ADVISORY

The Interior Department Announces Consultation Meetings
Schedule for Indian Trust Management Proposed Plan

Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton today announced the schedule of a series of tribal consultation meetings on a proposed plan to consolidate the management of trust assets management under a separate organizational unit.

"Tribes and tribal leaders are the most important component of this process," Secretary Norton said. "We are committed to taking action now that will chart a new course for positive, productive trust reform that will benefit American tribes. Your input is invaluable, and I look forward to a productive series of meetings."

The meetings are scheduled to be held in various parts of the country with tribal leaders to discuss the department's proposed plan for establishing a separate organizational unit to focus exclusively on trust asset management. The first two in a series of meetings being scheduled, will be held Dec. 13, 2001, in Albuquerque, N.M., and Dec. 20, 2001, in Minneapolis, Minn. Other meetings will be announced as the logistical details are confirmed.

Under the proposed plan unveiled Nov. 15, 2001, trust asset management functions will be organized into the new Bureau of Indian Trust Assets Management. The proposed Bureau of Indian Trust Assets Management will concentrate on four main areas of enhanced capability: trust reform, performance and program management, beneficiary services, and trust asset and investment strategy development. The new assistant secretary will be responsible for many of the functions currently performed by the Office of the Special Trustee. In addition, the new assistant secretary will assume responsibility for trust reform implementation. These functions also include those performed by the Office of Historical Trust Accounting, currently within the Office of the Secretary. In addition, all Indian trust assets management functions currently within the Bureau of Indian Affairs will be transferred to the new Bureau.

Tribal Consultation on Indian Trust Asset Management

Date:        Thursday, Dec. 13, 2001

Time:        9 a.m. (Local time)

Location: Hyatt Regency Albuquerque
                 339 Tijeras, N.W..
                 Albuquerque, N. M.

Date:        Thursday, Dec.20, 2001

Time:        TBD

Location: Double Tree Hotel Minneapolis Airport (at the Mall)
                 7901 24^th Ave. South
                 Bloomington, Minn.

The department published notices on the first two meetings Nov. 27 (Albuquerque) and Dec. 5 (Minneapolis) editions of the Federal Register. The December 5 notice includes a change in the December 13 meeting hotel. Dates and locations for the remaining meetings will also be published in the Federal Register and announced by the department's communications office.

Since taking office as Interior Secretary in January 2001, Secretary Norton has moved on several fronts to help improve the Indian trust program. She created the Office of Historical Trust Accounting to provide focused efforts to get the work done, and she commissioned EDS Inc., a widely respected independent consulting firm, to study the program. The EDS study provided key recommendations that confirmed the need for dramatic change in management of Indian trust assets.

The Department of the Interior trust responsibilities for American Indians dating back to 1887 to manage, among other things, royalties from grazing, mining, logging, and oil drilling on Indian lands. Management of Indian trust assets has been criticized many times by Congress, the General Accounting Office, the courts, and American Indians during the past 130-year history of this decentralized program. Generations of Indian beneficiaries have relied upon the government offices, spread among nearly 300 sites nationwide, to manage their assets.

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