Navajo Times

Superintendents of BIA Meet at Denver

The first nationwide meeting of superintendents of the Bureau of Indian Affairs in more than 20 years--and the first ever held with the Secretary of the Interior, an Assistant Secretary and the Commissioner of Indian Affairs in attendance--will take place at Denver, Colorado, for three days starting October 16.

The prime significance of the conference, Commissioner Philleo Nash explained, lies in the fact that superintendents--the present-day successors of the old-time 'Indian agents'--are the Bureau's principal officers maintaining direct daily contact with the Indian people on reservations. They are being brought together in a nationwide meeting, he added, at the request of Secretary Stewart L. Udall in line with the Secretary's emphasis on strengthening the Bureau's relationships with the Indians.

The working group scheduled to meet at Denver includes 56 superintendents, 10 area directors, Commissioner Nash and top staff members from the Bureau's central office in Washington. Talks will be presented to the conference by Secretary Udall and Assistant Secretary John A. Carver, Jr.

The conference will take place at the Olin Hotel. Two sessions will be open to news reporters and the public: (1) one starting at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, the 17th, featuring Secretary Udall's address, and (2) the opening session starting at 10 a.m. on Monday, the 16th, at which Assistant Secretary Carver will be the main speaker.

All other sessions will be limited to the working conferees.

Four pressing problems closely related to the superintendent's front line responsibilities are scheduled for discussion: (1) Indian land use, (2) criteria to be used in determining the eligibility of individual Indians for Bureau services and assistance, (3) law and order on Indian lands and (4) Indian economic development.