost of each unit will be $16, 500.

Two technical people that represent the supplier of the basic building material are instructing them, and the housing officer of the Nome office of the Bureau of Indian .Affairs acts as the construction superintendent.

These non-Eskimos will leave Little Diomede via Umiat -- the walrus skin boat of the island inhabitants -- when their work is done. The North Star III can reach the island only a few months of the year.

Then the Eskimos will resume their daily activities -- hunting walrus, seal, and duck eggs on their island and on an uninhabited neighboring is land, and carving ivory --- their only source of cash income. They will frequent their handful of public buildings -- school, church, store, public health center, and armory -- and perhaps hark back to the day when each person on the island got a new home.

The Department of the Interior today proposed legislation which would enable all of its Indian, programs to be granted to tribes for their administration and would channel an additional $25 million in bloc grants for economic and tribal development.

Entitled the "Indian Tribal Government Grant Act," the legislation provides, first, a general granting authority which would permit the Secretary of the Interior and any tribe to enter into a grant arrangement for the tribe's performance of programs and activities now performed under existing appropriation authorizations by the Bureau of Indian Affairs staff.

Secretary of the Interior Rogers C. B. Morton said the legislation is designed to carry out the policy of promoting Indian self-determination set forth by President Nixon in his July 1970 message to the Congress on Indian affairs.

"The bill aims at achieving the greatest possible degree of Indian control, consistent with trust responsibilities, in the planning and administration of federally funded programs serving Indian tribes," Secretary Morton said.

This proposal, the Secretary stressed, should be viewed as complemen­tary to Departmental and other proposals aimed at achieving increased Indian self-determination by means of tribal takeovers of Federal programs or contractual arrangements.

Under the general grant authority in the bill, greater Indian control and involvement would be permitted in the planning and administration of the local governmental and other programs now controlled by BIA employees who are responsible to Federal officials rather than to the elected tribal government.

The second major function of the bill is to make available $25 million to tribes in part on an entitlement basis and in part based on an evalua­tion of their plans and needs. This part of the proposal stems from the President's Human Resources Message sent to the Congress on March 1, 1973, in which the President stated:

"I shall propose new legislation to foster Indian self-determination by developing an Interior Department program of bloc grants to federally recognized tribes as a replacement for a number of existing economic and resource development programs. The primary purpose of these grants would be to provide tribal governments with funds which they could use at their own discretion to promote development of their reservations. “

Tribes receiving grants under this part of the proposal would be authorized to spend the funds for four major purposes:

Strengthening tribal government including executive direction, planning, financial management, and technical assistance; ­­­­­­­­­­­­­

Developing natural resources, and construction, improvement, maintenance, and operation of community facilities;

(3) Economic development, employment assistance, work experience, and training, including special youth programs in support of these activities; and

(4) Land acquisition in connection with these purposes.­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­

The Center for Arts of Indian America, a non-profit corporation devoted to the advancement of Indian art, will present a showing of "Contemporary Indian Painting, Sculpture and Crafts" from the collection of the Bureau of Indian Affairs from Wednesday, July,17 through Sept. 6.

The showing will be free to the public in the seventh floor Art Gallery of the Department of Interior building, 18th and C Streets, Monday through Friday, from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Scores of pieces of Indian artwork, in many cases recently returned from collections which have been shown in a number of foreign countries, will be featured. Typical is Hopi Otellie Loloma's bronze sculpture of a lonely little Indian child, titled, "Meditation", which has been on loan to the U. S. Embassy in Spain for the past two years.

Some of the newer artists are exemplified by Colville Indian, Lawney Reyes, of Bellevue, Wash., whose large wooden, carved panels have been hung on each side of the entrance to the Gallery. Using an oil on wood media, the artist has depicted a raven and eagle, respectively, on the panels, with effective use of abalone shell inlay work.

Over 30 different tribes are represented in the collection, including such professionals as Osage, Yeffe Kimball, now of New York; Fritz Scholder, California Mission Indian, how an art instructor at the Bureau of Indian Affairs' internationally famous Institute of American Indian Art in Santa Fe, N. M.

Among the works of art students is that of a State of Washington Snohomish, Henry Gobin, now doing graduate work at the San Francisco Art Institute. He is represented in the collection by a ceramic jar, although he is equally famous as a painter.

Media used includes acrylics, tempera, oils, casein, sand (for a Navajo sand painting), wood, marble, soapstone, clay, and various materials used for basket weaving.

The Bureau's collection has been purchased from time to time materially to encourage Indian Artists. Working through the Center, those president is Mrs. Stewart L. Udall, wife of the Secretary of the Interior, exhibits have been formed which have been loaned to schools throughout the District's Metropolitan area; other displays have been put together for showing in various government buildings, including Interior and the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and the Center's "Arts and the Embassies" program has drawn high critical praise, as representative Indian art has been loaned to many U. S. Embassies.

