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Show Western Resources Indians Ity HiWll l. Montx-lfS Vashington Team up an American lian from Montana with a Yale iduate from Connecticut who are h experts on Indian programs and )blenis, and the result is a high vered combo of consultants on lull lu-ll matters. .'hat happened here this week, forrest J. Gerard, 55, retired as sistant Secretary of Interior for lull lu-ll affairs at the end of last week to in up with William Byler, resigning lis late 40's as executive director of New York based Association on lerican Indian Affairs (AAIA), to set a consulting firm here in ishington. Byler is moving to ishington after running AAIA for 17 rs. The new firm got underway on l. 21. he two have been close friends ever ee Gerard was an Indian specialist he Department of Health, Education 1 Welfare (HEW) in the mid-1960's i Byler has been with AAIA. They e worked on a lot of Indian legisla-n legisla-n together, in the Indian health and ication fields and in Indian natural Sources, particularly during the iod 1971-76 that Gerard was a staff 4stant for the Senate Subcommittee Indian Affairs. Gerard told Western Resources ap-up (WRW) in two interviews on i. 15 and Jan. 21: "We plan to be eral consultants, and we expect to ve some non-Indian as well as Indian ;nts. However, we cannot get into a tflict-of-interest situation. We hope e honest brokers particularly in the :,ural resources field in negotiating dan water and land claims and work-. work-. on Indian projects. If an Indian e is interested in an appropriation in v health, education or welfare field or an amendment to existing law, we interested in talking to its represen- ves," Gerard told WRW. Ve have five clients lined up ;ady, and we are talking to seven re, so we expect to start out with ut a dozen clients. We expect it will 2 about half a year to get into full ration," he said. Gerard plans to down two clients on a trip to :ona this week. Aie 1979 Code of Ethics law which t into effect last year was "Quite onable," according to Gerard. It keep him from contacting some ernment officials, particularly in Interior Department, for a year on alf of clients, he said. It will have lit-iffect lit-iffect on Byler, who is moving from job in private industry to another. LONG YEARS OF EXPERIENCE he two bring more than 40 years' ex-ience ex-ience in Indian affairs to their new porate consulting business. A ckfeet Indian from Montana, ;:'-ard worked for the state of Montana -several years before he transferred 'he federal system, where he worked both the Bureau of Indian Affairs - A) in the Interior Department, and ";HEW, where he set up an Indian of- 1 in the mid-1960's. Gerard went to staff of the old Senate Interior (now 'rgy) Committee in 1971. He stayed e for six years then opened his own (suiting firm here early in 1977. 14 erard was frequently mentioned for igh Interior post, but he had basic "'erences with then-Chairman James Jpurezk, D-S. Dak., which kept him such appointment. After jurezk announced he was not runn-vj runn-vj for re-election, the Carter Ad-dstration Ad-dstration named Gerard in July 1977 1 he newly created post of Assistant 'tetary for Indian Affairs. He served 'rJiat position from September 1977 il Jan. 19, 1980. yler's experience included a stint as Staffer in the House of Represen- 'ves in the 1950's and in the foreign e program until he was offered and &epted the executive directorship of ilA in 1963. Altho Byler is non-Indian the majority of the directors of are Indian, Byler was retained by ff J)oard because of his in-depth fe-wledge and commitment to Indian ises and his fund-raising' ability. 1A is a private, non-profit organiza- i to help Indians. i.,Jtho Indian law is both comprehends comprehen-ds and complex, neither Gerard nor er is an attorney even tho they have l-ked on much Indian legislation for past two decades. "I have learned t you can buy legal expertise," jard told WRW. They plan to use out- ,i legal counsel in their new firm, jnthe two have a number of traits in t pimon. They are both soft spoken and their homework. They do not take jjd-line stands and generally favor otiation to litigation. They are more forested in performance than ' ftoric Gerard made few formal 1 eches as the first Assistant 3 retary for Indian Affairs. They 0 erally have high credibility in both Indian and non-Indian com-laHities, com-laHities, and they hope to capitalize on V5 asset in their new consulting riirtness. to 'heir critics regard both Gerard and :hi';sr as laid-back establishment types. (-Hie regard Gerard as opportunistic, gfte retired from his government job 5io same week that he qualified for rement, in effect pleading poverty altho he made $52,500 as Assistant Secretary of Interior. Some in BIA feel that the Assistant Secretaryship for Indian In-dian Affairs that both Gerard and Byler favored has downgraded the BIA Commissioner's Com-missioner's job to that of program director, not policy-maker, as he was, on paper at least, before the new Assistant Secretaryship was created. Gerard dismisses this criticism, claiming claim-ing that anyone in the Commissioner's job who is properly filling it will automatically be included in the formulation for-mulation of policy. But education is no longer under the BIA chief. RECORD AS A SS 1 ST A N T S EC. R ET A R Y Gerard pushed hard as Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs to try to get Indians a larger share of the pie while attempting to defuse some of the problems which have led to Indian militancy and outbreaks in Indian country coun-try in recent years and a resultant white backlash. He initiated a new management improvment program for the Bureau in 1979 to try to improve , delivery of services to the Indian communities com-munities served by BIA. There are now 278 federally recognized recogniz-ed tribes eligible to receive