OPA

secretary of the Interior Rogers C. B. Morton announced today that he is setting aside nearly 79 million acres in Alaska which will be studied for possible additions to the National Park, Forest, wildlife Refuge, and Wild and Scenic Rivers Systems.

The so-called "Four Systems" lands thus withdrawn fire almost half the size of Texas. Put another way, they are as large as New York State and New Jersey, plus .a11 six of the New England States combined.

The action is in accordance with the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act which was signed into law by President Nixon on December 18,1971. It confirms, with some final acreage and boundary adjustments, the set-asides which the Secretary initially announced in March and which, under the Act, he is required to make final prior to September 18, 1972.

"This action, ' Secretary Morton said at a press conference today, "could result, after study and favorable Congressional action, in doubling the lands now contained in the National Park and Wildlife Refuge Systems and could provide significant additions to the National Forest and the Wild and Scenic Rivers Systems.

"In selecting these final areas I have chosen not only areas of unique splendor, but also a mixture of habitats which support a wide range of wildlife -- the great marine mammals, millions of shorebirds and waterfowl, grizzly bears, caribou, and sheep. The rivers and lakes serve as habitat for the great runs of salmon and trout."

The Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to make two types of land withdrawals. Section 17 (d) (1) allows the withdrawal of lands in the general public interest, pending further study and classification. Section 17 (d) (2) further authorizes the withdrawal of up to 80 million acres to be studied for inclusion in the four national systems.

The Act also requires the Secretary to advise Congress at six-month intervals of his specific recommendations for the use of the withdrawn D-2 land areas. Congress has five years from the recommendation dates to act before the D-2 withdrawals automatically terminate.

Secretary Morton said that the areas tentatively identified in March for the D-2, or four systems, withdrawals have been extensively studied during the past six months. As a result, about 14 million acres of the D-2 80 million acres that was initially withdrawn have been shifted to D-l public interest areas and to State and Native land selection areas. A slightly smaller total acreage has been added to ~e initial D-2 withdrawal, thus holding the overall total close to the authorized 80-million-acre limitation.

D-2 lands are withdrawn from new locations and, leasing under the mining and mineral leasing laws, from Native and State selection, and from entry under the public land laws. D-I lands are open to metalliferous mining claims but are withdrawn from the other land actions listed above.

In deciding on the withdrawals made today, the Department of the Interior has worked closely with the State of Alaska and with the Joint Federal-State Land Use Planning Commission which was established by the Settlement Act.

The Secretary emphasized that in studying the withdrawn areas for inclusion in the four systems the Department will be concerned with creating manageable units for lands in the system and for adjacent lands. 'we will, therefore, look not only at the D-2 land but at the D-l land in making our study and recommendations and will endeavor, as much as possible, to preserve natural management units and complete ecosystems intact."

Among the more significant areas withdrawn to be studied for inclusion in the four systems are the following:

