DOCUMENT RESUME

ED 216 812 RC 013 363

AUTHOR Gover, MaggieTITLE We, the People(s)...in Order...to Promote the General

Welfare...to Ourselves and Our Posterity...ASelf-Evaluation Process for Indian TribalGovernments.

INSTITUTION Americans for Indian Opportunity, Inc., Albuquerque,N. Mex.

SPONS AGENCY Economic Development Administration (DOC),Washington, D.C.; Mott (C.S.) Foundation, Flint,Mich.

PUB DATE 81NOTE 40p.

EDRS PRICEDESCRIPTORS

IDENTIFIES

ABSTRACT

MF01/PCO2 Plus Postage.*American Indian Reservations; American Indians; DataCollection; *Decision Making; Economic Factors;*Federal Indign Relationship; Governance; GovernmentRole; Organizational Effectiveness; Problem Solving;*Self Determination; *Self Evaluation (Groups);Tribes*Tribal Government; *Tribal Management

Describing a process by which tribal governments can,if they wish,. use their past to evaluate their present and plan forthe future,,the document briefly discusses the historicalrelationship of the United States and American Indian nations; howIndians cope with the new system; the increasing pressuresexperienced by tribal governments, which have created an economicdichotomy on reservation; and the organizational structure oftribal governments, as a result of administering their own programs.An overview of the work conducted by the Americans for IndianOpportunity (AIO) to aid three tribes with their self-evaluationprovides information on the decision to self-evaluate, datacollection, and training and technical assistance required by threedifferent tribes., A dialogue between AIO staff, Tribal Council, andthe planning office provides a combination of questions, answers,attitudes, and misconceptions that were picked up in the process oftrying to understand how planning is handled on a reservation. Commonproblems of government units and recommendations for solving theproblem are discussed: ?ack of long range plaraning and continuity;the boom town syndrome; the danger of administering their own federalsocial programs; and lack of perspective and of a political powerbase. (NQA)

***********************************************************************Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made

from the original document.***********************************************************************

WE, THE PEOPLE(S)...IN ORDER...

TO PROMOTE THEGENERAL WELFARE...TO OURSELVES AND

OUR POSTERITY...A SELF-EVALUATION PROCESS FOR

INDIAN TRIBAL GOVERNMENTS

PREPARED BY

MAGGIE GOVER, PROGRAM DIRECTORAMERICANS FOR INDIAN OPPORTUNITY

600 SECOND STREET NORTHWESTALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO 87102

LADONNA HARRIS, PRESIDENT

FUNDED BY

PROJECT NO. 99-06-09657THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ADMINISTRATION

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCEWASHINGTON, D.C.

ANDTHE CHARLES STEWART MOTT FOUNDATION

FLINT, MICHIGAN

"This tech nical assistance study was accomplished byprofessional consultants under contract with theEconomic Developme nt Administration. The state-

ments. flndings, conclusions, recommendations, andother data in this report are solely those of the contractorand do not necessarily reflect the views of the Economic

Development Administration."

U. ERic, CRESSLA5

RECEIVEDci)

U S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF EDUCATIONEDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION

CENTER IERICIThis document has been reproduced asreceeded from the person or organuanonoriginattng it

Minor changes have been made to imprOvefeproductoon quality

Points of view or opinionS stated on thadocument do not necessarily represent offiCavl NIEPOSIOOn Or pOlpoy

"PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THISMATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY

Tr1,4 tar) ()pent-ton ty

TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCESINFORMATION CENTER (ERIC)."

FOREWORD

Dear Friends:In the completion of a two-year workproject todevelop a self-evaluation processforIndian tri-bal governments, we have come to theprofoundconclusion that unless we understand what ishappening to tribal governments today andtake some counteraction, tribal governmentsare in real danger offending themselves bank-rupted by the cost of administering thefederalsocial programs they have taken on in the nameofself-determination. Most tribes have becomeextensions of thefederal government andhavebecome program administrators rather thangoverning bodies.In carrying out this project, we worked withthree diverse tribes very closely, andseveralothers less intensely, to develop a method whichtribal decision-makers could use to evaluatetheir own decision-making process. We havecompleted our reportswhich turnedout to bethree orfour hundred pages longfor the indi-vidual tribesand the overall report called "WeThe People(s) . . . In Order . . . To Promote TheGeneral Welfare . . . To Ourselves and Our Pos-terity .. . ", A Self-Evaluation Processfor IndianTribal Governments.We are sorry to report that onceagain wefoundno easy answers. We did identify several corn-mon problems that seem to be confronting mosttribes. Some are being widely discussed; somearejust beginning to surface. Most of these prob-lems have been experienced by states, and citiesand cannot be generally ascribed as "Indianfailures." Rather, they are commonproblems ofgovernment units trying to improve conditionsfor their people in a piece-meal social welfarefashion. Indian nations' problems are com-pounded by their intricate relationship with theFederal government which must be maintained,refined and defined as they do everything else. In

spite of the seemingly overwhelming problemstribesface, they generally have done a betterjobthan other governmental entities.The Federal government is responsiblefor alarge share of the burdens that tribes must bear.Failure to make thejointfunding process workwell has contributed to additional administra-tive pressures. Wherefunding is receivedfro mseveral agencies, some tribes mayfind them-selves undergoing one audit after another sev-eral months each year. Is it any wonder there isno timefor planning , setting up systems andmaking them work? Nevertheless,tribal deci-sion-makers do have the last word on what theywill choose to undertake.We must allface thefact that the present econ-omy in the United States is such that even ifpre-sentfunding levelsfor programs is maintained,we are still losing ground. Talk of the inflationrate meansthat a dollar continues to buy les'seach day than it did the day before, but it willcontinue to grow worse. Now with talk of balanc-ing the budget it is clear that this kind of press-ure will eventually lead to cuts infederally

funded programs. I know I sound like afun-damentalist preacher but I tell you, my friends,we tad better be ready.I hope our report will be helpful to you. We hopeAIO can be helpful to you. Let us know how.

With warm regards,

LaDonna HarrisPresident

cj

TIIE PEOPLES

We the People of the United States, in Order toform a more perfect Union, establish Justice,insure domestic Tranquility, provideforthe common defense, promote the generalWelfare, and secure the Blessings of Libertyto ourselves and our Posterity, do ordainand establish this Constitutionfor the UnitedStates ofAmerica.

Preamble to the Constitution ofthe United States of America

In the hearts of most people in this country, thesewords marked the beginning of self-government onthe North American continent and perhaps in theworld. Relatively few people know that there were athousand or more self-governing entities alreadyin existence on this continent hundreds, perhapsthousands, of years before those eloquent wordswere written.

Those governmental entities were the sovereignnations of native peoples misnamed Indians byColumbus who thought he had sailed around theworld to India. Each of those nations were groups ofpeople who at some point in time joined together inorder to better meet their mutual needs. The formtheir government took reflected the reasons theyhad joined together in the first place. They hadeconomic systems, environmental syterns, socialsystems, and shared common religious beliefs all ofwhich were so inter-related that one could not beseparated from the other. Combined, they made upthe culture of that particulargroup of people. Andeach group, in its own language, called themselvesTHE PEOPLE.

When Europeans first came to this continent, theybrought their old governments with them. Therepresentatives of those governments presump-tuously carved out certain areas to which they laidclaim in the name of their particular king. Theseareas became colonies of that particular govern-ment. The purpose of those colonies was to provideadditional wealth to the Mother Country. The natu-ral resources were exported. The colonial govern-ments were puppet governments with all the stringspulled by the throne. The rule of the various coun-

4

tries was extended to govern the new citizens of theterritories in which they lived, though they did notassume that they governed the people who werealready there. Some lived in peace and harmonywith or in terror of the native peoples at first. Thebalance of power was such that it was in their bestinterest to do so. Increased numbers of Euro-peans bringing with them their diseases and theirguns disrupted the systems of THE PEOPLESand changed the balance of power. Even so, thenewcomers continued to recognize the existinggovernments of the various Indian nations. Treatieswere made between the mother countries and thecolonial governments and the Indian nations. Thecolonies eventually rejected the repression andexploitation of the Mother Country and establishedtheir own government. When the new nation, theUnited States, was formed, one of the powers givenup by the individual states (the former colonies) totheir common government was the power of dealingwith Indian tribesonce again acknowledging thattribes are sovereign nations.

The relationship of the new United States andIndian nations is not a proud chapter of history forthe non-Indian A merican. The Colonies which hadfought so hard to free themselves from repressionand exploitation repressed and exploited the nativepeoples. Indian reservations became America'scolonies. Tribal systemseconomic, environmen-tal, religious, socialwere so disrupted that therewas not only colonialization of the resources, buteven *worse, here was colonialization of the mindsof THE PEOPLES. History books gloss it over.Most people would like to pretend it never hap-pened. But it did happen. Although individualsinvolved in it often behaved in honorable and cour-ageous ways, Federal Indian policy was shameful.Nevertheless, some Indians survived and theysurvived as nations. Economic, environmental,social, and cultural systems were disrupted andthere is still a constant battle against those whowould destroy Indian nations. Some were huit worsethan others. Some were destroyed. But those whoremain are very reala part of the history of yester-daya living part of the history of the presentand of the future.

Indian Lands

1492

1820 1977

The loss of land has complicated the status of land ownership, and isone of the most pressing problems of all tribes. It has caused tribes todevelop in a haphazard manner and continued to stifle commercialand industrial development.

,1U

5

The purpose of this document is to describe aprocess by which tribal governments canIF THEYWISHuse their past to evaluate their present andplan for the future.

Withoutgoing through all the machinations thatbrought us to that point, the passage of theIndianReorganization Act in 1934 was a major milestonein Federal Indian policy. Assuming the intentionsthat prompted it were good, the implementationof the Act had both positive and negative effectson the tribes. Among other things, the Indian Reor-ganization Act once again recognized tribes asgovernmental entities. It recognized that whilethere were systems of tribal government, it wasjust too hard for the Federal government and theAmerican people to deal with or even understandthose systems. After all, the United States haddiscovered a perfectly good system of governmentConstitutionaland like a person who has justdiscovered sex, thought there was only one Way to

do it. They had not yet discovered that the joys ofgovernment could be experienced in many differ.ent ways and the best government is one that feelsgood to the participants.

To carry out the Indian Reorganization Act, theBureau of Indian Affairs set out with "boiler plate"constitutions to bring Constitutional governmentto the tribeswith one exception. The right ofapproval of tribal constitutions was retained by theSecretary of Interior. Many tribes accepted theconstitutional form of government. Some did not.Some who did were able to incorporate some of thethings in the constitution that were in keepingwith their particular culture. Some were able toincorporate time limits on Secretarial approval.Whatever the original feelings of the tribe wereregarding the constitution, those with constitu-tions have come to view them in much the sameway mostAmericans have come to view the UnitedStates Constitutiona sacred cow only tobe tam-pered with at great risk. Unlike the United StatesConstitution which was designed to meetthespecial needs and situations of those forming thegovernment, most tribal constitutionshad littlerelationship to the method of government thepeople were accustomed to or would have chosenfor themselves.

