OPA

Theopule L. Traversie, a former Chairman of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, has been named Superintendent of the Bureau of Indian Affairs' Cheyenne River Agency at Eagle Butte, South Dakota.

Traversie was formerly in the BIA's Portland Area Office where he worked as a loan specialist. A United States Navy veteran, Traversie earned a degree in business administration in 1963 from Northern State College in Aberdeen, South Dakota and completed law studies at the University of South Dakota in 1966.

Traversie, 44, is a member of the South Dakota State Bar. He was the Assistant Director of the OEO Legal Service in Eagle Butte from 1966 to 1970 and later practiced law in Rapid City, South Dakota.

He was Chairman of the United Sioux Tribes of South Dakota 1972-74

Russell A. Bradley, a member of the Kickapoo Tribe of Kansas, has been appointed Superintendent of the Bureau of Indian Affairs Winnebago Agency in Nebraska. His appointment is effective September 10, 1978.

Bradley, 36, forked as an accountant for the Cornell Oil Company of Dallas and the Falstaff Corporation in California before moving to North Dakota as business manager for the United Tribes Training Center at Bismarck in 1971. He was subsequently Administrative Officer at the Pierre Indian School in South Dakota. Since 1974 he has been District Representative at the Forth Berthold Agency at New Town, North Dakota.

He is a 1962 graduate of the Haskell Indian Institute and a U.S. Army veteran.

Interior Assistant Secretary Forrest Gerard has appointed Joe G. Weller as Bureau of Indian Affairs Superintendent on the Hoopa Reservation in northern California. Weller,an enrolled member of the Caddo Tribe has been a program analyst on the Indian Self-Determination Staff in Washington, D.C

Weller, 39, worked in BIA field office is in Texas, Idaho and Washington as an employment assistance specialist and officer. He has been in the Bureau's central office as a program analyst since 1975

A former member of the Air National Guard, Weller attended the University of New Mexico. He completed the Interior Department's Managers Development Program in 1969. His appointment is effective September 10, 1978.

The Department of the Interior an the State of California have agreed on a cooperative interim management plan for Klamath River salmon and steel fishery during the 1978 fall run, which has already begun, and the 1979 spring and summer run.

In a joint announcement today. Leo M. Krulitz, Interior Solicitor and A Secretary, ad Huey D. Johnson, California Secretary for Resource, said the agreement will allow the careful management of the fishery now while long-range studies continue.

Famed fish runs on the Klamath River and on the Trinity River, a tributary, have declined seriously in recent years due in large part to the dams and water diversions, logging and other land uses and management and drought. Both rivers flow through the Hoops Indian Reservation where, Interior officials concede, efforts to regulate fishing have been largely ineffective.

After a long series of discussion with the State officials failed to produce agreement on a joint plan, the Interior Department in July implemented an interim plan to regulate Indian fishing but continued discussions with the State toward regulation of all users of the resource.

The key provision of the cooperative management agreement, which is effective immediately, would:

--Allow a total harvest by all fishermen of 35,000 adult fall-run salmon: 30,000 to Indians at a rate of 5,000 per five-day weekly period; 5,000 for sports anglers with a two-fish-per-day limit during a fishing of five days per week.

The responsibility of managing the Indian fishery will remain with the Indian tribes and with the Department. Prohibit sales of steelhead or sturgeon:

--Allow for complete or partial closures

--except for Indian subsistence fishing which will be closely monitored to assure adequate escapement for spawning --during the spring and summer salmon run; --Allow closure when the total take reaches 35,000 fish or sooner if needed to allow escapement of 115,000 adult fish.

The total take could be further cut by an even earlier closure if the run is smaller than expected as it has been so far. The State and the Department will work out emergency closure provisions for all fisheries.

--Establish an advisory group and ensure strict and fair enforcement on all parties.

Krulitz said the advisory group would also help to develop a long-range management and enhancement plan which would consider the possibility of substantially increasing the runs by improved habitat and increased natural spawning in conjunction with new or expanded rearing facilities.

State and Interior official discussed the proposed agreement with various members of the Indian community and found substantial agreement on many points, Krulitz said, especially on the provision to limit fishing to five days per week. That limit will help ensure adequate escapement for spawning and also help support fishing upstream from the mouth of the river.

Final regulations governing the procedures by which an Indian group would be acknowledged to be an Indian tribe are being published in the Federal Register Interior Assistant Secretary Forrest Gerard announced today.

The increased number of Indian groups requesting that the Secretary of the Interior officially acknowledge them as Indian tribes has necessitated the development of uniform procedures to be followed.

The purpose of the regulations is to facilitate the official recognition of the American Indian tribal groups which have maintained their political, ethnic and cultural integrity despite the absence of any formal action by the Federal Government to acknowledge or implement a Federal relationship.

Under the regulations as proposed, the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs would acknowledge only the Indian tribes whose members and their ancestor existed in tribal relations since aboriginal times and have retained some aspects of their aboriginal sovereignty.

