OPA

Approximately 800 acres of federally-owned land, adjoining the Fort Sill Indian School at Lawton, Okla., has been added to the land held in trust for the Kiowa-Comanche-Apache Indians of Oklahoma.

The land was administratively transferred to the Secretary of the Interior, as trustee, by Arthur F. Sampson, Administrator of the General Services Administration on March 17, 1975. Notice of the transfer has been published in the Federal Register.

Legislation, enacted January 2, 1975, amending the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949, provided the authority for the transfer. This was the first use of the new authority.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson observed that he was pleased that, through the efforts of the BIA's Office of Trust Responsibilities and others, the tribes were able to obtain this valuable property.

The legislation establishes that excess and surplus. Federal property may benefit be transferred, under certain conditions, to the Secretary to be held for the benefit of Indian tribal groups. The land either must be within the boundaries of a reservation or, in Oklahoma, it must be former tribal trust lands, within the boundaries of former reservations or contiguous to land now held in trust for a tribe.

The transferred tract, in Comanche County, is located within the boundaries of the former reservation designated for the Kiowa, Comanche, and Apache Indians in the 1867 Medicine Lodge Treaty_. The tract eventually went into private ownership vocational-agricultural but was reacquired by the United States in 1939 for a vocational education program at the Fort Sill Indian School. This program has since been discontinued and the school no longer needed the land.

Final regulations governing the revision of the membership roll of the Menominee Indian Tribe were published in the Federal Register, April 2, 1975, it was announced today. The regulations will become effective on May 1.

Updating of the roll is required by the Menominee Restoration Act which re-established the tribe's Federal status and eligibility for special Federal services and programs. The tribal roll was closed as of June 17, 1954, when legislation terminated the tribe's special relationship with the Federal Government.

The new roll will include members of the tribe listed on the 1954 roll and still living on the effective date of the regulations. Descendants of persons on the 1954 roll, who have at least one quarter Menominee Indian blood and are living on the effective date of the regulations, will be added to the roll. These latter must file an application for enrollment with the tribe in accordance with the procedures set forth in the regulations.

The enrollment will be directed by the Menominee Restoration Committee, the tribe's interim governing body, under contract with the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

A beginning date for the enrollment period will be announced and publicized by the Committee when preparations for the process, including the hiring of an enrollment staff and the printing of needed forms, have been completed. Applications for enrollment must be filed within 90 days from that beginning date.

Application forms and information about the enrollment will be available from the Restoration Committee, the enrollment staff and Bureau of Indian Affairs offices in the Minneapolis Area.

Nominations for members of a special committee to advise the Secretary of the Interior and the Bureau of Indian Affairs on administration of Indian trust responsibilities are now being accepted, the Bureau of Indian Affairs announced today.

The Advisory Committee on Trust Responsibilities will render advice with respect to water rights, real property rights of every kind and nature, and personal property rights wherein the United States has a trust responsibility to an Indian tribe, band, or community.

The Committee will act as a conduit of information and cooperation from federally-recognized Indian people to the Secretary, and will establish liaison between various Indian groups.

About 51 million acres of land and approximately $450 million are now held in trust by the United States for Indian tribes and individuals. These assets must be protected and prudently developed to enhance their value.

The establishment of the new committee, with its charter and functions, was announced in the Federal Register March 11.

Nominations for the 16-member group are now being accepted by the Secretary. The committee will include at least one person from each of the BIA's 12 administrative Areas and is expected to provide a balanced representation of Indian interests with respect to the performance of the trust responsibility of the Department. The members appointed by the Secretary will select their own chairman and determine the internal organizational structure of the Committee.

A public hearing to receive comments on the environmental impact of proposed uranium mining on the Ute Mountain Ute Reservation in Montezuma County, Colorado, has been scheduled for April 30. The hearing will begin at 9 a.m. in the Bureau of Indian Affairs' agency conference room in Towaoc, Colorado.

Notice of the availability of a draft environmental impact statement, prepared by the Department of the Interior, was published in the Federal Register March 28. Notice of the hearing was published March 31.