6

THE PEOPLES then had to go through awhole newprocess of learning to cope with the new systefn.During that adjustment period, roughly a quarter ofa century, it was pretty rough for most tribes. Theywere largely ignored by the Federal government. Afew years earlier, the United States hadbestowedIndians with dual citizenship. They were nowUnitedStates citizens, as well as citizens of their individualnations. Now they had bestowed them with a newform of government. Indian warriors went off to dobattle for the United States. As the veterans camehome, there was a rising awarnes 5 of the meaningof both citizenships. New educational opportuni-ties opened up. Indians were fast learners. Theydeveloped political and legal skills and began tohold the governmenttheir trusteeaccountable.The Indian Renaissance had begun. Federal Indianpolicy began to changenot because the gover-nment was different but because Indians began tothink of themselves differently and to behavedifferently.

During the last decade, tribal governments havecome under increasing pressures for two primaryreasons. One, world energy and other resourceshortages and the recognition of the value oftheresources owned by tribes has caused increasedpressure to develop. Two, tribes have begun toadminister their own pi ograms. These two factorshave caused a virtual explosion in the requirementsfor expertise, talent, and systems.

Every tribe is, in effect, a "boom town". The internalstress factors on tribal decision-makers are theproblems of their peoplehigh unemployment, poorhealth care, poor housing, etc. These problems addto stresses on individuals and families which areshowing up in increasing family problemschildand spouse abuse, ph; sical and mental healthproblems, alcoholism and drug abuse. Becausetribal decision-makers are also members of thetribes, they and their families are subject to all thesame kinds of individual stress. The influx of federalprograms now administered by the tribe has createda mushroom of tribal employment and a new "elite"on the reservation. Tribal employees are, generallyspeaking, making good salaries as a result of fed-eral programs creating an economicdichotbmy onthe reservation. They continue to receive all theservices the tribes provide, daycare,health care,police protection, roads, etc., usually in greater

Federal Dollars and Where They Go

S1 Billionappropriatedto XTribe100%

AdministrativeCosts:Washingtonand,Regional

',Offices"Administration:40%

Hypothetical Example:Of the possibly 600 mil, onwhich comes to the reserva-tions and much of whichcould in theory. be spentthere, in consumer goodsand in contracts, less than5% is actually spent in re-sevation stores and reser-vation based businesses

Spent on theReservation5°.

proportion than non employees simply becausethey are more aware of what is available, and are in abetter position to take advantage of them. Federalprograms have made a significant impact on theirlives. The non-employees have seen no majorchange in their lives and they resent it.

Most tribes have no system for tribal employeesto reinvest in their community. This is contrary tothe old economic systems which were basedredistribution and sharing. A person s value w asbased on what he could give rather than what hecould get. There is no substantial private sector onthe reservation which coul i provide alternativesources of income and prestige. Tribal employmentoften depends or at least appears to depend on U.,good favor of the tribal council members. Thecommunity divides up into the "ins" and the "outs".

.11

Major portions of the community's energy is spentby the "outs" trying to get in and "ins" trying to stayin. While there is still a great deal of manipulation oftribal priorities by government agencies it is nolonger a community together hating the outsiderswho are controlling their lives. Because the tribalcouncil is now responsible for administeringfederal programs, no matter how ill-conceived orsubject to outside control, the Council is perceivedto be in charge. Without a common enemy on theoutside to unify the community, and withoutcommon goals on the inside (in the past it has beenthe struggle for survival), people are confused abouttheir individual roles in life and what it is they aresupposed to be doing. Who do I like? Who do I hate?What do I work for? Where do I, as an individual, fitinto the whole scheme of things? Who am I?

...........111111100111.1111011110.

7

Income Disparity (on the Reservation)

Federal programs have created an economic dichotomy on the --reservation Communities have divided up into the "ins and outs

Income Disparity (compared to the national average)

100 Income (thousands)

80

_60

National Average

1900 1920

Lorenz Curve

1940 1960 1980

Add to thesc dilemmas the return to the reserva-tions of large numbers of tribal members (comparedto the population of the reservation five years ago)who have been away for one reason or anotherto, find work, to seek education, marriage outsidethe tribe, off reservation foster home placement,

2000

8

BEST Copy Avrifitiv;pc E4 . f

whateverwith rising levels of expectationwhoimmediately become suspect to those who havestayed at home.

Mix well with offers of "instant wealth" from would-be ':evelopers who seek leases or special opportuni-ties on the reservation offering boiruses for per capi-ta paymentsnever mind long range environmentaland economic impactsand you've got a mess onyour hands.

V

Once again, Indians have to develop new copingskills. With all the new pressures both from the in-side and the outside, many find themselves withConstitutions which do not fit their special cir-cumstances. They find themselves "hooked" onFederal programs. That is. the Reservation economyis based on Federal programs. Because there hasbeen no reservation business infrastructure to turnover dollars and create new jobs, the Federal prog-ram dollars have become a partof the surroundingnon-Indian community's economic system. Dollarsare only coming on the reservation and going off thereservationnot circulating through the commurf-'ity. There is no economic systemonly aneconomicpass through. Sometimes dollars don't even comeon the reservation. Take money for buildings, orhousing projectstheoretically the tribe gets themoney. In reality, the money goes to a non-Indiancontractor who often has no tribal members on hispayroll. The tribe is responsible foradministeringthe contract and there often isn't even money to paythe expenses of the administration. It not only failsto contribute to the economy of the tribe; it drains it.Yet the tribe is dependent on those federal dollarsfor any kind of economy. Anytime a federal programis terminated, the whole tribe has withdrawal symp-toms much like a drug addict. They are at the mercyof the "pushers" and will do almost anything to finda new source to get another "fix". The price goeshigher and need grows greater. Federal programsbecome the tail that wags the dog. Tribes have aright to Federal dollars, but they must develop sys-tems which allow them to control the dollars ratherthan the dollars controlling them. Devising thosesystems will require all the skill--; a tribe can musterif they are going to have a system which will meetthe cultural, social, environmental, and economicneeds of their peoples.

t

SELF - DETERMINATION

i

.

As tribes took over the administration of their ownprograms, they were tempted to take anything thatcame along. Any new program, after all, meant newjobs where there bad been none. Each new buildingwas a visible sign that something tangible was beingadded to the tribe that had not existed before. Eachproject took on a life of its own and built up its ownparticular constituency. As a new program came in,it became a new square on a growing organizationalchart. We call that "tack on government -that is,you begin with a central structure, usual.: theCouncil, then you began tacking on new programs.The next thing you've got maybe an OEO Office

3-

4.,

(Office of Economic Opportunity, called Office of Native American Programs now called Administrationfor Native Americans.) Then you get a HUD HousingProgram (Housing and Urban Development). Thenyou get a Day Care Program. A HUD Planning Grant.A Head Start Program. AJohnson-O'Malley Pro-gram. An Elderly Feeding Program. An AlcoholismProgram. An Economic Development Planner.Three Economic Development Projects a tribalbuilding, a shopping center, a museum. And all of asudden you realize that your government structurethat originally looked like this

of

'TRIBAL COUNCIL

PEOPL.

0

now looks like this-

PEOPLE

4.,

TRIBAL COUNCIL

,HUD I

I

OEO CETA

DAY CARE

HEADSTART

i r 1

JOM

ELDERLY FEEDING

EDA PLANNING

ALCOHOLISM

I

HUD PLANNING

1

1 i

i

EDA MUSEUM

EDA SHOPPINGCENTER

1 i...E. ..1

1

9

S

a

1.

.."

P-4

MINI RALDEVELOPMENT

Li TRIBAL aUSINESSDEVELOPMENT

1

RANGE

I i 11

1

DEVELOPMENT

1

AGRICULTURALDEVELOPMENT

i

i

i

TIMBERDEVELOPMENT

IFISHERIESDEVELOPMENT

DEVELOPMENT DEVELOPMENTTOURISM [ .PRIVATE BUSINESS

I

all that before you even consider the administrationof your natural resources which up until five to tenyears ago was pretty much left to BIA. Nowadded toyour chart any combination of the followingall of which are essential to being able to control atribe's future.

By now your number of tribal employees has grownfrom none or one or two to 180 or as much as 1.500.You have thirteen separate grants each of which

comes with its own peculiar set of regulations andrequirements. probably two to eight resource de-velopment activities each of which affects theothers, and a whole set of needs you haven't evenaddressed yetwat..T, sewer, energy source (utili-ties), garbage disposal. maintenance of buildings.law enforcement, udicial services, equipmentmaintenance, and last but by no means least, man-agement. accounting, and accountability systems

MAINTENANCEDEPARTMENT

REALTYDEPARTMENT

LAW ENFORCEMENTDEPARTMENT

JUDICIALDEPARTMENT

UTILITIESDEPARTMENT

1

t

ACCOUNTING AND FINANCEDEPARTMENT

10

9

I 4.

4.

.,

I-kw on earth did tribes allow themselves to getin this predicament? After all, they have beengoverning themselves all these years

Why on earth did government agencies continue tofund programs for tribes without recognizing thatcertain structural supports were missing? After all.they've been in business for two hundred years--Tribes say that they are governments like the Fed-eral goverument or state governments or countygovernments or city governments

Oh Goodness!! We haven't even thought of that yet.We forgot about the fact that tribes are still subjectto the whims of the Federal governmeX Tribal pro-grams depend on legislation and appropriationsfrom the Congress. We forgot that the Administra-tion can write regulations for the administration ofthe laws that Congress passed that can distort and

Lend the laws either in the best interests or worstinterests of the tribes. The states often think theyhave jurisdiction over tribal resourcestaxation,licensing. environmental regulation, propertyrights such as hunting and fishingand that tribesmust constantly be on guard and be ready to go tocourt to protect their rights. States and countiesand cities want the economic benefits of tribal de-velopment to go directly into their communitieswithout turning over on the reservation. They don'twant any responsibility for furnishing services andthey do want to bitch about the fact that Indian landis not included in their tax base. We forgot that thestates have the economic and political clout to influence the Congress. in a much more forceful waythan the Tribes can. so in addition to everythingelse. every T.!be needs a Defense Department and aState or Foreign Relations Department.

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE 1DEPARTMENT OF FOREIGN

RELATIONS

Or do they? To get an idea of whaLyour structurelooks like now, turn to the next page-

11

PEOPLE

TRIBAL COUNCIL

LANNING 0E0 C -TA HEADSTART ELDERLY FEEDING ALCOHOLISM EDA MUSEUM

HUD DAY CARE JOM EDA PLANNING HUD PLANNINGEDA SHOPPING

CENTER

MINERALDEVELOPMENT

AGRICULTURALDEVELOPMENT

RANGEDEVELOPMENT

TIMBERDEVELOPMENT

FISHERIESDEVELOPMENT

TRIBAL BUSINESSDEVELOPMENT

MAINTENANCEDEPARTMENT

RIVATE BUSINESSDEVELOPMENT

REALTYDEPARTMENT

LAW ENFORCEMENTDEPARTMENT

1

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

TOURISMDEVELOPMENT

JUDICIALDEPARTMENT

1

DEPARTMENT

ACCOUNTING AND FINANCEDEPARTMENT

DEPARTMENT OF "FOREIGN"REI_ATIONS

Note that the infrastructure (or support services)was the last to show up on the organizational chart.This was not necessarily lack of foresight on thetribe's part. there was no need for some ofthe ad-ministrative offices until the tribe had so many pro-grams. Worse yet, there was no money. Please

12

recognize also that we are not suggesting that tribeshave tanks and guns and planes in their Defense De-partmentrather, an excellent legal defense system.The trick is to bring some kind of orderout of thechaos. Conspicuous by its absence is staff supportfor the tribal council.

t..