1. The Wrangell Mountains -- This area, in southeastern Alaska, combined with the adjoining Kluane National Park of Canada, is truly the mountain kingdom of North America. Mt. St. Elias towers more than 18,000 feet above the Pacific Ocean only 18 miles away and a number of other peaks rise above 16,000 feet. Glaciers of every variety abound. Bering Glacier, 127 miles long, is the largest and longest in North America and Malaspina Glacier is larger than the State of Rhode Island. Heavy glaciation from the Great Ice Ages to the present has carved a mixture of high, steep pinnacles and ridges separated by deep valleys and broad basins. The Copper and Chitina Rivers surround the Wrangells and the area supports a great diversity of plant and animal life.
2. Mt. McKinley Area -- Lands north of Mt. McKinley National Park are primarily lowland tundra and spruce and spruce-birch forests and are striated with a multitude of streams. They include the critical remainder of the ranges of the primary out-ranging park wildlife species: wolf, grizzly bear, Da11 sheep, moose, and caribou (a portion of the summer caribou range lies south of the park). Lands south of the park include granitic cathedral spires and their glaciers, and part of the Mt. McKinley massif with spectacular peaks and glacial systems.
3. Iliamna This unit, on the upper Alaskan Peninsula between Bristol Bay and Cook Inlet borders Lake Iliamna, the seventh largest lake in the world. The varied habitat supports a diversity of wildlife including the Alaska Peninsula caribou herd of about 15,000 animals. The peninsula and related estuaries produce a fall flight of over half a million ducks and 10,000 whistling swans and in October serves as a staging area for the entire world populations of American emperor geese and black brant. The area is of prime importance for sport, subsistence and commercial fisheries. The Kvichak River system is the largest red salmon producer in the world.
4. Lake Clark Pass This area, less than 100 air miles from Anchorage, is characterized by its resource diversity and high recreation potential. Landforms include glacier-clad mountains, two active volcanoes, extensive lowlands, and a deeply-incised seacoast with glacier-formed bays. Wildlife abounds and the fisheries are significant.
5. Yukon Flats -- On the Arctic Circle, about 100 air miles north of Fairbanks, the Flats include the Yukon River and its tributaries in Eastern Alaska. Topography ranges from flood plain to alpine highlands. The area contributes over two million waterfowl to the fall flight annually, is a major spawning grounds for fish, and supports a variety of big game animals. The Steese-Forty Mile caribou herd of 50,000 animals ranges the upper Yukon and the Porcupine caribou herd of 150,000 ranges the upper Porcupine River.
6. Gates of the Arctic -- In the central Brooks Range, this is a wilderness of gaunt peaks and deep glacial valleys. It includes some of the basins of the Atlanta, John and North Fork of the Koyukuk, the upper reaches of the Noatak and Kobuk, and the entire Killik River Watershed on the Arctic slope. Walker Lake, one of the region's most beautiful, has been declared eligible for natural landmark status. The study area embraces several complete ecologic units like the entire Killik basin, and it constitutes extremely important habitat for caribou, Dal1 Sheep, grizzly bear, wolves, and the golden eagle.
7. Noatak -- This area in the Brooks Range presents a unique opportunity to preserve an entire large river basin virtually untouched by human uses. Its scientific importance could be enormous. Wilderness and scenic values are outstanding and the area supports a diversity of wildlife: two-thirds of the Arctic caribou herd of 300,000 animals pass through it annually. The three major streams, the Noatak, Kobuk, and Ambler, have been recommended for study for inclusion in the Wild and Scenic River System. Cape Krusenstern to the west contains the remains of seven prehistoric cultures dating from 3000 B. C. and is considered one of the most important archeological sites in North America.
8. Imuruk -- This area is 90 miles north of Nome in the north central part of the Seward Peninsula. Its significance lies in the continuing story of evolution in Arctic terms over an extremely long period as told by its marine, terrestrial, and aquatic habitats and their interactions; by the effects of two types of volcanism in at least six separate eruptions; and by the fact that the area has never been glaciated. Superimposed over this mosaic of natural diversity is an archeological record of over 5,000 years of continuous human use beginning with the Bering Land Bridge theory. The area is an important waterfowl habitat and is a staging area for spring and fall migrations.
9. Yukon Delta -- The vast Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta ranks among the richest faunal regions in Alaska and is justly famous as an outstanding waterfowl and other migratory bird producing habitat; for example, it supports estimated breeding fowl populations of 1.3 million ducks and an average fall flight of 2.7 million. Even without its vast populations of waterfowl, the Delta would still be unique for its awe-inspiring number of shore and waterbirds. Its coastal habitats provide staging areas for shorebirds whose wintering areas extend from Australia and New Zealand to the Antarctic and many countries in South America.
10. Aniakchak Crater -- This 4,450 foot high volcano on the Alaska Peninsula is a registered National Natural History Landmark. Its crater is 30 square miles and its rim is dotted with ice fields. The floor of the vast caldera contains Surprise Lake (2 square miles), several subsidiary cones (one of them 2,200 feet high), boiling Sulphur pools and hot springs. The Aniakchak River, which issues from a spectacular gash in the crater's east wall, will be under study for inclusion in the Wild and Scenic Rivers System.