This building we are dedicating today is testimony to the enterprising spirit of the Turtle Mountain Chippewa Indian Tribe, the business wisdom of the men who recognized a market for low-cost authentic reproductions of Chippewayan handicraft, and the concern of congress, the Department of the Interior, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs for economic improvement among the Indian people.

This industry promises to be the beginning of a new cycle of success for the Indian people of this reservation. It will provide jobs--and income--for several Chippewa families, Last week, I am told, the first training group, consisting of 2.3 Indians, completed their apprenticeship and began work in the plant as full-time production workers. Two office workers and the assistant manager are also Indian. Only the manager is non-Indian. Thus, of the 27 presently employed, 26 are Indians.

This may seem a small number compared with the population here at Turtle Mountain, who would like steady, year-round jobs, But if this industry prospers and grows--and we are confident it will - it will provide regular, well-paying employment for a hundred or more now unemployed persons, It will raise the living standards of their families and will provide, through its total weekly payroll, a vigorous stimulant to the economy of the whole community, You may not realize just how much planning and cooperative effort are involved in the creation of this industry, It all materialized through the energetic efforts of the Bureau’s staff for industrial development, working with your tribal leaders. Let me explain briefly how our program operates: Professional staff members of the Bureau of Indian Affairs serve as representatives of Indian tribes and nearby communities to secure the location of industry on the reservations or near them. The Bureau offers industry specialized help in analyzing the opportunities available, in terms of manpower and natural resources that would seem to enhance the success of a business venture. Funds to construct plants generally come, in part, from loans from the Bureau of Indian Affairs, in part from tribal loans, and in part from commercial sources, on-the job training of Indian workmen is financed by the Bureau, thus guaranteeing a company trained manpower and guaranteeing the Indian people some direct benefits from the business.

This plant at Belcourt is just one among 40 new industries that have been developed on or near Indian reservations in the past few years. Economic development has been a primary emphasis of the Bureau for the last four years, reflecting the concern of the Administration for the economic well-being of all Americans.

Does this industrial development effort payoff? I think the record speaks for itself. There are 1,000 Indians at work today who were jobless before new industries were brought into their areas through the Bureau's efforts. Meanwhile, business attracts more business, as the situation on the Eastern Cherokee Reservation in North Carolina proves. There are four plants there now, one of which is soon to be dedicated--and there is actually a shortage of Indian labor as a result. But the whole economy of the areas has improved, with 'benefits accruing to non-Indians as well as to the Indians.

This is the kind of economic development that is helping break up pockets of poverty in the United States. It is the kind of economic development that we hope to see generated among the Indians of the Dakotas.

A number of gifted American Indian students will be given the chance to go with some of the Nation's leading scientists on world-wide expeditions under an Exploration Scholarship Program of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Marvin L. Franklin, and Assistant to the Secretary of the U. S. Department of the Interior for Indian Affairs, announced today.

"The program began on a pilot basis last year, when 11 American Indian and Alaska Native high school and college students were chosen to participate," Franklin said. "We hope to have as many selected this year."

American Indian students between the ages of 15 and 21 may compete now for 1973 scholarships by submitting applications to the Bureau of Indian Affairs Area Office that serves them by March 16, 1973. Additional information on the awards and the applications are available from that same office.

Scholarships will be funded by the Bureau of Indian Affairs and will be arranged through two organizations: The Explorers Club and Educational Expeditions International (in cooperation with the Smithsonian Institution).

This year's scholarships will be awarded in the fields of astronomy, archaeology, anthropology, ecology, marine biology, and geology. Expeditions of from one to eight weeks will be led by prominent scientists to research sites in Africa, the Middle East, Europe, Asia, South and Central America, and the United States.

Candidates will be chosen on the basis of demonstrated competence and potential for careers in the various scientific fields. Evidence of good health, physical prowess, recommendations by community leaders, and an essay will also be used to judge competitors.

Semi-finalists in the competition will be chosen by each Area Office and forwarded to Washington, D.C. by March 30, 1973.

Final selections will be made by the Bureau of Indian Affairs Office of Education Programs in Washington, D.C., and the participating organizations. Winners will be announced by April 16, 1973.

Scholarship assistance includes air fare to the expedition site, sub­sidized entirely by the program's private sponsors, and all other expenses.

Opportunities to take part in the expeditions are also available for other students and teachers able to pay their own expenses. Schools, educational, civic, or private organizations and state governments wishing to sponsor scholarships may do so. Expenses average $1,500 for each student.

Those students selected last year went to Nyragongo, Eastern Congo; Okavango, Botswana, South Africa; Prince Edward Island, Canada; Ubeidiya site, Israel; Rhode Island; and the wilderness area of Oregon in the United States.