TOPSY TURVY:

A curious thing has now happened. In many tribes,the tribal employees make up the majority of theelectorate. In some, the constituents of the variousprograms become voting blocshousing or educa-tion programs, for instance. These voting blocs caninfluence an election or those who are up for elec-

DEPARTMENT OF "FOREIGN"RELAI IONS

ACCOUNTING AND FINANCEDEPARTMENT

UTILITIESDEPARTMENT

JUDICIALDEPARTMENT

TOURISMDEVELOPMENT

FISHERIESLDEVELOPMENT

EDA SHOPPINGCENTER

EDA MUSEUM

tion. Having voting blocs is not any different thanany other system of government where the lea:-ership is electedit is just relatively new to the Indi-an community. It needs to be recognized as a fact. Itcould make lour organizational chart look like thisin terms of what is really happening.

IDEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

LAW ENFORCEMENTDEPARTMENT

REALTYDEPARTMENT

PRIVATE BUSINESSDEVELOPMENT

TIMBERDEVELOPMENT

HUD PLANNING

ALCOHOLISM

RANGEDEVELOPMENT

L

EDA PLANNING I

1

ELDERLY FEEDING

rAGRICULTURALDEVELOPMENT

MAINTENANCEDEPARTMENT

TRIBAL BUSINESSDEVELOPMENT

JOM

HEADSTART

1-.

MINERALDEVELOPMENT

DAY CARE

CETA 0E0

HUD

LANNING

TRIBAL COUNCIL

PEOPLE

13

7 '-1- '-x

r."'IMIMMIII=Iti

IN ORDER . . .TO PROMOTETHE GENERAL WELFARE . . .

The problems we've described and the organization-al chart we've drawn sounds as if tribes are in utterchaos. Maybe so; maybe not. Perhaps chaos, likebeauty, is in the eye of the beholder.

-V

Our county government, for instance, is incompre-hensible to me. Our county contains a major citybounded on two sides by Indian reservations, a largemilitary installation, a federal research installation,an unicorporated village or two etc. The jurisdiction-al questions are as complex as any in the country.It's an energy production area with traffic, pollutionand growth problems. I don't see how they get any-thing done. But usually the only time ! really getconcerned about it is when the chug holes in theroad swallow my little car or the pollution is so bad Ican't see the mountains. Yet my county functionssomehow and apparently fairly well. I read in thepaper once in a while where they are having troublewith their CETA program or their HUD block grant orthe Environmental Protection Agency. Now andthen some citizen or citizens group gets after theCommissioners about something. There's an occa-sional firing that makes the news. It's about like anyother local government.

Tribal governments may just appear to be chaotic toone unfamiliar with theiroperationor they maytruly be in chaos. Tribal governing systems are notusually questioned unless something goes wrongthat affects someone negatively. It could be an indi-vidual or groups of individuals within the tribe, itcould be troubles or inadequacies identified by thetribal council itself, or it could be a funding sourcewho raises the questions. Usually, the question orquestions raised will only deal with a part of theoverall operation of the tribe. For instance, onefederal agency funding a project doesn't really careif the whole system is functional, it cares about itsparticular project. There is often very little concernor thought given to how one project may impact onanother or to the fact that a tribal council must dealwith a whole gamut of programs. It is every tribalcouncil member's responsibility to determinewhether their administration is orderly or whetherit is in a state of confusion.

14

Budget for Social Welfare Versus Redource Training

Social WelfarePrograms 90%

Natural ResourceTraining andTechnical Assistance10%

The lack of emphasis by the Federal Governmenton the development of human resources allowsfor the continued exploitation of natural resourcedevelopment with the lack of tribal managementdevelopment.

Tunnel vision is a luxury tribal councils cannotafford. They are charged with the responsibility forall their people and all their resources. Tribes mustdevelop a holistic orderly approach to decision-making in order to promote their general welfare.That's what this project is all about

1 5

AIO's MISSION

The mission that AIO choose to accept was to workwith five tribes providing training and technicalassistance on how to evaluate their effOrts ineconomic development for the purpose ofestablishing their own system to facilitate soundand effective resource development. These wouldbe tribes who had asked for our assistance previous-ly, who would vary as to location, size, population,labor force, and resource development. Ouragreement with the tribes and with the EconomicDevelopmen tAdministration was that all tribalspecific information would be held confidential tothat particular tribe to be released or used only asthat tribe saw fit. Based on our experience withthose tribes, we were to develop a process for self-evaluation to be published for the use of othertribes.

Our intention was to begin the project bye presentingsem tars for tribal councils designea to accomplishthe following objectives:1. Introduce participants to problems and

solutions faced and developed by other tribes,non-Federal units of government, and corpo-rations within the United States as well asdeveloping countries throughout the world, andteach participants how to apply that informationto their resource development needs;

2. Offer alternatives in resource developmentconcep s and management techniques;

3. Provide s ritten materials that the participantscan refer o for appropriate assistance fromgovernm t agencies and private resourcepersonnel.

4. Relate the oncept of tribal governmentalauthority t natural resource development;

5. Provide info ation regarding financing ornatural resou ce development efforts; and

6. Provide a fram work for decision-makingand problem so ving with respect to tribalownership, gove ment rights, and naturalresource develop ent

Then we were to undertake with the tribes aself-evaluation process assessing such factors as:

1. A review of past history.a. Relationship with the U.S. government

treaties, executive orders, etc.b. Tribal traditions with respect to making

a living.c. Review economic development efforts in

the past.

2. A review of internal structure.a.b.c.

Traditional methods of government.Present form of government.Analyze strengths and weaknesses inrelation to tribal control of resourcedevelopment.

3. A cursory inventoryof natural resources.a. Identify what is known based on present

information.b. Indentify what needs to be known in order

that a comprehensive inventory can be,undertaken.

c. Locate sources of assistance to complete acomprehensive inventory.

4. An inventory of human resources, includingtalent availab:e on and off reservation, trainingneeds, and additional technical assistance andexpertise needed.

5. An assessment of tribal priorities and a randomsampling of tribal members.

We were to document the evaluation process andpublish it for use by other tribes as well as preparean assessment of the entire training effort and itseffectiveness with each tribe in terms of:1. Creating a better understanding of the meaning

of economic development and its total impact onthe tribal community,

2. Making more effective use of tribal planningpersonnel and funds,

3. Implementing an informed decision-makingprocess, and

4. Establishing an economic climate which willgenerate employment.

15

THE BEGINNING

We began an initial round of c(..,Tespondence andthen meetings with tribal councils. We ratherquickly discovered that we had bitten off more thanwe could chew. It was clear that it was going to be amuch slower process than we had anticipated andthat we would need more time with each tribe. Theneed for staff members with special inter-personalskills was reinforced. They were not easy to find. Werealized that re-evaluation of cur original work planwas going to be the rule rather than the exceptionthroughout the project. We decided that threetribes would be the maximum we could work with.This made it even more imperative that the tribesselected include those with a diverse set of circum-stances, resources, and locations.

Among the three tribes there was a potential fordevelopment of natural resources, includingagriculture, hunting, fishing, energy and non-energy minerals, timber, lakes, rivers, coastalareas, etc. One tribe was in the Southwest, one inthe Northwest, and one in the Great Plains. In onetribe, almost a hundred percent of the people on thereservation spoke the tribal language and practicedthe traditional religion which was an integral partof the governing system. In the other two, a smallpercentage of the people spoke their tribal language.One tribe had been moved from one reservation toanother more than once. One was on an InterstateHighway; two had state highways running throughtheir main villages. One was surrounded by bordertowns; one was located two hours from the closestshopping center of any size; the other was locatedadjacent to massive mining and milling activity,and its accompanying boom town. One tribe hadsignificant tribal income. The other two didn't. Thesize of the land base varied from less than fiftythousand acres to more than a hundred fifty thou-sand acres. One reservation was allotted outand had a significant percentage of the land withinreservation boundaries owned by non-Indians. Onone reservation, there was land owned by individualtribal members, land assignment and tribally ownedland. On the other, all land was tribally owned andhad only land use assignments. In all three, thechairman or governor was elected or selected everyyear. Size of councils varied from five members tothirty members. One tribe paid its council membersfull time. Another had most of its council membersas program directors. The other council servedwithout pay. They were very different

16

Natural ResoucesIndians' share

Price ofuranium 543 Company,' 'a ton allitrebetdre,;

taxes

Coat&,Producton

Value edded'

Indlin share

The typical Indian share of thevalue of uranium mined fromtheir land is shown in Figure 4As ail energy resource produclion the Indians receive pitifullymeager portion of their resource wealth

Value addedby electricpowergeneration

Value addedby mining Bottom line

Valuereceivedby Indians

Value received by In-dians for their coal andvalue added by miningand processing thecoalby non-Indians

TAKING THE FIRST STEP

Ironically, the first step in evaluating your tribaldecis ion-making process is the decision to do it.How a tribe comes to that decision is a lesson in theprocess itself. It could be for any number of reasons.A tribe might be under severe pressure from one or anumber of go ....rnment agencies dissatisfied withthe management of the programs they are funding.The tribe might be going through severe internalproblems with constant disagreement over what isin the best interests of the tribe. The three tribesthat we worked with during this project had one ormore of their tribal decision-makers attend one ormore of our regional seminars on Indian Control ofIndian Resource Development and had particularconcerns about the development of one or more oftheir natural resources. They were concerned abouthow the decisions they were making and were goingto have to make would impact on their tribe.

It should be emphasized that whatever themotivation is for undei-taking a self-evaluation, thedecision itself is not an easy one. The word"evaluation" is a scare word. There is a natural andvery human fear that any evaluation is going to makeyou look bad. Council members are people, andpeople don't want to look badnot to others andleast of all to themselves. There is a fear thatanything negative will reflect on them and it willmake it hard on them in the next election or the nexttime the tribe goes after funding fora new project.Tribal employees fear that the Council will use anyevaluation against them personally They fear theCouncil. The Council controls their jobs. TheCouncil fears the employees. They often make upthe majority of the electorate. Everybody fearschange though most profess to want change.Everybody fears that power questioned is power indanger of being taken away. Everybody fears the lossof power. Nobody believes that an outsider canpossibly underctaid enough about their particularcircumstances Lo accurately evaluate anythingmuch less be helpful. Nobody really trusts aninsider to make judgments unbiased by theirpersonal feelings and priorities. Even though thepurpose of this project was to examine thedecision-making process of the tribe, it wasobviously going to affect the decisions the tribewould make in the future. In order to evaluate the

decision-making process it would be necessary toexamine how decisions had been made in the pastand how they were being made now.

In our initial meetings with the tribal councils wediscussed the kinds of information we would needand how we would collect it. We started with thisframework:

A. A review of past history1. Relationship with the United States

governmenttreaty, executive order, etc.a. Is the tribe on ancestral land or has it been

relocated?b. Has its jurisdiction been eroded by

legislation such as P.L. 280 or by "creepingjurisdiction" that is, the assumption ofjurisdiction by states or other governmentalentities over reservations.

c. Status of ownership of the land. Is it allottedland or tribally held? Are there non-Indiansliving on the reservation? Is it a checkerboardsituation? How much is leased to non-tribalmembers? What are the heirship problems?

2. Tribal traditionshow have tribal memberstraditionally made a living?

3. A review of economic development efforts inthe past:a. Independent efforts or non-government

funded programswhat worked, what didn'tand why.

b. Government programswhat worked, whatdidn't and why.