Interior Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Eddie F. Brown will keynote the third in a series of regional economic development conferences with Indian tribal leaders May 14-15 in Oklahoma City. The meeting is being held in conjunction with the Oklahoma Department of Commerce's third annual Indian economic development conference on May 14.

The conference will include tribal representatives from Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas. The purpose of the meeting will be to highlight successful Indian economic development efforts and, through consultation with tribal chairmen, define the role for the Bureau of Indian Affairs in the development of Indian community economies. The conference also will present an overview of the roles of federal, state and tribal governments in economic development and will offer information to tribal leaders on policy options for economic development. "We are pleased that Governor Henry Bellman has asked us and Indian tribal leaders of Oklahoma to participate in their annual conference and work together to attempt to find ways of creating more economic development on Indian lands," Brown said. "The diversity of economic development projects among tribes suggests that there is no single magical formula that will solve all the problems of unemployment and poverty on Indian lands," he added. "The key is to develop a partnership between tribes and the Bureau for both economic development issues and the approaches to resolve them."

The Oklahoma City conference will be held at the Marriott Hotel, 3233 Northwest Expressway. Brown will give the keynote address to the BIA tribal economic development conference on May 15 at 10:30 a.m. He will hold a press conference at 1 p.m. on May 15 in the Sooner Room of the hotel. This third economic development conference follows similar consultation sessions with Indian tribal leaders in Scottsdale, Arizona, and Hollywood, Florida. A fourth conference is scheduled later this month in Portland, Oregon.

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Carl J. Artman, Seminole Tribe of Florida Vice-Chairman Richard Bowers and Mashantucket Pequot Vice-Chairman Kenneth Reels have signed a partnership agreement that will utilize the tribes’ purchasing power to promote Indian Country business development under DOI’s intertribal economic consortium initiative. The initiative seeks to match federally recognized producer tribes and Indian-owned businesses with purchaser tribes, helping tribes explore opportunities to collaborate economically and connect participating tribes with Federal procurement opportunities and commercial markets world-wide. The signing took place at a ceremony held on Monday, February 11, at the Interior Department’s headquarters.

“This signing ceremony celebrates an historic step in Indian Country’s economic development,” Artman said. “I applaud the leadership shown by the Mashantucket Pequot and Seminole people in their approach to creating a tribe-to-tribe economic circuit where resource rich, cash poor tribes can be linked to tribal and Indian-owned businesses struggling to find markets for their goods and services. When tribes have the ability to chart their own success, economic prosperity is possible, and that is a goal we can all support.”

The agreement establishes a cooperative relationship between the Indian Affairs Office of Indian Energy and Economic Development (IEED) and the Mashantucket and Seminole tribes to foster and promote business transactions, joint ventures, and other economic development initiatives, such as using their significant purchasing power and broad-based commercial dealings to buy goods and services from Indian-owned businesses, as an economic stimulus for Indian Country. Under the agreement, the IEED will initiate and facilitate such commercial dealings between the two tribes and other tribal and Indian-owned enterprises.

Among a gathering of over 50 Federal, tribal and business representatives attending the event was Councilwoman Melinda Danforth of the Oneida Tribe of Wisconsin, who, along with the Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians of Oregon and the Morongo Band of Mission Indians of California, has joined the consortium. A designated free-trade zone, the Oneida

Tribe’s holdings include agricultural products and livestock, both buffalo and cattle. Located just a few miles west of the city of Green Bay, the tribe has access to a deep-water port, an airport and major highways (U.S. 41 and I-43). According to Danforth, the Oneida Tribe hopes to explore through the consortium business opportunities with other tribal nations.

Both tribal signatories expressed their interest and support for tribes struggling to bring economic development to their communities. Mashantucket Vice-Chairman Reels spoke of the need for creating more opportunities for tribal members, protecting the environment, and assisting other tribes through the marketplace. Seminole Vice-Chairman Bowers reflected on the possibilities that have resulted from his tribe’s success in business. “Today we have the power and the opportunity to fulfill our dreams,” he said. “We can help [other] tribes to stimulate their economies. We believe in taking care of our own.”

