Superintendent of the Fort Belknap Consolidated Agency. The Fort Belknap Indian Community also pays the salary, $3,175 per annum, of 1 GS-3, Realty Branch, clerk-stenographer. This individual is a civil-service employee; the salary is included in the annual budget by the tribal council of tribal land enterprise funds. This individual takes and transcribes general Realty Branch dictation including correspondence; types reports and legal documents; receives and processes oil, gas, and mineral leases, receives and checks applications for fee patents and for the sales of lands; maintains files as to land sales, fee patent applications and leases and performs other related duties as assigned.

In addition to the two salaries hereinbefore mentioned, the Fort Belknap Indian Community annually sets up from tribal land enterprise funds which accrue through collection of lease and range permit fees charged by the enterprise, a portion of the salary of one clerkstenographer, GS-3, assigned to land operations, this salary contribution is in the amount of $978 per year. This individual takes and transcribes dictation for all departments under land operations, types reports, and files land operation materials, acts as receptionist and as secretary to the land operations head.

The community also sets up annually from tribal land enterprise funds, the salary of a part-time clerk assigned to range. This individual does general typing for the range conservationist, and types range permits, schedules of collections and such other work as assigned. The annual salary contribution for this year is $1,200.

3. The Fort Belknap Indian community does not have a real-estate adviser either on a full- or part-time basis. The amount of tribal funds available or of tribal land enterprise funds available is insufficient to carry the salary of such an individual.

4. The community does have a real-estate committee of 4 individuals appointed from among the 12 council members. This committee does not have authority to approve real-estate activities. It acts in an advisory capacity to the council as a whole.

5. The Fort Belknap Tribal Council does have a real-estate committee which advises the council as to tribal real-estate activities. This committee's recommendations are based upon information furnished by the realty branch of the agency and upon individual and collective thinking and experience by the various members of the committee.

6. The tribes have never employed private consultants to study any of the phases of its real-estate activities. No reason can be given for the nonuse of consultants other than lack of funds, lack of experience in the use of consultants, and possibly to repugnance in the thought of accepting guidance from individuals outside of the tribes. The Bureau of Indian Affairs has not disapproved such employment at this agency and would not disapprove except as funds were not available for the service.

7. The Fort Belknap Tribes do have a tribal land enterprise. This tribal land enterprise was set up in temporary form in 1946 and the detailed plan of operation was approved by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs in 1947.

As originally proposed the purpose of the land-service enterprise

was

to assume the clerical work and services involved in leases, permits, exchanges, partititions, sales, purchases, assignments, and other adjustments in ownership or use of individual and tribal restricted lands *** including advertising for sale of oil and gas and mineral leases and the preparation of oil, gas, and mineral leases.

This plan of operation was approved retroactively at the time of the 1947 approval.

The plan operation, as finally approved by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, had set forth as the purpose of the enterprise the following:

The primary purpose of this tribal land enterprise is to buy allotted lands, particularly complicated heirship tracts on the reservation and return such lands to tribal ownership. It will also be the purpose of this enterprise to secure the return to tribal ownership, either through purchase or legislation, of the 19,691 acres of State school lands within the reservation boundaries. These lands were granted to the State of Montana in accordance with the act of Congress of March 3, 1921 (41 Stat. 1355). Another purpose of the enterprise will be to secure a permit from the Secretary of the Interior authorizing the Fort Belknap Indian community tribal land enterprise to administer the 25,530 acres of so-called submarginal land on and adjacent to the reservation. It may also be neccessary in this connection for the tribal land enterprise to purchase additional lands adjacent to the reservation to block out the present submarginal and IRA land purchase holdings.

Both of these tribal land enterprise plans were set up and approved by the Bureau at a time when realty branch staffs were woefully inadequate insofar as the handling of realty records and current work of leasing, sales, fee patents, and vital statistics were concerned. Realty branch staffs shortly thereafter were drastically reduced to the extent that the Bureau of Indian Affairs, at some agencies, carried no realty personnel whatsoever and tried to operate at other places with one employee in civil-service status and such other help as it could beg and scrounge from the tribes. It was therefore necessary that tribal land enterprises be and were set up with the thought in mind that such enterprises, particularly on reservations organized under the reorganization under the Reorganization Act, would take over and handle all realty branch functions at the agency level subject to the supervision of the agency superintendents. The arrangement could not be considered as a successful solution and, in 1954, the first steps in this area were taken to beef up realty branch staffs sufficiently to handle the realty situation insofar as current work is concerned. At the present time, staffs are still composed of civilservice personnel paid from appropriated tribal funds and tribal personnel paid from local tribal funds, as is the case at Fort Belknap. Realty branches at the various agencies are still understaffed in general because of the workload engendered by the heirship situation and the fact that records are not set up to handle the present situation. A few agencies have been fortunate in that competent personnel was procured from other governmental agencies, without the reimbursement of funds, to set up some of the records so badly needed. Those Indian agencies not so fortunate must set up the records along with the current workload. These agencies will require years for the development of such records under the circumstances.