B. A review of internal structure1. Traditional method ofgovernment2. Present form of government

a. Constitutioncouncil make-up, terms ofoffice, election, decision-making process.

b. Codeslaw and order, environmental, landuse, taxation, etc.

3. Analyze strengths and weaknesses and theirrelationship to tribal control of resourcedevelopment

17

C. A cursory inventory of natural resources1. Identify what is known based on present

information2. Identify what needs to be known in order that a

comprehensive inventory can be undertaken3. Locate sources of assistance to complete a

comprehensive inventory

D. An inventory of human resources1. A catalog of talent available on the reservation2. A catalog of talent available from tribal members

living off the reservation3. A needs assessment based on the above

information what kinds of economicdevelopment are needed to utilize talentavailable

4. Assess additional training that would berequired to meet the needs of the people andstaff economic enterprises needed

5. Assess additional technical assistance andexpertise needed

E. An assessment of tribal priorities and a randomsampling of tribal members

DATA COLLECTION,TRAINING,AND TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE

We had intended to schedule and present seminarsas our initial effort in training and technicalassistance. We would bring in outside expertise innatural and human resource development invarious areas according to the needs of the tribe. Inour initial meetings with tribal councils, it becameclear that this was not the best approach. Wedecided instead to take a more informal approach,meeting with council members and otherdecision-makers individually and in small groups.Rather than beginning with a formal seminar, wewould undertake data collection, training andtechnical assistance simultaneously. In theprocess of collecting data, we would be able torespond immediately to questions and concernsraised by those from whom the data was to becollected.

We initiated the initial data collection processdifferently with each tribe.

Tribe A. We set up individual interviews withprogram managers or division heads, furnishingthem no prior written questions to respond to.

In the interview we asked the following:1. Describe your program? Goals, objectives, past

history.2. Describe the services you provide.3. How do you provide the services? Do the people

understand the program?4. Who de you provide the services to?5. What are your major problems in carrying out

your program?6. What is your budget? Who approves the budget?

Who monitors the budget?7. How does your program relate to other tribal

programs?8. How does your program fit into the planning

process of the tribe? Who coordinates short andlong range planning? Who is responsible for theoverall development of the tribe?

9. Who do you report to?10. How does the Council relate to your project?11. What changes would you make in your program

if you could do anything you wanted to?12. What is your opinion of other tribal programs?13. What do you see as the most pressing problem of

the tribe?14. What other tribal responsibilities do you have?

I'}

15. Are staff members qualified? If not. what type ofskills or training is needed?

16. Are salaries and fringe benefits adequate?17. Is there enoughand if not, what would it take?18. Who administers program?19.Who does the program ultimately answer to?20. Who hires and fires personnel?

Tribe B. We assisted Council members in preparinga list of questions which were then distributed toDepartment Heads or Division Directors fordistribution to their employees as well as to variousindividuals that we came in contact with. Thesequestions were designed to determine whatindividuals knew about their tribe,their tribalgovernment, their reserva dun, the economy, thetribal administration, their feelings about membersof the tribe who lived off reservation, their goals forthe tribe and for themselves as individuals, theirshopping habits, their most pressing needs, theirperceptions of the most pressing needs of the tribe.Those choosing to respond were asked not toidentify themselves and promised that theindividual surveys would be seen only by our staffwho would summarize the answers. The summariesonly would be furnished to the Council.

This tribe was going through an internal review oftheir position descriptions for individualemployees. A10 staff participated in that reviewalong with Council members and the PersonnelDirector.

We also scheduled individual interviews with theDepartment Heads where we used the same basiclist of questions as we did with Tribe A.

Tribe C. With-Tribe C, we distributed the list ofprogram questions used with Tribes A and B prior toour first contact with the Department Heads andDivision Directors. They were asked to prepareanswers and discuss them with us during ourindividual visits. The Council Chairman thenarranged for a group meeting of their programs.Prior to that meeting, the tribe arranged for its to flyover the reservation and surrounding area in orderto give us a physical perspective of the layout. Afterthe briefing, we drove around the reservation,visiting the various offices, looking at the variousactivities and projects. Later, we visited withindividual directors.

EVALUATION CAN BEFRIGHTENING-EVEN WHENYOU DO IT YOURSELF

One of our first jobs was to allay the fears of tribaldecision-makers and program staff. The mere factthat there will be data collected and an evaluationeven though it is to be self-evaluationcause the"territorial imperative ' to surface immediately. The"survival tendency" is to justify and avoid criticismboth for themselves as individuals and for theirprogram at all costs. It manifests itself in theattitude of "We've seen consultants come and go.We aren't telling you anything and anything you tellus, we'll shoot down because you won't have theproper information. You don't know how thingsreally are."

One approach is to sir down in a private informalmeeting with individual council members, programdirectors, and any others who wanted to talk to us orwho we identified as being a source of informationityi the process of talking with others. We talked. Andwe taiked. And we talked about almost anything, butthe details of their particular program until thatperson eased up enough to trust usor made thejudgment that we were not to be trustedso that wecould get down to business. It was very importantfor our staff to deveiop the art of listening. There is avery thin line between being a truly sensitive andinterested listener and being a phoney. Beingavailable and responsive was important to thesuccess of our assistance. For instance, wesometimes sat in meetings with people one after theother from 8:00 to 5:30, to find the person we metwith at 8:30 or 9:00 and who may have been verydifficult to talk to, waiting tc ask if we could talk for afew minutes over a cup of coffee or could they comeby the place we were staying after dinner.

When we were on site, we attended parties. wed-dings, funerals, committee meetings anythingwe we:e invited to and felt natural and comfortabledoing regardless of whether the person whoinvited us was five or eighty-five. We learned a lotabout a Cay-care center, for instance, from talkingto the HEW director and the teachers. We learneda great deal more from the five year old who broughtus crayolaed pictures and asked us to "come see myschool tomorrow." Standing up in front ofa group

19

of young men working in the forests saying "Youshould be controlling the management of your ownforests" has some effect on some people. Sittingwith two or three of these same young men later,listening to their fears of terminaton if the tribecontracts to run their own programs, includingtheir own forests, is a much easier time to say, "Hey,termination is a very real threat. But suppose you letyour timber operation continue the way it is now.You won't have any forests left. Are you any more orless terminated personally if you can't make a livingon the reservation? And how about little Tommy?So he's only two now. You've told me that you wantTommy to be able to live here all his life if he wantsto. What if there's nothing left for him?" Then youcan get serious about what's good and what's badabout the present system. We are not in a positionthen of saying, "This is the way you do it." We cansay, "Have you tried... "or "Have you thought of...or, "What if..." or, "One tribe I know of has..." or,"I know this guy who's really good at... Should wesee if we can get him to come for a few days?" Or,"No, We'll see what we can find out."

20

INFORMATION IS POWER

The planning function is key to the entire deci-sion-making process of any tribe. Whether theplanners or the council think so or not, they do havea tremendous influence over the decisions the tribalcouncil makes. Why p'anners? Because theycontrol the information the council has to act on.Yet the planning function and the planners role inthe tribal administration is the most misunderstoodand misused possibly in the entire managementof tribal affairs. The following dialogue is not atranscription of one interview but a combinationof questions, answers, attitudes, and misconcep-tions that we picked up in the process of trying tounderstand how planning is handled on a reservation:

MO: You have quite an impressive organizationalchart. I didn't realize you had so manyemployees.

TC *: We have about a hundred and eightynow. Five years ago, wejust had one anda secretary

AIO: How many people live on the reservation?TC: I guess around a thousand, maybe twelve

hundred. Lots of people are coming back now.MO: With things changing sofast how do you

handle long range planning ?TC: We have an EDA planner and a HUD planner.

Me: What kinds of things do your planners do?TC: Right now, they are working on updating our

OEPD . That grant is up in January. Then theyare working on a proposal to get refundednext year.

AIO: That's your Overall Economic DevelopmentPlan? May we have a copy of it?

TC: Sure, if we canfind it. But, it's really kindof outdated and not really accurate. Thestatistics are not too good and we don't havevery good maps on the land because theBureau hasn't surveyed very much of ourland. I'll make an appointment with theplannerfor you.

AIO: How do youfind outfrom the people whatthey would like to see done on the reservation?

TC: Oh, we have a planning committee.

Tribal Council

0A ,...

MO: Who is on the committee?TC: Well, there's uh, no, he died last year. And,

uh, well, wellget you the list, but I don't reallythink it's very up to date.

AIO: How often do they meet?

TC: I think every month, but you canfind out allthatfrom the planners.

AIO: Do they report to the Council?TC: They're supposed to.

MO: Who do the planners report to?TC: Wel!, to the Council.

MO: Who hires andfires?TC: The Executive Director and the Personnel

Officer interviews them, then the Councilapproves them.

MO: Are your planners tribal members?TC: Two of our boys are associate planners

MO: How long has your planner been workingforyou?

TC: Well, I think this one's been here about twomonths. We had to get rid of the last one.

MO: What kind of training does your plannerhave?

TC: He went to school over at U.I think he's gothis degree.

MO: How about your associate planners?TC: I don't know if George went to college or not.

He was over someplace else until that grantran outand Tom's going to U'When thisgrant runs out,I think. If he dontget married.Him and the Jones girl are getting prettythick.

MO: How do you go about preparing your OEDP?MO: Well, we have this grant and we haven list of

things that have to go in it so the plannersjust get it together.

MO: Do your planners attend Council meetings?MO: They're supposed to .They have to if they've

got a proposal we've got to approve.

2

AIO: When they bring a proposal to the Council,dos it have to have been reviewed by allyour department heads or the planningcommittee?

TC: The Planning Committee's supposed to. Justthe department headjLr the department it's

for has to sign it.MO: Now, you have c. proposalfor a shopping

center, how would that be handled?TC: The Planners would write the proposal and

then when it wasfunded (or maybe when itwas built) they would turn it over to Buildingsand Grounds. By the way, we're breakingground on ours next week.

A10: Who all would they talk to in the process?TC: EDA and BIA andprobably INS. And I guess

the Committee.MO: Which department wads?

TC: Nit 11, maybe Buildings and Grounds andRealty tofind out where it could be built.

AIO: How would they decide what kind of businessspace is needed?

TC: Well, they usually know how much money wecan get so theyjustfigure it out.

MO: How would they determine the types ofbusinesses that couldgo in the space?

TC: We'd hire that consultant who put that onetogether over at Wanabe that gotfunded.

MO: Who would run the businesses and howwould they befunded?

TC: Well. I guess whoever wanted to and could getcredit.

MO: Who would be responsiblefor assisting thosepeople ingetting credit?

TC: That would be the Credit Office.AIO: The Tribe's?

TC: No, we got this guyfrom the Agency thatcomes over to Angloton every two weeks.Usually. We're trying to get oneout here.

MO: Do the Planners talk to the Credit Officebefore the proposal is submitted?

21

TC: No. they don't have anything to do with ituntil the building's built and somebodywants a loan.

MO: Do the Planners talk to Law and Order beforethe proposal is submitted?

TC: No. Why should they?MO: Well, I wasjust wondering if they will be

responsiblefor patrolling , security, parkingcontrol, that sort of thing.

TC: While its being built, theyll have to watch it, Iguess, to see nothing's stolen or torn up. Thenthey 11 -yeah, theyll be responsiblefor policework, but not until it's built. Course, there'sno road down to it yet. And when we get thoseold buildings torn down across the street, Ithink well put a parking lot in-

MO: No road?TC: As soon as the BIA gets their new

appropriation,1 think they 71do it.MO: In the mean time?