Department of Interior Funds the Expansion of DOJ Tribal Access Program at 31 BIA Social Services and Law Enforcement Locations by 2020

Department of Justice Expands Tribal Access Program to Additional 25 Tribes This Year

DENVER— The Department of Interior’s Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Tara Sweeney and the Department of Justice Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein jointly announced a dramatic expansion of the Justice Department’s Tribal Access Program (TAP) for the National Crime Information Center, which is the federal government’s key program that provides tribes with access to the national crime information databases.

The Department of the Interior (DOI) will fund the instillation of TAP Kiosks at three locations where the Bureau of Indian Affairs-Office of Indian Services (BIA-OIS) deliver direct service social services by the end of 2019 and DOI aims to expand TAP access at all 28 BIA-Office of Justice Services (BIA-OJS) operated law enforcement agencies and detention service centers. BIA locations will provide some degree of access to TAP for services delivered to more than 50 tribal communities that currently do not have any direct access. An additional five Pueblo communities will work with BIA-OIS for issues related to social services. The Department of Justice will fund access for 25 tribes, bringing the number with current access from 47 to 72, a 50 percent increase.

“I am proud to authorize the funding for the expansion of the Tribal Access Program to the Bureau of Indian Affairs to make the future of justice in Indian Country stronger,” said Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Tara Sweeney at the 75th National Congress of American Indians Convention today. “The Bureau of Indian Affairs is proud to grant greater access to these important databases at more locations throughout Indian Country. Performing background checks is a critical step in protecting our precious Native children in foster care, and tribal communities served by the BIA will benefit from access to this extensive public safety tool.”

“For far too long, a lack of access to federal criminal databases has hurt tribal law enforcement—preventing them from doing their jobs and keeping their communities safe,” said Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. “With the Tribal Access Program, participating tribes will be able to protect victims of domestic violence, register sex offenders, keep guns out of dangerous hands, and help locate missing people. This milestone demonstrates our deep commitment to strengthening public safety in Indian country.”

Participation in the TAP provides tribes and the BIA the ability to conduct state-of-the-art biometric/biographic kiosk workstations capable of processing finger and palm prints in child abuse cases, and to vet foster parents more efficiently pursuant to requirements under the Native American Children’s Safety Act of 2016 (NACSA).

“Access to information is vital to effective law enforcement,” said Trent Shores, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Oklahoma and the Chairman of the Attorney General’s Advisory Subcommittee on Native American Issues. “The Tribal Access Program will enhance and improve the ability of tribal law enforcement officers to serve their communities. The Native American Issues Subcommittee is proud to support the continued expansion of this tool throughout Indian Country.”

“We at the BIA-OJS look forward to having direct access to these vital resources,” said Deputy BIA Director for Office of Justice Services Charles Addington. “We have waited years for the opportunity to streamline how we access these critical databases and the funding authorized by AS-IA Sweeney will allow our law enforcement officers the ability to receive the information they need to do their jobs effectively and keep them safe.”

TAP, offered in two versions, TAP-FULL and TAP-LIGHT, allows tribes to more effectively serve and protect their communities by fostering the exchange of critical data through several national databases through the FBI’s Criminal Justice Information Systems (CJIS) network, including the National Crime Information Center (NCIC), Next Generation Identification (NGI), National Data Exchange (N-DEx), National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), Law Enforcement Enterprise Portal (LEEP) as well as other national systems such as the International Justice and Public Safety Network (Nlets).

TAP-FULL consists of a kiosk workstation that provide access to national systems and is capable of processing finger and palm prints, as well as taking mugshots and submitting records to national databases. TAP-LIGHT is software for criminal agencies that include police departments, prosecutors, criminal courts, jails, and probation departments. Both versions provide federally recognized tribes the ability to access and exchange data with national crime information databases for both civil and criminal purpose. TAP is currently available to 47 tribes nationwide with over 220 tribal criminal justice and civil agencies participating.

All 28 BIA-OJS Agencies which include Detention Centers will have access to TAP. Through these agencies, BIA law enforcement provides service and support to 64 tribes, and of these tribes, 53 tribes do not currently have any direct access to TAP.