With these requirements, not every group of Indian people living in the same region or area would necessarily constitute a tribe, though they might be members of a club, corporation or other organization. Failure to be acknowledged pursuant to these regulations does not constitute a denial that the group is Indian. It means these groups do not have the characteristics necessary for the Secretary to acknowledge them as existing as an Indian tribe entitles to rights and services as such

James A. Joseph, Under Secretary of the Interior, and Huey Johnson, California' Secretary for Resources, today announced creation of a five-member observer team to monitor enforcement of strict regulations the two departments imposed earlier this week on Klamath River salmon and steelhead fishing.

"Formation of the team responds to general concern that the regulations be rigorously and equitably enforced," said Joseph. "The group will be a neutral body which will work to reconcile the interests of all parties concerned with the Klamath River fishery."

In a joint action, the two departments closed the Klamath at midnight Sunday, August 27, to all fishing for fall chinook salmon and steelhead trout below the Highway 101 bridge and severely curtailed fishing above the bridge. The limited return of adult fish of both species prompted the closure to protect the fishery.

"The presence of the observer team on the Klamath at this time will allow for the best possible communication among decision makers, enforcement officials and other interested groups - Indian and non- Indian alike - and will minimize the possibility that differences will arise based on false information and rumor," said Johnson.

The observer team, which the Department of the Interior will fund, consists of: William Dougherty, representing Secretary Andrus; Taylor Miller, representing Secretary Johnson; Walter McCovey, jr., representing the Klamath Tribes; a person to be named representing the Klamath River Resort Owner' Association; and Ed Howden representing the Community Relations Service of the U.S. Department of Justice.

The team will work closely with enforcement officials of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the California Department of Fish and Game in reviewing overall enforcement strategies and actions.

The team will have the latest information regarding the status of the salmon run as well as current forecasts for the duration and size of the seasonal run. It will participate in all decisions regarding continuation of the fishing closure now in effect as well as any revisions to existing regulations.

Johnson and Joseph also announced the establishment of an information center to be jointly funded and staffed by state and federal personnel. The center will work closely with the observer team and will regularly report the most current information available on all aspects of regulations, enforcement actions and salmon resources.

Secretary Cecil D. Andrus announced today that he will visit the Pacific Northwest in September to review the status of salmon and steelhead runs and to make an official visit to the Quinault Indian Reservation

"There is a growing concern for the condition of the fishery and I want to take the opportunity not only to review its current status but also to obtain first-hand reports about the future of the runs from Federal, State and Tribal representatives," Andrus said.

The visit, which will begin September 22, will take the Secretary to Seattle for an airport press conference and then on to Lewiston, Idaho. From Lewiston, the Secretary and his party will helicopter to Little Goose and Lower Granite Dams to be briefed by fishery experts and to inspect fish passage facilities at the Dams.

The Secretary, accompanied by Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Forrest Gerard, will visit the Quinault Indian Reservation on September 25 to tour the Reservation and to discuss the Reservation's timber management practices with Indian leaders.

Secretary of the Interior Cecil D. Andrus, accompanied by his Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs, Forrest Gerard, will visit the lower Klamath River area in northern California next Thursday, September 7, for meetings with Indian leaders concerned about fishing controversies in that region.

The Secretary's decision came after discussions with Yurok Indian spokesmen, State officials and others concerned. It followed a "fish-in" by Indians early this week protesting against State and Federal closure of the Klamath below the highway bridge to all commercial and sport fishing. The closure took effect at midnight Sunday, August 27.

The fall run of chinook salmon on the Klamath -- once renowned for both salmon and steelhead fishing -- has fallen far below last year's levels and State and Federal biologists have expressed fear that unless the later weeks of the run improve sharply, the future of salmon in the river is in danger.

Some disorder on the river accompanied the "fish-in," as U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service enforcement agents confronted Indian demonstrators, but situation was reported quiet as of Thursday and Friday.

State and Federal officials Thursday announced formation of a five member observer team, representing involved interests to watch the situation closely, advice on any necessary adjustments of the fishing closure and work to ensure strict and fair enforcement of the closure.

Regulations governing the preparation of a roll of lineal descendants of the Saginaw, Swan Creek and Black River Bands of Chippewa Indians to share in the distribution of funds awarded by the Indian Claims Commission is being published in the Federal Register, Interior Assistant Secretary Forrest Gerard announced today. The regulations establish the requirements for enrollment and a decid1ine of December 1, 1978 for filing applications.

The regulations art to be effective upon publication. Application forms and instructions for filing are available from the Michigan Agency of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, P.O. Box 884, Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan 49783.

For further information call Mitchell L. Bush, Jr., 202-343-6921

Proposed regulations to govern the preparation of a roll of Eastern Creek Indians eligible to share in a judgment award made by the Indian Claims Commission are being published in the Federal Register the Bureau of Indian Affairs announced today.

The award of $1,346,000 in favor of the Creek Nation of Indians for lands in Georgia and Alabama taken in 1818 is to be apportioned between the Creek Tribe of Oklahoma and the unorganized group of Creek Indian descendants called Eastern Creek Indians.

The proposed regulations establish procedures and a deadline for updating and correcting a 1968 roll of Eastern Creeks.

Comments on the proposed regulations should be sent to the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Tribal Government Services, 1951 Constitution Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20245.

Further information is available from Janet Parks, above address or 202-343-2985.