federal services ser-vices from BIA and the Indian Health Service in HEW, and the federal government holds 53 million acres of land in trust for Indians. The BIA and Indian Health Service serve more than a half million Indians living on or near Indian reservations mainly in the West. Gerard is perhaps as well known for what he stopped as what he pushed in the new Assistant Secretaryship for Indian In-dian Affairs. He opposed an Indian policy statement by the Carter Administration Ad-ministration like that put out by the Nixon Administration. He thought it would do the Indians more harm than good. "The Carter Administration has an Indian policy," Gerard told WRW. "It is self-determination for Indian tribes." It is also to uphold Indian laws and treaties, he said. No policy could be more important to Indians than "a firm commitment from the United States that it will uphold its trustee responsibility and defend Indian treaties and other legal rights," Gerard told a group of Indian In-dian leaders in Nevada on Feb. 8, 1979. That must be a continuing permanent commitment, Gerard underscored to WRW, regardless " of party" or administration. ad-ministration. Gerard was also successful in getting the Administration, including the Office of Management and Budget, to back off on their initial proposal to include the Indian education programs in the new Department of Education. There was solid Indian opposition to this plan largely because Indians across the country were concerned it might result in stripping the Bureau not only of its education programs but other programs pro-grams as well. Gerard also rode herd on the Bureau to get a number of new education programs pro-grams in place, including one to turn administration of Indian schools over to local Indian school boards. "And I raised rais-ed some of the tough issues too, such as keeping some of the Indian boarding schools open," Gerard told WRW. They are high cost-operations. ON THE LAND AND WATER FRONT On Indian land and water issues, Gerard broke some new ground while in the "Little Cabinet." He asked for $3 million and got $2 million in BIA's 1980 budget to put on 50 new people, including in-cluding 15 thru the respected U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to check on compliance under contracts that Indian tribes have entered into, mainly mineral leases. He signed a recent agreement with Assistant Secretary of Interior Joan Davenport, who has jurisdiction over USGS, to get USGS's help on contract compliance. Under this new trust, according to Acting Director David C. Harrison of the office of trust responsibility in BIA, "everyone cleans up his own mess" while leasing Indian land. Eighty percent per-cent of the lessees are non-Indian, and many are oil, gas and minerals companies. A new trust unit is being established in Denver under Harrison, to be staffed, by 12 experts in the minerals disciplinesminerals economists, petroleum engineers, geologists and uranium experts to beef up the technical advice to tribes entering into energy projects with industry. Gerard served on a negotiating team in the summer of 1977 which renegotiated re-negotiated a lease between the Navajo Tribe and El Paso Natural Gas Co. and Consolidation Coal Co. which increased the royalty on Navajo coal from 8 to 12V2 percent and which converted a $5.6 million advance to a $5.6 million bonus payment. Under his leadership the Osage tribe of Oklahoma in 1979 automated its big oil and gas lease program, pro-gram, both speeding up and maximizing maximiz-ing payments as a result. By securing bids on shortterm investments in-vestments of Indian money held in trust, BIA increased the returns by $22 million in the past fiscal year, Harrison said. This is quite an accomplishment, as all interest and principal of Indian money held in trust has to be guaranteed by law, several BIA sources told WRW. Gerard also beefed up the BIA forestry staff. He defused some of the major flash points in the continuing controversy over Indian fishing and hunting rights by making frequent trips to the Pacific Northwest to talk to both sides. A new Indian water policy is now before the Water Resources Council (WRC) for implemenation. It was developed under Gerard's leadership by an interagency task force headed by Jonathan Deason of BIA, a water engineer formerly with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. It is based on the president's water policy message of June 6, 1978. Gerard told Montana Indian In-dian leaders in Billings on Jan. 15, 1979, "We believe that disputs over rights to the use of water (including Indian water claims) should, if possible, be settled by negotiation rather than litigation. ..litigation is extremely expensive, ex-pensive, time-consuming, divisive, and often leads to unsatisfactory results." Gerard told WRW the new policy is designed "to get the Indians in on the planning of water projects and to give them some assurance of wet water after their projects are authorized." He also said they should have the same right as any other water users to use their water "for multiple purposes, such as energy development, not just for agriculture." Gerard said he hoped the WRC would soon adopt the new policy so that it would get into the new manual on planning plan-ning water projects now being prepared by WRC. It provides that the economic effects of potential water projects on Indians In-dians are to be calculated in addition to the national economic and environmental environmen-tal quality effects now considered. If such effects are beneficial, the Secretary may consider them in determining deter-mining whether the projects are to receive Departmental approval. Effects on population, sacred sites, fish and wildlife habitat, archaelogical and historical sites will also be considered. con-sidered. Tribes are now in the process of commenting on the policy to Deason. |