1. Crow Creek Agency
2. Ft. Totten Agency
3. Lower Brule Agency
4. Standing Rock Agency
5. Turtle Mountain Agency
6. Winnebago Agency
7. Yankton Agency
8. Anadarko Agency
9. Concho Agency
10. Miami Agency
11. Ponca Agency
12. Colorado River Agency
13. Eastern Nevada Agency
14. Ft. Apache (White Mt.) Agency
15. Hopi Agency
16. San Carlos Agency
17. Southern Paiute Agency
18. Truxton Canon Agency
19. Uintah & Ouray Agency
20. Mescalero Agency
21. Northern Pueblos Agency
22. Southern Pueblos Agency
23. Ute Mountain Ute Agency
24. Blackfeet Agency
25. Crow Agency
26. Northern Cheyenne Agency
27. Wind River Agency
28. Nett Lake Agency

The following three BIA-OIS locations will have TAP Kiosks installed for the dedicated purposes of vetting foster parents for Tribes within their service areas:

1. Northern Pueblos Agency at Ohkay Owingeh, New Mexico
2. Anadarko Agency in Anadarko, Oklahoma
3. Northern Cheyenne Agency in Lame Deer, Montana

The BIA-OIS at the Fort Peck Agency will also work in partnership with the Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes of the Fort Peck Reservation, a tribe equipped with direct access to TAP-FULL, and will begin using the tribe’s TAP Kiosk in 2019.

Furthermore, the BIA-OIS and the Justice Department will partner and work alongside each of the 17 tribes served by the four BIA Agencies and will explore utilizing the Kiosks for each tribe’s foster care licensing program as part of the NACSA requirements.

For the tribes selected by the Department of Justice, TAP is funded by the Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering, and Tracking (SMART), the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) and the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC).

The following tribes have been selected by the Department of Justice to receive funding for the next phase of TAP FULL:

1. Absentee-Shawnee Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma
2. Blackfeet Tribe of the Blackfeet Indian Reservation of Montana
3. Confederated Tribes of the Chehalis Reservation (Washington)
4. Cheyenne and Arapahoe Tribes, Oklahoma
5. Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe of the Cheyenne River Reservation, South Dakota
6. Eastern Shoshone Tribe of the Wind River Reservation, Wyoming
7. Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation, Arizona
8. Hopi Tribe of Arizona
9. Lower Elwha Tribal Community (Washington)
10. Northern Arapahoe Tribe of the Wind River Reservation, Wyoming
11. Penobscot Nation (Maine)
12. Quinault Indian Nation (Washington)
13. Rosebud Sioux Tribe of the Rosebud Indian Reservation, South Dakota
14. Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community of the Salt River Reservation, Arizona
15. Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, Michigan
16. The Seminole Nation of Oklahoma
17. Swinomish Indian Tribal Community (Washington)
18. Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians of North Dakota

The following tribes have been selected by the Department of Justice to receive funding for the next phase of TAP LIGHT:

1. Bishop Paiute Tribe (California)
2. LaJolla Band of Luiseno Indians, California
3. Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians of Michigan
4. Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe (Massachusetts)
5. Morongo Band of Mission Indians, California
6. Port Gamble S'Klallam Tribe (Washington)
7. San Pasqual Band of the Diegueno Mission Indians of California

TAP is managed by the Justice Department’s Chief Information Officer with assistance from the Office of Tribal Justice to provide specialized training and assistance for participating tribes as well as a 24x7 Help Desk.

# # #

WASHINGTON – U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke today announced the appointment of 20 primary and 18 alternate members to the Department of the Interior’s Royalty Policy Committee (Committee) that will serve a critical role in advising the Secretary on policy and strategies to improve management of the multi-billion dollar, federal and American Indian mineral revenue program. The Committee’s first meeting will be held on Wednesday, October 4.

"Working closely with the Committee, we will come up with solutions for modernizing the management of public and American Indian assets, while building greater trust and transparency in how we value our nation's public mineral resources,” said Secretary Zinke. “It's important that the taxpayers and tribes get the full and fair value of traditional and renewable energy produced on public lands and offshore areas."