TC: Well, we've got a grader and we can run alittle road down there. It'll be okay exceptwhen it rains.

MO: How often does it rain?TC: Aboutfour days a week. Sometimes more,

sometimes it's nearly all week.MO: Parking?

TC: When those old buildings are torn down Ithink well get some moneyfor that prettysoon.

MO: The cost is not included in the proposal?TC: Well, there was only so much money

available- looks like well have an overrunas it is.

A10: Is Law and Order going to have to have anymore money to provide pro tectionfo r theshopping center?

TC: They're pretty shorthanded. And you knowI,EAA got theirfunding cut. I don't know whatBIA's gonna do.

AIO: Who will handle the money for the building?

TC: The Comptroller.

22

MO: Did the Comptroller review the proposal?TC: Theyllget a copy when it'sfunded.

MO: Will the Comptroller have any costs to theirofficefo r handling the money?

TC: I don't guess so.MO:

TC:MO:

TC:

Who will keep the books, write the checks, thefinancial reports?The bookkeepers,Iguess.Can they do that with their present. staff?They're pretty shorthanded-etc ...etc ...etc .. .

PO*: I heard y'all were coming. What did youwant?

MO: The Council has asked us to work with theTribe through a self-evaluation.

PO: We read the letter. I suppose you want to seethe OEDP?

A10: Yes, and any other documents you've puttogether. Demographic data, maps, anythingyou think would be helpful.

PO: We're updating the OEDP.171give you the oldone, but youllsee that some things havealready been done and some of the statisticsare not very reliable.

MO: Why riot, do you think?PO: Well, I guess the report was dueand I

wasn't here then. Maybe that'sjust the waythe Council wanted it.

MO: Who do you workfor?PO: The Council.

MO: On a daily b:zsis?PO: Well,I'm not sure I know what you mean.

AIO: Say, you wanted to buy office supplies or takeannual leave or go on travel.

PO: I can make purchases iffve got the money inmy grant. ljust send a purchase order to theComptroller. If I want to take annual leave, Iask the Executive Director . Ifl want to go ontravel, I have to go to the Executive Directorand two Council members.

Planning Office

0'w1/

MO: Any two?PO: Yes.

MO: Where do you fit on the organizational chart?PO: The one in the OEDP says wefit out to the side

of the Council with a direct line.MO: As advisors?PO: I guess so.

MO: How do you spend the majonty of your time?PO: Writing proposals.

MO: Do you write all the proposalsfor the Tribe?PO: No. So me of the departments write their

own. We mostly just write proposals forconstruction and stuff like that.

MO: When other departments write theirproposals, do they ask you to help or douou review and comment on them?

PO: Sometimes. They might use the demographicdata we have.

MO: Oh, have you done a demographic survey?PO: The-Tribe got a grant to hire Doltar, Dollar , and

Dollar to do itfor them two or three years ago.MO: Could we have a copy?PO: I'll see if we canfind it. Sid, didn't you work

on that?MO: Do you attendCouncil meetings?PO: Ill know about them, or ifsomebody tells me

to be there.A10: Who gives you instructions on the proposals

you are to prepare?PO: Different ones.The OEDP has some priorities

in it. But usually one of the Council memberswill think of something or we'll see a notice inthe Federal Registor where some program isavailable. Then I'll talk to one of the Councilmembers andsee if they want us to write it up.

MO: If you wanted to do a comprehensive longrange planfor the Tribe, what do you thinkshould go into it?

rJ '

PO: We should take a look at the businesses onthe reservation, the people, the housing, allthat kind of thing. But we can't really do that,you know. We don't even know who the landbelongs to in a lot of cases.

MO: Are you putting that information together?PO: I blink Realty is working on that. But BIA's

got to do a lot of surveying.A10: Who decides what is going to be st...rveyedfirst?PO: Your guess is as good as inine. I go to Realty

when we're writing up a proposal end tellthem what we're thinking of We talk aboutthe best place and then see what's available.If we have to have a survey, then Realty triesto get onefrom BIA. Sometimes that takes along tim4. But if the Chairman wants to pushan assignment throug hfor his son-in-law,they get right over here.

AIO: Why the difference?PO: Well, the Chairman goes to D.C. u tot, and I

guess theyjust don't like the hassle. Theywant to keep him happy.

MO: Butfor the TribePO:

MO:

PO:

MO:PO:

MO:

PO:

MO:

Yeah, well, its a lot easierfor his son-in-lawto get his attention than it isfor me.Back to comprehensive planning. Do youhave an inventory of natural resourcessay,your coal or timber or gravel?We don't have any minerals that we knowof except the gravel pit. And the timber, butForestry takes care of that.How do people make a living here?Most of them workfor the Tribe, or the lumbercompanies, orfish. Some have their own boats.When you are developing a housing projectand deciding on a location, do you discuss itwith Forestry?No, they do their own stuff. We don't get intothat. The BIA Forester does all that.Suppose the area you've selectedfor housingis in theforested area, or close to it. Or if acertain plot will be cut, doesn't that affectdrainage and, certainly, beauty? Or what ifthey've planned a logging road through thisarea where there will be a lot of kids playing!

23

PO: Well, yeah, but-well. I never thought of that.MO: I hear the tribe is thinking about a tribalfarm?PO: That's what I heard-but the land won't

be availablefor a while. maybe next year.MO: How are you involved in the planning?PO: We've asked BIA to let us know when the

leases are coming up.MO: Do you have land use codes?

PO: No.MO: Environmental codes?

PO: No. We do have a business tax code. but I don'tknow too much about it.

MO: Do youfgel that you n use yourfull talentsas a planner i a rpresentjob?

PO: I came here really believing that because itwas a relatively small community. where allthe people really cared about the kind ofcommunity they live in. it would be excitingand challenging and I could really do goodthingsfor people.

MO: And now?PO: Gee, I don't know. It's like theyjust hired me,

sat me down in a room and said. "Okay,you're a planner, plan."Only when I try to, dothat-really think in terms of comprehensiveplanning like you've talked about forestry.agriculture. and everything . I get told. "Don'tworry about that, they'll do that. You write theproposalfor this, that or the other."Ijustdon't know what I'm supposed to bdoinganymore.And the politics-theyjust don'tteach us that in school.

MO: Have you ever tried talking to anybody on theCouncil about this?

PO: Not really. Oh. I've tried, but Ijust don't seemto be able to get through.

MO: Do you think other planners-urbanplanters, say. over at Whittonville-thi:we to

- deal with these same kind of problems?

l

24

PO:

MO:

PO:

AIO:PO:

Well, myfriend was the planner over there,but he gotfired the other day because theygot a new city manager. The old city managerwas gung-ho on growth and the new one isforslowing down growth and when he saw theplans-well. hejustfired him. I hear he has anold college buddy he wants to give thejob to.The awful part is myfriend hadjust aboutfinalized a grantfor a big public worksproject, now this new guy will get the credit-In other words, it isn't too dierentfrom whattribal planners have to deal with?Except that this guy grew up in that town. Hisfamily has lived thereforever-active in localpolitics and he really had an understandingof the town. This new guy is an outsider. TheCity Counciljust doesn't understand what aplanner is supposed to do.Where are youfrom?I grew up about a hundred milesfrom here-okay,' hear you.I never really thought aboutit like that-I guess it's not so different. But Ithought it would be.I thought if II came herewith my degree; I would be able to really planwithout politics. Besides I don't think youunderstand-

MO: Why did you think/fhdre would not bepoliticsin an Indian tribe?

PO: Well. you know. the history books-MO: You didn't understand that tribes have

governments?PO: Well.yes. Sure . But I guess I had a pre'ty

romantic notion about the environment andthat Indians weren't materialistic and thingslike that.

MO: Nobody works under ideal circumstances.. And we all think our own particular circum-

stances are worse than anybody else's.PO: Hey, listen. I've got tofinish this proposal. but

could we get together after work? Maybe Icould take you out to the newfisheries site-

\I want to look at it myself-then we could stopby Barfys and have a Deer. and talk somemore. I've got an idea-

MO: Sure. I'm going over to Forestry now, then Imeet with some other departments in themorning so that would really be helpful to me.What do you think abotit me suggesting tothem that we all get together while I'm. here?

PO: That would be great. I don't think they'll do it.but I'd sure like it.

I want to point out again that this is a typicalexchange and though the particular resourcesmentioned may seem to identify the tribe. they donot. I could have used any example-any tribe. anydepartment. any time and the responses wouldbe largely the same.

I could write dialogue as we moved from Departmentto Department in any tribe and be able to describethe prOceSs much more succinctly and with a betterfeeling for the mechanics ofihe self-evaluationprocess far more effectively than I can in par graphsof prose. :would also like to point out that opennessand exchange often did not come about in th- firstconversation. It might have on the third, or sixth, orwhatever, and sometimes it never happened. Westeered gently and we learned from them as they .

learned from us. Many of the people we worked within these sessions would say-no- if they were askedif we had provided training and technicalassistance. Yet, when we go bzz-..k and see changesbeing made that we've suggested. or perhaps an ideathat was discussed. beginnirg to take form out oftheir minds and activities wit..1 a new twist all theirown, we feel that we made a cc atribution. After all.the purpose of this project is tribal self-evaluation.

At the same time.we were collecting informationon the pntsent. we began to look for historical data-unfortunately mostwritten historical data on tribesis not very accurate:Some tribes are alredy.puttingtheir tribal histories together. We collected copiesof the treailes. constitutions, codes, written pro-cedures. planning docunients. organizationalcharts. etc.

We also assembled data on the natural resources.economic development projects and tribalprograms regardless of their source of funding.

We brought in outside consultants with expertisein areas of particular concern to work directly withthe tribes as a part of the training process. We alsobrought in representatives of government agencieswho had not previously worked with thetribes toaddress special problems. We also did research andprepared reports for the tribes on matters of specialconcern.

All three tribes expressed interest in receivingtraining on investment management. We arrangedfor them to go to New York where Equitable LifeAssurance Society of the United States conductedbriefings for tribal representatives. A report fromthis briefing is attached as Appendix IV-as anexample of the kind of information we provided.

We studied the information we collected, consultedwith political scientists and sociologists with ex-pertise in governmental organization. re-read thetranscripts of seminars on Indian Control of IndianResource Development, talked with decision-makers in other tribes about their tribal structuresand problems thatave to deal with and struggledwith preparation for presentations to the tribes.

25

FINISHING UP

As we promised, the information we prepared for theindividual tribes has been furnished only to them.It is difficultimpossible, in factto say that thisproject, or this process is finished. Self evaluation,if it is meaningful and real must continue as a basicpart of the decision-making structure. Attached asAppendices I, II and III are indices of the materialswe put together for the three tribes. There are simi-larities and there are major differences. We didnot assume that we could tell anyone of the tribeswhether they should reorganize or how they shouldgo about it. Those are their decisions. What we havedone is point out that there are five very simple ques-tions that should be asked every time they are calledupon to make a decision. Those questions are:

Who Are We?What is our history? How did we come to be a tribe?What is the origin of our present form of gOvern-ment? What is the purpose of this government, thistribe?

Where Are We?What are our human resources? What are ournatural resources? What have we done in the pastthatbrought us to where we are this day?