The necessity for the realty branch to use, in its operation, tribal employees who are principally responsible to their employers (the tribes) rather than to the United States Government which has the trusteeship responsibility continues a situation very much to the detriment of governmental prestige. It likewise results in poor morale at the agency level and usually lowers the volume of work completed. It may also be stated that the time spent in orientation and instruction of such employees is lost through somewhat rapid tribal personnel turnover.

The realty branch at this agency is responsible for the supervision and all of the work of the tribal land enterprise except action by the tribal council in rejecting or accepting transactions.

At this reservation the setting up of the tribal land enterprise has resulted in the retention in trust status of a large acreage which probably would have passed into fee by this time.

8. The Fort Belknap Tribes under their constitution and bylaws and the tribal land enterprise have never had the complete control of real-estate operations both tribal and allotted on this reservation. All transactions have been supervised by a civil-service employee under the direction of the agency superintendent and all transactions have been by or through the Billings area office.

Tribal handling of realty operations is not successful because of the effect of tribal politics, family relationships, personal gain and influence, turnover in employees, and generally a lack of technical ability. Bureau handling properly discharges the trust responsibility as long as sufficient staff can be maintained at the agency level.

B. REPLY TO QUESTIONNAIRE AS TO ROCKY BOY'S RESERVATION

PART I

1. The Rocky Boy's Reservation on July 1, 1947, consisted of 104,843 acres of trust lands in tribal ownership. The tribe held no acreage in fee-simple status at that time.

2. There was no acreage in individual Indian ownership as of July 1, 1947.

3. There were nine disposals of tribal trust property to fee status during the fiscal years 1948 through 1957. These are tabulated as follows:

4. There were 3,196.65 acres of tribal lands transferred from trust to fee-simple status during the fiscal years 1948 through 1957. These are tabulated as follows:

5. The following types of transactions as to disposal of tribal lands took place during the fiscal years 1948 through 1957:

6. The following acreages of tribal lands were disposed of during the fiscal years 1948 through 1957:

7. During the fiscal years 1948 through 1957 the tribe acquired lands not previously in Indian ownership through transactions listed as follows:

8. The tribe acquired 5,407 acres not previously held by tribes or individual Indians during the fiscal years 1948 through 1957 through the following listed transactions:

9. During the fiscal years 1948 through 1957 the tribe acquired lands not previously in Indian ownership through transactions as listed below:

10. There were 5,407 acres, not previously held by the tribe or individual Indians, acquired by the tribe during the fiscal years 1948 through 1957. These acreages are listed below and held in trust. status:

11. A total of 107,053 acres were held in tribal ownership on the Rocky Boy's Reservation on December 31, 1957. All of the acreage is held in trust by the United States Government. The tribe has acquired no acreage in fee.

12. There is no trust or restricted acreage in individual Indian ownership on the Rocky Boy's Reservation. The reservation has never been allotted.

13. No discussion of special acts required. Do not affect the Rocky Boy's Reservation.

14. The Rocky Boy's Reservation is unallotted. There is no heirship problem as to lands.

PART II-ROCKY BOY

1. No tracts designated as key tracts of tribal lands on the Rocky Boy's Reservation have been sold. The reservation is not allotted.

2. None of the tracts sold or exchanged were considered by the tribe or Bureau of Indian Affairs to be key tracts.

3. Question does not apply to the Rocky Boy's Reservation.

4. No tracts alleged by the tribe to be key tracts were sold to nonIndians.

5. There were no key tracts sold to non-Indians.

6. All purchases and exchanges on the Rocky Boy's Reservation were acquired in trust status and are considered as key tracts necessary to consolidate tribal holdings or control water for livestock. No lands are held in fee simple.

PART III-ROCKY BOY

1. The Chippewa-Cree Tribe of the Rocky Boy's Reservation, Mont., is a tribal corporation organized under the Indian Reorganization Act. The business committee, which is the elected governing body of the corporation, consists of nine individuals. The tribe does not have a real-estate employee. The tribal treasurer makes recommendations to the full business committee as to proposed realty transaction and that body exercises all committing authority. No salary is paid for real-estate-employee services.

2. No real-estate-employee salaries are paid in part or in full from the Rocky Boy's tribal funds. No personnel is employed.

3. The Chippewa-Cree Tribe does not have a real-estate adviser, either on full-time or part-time basis. The tribe has a very limited amount of funds at any time and must rely on governmental advice and its own thinking and experience.

4. The tribe does not have a real-estate committee with authority to approve real-estate activities. This authority is exercised by the business committee as a whole. Proposed transactions are few and the tribe is reluctant to place authority in the hands of a committee.

5. The tribe does not have a real-estate committee which advises the business committee (council) with regard to tribal real-estate activities. Proposed transactions are few and the business committee depends upon information from the Government and its own thinking and experience in arriving at decisions.

6. The tribe has never employed private consultants to study phases of its real-estate activities. It does not have funds sufficient to pay such consultants. Tribal bodies ordinarily are yes to acceptance of advice of outsiders also. The Indian Bureau has not disapproved