The Committee may also advise the Secretary on the potential impacts of proposed policies and regulations related to revenue collection from energy and mineral development on public lands, including whether a need exists for regulatory reform. To underscore the Department’s commitment to reforming revenue management and royalty collections, the Committee, which may consist of up to 28 members, reflects the diverse perspectives of a wide-range of stakeholders, including representatives of western states and American Indian tribes that produce energy, energy stakeholders, academic groups and the general public, as well as Interior officials. Non-federal members will serve three-year terms.

The Secretary appointed Vincent DeVito, Counselor to the Secretary for Energy Policy, as Chairman of the Committee. "On behalf of the Secretary, I am committed to aligning this Committee with our continuing drive toward making the Department a better business partner and delivering better results for American taxpayers,” said Chairman DeVito.

The agenda and meeting materials will be posted on the Committee website at www.doi.gov/rpc.

The meeting is open to members of the public, who may attend in person or view the documents and presentations under discussion via WebEx and listen to the proceedings at telephone number 1-888-455-2910 or International Toll number 210-839-8953 (passcode: 7741096). The public will be invited to make statements during the meeting and file written statements with the Committee for consideration. To submit written comments, contact Kim Oliver at rpc@ios.doi.gov or mail your written comments to Royalty Policy Committee, Attn: Kim Oliver, 1849 C Street NW MS 5134, Washington, D.C. 20240.

Secretary Zinke signed a charter in March of this year establishing the Royalty Policy Committee to review revenues collected from oil and gas drilling, coal mining and renewable energy production on federal lands and offshore areas, and provide regular advice to the Secretary on the fair market value of and collection of revenues from these Federal and Indian mineral and energy leases. Interested persons were invited in the Federal Register to submit their names under the process outlined in the Federal Advisory Committee Act.

The Secretary appointed the following non-federal members to the Committee:

The Federal Register Notice announcing the first meeting of the Committee can be accessed via the web at: https://www.federalregister.gov/. Additional information about the Committee and meeting materials can be found on the Committee website.

###

WASHINGTON – Lawrence S. Roberts, who is leading the Office of the Assistant Secretary - Indian Affairs, announced today awards of $8.7 million to 63 federally recognized tribes and tribally chartered organizations under the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) Tribal Climate Resilience Program. The awards will support tribally based efforts to address climate change and its effects on tribal lands and resources.

“Through the BIA’s Tribal Climate Resilience Program, we’re aiding tribes in their struggles to address the ways climate change is affecting them now and in the future,” Roberts said. “In addition to the funds and resources the program provides, its positive effects are magnified across many tribal communities because award recipients are encouraged to share their insights, experiences and knowledge about confronting and building resilience to the effects of climate change.”

Along with their recipients, the 85 awards announced today will also directly support about 200 additional tribes through cooperative planning and shared information and tools. At least another 100 tribes are expected to be reached through tribally designed and delivered training awards.

The BIA established the Tribal Climate Resilience Program in Fiscal Year 2013 to fund tribal climate change adaptation planning, ocean and coastal management planning, youth internships, and climate change activities. The program supports tribal and trust resource managers by providing funds for adaptation planning, vulnerability assessment, training, and access to data and tools. Awards are available annually, subject to funding availability.

These funds enable tribal resource managers to mitigate climate risk for valued and vulnerable tribal resources during a project’s design phase, and to build infrastructure resilience to climate change within natural and human systems.

Between FY 2013 and FY 2015, the BIA awarded over $16 million in Tribal Climate Resilience Program (then known as the Tribal Cooperative Landscape Conservation program) funding to 108 tribes and intertribal organizations through 145 awards out of a total tribal request of over $48 million. The FY 2016 solicitation generated 221 tribal proposals requesting more than $26.5 million. The BIA was able to provide about one-third of the FY 2016 requested funding, reaching approximately half of the applicants.