The draft statement considers the human and physical environmental effects associated with a proposed exploration and mining plan submitted by Mobil Oil for the underground mining of possible uranium deposits underneath approximately 162,000 acres of land on the Ute Mountain Ute Reservation.

Both oral and written statements will be received at the hearing. Oral comments will be limited to ten minutes. Written comments may also be submitted any time before May 14. They should be sent to the BIA Albuquerque Area Office, 5301 Central Ave., NE, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87108.

Single copies of the Department's draft statement may also be obtained in the Area Office.

The Department of the Interior today extended until March 18 the period for public comment on proposed revisions of regulations governing mining operations under coal leases on Federal and Indian lands.

Notice of the extension will be published in the Federal Register this week.

The revised regulations would require the reclamation of surface mined coal land to an extent equal to the standards recommended by the Administration for inclusion into Federal legislation on surface or strip mining.

After March 18 the Interior Department will review public comments for 20 days before taking further action. Full compliance by coal operators would be mandatory six months after regulations become effective.

Richard Romero, a member of the Taos Pueblo Tribe, has been appointed Superintendent of the Bureau of Indian Affairs' Winnebago, Nebraska Agency. Commissioner Morris Thompson announced today that the appointment would be effective May 4.

Romero has been the Tribal Operations Officer for the Northern Pueblos Agency in New Mexico since 1971.

A Marine Corps veteran, Romero received his high school education at the BIA's Haskell Institute (now Haskell Indian Junior College). He graduated from East Central State College, Okla., with a BA in Education in 1956. He did post-graduate work at the University of New Mexico towards a Master's degree and in 1965 completed the Department of Interior's Management Training Program.

After two years of teaching in the Taos public schools, Romero began his career with the Bureau in 1962 as a teacher on the Navajo Reservation. He has held positions in education, housing and administration in Montana, Arizona and New Mexico.

Romero, who is married and has two sons and a daughter, will replace Robert Drew at the Winnebago Agency. Drew has been appointed an Area Director for the Indian Health Service.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson has appointed Billie D. Ott, a member of the Choctaw Tribe of Oklahoma, Assistant Director, Support Services, in the Bureau of Indian Affairs' Office of Administration.

Ott, a graduate of the Naval Academy at Annapolis, had been Vice President and General Manager of Eastern Operations for the General Telephone and Electronics, Information Systems in Stamford, Conn. He has held other top management positions with Electronic Associates, Inc., and with General Electric.

A native of Comanche, Okla., who grew up in Marlow, Okla., Ott is a graduate of Chilocco Indian High School. He attended Oklahoma State University and the U. S. Naval Prep School, Bainbridge, Md., before beginning studies at the Academy. He graduated in 1952 with a degree in General Engineering.

After combat service on a destroyer in Korea, Ott, 45 completed flight training as a Naval Aviator. He resigned from the service in 1958.

In his new position Ott will have a variety of management responsibilities including provision of centralized ADP services for Bureau-wide computerized systems and administrative services such as contracting and paperwork management, property and supply and personnel.

Ott is married and has two sons and one daughter.

Regulations governing the preparation of the membership roll for the per capita distribution of more than $20 million awarded to Northern Paiute Indians by the Indian Claims Commission (Docket 87) are being published in the Federal Register, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson announced today.

The proposed regulations state that all persons who meet the following requirements shall be entitled to be enrolled to share in the distribution of the fund:

1) Persons who were born on or prior to and living on October 10, 1974;

2) Who are lineal descendants of Northern Paiute Indians and;

3) Whose name or whose lineal ancestor's name appears on any available census roll or other record or evidence acceptable to the Secretary of the Interior, and who is identified as being of Northern Paiute ancestry.

Some specified persons, however, have been excluded from eligibility for enrollment. They are any person who has shared in the awards granted by the Indian Claims Commission in Dockets 88, 330, and 330-A to the Southern Pauite Indian Nation; or in Dockets 31, 37, 80, 80-D, 176, 215, 333, and 347 to "Certain Indians of California; or in Dockets 351 and 351-A to the Chemehuevis; or in Docket 17 to the Malheur Paiutes; or whose Indian ancestry is derived solely from the Walpapi Paiutes; Yahooskin Snakes, Bannocks, or Western Monos; or is a member of the Quechan Tribe or of the Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California.