One of the 11 Indian scholarship winners chosen last year reported back to the Explorers Club via an article in a recent issue of its "Explorers Journal." She is Carol Mae Nichol of Los Angeles, Calif., a Delaware-Pottawatomi Indian graduate of UCLA who went to the Ubeidiya site, Israel, last year. She says:

"I, who had been no further than Oklahoma, swam in the Sea of Galilee. I, who have always been a fence straddler in America's anthropology departments have found a place where my particular interest is an established field of study: prehistory. My career objectives are suddenly plausible •••• Thank you."

The Department of the Interior today announced tl1e award of a $120, 528.52 contract for the construction of irrigation and drainage facilities on the Cabazon Indian Reservation in Coachella Valley, Riverside County, California.

The contract covers the installation of 19,684 feet of irrigation pipe and related control structures as well as 12,953 feet of main drainage lines. This work is designed to provide for the irrigation and drainage of Indian lands within the Coachella Valley County Water District under terms of a 1958 agreement between the District and the Department of the Interior. The Cabazon Reservation has about 1,890 acres of Indian land to be benefited by the irrigation waters from the All-American Canal which flows through the District.

After construction, the works will be operated and maintained by the District. The successful low bidder has the Kimbo Company of Coachella, California. One higher bid of $122,079.33 was received.

Tim C. Dye, 47, Acting Superintendent of the Fort Apache Agency, Bureau of Indian Affairs, has been given the post of Superintendent, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Louis R. Bruce announced today. He succeeds Robert Robinson, who was transferred to the Sacramento Area Office of the Bureau in February.

Dye became a Land Operations Officer 'With the Fort Apache Agency in September 1970. He had held a similar post with the Colorado River Agency, Arizona for nine years. Prior to that he had been supervisory General Engineer with the Gallup, N.M. and Holbrook, Agricultural Engineer at Holbrook and conservation Engineer at Polacca, Ariz.

In announcing the appointment of Dye the commissioner said “Mr. Dye is unusually effective in dealing with people. He handles a large operation with many problems very well. We believe he will do the job the White Mountain Apache Tribe needs done at Whiteriver.”

Dye has B.S. degree in agriculture engineering from Oklahoma A & M College and served three and a half years with the Army Air Force.

Secretary of the Interior Manuel Lujan today announced he approved a cooperative agreement to activate the San Juan River Basin Recovery Implementation Program for the recovery of endangered squawfish "Although the actual effort to bring about recovery of the squawfish in the San Juan Basin has been underway for nearly two years, the completion of this document provides us with the blueprint for future," Lujan said. "This is an important step toward achieving our goal of recovery for the endangered fish while responding to the water needs of the tribes and non-Indian water users." The recovery implementation program is required under an agreement signed a year ago which allows initial portions of the Animas-La Plata Project to be constructed while the recovery program seeks to improve habitat for the endangered fish.

Negotiations leading the agreement began in May 1990 after the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued an opinion that the Animas-La Plata Project would jeopardize the squawfish in the San Juan River. · In signing the cooperative agreement, Lujan also noted that the Animas-La Plata Project is central to the 1988 Colorado Ute Indian water rights settlement. "We have come a long way in resolving water rights disputes between Indians and non-Indians, in resolving cost-sharing on the Animas-La Plata Project, and now in resolving the potential conflict between an endangered species and water resource development," Lujan said. "The main reason for this progress is the willingness of people to work together toward a fair solution. We can all be proud of the partnerships which have developed between the federal and state governments and the tribes and their non-Indian neighbors.

The cooperative agreement has been distributed to other signatories, including the involved states and Indian tribes, for their final approval.

WASHINGTON – Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced today that Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk will be leaving the Department of the Interior after nearly 3 years of leadership. Echo Hawk, an enrolled member of the Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma, will resign his position effective April 27, 2012 to assume a leadership position in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

“Larry has done an extraordinary job at Interior, opening a new chapter in our nation-to-nation relationship with American Indian and Alaska Natives tribal governments and carrying out President Obama’s vision for empowering Indian nations,” Salazar said. “During his tenure, the Department accelerated the restoration of tribal homelands, improved public safety in tribal communities, resolved century-old water disputes, made critical investments in education, and reached many more milestones that are helping Indian nations pursue the future of their choosing. We thank Larry for his exemplary leadership and wish him all the best as he begins a new chapter in his life.”

“The opportunity to participate in remedying the negative perceptions of the federal government in Indian Country was a formidable challenge at first, but I am proud to say that I have served my country as an agent for change here in Indian Affairs,” said Echo Hawk. “I believe at the end of this Administration, the work we accomplished will leave a lasting legacy for American Indian and Alaska Natives. I want to thank President Obama, Secretary Salazar, the American Indian and Alaska Native tribal nations and the many devoted employees at Interior who supported my leadership and allowed me the opportunity to serve Indian Country.”