“The year-over-year increases in the number of proposals the BIA receives indicates a growing unmet need as more tribes emerge as leaders in adaptation planning, and as the recognition and local impact of climate risks inspire still more tribes to engage in adaptation planning to protect their people, lands and resources,” Roberts said. In addition to direct support for adaptation planning, the BIA also provides tribal managers with access to climate change adaptation information and tools, such as:

• The Tribal Climate Resilience Resource Guide, an accessible compendium of federal government-wide resources for tribes released by White House Council on Native American Affairs’ (WHCNAA) Climate Subgroup in 2016; and
• The Guide’s Tribal Climate Resilience Fact Sheet, tailored to each tribe, that can help in navigating federal programs and lists funded projects, adaptation plans and other work products, including stories and tools, in the U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit Tribal Nations topic.

Along with the Tribal Nations theme in the Climate Data Initiative, these online publications form an interconnected resource network that provides tribal leaders and resource managers with access to the best available science, tools and examples of climate adaptation management. These resources can aid tribes in improving their resilience to accelerating climate change, which currently affects a growing number of critical tribal assets, irrevocably altering tribes’ long-held cultural patrimony.

A Summary of FY16 Climate Awards by tribe, title, funded amount, project description, and total requested but unfunded amount is provided on the FY 2016 BIA Tribal Climate Resilience Program homepage.

The Office of the Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs oversees the BIA, which is headed by a director who is responsible for managing day-to-day operations through four offices – Indian Services, Justice Services, Trust Services and Field Operations – that administer or fund tribally based infrastructure, law enforcement, social services, tribal governance, natural and energy resources, and trust management programs for the nation’s federally recognized American Indian and Alaska Native tribes and villages through 12 regional offices and 85 agencies.

More than $1 million in new construction is slated for the Indian school at Chilocco, Oklahoma, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Philleo Nash announced today.

Award of two construction contracts paved the way for a new 320-student dormitory and related facilities, sorely needed on the campus of the 82-year-old school. An $890,000 contract for construction of the dormitory, a garage and related improvements to replace two obsolete and overcrowded sleeping halls has been awarded Munger Emmons Construction Company of Enid, Oklahoma. Fourteen higher bids were received ranging to a maximum of $1,200,000.

A utilities improvement contract for $144,000 calls for construction of complete water and sewer systems, a 200,000 gallon steel water tank, road grading, fencing and similar work. It was awarded to McNally Company of Dallas, Texas, the low bidder. Eleven other bids ranged Upward to a high of $400,000.

With a campus of 8,600 acres and 75 buildings, Chilocco Indian School enrolls about 1,200 students in grades 7 through 14. Intensive vocational programs comprise the two years of post-secondary offerings at this non-reservation boarding school for Indian youth. About 500 of the students come from the Navajo reservation, and the remainder represent 33 tribes in various parts of the country.

Construction of the new dormitory complex marks the second step in expansion and modernization of the school.

Last year the old vocational shop was replaced by a new modern structure. Long range construction programs include the replacement of the old kitchen-dining hall, gymnasium, and academic classroom and home economics buildings.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Louis R. Bruce today announced the award of an $808,000 contract for construction of a graphic arts building at Haskell Indian Junior College, Lawrence, Kans., to Constant Construction Co., Inc., of Lawrence, Kans.

Haskell Indian Junior College, a Bureau of Indian Affairs school, has an enrollment of about 200 American Indian students in its college program an 1,000 in its trade-technical and business training program.

The new building, to be built of brick along contemporary lines, is scheduled for use at the beginning of the 1972 school year. The one-story building will include four printing laboratories each with a classroom, darkroom, and storeroom for materials. Equipment to be used for training is expected to reflect a cross-section of printing and type composition methods used commercially today.

Commissioner Bruce said, in announcing this milestone: “We are seeking to make Haskell Indian Junior College a junior college and vocational school the equal of any in the nation. This takes first class facilities.

"This new graphic arts building will do much to move courses in the field of graphics at this school into concepts that reflect today’s methods and today's thinking."