Enrollment application forms can be obtained from the Superintendent of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Western Nevada Agency, Stewart, Nevada 89437. The applications must be filed with the Superintendent of that Agency and received not later than close of business on October 13, 1975.

Proposed new regulations for HEW's programs of assistance for college students have been described as a "major breakthrough in Indian education" by Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson.

In a letter to HEW Secretary Caspar W. Weinberger, Thompson expressed his "strong support" for the new rules published in the Federal Register in March. They set forth provisions for coordinating the HEW programs with BIA's higher education assistance program.

Thompson noted that because of "confusion and inconsistency in college and university financial aid offices.... Indian students were denied the full benefits of HEW assistance." He pointed out that while BIA funds were meant to be supplemental to other resources available, they were often used as the primary or sole source of assistance for Indian students. He said the proposed rules "clarify this situation."

The proposed rules set forth specific instructions that HEW assistance programs are to be made available to Indian students without consideration of possible BIA assistance. BIA funds can then be used to meet any still unmet need and, if sufficient, to reduce the need for student loans and work-study programs.

Thompson summarized the effect of this supplemental-only use of BIA funds. "Very simply, the implementation of these new rules will mean that more Indian people will be able to receive college educations and, consequently, be better prepared to contribute to the development of the Indian community."

The greening of 9,320 acres of arid land in northwest New Mexico will be a part of the Navajo Indian Tribe's celebration of the American Bicentennial Year. Federal funds totaling $2 million have been made immediately available to assist with on-farm development costs to make possible a March 1976 beginning of operations for the Navajo Irrigation Project. The project will ultimately include more than 110,000 acres.

The economic impact on the tribe will be dramatic. Total revenues from the agricultural enterprise, when all associated businesses and services are included, have been estimated at about $150 million annually when the project is completed.

It is expected that alfalfa will be grown on about 40 percent of the acreage on the project at all stages of development. Corn will account for approximately 30 percent of the planted acreage, while sugar beets will account for about one-fifth. Vegetables and potatoes will be produced on the remaining 10 percent. These figures are based on an analysis of the economic and production potential of the lands done by the New Mexico State University.

The project will be administered as a tribal enterprise, rather than following an individual entrepreneurship approach.

Other enterprise activities are expected to be generated by the project. A vegetable processing plant is considered feasible and livestock operations will almost certainly be developed to utilize the feed grains and roughages developed on the project.

The New Mexico State University analysis indicated that the project could support a dairy operation of more than 1,100 cows and an egg production enterprise of 300,000 layers. A backgrounding feedlot of 5,000 head capacity and a finishing feedlot of 15,000 head minimum size were also considered highly feasible. Swine production was also considered an attractive alternative since the Four Corners region is a pork deficit area producing less than 25 percent of total consumption needs.

Water for the project will be diverted from storage in the Navajo Reservoir about 35 miles northeast of Farmington, New Mexico and delivered to the project through a system of tunnels, siphons, open concrete-lined canals and pipelines. The main canal is 47 miles in length. About 100 miles of intermediate canals and laterals, plus a very complex system of pipe lines; are also included in the project design.

The enabling legislation, passed in 1962, provided an authorized ceiling for construction costs of $135 million -- which subsequent legislation raised to $206 million based on 1970 prices. An estimate based on 1972 prices, however, indicated that the construction costs would exceed $280 million.

The project lands are located on a high plateau with the elevations ranging from 5,400 feet above sea level to 6,480. The entire project area lies within San Juan County, south of the San Juan River. About half of the land lies off the reservation, but these lands have been or will be acquired to be held by the United States in trust for the Navajo Tribe.

The Bureau of Reclamation in the Department of the Interior is responsible, for the design and construction of the major works of the project, using funds appropriated to the Bureau of Indian Affairs.