Donald “Del” Laverdure, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs, will serve as Acting Assistant Secretary until President Obama nominates a new Assistant Secretary to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate. Laverdure is a member of the Crow Nation and has served in a leadership role at Interior since 2009.

“Del has played a key role in many of Interior’s meaningful accomplishments over the past three years, and I am confident that he is the right person to lead Indian Affairs as we continue to fulfill President Obama’s vision for reconciliation and empowerment for Indian nations,” Salazar added.

Under Echo Hawk’s leadership, Interior has reenergized its commitment to fulfilling this nation’s trust responsibilities to Native Americans. The Department has broken the logjam on trust land applications and streamlined the process as part of the most substantial overhaul of the Department’s leasing process in 50 years. Since 2009, the Department has acquired more than 158,000 acres of land in trust on behalf of tribal nations.

Interior is also working to implement the landmark Claims Resolution Act of 2010 that included the Cobell Settlement, a $3.4 billion settlement that honorably and responsibly addresses long-standing injustices.

Echo Hawk has worked to meet the critical water needs of Native American communities, helping to reach historic water rights settlements that offer a fair resolution to decades of conflict and litigation. For communities, like the Taos Pueblo and Aamodt case pueblos in New Mexico; the Crow Tribe of Montana and the White Mountain Apache Tribe in Arizona, the permanent water supply will vastly improve the quality of life and offer greater economic security.

During his tenure, Echo Hawk worked across the federal government, including the Department of Justice, to help build safer communities and implement the Tribal Law and Order Act that President Obama signed into law in 2010. Echo Hawk strengthened law enforcement and launched an intense community policing pilot program on four reservations experiencing high crime rates. The Safe Indian Communities initiative, a two-year program, has so far achieved a 35 percent overall decrease in violent crime across the four communities.

Echo Hawk has also led the way in drafting a comprehensive and transparent consultation policy for the Department that will provide a strong, meaningful role for tribal governments at all stages of federal decision-making on Indian policy.

President Obama nominated Echo Hawk on April 20, 2009 and the Senate confirmed him as the Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs on May 19, 2009. He was sworn into office by Secretary Salazar on May 22, 2009.

Echo Hawk was elected Attorney General of Idaho in 1990, the first American Indian in U.S. history to achieve that distinction. He also served two consecutive terms in the Idaho House of Representatives, from 1982 to 1986. A former U.S. Marine, Echo Hawk began his law career as a legal services attorney working for impoverished Indian people in California, then opened a private law office in Salt Lake City. He also served as the Chief General Legal Counsel for the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes of the Fort Hall Indian Reservation in Idaho from 1977-1986.

Echo Hawk received his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Utah in 1973; and attended Stanford Graduate School of Business’s MBA Program, 1974-1975. Echo Hawk, 63, and his wife Terry have six children and 24 grandchildren.

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(Washington)-- Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Neal A. McCaleb will participate in a ground breaking ceremony held by the Muskogee (Creek) Nation of Oklahoma for a six million dollar office building that will house a Bureau of Indian Affairs regional office. "This project is an example of federal and tribal governments working to ensure needed services continue in a cooperative effort." said Perry Beaver, Principle Chief of the Creek Nation. The ground breaking ceremony will take place in Muskogee, Oklahoma on Friday, December 14, 2001 at 10:00 a.m. at the site located at Highway 69 and Peak Boulevard.

The 4500 square foot building is slated to be completed in September 2002, and will house the Bureau of Indian Affairs Eastern Oklahoma Regional office, which administers programs for the 21 federally acknowledged tribes located in eastern Oklahoma. "I'm glad the tribe took a proactive approach to providing economic development for the region and for helping the Bureau of lndian Affairs with a space problem at it's present facility," said Assistant Secretary Indian Affairs McCaleb. "It's a win-win situation for both parties."

The ground bre4king ceremony will include addresses by Will Freeman, Executive Director of the Muskogee Creek Nation. R. Perry Beaver, Principal Chief of the Muskogee Creek Nation of Oklahoma. U.S. Department of the Interior Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Neal A. McCaleb.

The Muskogee (Creek) Nation of Oklahoma has 51,000 tribal members. They are located on land in the north-central portion of Oklahoma including the city of Tulsa. The tribe has 6,000 acres of land under federal trust and over 1.9 million acres allotted to it's members. It's capital is located at Okmulgee, Oklahoma.

The Bureau of lndian Affairs, a 176-year-old federal agency has 12 regional offices with approximately 10,000 employees nationwide that provides services to, carries out its federal trust responsibilities for, and promotes the self-determination of the 558 federally recognized tribal governments and approximately 1.4 million American Indians and Alaska Natives.

-BIA-