A negotiated agreement for reclamation of the Jackpile Mine in New Mexico between the Pueblo of Laguna and Anaconda Minerals Company, former operators of the nation's largest open-pit uranium mine, was signed today by the Denver based company and approved by the Department of the Interior. The Laguna tribal council has already approved the agreement and will formally sign it in ceremonies in Albuquerque December 18. Anaconda has agreed to pay the Laguna tribe $43.6 million to reclaim the more than 2,600 acres of land disturbed by the company during a 30-year mining operation. The first of five annual installments of $8.72 million will be paid to the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) within a few days for investment for the Indian tribe until contracts to begin actual reclamation of the mine can be signed

"We believe this is a fair and equitable agreement for all parties concerned," Ross Swimmer, Interior Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs and head of the BIA, said. "It is one of six reclamation proposals -- including alten1atives submitted by Anaconda and the Pueblo of Laguna -- contained in the final environmental impact statement.- We have assurances from the tribe that this plan fully meets with their approval, and it meets the safety requirements if the Environmental Protection Agency."

Swimmer said the agreement officially terminates the Anaconda lease signed with the tribe in 1953. The company has not done any mining in the area near Paguate, about 40 miles west of Albuquerque, since 1982 when it began discussions with the BIA and the tribe on a reclamation plan. BIA has utilized the expertise of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in studying the environmental impacts and development of recommendations for reclamation of the land. The agreement was reached after four years of public hearings and exhaustive technical studies.

Under the approved plan. BIA will sign a contract with the tribe for most of the work to be done. Request for proposals are expected to be issued soon for such work as technical assistance control, engineering and design work and the actual reclamation work that probably will be sub-contracted to a tribal construction firm. Reclamation work is not expected to be completed for at least 10 years, and another 10 years will be spent monitoring the land during which time the area will undergo revegetation, testing of ground water and security fencing.

Earlier this month the BIA and BLM signed a "Record of Decision” setting the level of reclamation work to be done. The decision calls for the stabilization and sealing of underground mines to prevent entry; four-feet of soil backfilling over the pits to prevent radon gas from seeping out and to eliminate water in pit bottoms; and re-sculpturing the dump piles with slanting side angles to allow easier plant rooting. The top 15 feet of the steep vertical high walls would be cut to 45-degree angles for stability and safety purposes. After complete reclamation, the site will be similar in shape, color and texture to the surrounding landscape.

A nearly $40,000 Bureau of Indian Affairs grant to the Lummi Indian Business Council in Bellingham, Washington, has translated into a $2.5 million a year fishermen's corporation that provides jobs for tribal members and revenues for tribal coffers.

The tribally-chartered corporation, formed in July, markets the catches of 12 Indian fishing operations to buyers in Japan, France, Belgium and the United States. The results are impressive:

• Profits for individual fishermen, which number over 40, have increased 10 percent since the corporation began.
• The Lummi tribe has raised more than $30,000 through tribal corporate taxes and a participating tribe has increased profits by 10 percent.
• The corporation already has marketed nearly 1.2 million pounds of sockeye, king, silver and chum fish.

Larry Kinley, the chairman of the Lummi tribe, said a little creativity has resulted in a lot of success.

"Obviously, the opportunities this one business project has made possible for the tribe are incredible," Kinley said. "There has been a merging of tribal, federal and private initiatives to create a success."

"The management of this corporation is exemplary," said Stanley Speaks, the BIA area director in Portland. "Other tribes could well benefit from the manner in which the fishermen's corporation conducts business."

Kinley said he is heeding that advice and developing a model plan for other tribes to follow. The plan, which relies on the corporation's experiences with start-up and developing overseas contracts, will be available to other tribes early next year, according to Kinley.

"Quality was established as the corporate philosophy in the initial briefing of the stockholders," said Kinley, who now points out that 95 percent of his fish receive a number one rating from buyers.

The marketing side of the corporation is only phase one of the project. Kinley said plans are to build a processing and cold storage plant for the thousands of tons of fish still to come. "The success of the Lummi fishing cooperative is just further evidence that Indian Country knows how to do business," said the Interior Department's Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs, Ross Swimmer. "Tribal resources today are being harnessed to create needed jobs and revenues for Indian people." Swimmer, a former tribal chairman who now heads the BIA, said business development is the cornerstone of his policy in dealing with the nation's more than 300 federally-recognized tribal governments. The BIA will spend $63.5 million this year on business development grants and loans.