What Do We Really Want to Do?Are we meeting the needs of our people? Have wedecided what those needs really are? Have weestablished the priorities that we must establish?Are we thinking of today only or are we thinking oftomorrow and next year and next century?

Why Do We Want To Do It This Way?Is this the only way? Are there othcr ways? What arethe trade offs? Does this fit our priorities? Does itmesh with the other things we are doing now?

How Do We Get It Done?-What kind of talent, expertise and resources willthis require both directly and indirectly? Where willwe find these things? Where and how much are wewillingto compromise?

Questions are always simple. It is the answers thatare hard. For tribal decision-makers with the futureof their people in their hands, there are no easyanswers.

OBSERVATIONS ANDRECOMMENDATIONS

Based on our work with Tribes A, B nd C and withother tribes, several common problems haverevealed themselves. Most of these problems havebeen experienced by states and cities and cannot begenerally ascribed as Indian failures. Rather, theyare common problems of government units trying toimprove conditions for their people in a piece-mealfashion. Indian nations' problems are compoundedby their intricate relationship with the Federalgovernment which must be maintained, refined anddefined as they do everything else. In spite of theseemingly overwhelming problems tribes face, theygenerally have done a lot better job than othergovernmental entities, considering their limitedexperience and dependence on outside support.

Common Problems:

1 . tack of Long Range Planning and Continuity.When we first began this project, our immediateimpulse was to blame all the problems that tribesare facing on the lack of long range planning andcontinuity in the government. This turned out to bea correct analysis except that we were thinking of itonly as a tribal failing.

It is a tribal failing but it is also a failing of the federalgovernment. The tribes are dependent on the whimsof the Congress and the Administration, neither ofwhich do long range planning themselves, thoughboth expect it from other units of government. TheCongress changes. The Administration changes.With those changes come changed priorities.As a resultthe best laid plans of tribes and statesand counties and cities often go awry.

Tribes have a tendency to use planning as a meansof getting grants rather than as a technique ofdeciding what grants are needed, or what stepsshould be taken in the orderly development ofresources. The Federal system encourages ratherthan discourages this practice. Governmentagencies are faced with the same dilemma everyyear at appropriations timetheAdministrationrequires a justified budget which must be preparedin view of the dollar limitations the traffic will bear,the popularity of their programs and their politicalconstituency. The Congress requires that theAdministration justify it all over again to tnem. Theyoften disagree on priorities and the Congress will

As,

Increase of Federal Pro, rams

1970Reservation Ahad 3 federalprograms

1978 Reservation A had increased itsfederal programs to 32

Federal programs have caused a virtual explosion in the requirementsfor expertise, talent, and management systems. Many tribes havesimply become extensions of the Federal government.

send the Administration programs to administerand carry through that they don't even want. Theirchoice-the President's-is to veto the entireprogram the Congress sends up for signature inorder to get rid of the ones he doesn't want and inthe process throw out all the programs he doeswant. Eventually the process works its way to thetribal level where a tribe may have a choice of takinga program from a federal agency that it doesn'tparticularly want in order to stay in the good gracesof an agency that may next year have something itwants. Or it just may be the only money around foranything. Like any other good politician, tribaldecision-makers behave like good politicans-tribesare much like "wild cat" oil explorers who bring ingushers. It's a great feeling to watch that oil

spraying high up into the air at first-you're rich!Then you realize that it doesn't mean any wealth toyou as long as it's spraying up into the air. All it is-doing is getting all over everything polluting your airand water-and making you oily and unrecognizable.Before the well means anything it must be broughtunder control and put into orderly production. Youhave to decide how much you want to pump out,what you want to use it for and whatyou are goingto do with the money. You have to recognize thatone spark can blow you to smithereens. It is verydifficult, to realize, as you watch your geyser risingto the sky, that some day the oil will be all goneand all you'll have left is a mess to clean up.

Recommendation:There is no one answer to this delemma. Like deathand taxes, it is inevitable. Like the poor, it will bewith us always. Realizing that it is a fact of life mayhelp both the Federal and Tribal governments dealwith it in a more dignified and realistic manner.

2. The Boom Town Syndrome: Every tribe-not justthe ones we are working with-is experiencing whatwe have labeled the "booni town" syndrome. With afew exceptions, tribes have only been in thebusiness of tribal government for about five years, atthe most, ten years. That is to say, they have beenadministering their own grants, hiring their ownemployees, writing their own checks, administeringtheir own "formal" court systems and the like for avery short period compared to the other governmen-tal entities in.this country.

Yet they must perform all the functions ofgovernment that any city, country, state or thefederal government doeS. Further they mustperform in a way to satisfy their econom. needswithout exploitation and protect the culture andenvironment of their own people; all this andconform to federal government expectation andregulation at the same time. At the same time,they have to combat constant assaults on theirresources, rights and tribal powers.

Mostly, tribal governments must work with agen-cies and individuals who do not recognize or allowfor the short time they have had to develop theiradministrative structures.

27

,c,

A part of the "boom town" syndrome is thedichotomy created in the economy as a result ofgovernment and industrial jobs. There is also anincreased population on the reservation due toreturning tribal members coming back to takeadvantage of new opportunities as well as outsiderswith special skills needed by the tribe. The shortageof housing is more acute. One tribe will literallychange the complexion of their reservation with asingle project which will bring fifty outside familiesonto the reservation which will amount to about onefourth of the population. Another tribe is investinga major portion of its own resources in a touristattraction that will bring several thousand touristsinto the middle of the living area of the reservationwithout provisions for taking economic advantageof the visitors or considering the impact on theliving habits of the community.

Recommendation:The "boom town" syndrome must be recognizedby both the tribes and the federal agencies. The"boom" won't last forever. Tribes must reinvesttheir new found riches in their own human andnatural resources. Tribes must begin to developtheir own internal redistribution systems. Federalagencies must be conscious of overloading tribalsystems. Joint funding arrangements or coopera-tive agreements will be very beneficial to both thefederal agencies and the tribes. The tribes will havea better chance to design holistic programs that willbe more productive and less bogged down by manydifferent administrative restraints.

3. Tribes are in danger of being bankrupted by thecost of administering the federal social programsthey have taken on in the name of self-determina-tion. Most tribes have become extensions of thefederal government and have become programadministrators rather than governing bodies. Thebudgeting process is viewed narrowlythat is, pro-gram managers are preparing budgets only for theirprograms and were restricting themselves to allow-able costs under the regulations for the particularagencies they sought funding from.

--,,,-..

28 ---,-,

-,,....-...

Increase in Tribal EmploymentTribalEmployees

140

120

100

80

- so

40

20

900 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

The influx of Federal programs now administered by the tribes hascreated a mushroom of tribal employment and a new elite on the reservation,and unanticipated problems Some tribes in just 4-5 years have gonefrom 5 tribal employees to 120-140

Indian % of Economic DevelopmentAdministration Budget

66 67 68 69 70 73 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80

Problems associated with the boom town syndrome add to stresseson individuals and familieswhich are showing up in increasing familyproblems

0 n1,..0 %.,

Income Flow

NM 5% savings

illEll 5% spent on Reservation

111.1 90% spent off Reservation

Leakage of moneyreservation dollars become part of theeconomic system of those living in the surrounding non-Indiancommunities. This is contrary to the ofd economic systems based

redistribution and sharing. There is no economic system. onlyan `economic passthrough.

The c sts of council supervision, for instance,are ofte not recognized. This is particularly truein the cab of councils who do not pay their councilmembers. his results in not knowing the truecosts of a pr ram. Government agencies oftendiscourage this kind of true budgeting and report-ing. They like to be able to report to the Office ofManagement andBudget and to the Congress thata smaller amount ofdollars produces a largenumber of results. Few tribes have systems fordocumenting these overhead costs. When tribesbegan to contract for Butrau of Indian Affairs andIndian Health Service programs they were severlyhurt by that failure. Overhead rates were based onthe amounts of money being spent by the tribe on its

_central government. Tribes -who had incomes wereable to document much higher overhead rates than

\

tribes who had no income; thus those who had moregot more.

Some projects will impact on other programs andunless those prcgrams are aware that they will haveadditional demands, then they will come up short.For instance, a new museum might bring manyadditional tourists to a reservation. Providing theoperational dollars for the museum is just one ofthe costs and probably the only one included in thebudget for the museum. Yet is will cause a need forincreased services from the police courts, garbageclean-up, building maintenance, utilities, etc. Itmay cause criminal or civil jurisdiction problemswhich, if not addressed ahead of time, might causeexpensive court problems. The traffic may cause aneed for children's playgrounds. If that tribehappens to be a timber tribe, then the increasednumber of tourists might interfere with the loggingoperations. Accounting for the revenues andexpenses is going to cause an additional burden onthe Accounting Department It is going to requireCouncil time for supervision because they areultimately responsible for the success or failure ofthe operation.

Without joint funding some of the problems couldbe avoided if there was a system for review by allprogram directors of any proposal submitted. Atribe could draw up its own checklist for reviewwhich could include two phases:One would be anotice of intent to prepare a proposal to be sent toall Council members and program directors. Itcould include a brief description of the scope ofthe proposed project and a request for commentson impacts of that project on everybody else'sactivities. The same could be done for any workprojecta timber sale, an increase in the size of atribal farm, a new business, etc. Ifyou wanted tojustgo crazy on community participation, youcould print it hi your tribal newspaper and ask forcommunity comment or put it on the agenda for ager,....ral council or "town meeting". Thesccondreview would be when the proposal is completed.

Sounds very bureaucratii:, doesn't it? It is, but if youturn back to the organizal ional chart on page 12 orlook at your own tribe's organization, then you'llsee that tribes are already bureaucracies. Further, if

3 0-

29

you go back in your tribe's history, you'll probablyfind that any major decision affecting the tribe wasalways discussed with the tribal leadershipwhatever form it took and probably the communityas a whole. How traditional can you get?

'Aecommendation:Some problems could be alleviated if there was jointprogramming by the tribes and joint funding by thefederal agencies. That is slowly beginning tohappen. It needs to be nurtured and encouragedrather than thwarted by federal agencies' territorialimperatives.

4. Lack of Perspective. In order to gain perspective,we have studied other governments, federal, stateand local, other tribes and developing foreignnations. For example, at first glance, family andclique relationships within a tribal governmenthorrify outsiders. Understanding that everygovernment has them whether they are calledliberal or conservative, labor or management,Democrat or Republican, multinationals or laborunions, helped us put into perspective both forthe tribes and ourselves, the problems associatedwith decisions influenced by special interestgroups whetherit's your brother-in-law orthe guywho makes a big donation toyour senatorial orpresidentialcampaign.

Recommendation:Tribal decision-makers themselves must be moreaware of their roles in their government and theirtribal government's role as a government. The kindsof decisions that are being made in this decade arejust as important and just as hard as those made byleaders of old who had to decide whether to go to waragainst the invaders, whether to make peace withthe United States and whether to fight to ward offtermination in the fifties. There is no room for "goodold boys (or girls)" who mean well-there must bestrong, knowledgeable leadership. A part of thisleadership role is not only to see "the big picture"but to help others to see it-both inside and outsideyour tribe.

30

Tribal governments must govern-they cannot justlook like governments or talk like governments,they must be governments.

5. The Status of Land Ownership. This is one of themost pressing problems of all the tribes and themost unforgiveable in terms of the exercise of thefederal trust responsibility. The tribes have onlybegun recently to try to accumulate the data forthemselves having been dependent on the Bureau ofIndian Affairs as to the official recorder andcustodian of this information. Economicdevelopment or other community developmentefforts are often hindered because no one knows forsure which lands are under whose control. Housingand economic development activities are oftenlocated on land less desirable than other locationssimply because a particular piece may be the onlyone to which the tribe has clear title and exercise ofcontra Surveys are incomplete or non-existent forparticular plots of land. Requests to the Bureau ofIndian Affairs for surveys may be delayed forinordinate lengths of time "due to work back log"and a lack of funding to "support" or "a shortage ofpersonnel". A related problem is heirship. Again,poor recordkeeping is a major contributing factor.Neither the tribes or the government has clear cutpolicy or legal precedent to deal with fractionatedheirship. One tribe may have several categories ofland ownership or control. Some reservations areallotted to both Indians and non-Indians; somereservations have assignments, use permits, etc.;some have surface and not mineral ownership.Economic development particularly of naturalresources will always be complicated and hindereduntil these problems are worked out.

Recommendation:This problem is so clearly one created andperpetuated by Federal policies that it provokes anincredible sense of outrage. Outrage, unfortunately,doesn't feed the baby. Tribes must get their recordsin order whether it is with or without governmentassistance.

3 .4.

6. Lac.: of a Political Power Base. Indian tribes haveto spend large amounts of time and energy to makethe Congress and the federal agencies aware of theirproblems, and responsive to their needs. They mustcompete with states and counties and cities whohave representatives in the Senate and House of

. Representatives. Those members of the Congressdo not always recognize the tribes as a part of theirpolitical constituency.

There is a general misconceptiten that Indians takefrom the economy and do not contribute. Even inthis "enlightened" day, there are many who believethat Indians sit on their reservations drawingchecksirom the government every month and notpaying taxes. The truth is that Indians make anenormous contribution to the communities inwhich their reservations are located. Indiangovernments do receive money from various federalagencies just as cities, counties, and states do.Indians also generate income from their resources,businesses, and from individual employment. Allthis money goeSoff the reservation into thesurrounding community often without even turningover one time. Indians pay all taxes except propertytax on trust property, and state income tax if theyreside on a reservation. They buy almost all theirfood, clothing, gasoline, cars, appliances, etc., innon-Indian communities. Non-Indian contractorsget a great majority of the construction monies forTribal buildings.

Even when tribes are able to establish economicsystems which allow circulation of money on thereservation, it will still eventually go into thesurrounding communities.

Recommendation:The Indian community as a wholejnust increase itsefforts to make others aware of the contributionIndians make to the economy as well as thegovernment's responsibility to Indian nations.

Much of the anti-Indian "backlash" we haveexperienced in recentyears could be eliminatedif the non-Indian community understood theinterdependence of the two communities and that aprosperous Indian community is good for everybody.

,e

A WORD TO THE WISE

One thing any tribe can count on is a consensusfrom the tribal members that the tribal governmentdoesn't work as well as they would like it to. Anotherthing you can count on is that there will never be aconsensus on exactly how it should work. Proposedchanges may be met with weeping and wailing andgnashing of teeth. Some will say, "but we've alwaysdone it that way ." Nobody has ..tver always doneanything the same way. Tribal governments beganto change the minute they bec,. me governments.They had to change to meet new circumstances andnew challenges.

Tribes are now faced with rapidly changingcircumstances and new challenges. Indians are thefastest growing ethnic group in the United Stateshalf of the Indian population is under sixteen yearsold. Many of our young people are developingvaluable skills. Most of them want to use thoseskills in the best interests of their people. If the tribedoes not develop a way to use those skills, it willlose its best and brightest. Tribes are living on thelast land they will ever have. They are faced withdecisions about developing non-replenishableresourcesa one time only decision. Tribes sharethe problems of the rest of the countryinflation,energy shortage, a deteriorating environment.Tribes must deal with an ever-changing Federalgovernment and live in an ever-changing largersociety.

Yet, tribes and tribal governments have survivedlonger than anybody canyemember and longer thananybody can remember anybody that remembered.They learned to cope; theyalways have. The challengeto this generation is to develop the skills to insurethat theyalways will.

31'4.

31

APPENDIX I

Index for Tribal Handbook-Tribe A

I. Tribal History

A. Origins and MigrationsB. EconomyAgriculture

1. Hunting2. Crafts3. Trade

tC. Cultural and Social LifeD. Tribal GovernmentE. First Contacts with EuropeansF. International RecognitionG. Land StatusH. Attachments

1. Original Land Grants2. Act to Confirm Land Claims3. Patent4. Graph, Grant and Reservation5. Act to Reserve Certain Lands on the

Public Drmain6. Agreeraent7. Purchase of Area

II. Tribal Sovereignty

A. Tribal Powers1. Limitations of Tribal Power2. Treaty Relationship3. Lands Act4. Tribal Constitutional Limitations

B. What Is Sovereignty?1. General Definition2. European Origins3. Sovereignty and Independence4. The International Recognition of Sovereignty5. How is Sovereignty Related to Nations,

Government, Politics?6. What are the Powers Exercised by Sovereign

Nations?7. Are Indian Nations Sovereign?8. What are the Sovereign Powers Exercised by

Indian Nations?

32

C. Jurisdiction1. Jurisdiction Defined2. Historical Background3. Indian Jurisdiction and the United States

Governmenta. Legislative Branchb. State Jurisdiction

4. Indian Jurisdiction Today5. Notes6. Appendices

a. Appendix I, Selected Bibliographyb. Appendix II, Table of Casesc. Appendix III, Solicitor's Opinions

Concerning Taxation and Indian Affairsd. Appendix IV, Federal Taxing Statutese. Appendix V, Taxation Chart

III. Tribal Government Structure

A. Tribal GovernmentB. Ordinance Prescribing a Code of Law and Order

IV. Tribal Administration

A. Law Enforcement ServicesB. Social Services Prograth

1. Alcoholism Treatment and EducationProgram

2. Tourist Visitor Center3. Central Planpower Pool4. Neighborhood Service5. Early Intervention Project

V. Tribal Court

VI. Natural Resources

A. TimberB. Agriculture

1. Alternatives to Agricultural Development2. Case Studies of Successful Tribal Farms

a. Ak-Chin Farmsb. CRIT Farms

3. Estimated Costs for Developing New andReclaimed Farmland for A Tribal orCooperative Farm

4. What About Irrigation? For Tribal DecisionMakers

C. GrazingD. Minerals

1. Mineral Exploration2. Mineral Ownership3. Getting A Fair Deal in Mining Projects

E. Water1. Water Study

a. Comprehensive Water Report and NeedsAssessment(1) Water Resources(2) Domestic Water(3) Potable Water(4) Range and Livestock Water(5) Agricultural(6) Quantity of Water(7) Water Projects, Costs Estimates(8) Appraisal Report

2. Study of Potable and Irrigation WaterSupply Quality

3. Tourism

VII. Population and Housing Survey

VIII. Past Economic Development

IX. Tribal Government Reorganization

X. Before You Develop: Considering the Impacts

A. ?hases of Technological AssessmentB. Impact AnalysisC. Constraints

XI. Maximizing Benefits from Natural ResourceDevelopment

XII. Funding Possibilities

A. Financial Sources for Development

1i

APPENDIX II

Index for Tribal HandbookTribe B

I. History

A. History1. Fishing and Harvesting2. Hunting3. Agriculture4. Timber5. Trade6. Culture and Social Life7. Government8. The Treaty with the United States9. Fishing Rights

10. AppendixAa. Indian Treatyb. Fishing Rights

II. Treaty of 1885

III. Inherent Tribal Powers

A. Sovereignty1. General Definition2. European Origins3. Sovereignty and Independence4. The International Recognition of Sovereignty5. How is Sovereignty Related to Nations,

Governments, Politics?6. What are the Powers Exercised by Sovereign

Nations?7. Are Indian Nations Sovereign?8. What are the Sovereign Powers Exercised by

Indian Nations?

IV. Jurisdiction

A. Jurisdiction DefinedB. Historical BackgroundC. Indian Jurisdiction and the United States

GovernmentD. State Jurisdiction TodayE. NotesF. Appendices

1. Appendix I, Table of Cases2. Appendix II, Selected Bibliography3. Appendix III, Solicitor's Opinion Concerning4. Appendix N, Federal Taxing Statutes5. Appendix V, Taxation Chart

V. Tx kbal Government

A. Souxe of PowerB. Tribal PowersC. ConstitutionD. Tribal CourtE. The Administration

VI. Abstract of Reservation

A. Population DescriptionB. Population EconomyC. Population

1. Present Population2. Indian Population

D. HighlightsE. Housing

VII. Flow Chart of Departmental Responsiblities

A. Planning DepartmentB. Health, Education and WelfareC. Accounting DivisionD. Forestry Department

1. Tribal2. Bureau of Indian Affairs

E. FisheriesF. Tribal MuseumG. Municipal DepartmentH. 'rousing AuthorityI. Law and Order DepartmentJ. Manpower Program

VIII. Natural Resource'.

A. Physical Features1. Climate2. Geology3. Soils4. Upland Ecological Communities5. The Freshwater Environment6. Marine Resources

34

B. Forestry1. Modern2. Federal Trust Responsibility and the Forest3. Tribal Management Program

a. Management Practicesb. Forestry Inventoryc. Pre-Commercial Thinningd. Current Tribal Operationse. Timber and Tribal Income

C. Fisheries1. Resource Base

D. Coastal Zone Management Program1. Coordination of Programs2. Coastal Zone Management Program3. Background4. Planning Process5. Issues, Goals, and Objectives

IX. Human ResourcesA. Employment, Unemployment, and

Under-EmploymentB. Catalog of Skills Needed on the ReservationC. Notes

X. Inventory of Small Business Projections forIndian Reservations

XI. Suggestions for Cooperative EconomicArrangementsA. Management CooperativeB. Tribal Loan FundC. The Economic Development

1. Administration's Improper2. Planning and Lack of Accountability

D. Possible Sources of Technical Assistance

XII. Use of Funds

XIII. Before You Develop: Considzr the Impacts

A. Phases of Technology AssessmentB. ImpactAnalysisC. ConstraintsD. ImpactAnalysis: General Bibliography

XIV. Maximizing Benefits from Natural ResourcesDevelopment

APPENDIX III

Index for Tribal HandbookTribe C

I. History

A. Language and TerritoryB. History, European ContactC. Fur Trade Period, 1665-1828D. Treaties and Land Cessions, 1816-1865E. Reservation Period (Establishment)F. SynonymyG. Sources

II. Treaty Summaries

A. Appendices, Original Treaties

III. Inherent Tribal Powers

A. General DefinitionB. European OriginsC. Sovereignty and IndependenceD. How is Sovereignty Related to Nations,

Government, PoliticsE. Are Indian Nations SovereignF. Sovereign Powers Exercised by Indian NationsG. Summary Tribal Powers

IV. Jurisdiction

A. Jurisdiction :tefinedB. Historical BackgroundC. Indian Jurisdiction and the United States

Government1. Legislative2. State Jurisdiction

D. Indian Jut isdiction TodayE. Appendices

1. Table of Cases2. Selected Bibliography3. Solicitor's Opinions Concerning Taxation and

Indian Affairs4. Federal Taxing Statutes5. Taxation Chart

1

V. General Description

A. LocationB. SizeC. Distance to Population CentersD. PopulationE. Geographic FeaturesF. UtilitiesG. CommunicationsH. Significant Linkages with Surrounding RegionI. Local Government

VI. A Look at Tribal Government

A. Problems IdentifiedB. Why is there a tribe?C. Why is there a tribal government?D. What went wrong?E. Tribal Government TodayF. What is the function of a Government?G. Reversing the Trend

VII. Tribal Administration

A. Division of Government1. Legislative Department2. Tribal Court3. Advisory Committees4. Finance andAdministration Department5. Comprehensive Health Department6. Education Department

VIII. Land Status

IX. Economy

X. Natural Resources

A, Agricultural LandB. Timber LandC. Other Natural Resources

3"35

XI. Human Resources

A. Population and Labor Force Characteristics1. Population Characteristics for Total County2. Population3. Income4. Labor Force Characteristics5. Labor Needs and Demands

XII. Planning Commission

XIII. Economic Development

A. Resources Available1. Human Resources2. Natural Resources3. Cultural Resources4. Financial Resources5. Industrial Resources

XIV. Community Tribal Goals

A. OverviewB. Economic Development GoalsC. Activities to Improve Employability and Self

SufficiencyD. Managing Natural Resources to Create

EmploymentE. Increasing Local Commercial Business to Create

EmploymentF. Create Recreation and Tourism to Share our

Community with Others while CreatingEmployment

G. Develop Industrial Enterprise in Keeping withthe Basic Goals of the Community that willprovide new Employment

XV. Action Programs

A. Economic Development Action Program1. Facilities and Services fer General Community

Development2. Facilities and Service Needed to Support

Economic Development Activities3. Activities to Improve Employability and Self

Sufficiency

36

.

4. Increasing Local Commercial Business toCreate Employment

5. Create Recreation and Tourism to Share ourCommunity with others while CreatingEmployment

6. Develop Industrial Enterprise in Keeping withthe Basic Goals of the Community that willprovide new employment

7. Develop Industrial Enterprises

XVI. Bi-Annual Project for Implementation

XVII. Agriculture

A. AlternativesB. Case Studies of Successful Tribal Farms

1. Alt-Chin Farms2. CRIT Farms

C. Estimated Costs for Developing New andReclaimed Farmland fora Tribal or Co-operativeFarm

XVIII. What About Irrigation? For TribalDecisionMakers

XIX. Planning for Ecomonic Development

XX. Maximizing Benefits from Natural ResourceDevelopment

XXI. Before You Develop: Considering the Impacts

APPENDIX IV

Investment Management Orientationfor Three TribesEquitable Life Assumice SocietyNew Yolk, New YorkSeptember 15,1878

One Tribal Council requested thatAmericans forIndian Opportunity arrange for an investmentmanagement orientation for members of theircouncil. We asked Coy Eklund, President and ChiefExecutive Officer of Equitable Life AssuranceSociety of the United States to assist us. He invitedthe three tribal councils to send representativesto Equitable's New York Offices for an orientationand tour of Equitable's investment operation.The following is a list of the people present, and asummary of general information presented:

Equitable Life Representatives

Glen Johnson, Vice PresidentDirect Placement OfficeJohn Dudley, Vice PresidentTreasury DivisionGary Burkhead, Senior Vice PresidentCorporate Investment SectorBob Hayes, Vice PresidentPortfolio Managementruns large pools of investment in publicly tradedstocks and bonds; works closely with pensionsJim Creddon, Vice PresidentDirect Placement DeapartmentDon Quay, Group Pension Departmentworks with national accounts and investmentprogramsJim Ryan, Vice PresidentInvestment Advisory Department:works between people who have dollars and peoplewho invest itDorothy Orr, Vice PresidentCorporate Social Responsibilityconsiders social consequences of decisions (socialand financial goals)Howard Sohn, Assistant to the Vice PresidentOffice of Corporate Social Responsibility,monitors social issueskeeping track of programsand activitiesAmericans for Indian Opportunity

Margaret L. Gover, Assistant to the PresidentRegis Pecos, Technical Assistant SpecialistMarianna Ray, Research Director

3,

Tribal Representatives

A total of ten from three tribes.One Bureau of Indian Affairs Representative.

WHAT IS AN INVESTMENT?

According to Websters New Collegiate Dictionaryit is:investmentthe outlay of money usually for incomeor for profit; capital outlay; the sum invested or the

tproperty purchasedWebsters New Collegiate Dictionary

A tribe may invest in many things. Equipment,buildings, scholarships, housing, etc. In thesecases, it is expected that the return on theinvestment will be better services to the people.Or a tribe might invest its money in the moneybusinessbuying and selling instruments of credit(instruments of credit can be-anything from apersonal IOU to stocks and bonds). There are risksinvolved in every investment. That is, there is agamble. When you put your money into scholar-ships, for instance, you are betting that the moneywill be used to provide an education for one of yourpeople which will pay off in more opportunitiesfor that person and/or a more capable servant ofyour people.

Whm you invest money in a savings account for acertain amount of interest, you are betting thatthat bank will be able to make enough money offof your money and that of other savers to pay youthat amount of interest plus enough to pay theiroperating expenses. If you invest in stocks of acertain corporation, you are betting that the man-agement of that compnay is going to be smartenough to use the money in such a way that thevalue of stockthe amount you would be able tosell it forwill go up and that perhaps there will beenough profit to be divided up among all thosewho have invested in (or bet on) that companydividends.

Even if you stuff your money in your mattress orbury it in the ground, you are still gambling. You aregambling that when you dig it up it will still be

37

worth what it was when you buried it. For example, arefrigerator costs $500 now and you have the $500,but you don't want to buy a refrigerator until nextyear when you move into your new house. So youbury your $500 in a coffee can out in the yard. Wtienyou dig it up and go to buy the same refrigerator nextyear, you may not be able to buy a refrigerator for$500your money is not worth what it was when youput it in the ground.

Understanding risks was the focus of the invest-ment management orientation presented byofficersof Equitable Life Assurance Society of the UnitedStates for members of the Tribal Councils.

Investment Management Objectives:

The first step in setting up an investmentmanagement program is to establish objectives.That is, an investor must decide why he wants toinvest money.

Current Income:It might be for current income.For example, if a tribe wanted to support its tribaladministration or a scholarship fund or a burialfund with the interest or the proceeds or investingits capital, then they would be investing for thepurpose of providing current income. The incomefrom the investment would be spent as it becameavailable.

Capital Appreciation: The objective might be forcapital appreciation. That is, instead of spendingthe income each year, the interest or the proceedswould be added to the amount of the investment(the capital you had at the beginning) andeinvested. It would continue to accumulate.

Maintain Liquidity: The objective might be tomaintain liquiditythat is, to make money off ofmoney until it is needed for something else. Atribe might have a sum of money that it wants toset aside for loans to tribal enterprises or toindividual tribal members. Perhaps no suitableenterprise was ready for funding or nobody askedfor a loan for a year or two or three. The moneyshould not just sit there, yet it should be availablewhen it is needed.

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Diversification:An investment objective mightbe diversification. Perhaps a person has investedall their money in one kind of investment, sayoranges. So far oranges have done okay, but pastexperience shows that there is a killing freeze onan average of every five years. Thisis his fifth yearwith oranges. Maybe it will freeze this year andmaybe it -von't So he decides that he shouldinvest in apples and grapes so the chances formaking money or losing money are spread outover more than one thingdiversified. He maymake money off all three, or make money on twoand lose on the third; or make money on oneand lose on two. Both the chances of makingmoney and the chances of losing are spreadover a wider area.

Risks:Every decision to invest is accompanied by risk.Recognizing and minimizing those risks is the realtrick. There are four major kinds of risks:

Credit Risk: You don't want to invest in a companyor al,..isiness that has a reputationfor not payingits hills. You are, after all, loaning them yourme ney. You need to know as much about who youare investing in as possible. This is not easyandit requires skilled research.Interest Rate Risk: There is a risk involved withinterest rates. You invest a thousand dollars at 8%provided you leave your money in this particularinvestment for one year. Six months later, theinterest rate goes up 10%. On yOur thousanddollars at 8%, you would make $80. If you had beenable to take your money at the end of six months,you would have had $40 interest. If you invested itagain at the new 10% rate, you would make $50 forthe second six months. That would be a total of$90 for the year or $10 more. But, of course, theinterest rate could have gone down.to 6% or 5%. Inthat case, you would have been better off tyingyour money up for a full year at 8%.Inflation Risk: Inflation, very simply put, meansthat the money you have today won't buy the samethings tomorrow. It won't be worth as much. As la

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the refrigerator example used above, there is arisk in not using the money you have. This mustbe weighed along with consideration of all otherrisks.Market Risk: This risk has to do with being able toforese the rise and fall.psfthe-value of the product-you are investing in. For instance, if you hadinvested in hula hoop before they became popu-lar and sold out at the he' ht of the popularity, youwould have made a lot of money. But if you held onto your hula hoop stock thinking the fad would goon forever, todayyour hula hoop stock wouldn'tbe worth much. The ability to understand markettrends requires training and skill.

The trick in investing is to invest in a variety cf.edifferent things with varying risks. This is calledportfolio mix. What is a portfolio? les just a fancyword for list. When people talk about their invest-ment portfolio, it is simply s list of their investmentsand the basic data related to each investment.

Stocks and Bonds:

A Bond is merely an IOU. The borrower agrees to payyou back the entire amount of the loan on a given.date called the maturity date plus a certain amountof interest. The interest is paid at a set rate and iscollected at predetermined intervals throughout thelife cf a bona. T} is is usual), called the "couponrate".

A Stock is a litle piece of ownership. That is, a stockrepresents ix 'lb, Are of the ownership of a company'scapital or assets. When ou buy a share of stock ina company, you pay a . that is supposedlyequivalent to the value the company dividgd bythe number ofshares available for sale. In actuality,the value of a share of stock is based on what peopleare willing to pay fora piece of the ownership. While'small amounts of money may be made throughdividends, that is, a company makes enough profitso that it decides to share it equally among thestockholders, the real money in the stock market ismade by buying and selling. You buy when peopl,!.&int think a company is worth very much and take achance on the value going up so you can sell whenpeople think it's worth a lot. Avery risky business!

Can' A Tribe Manage Its Own Investments?

Certainly. All tribes do whether they think of it inthose terms or not. The land and the people areinvestments. Although there is a recognizedresponsibility of the Fe ieral government to overseethe management of those resources, the "trustresponsibility", the tribal decision-makers stillhaye the final responsibility.

The management of money, like the management ofany other resource is a very complicated business.

`''Most tribes do not have the technical expertiseimmediately available to enter the stock market orthe business of buying and selling money. Thismeans they must do two things: ( 1) develop theirown capabilities; and (2) know what they don't knowand buy that kind of expertise.

There are investment counselors, brokers, bankers,and others who can advise a tribe on how to plan.They cost money and you should understand thatyou will have to pay. The Bureau of Indian AffairsTrust Management Division does a betterjob thanit once did. Tribal decision-makers have theresponsibility of deciding whether they are doingthe best possible job. One way is to ask hardquestions. They work for you aid notvice-versa. It istheir obligation to give you all the information youneed upon which to base an informed decision.

The best of all possible worlds, of course, is thatyou have your own expertise. The Equitable LifeAssurance Society has indicated that they willconsider an internship for some tribal members tobe trained in investment management as a part oftheir corporate responsibility program. There areprobably other companies who would be willing toconsider this possibility also.

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