purposes; 480,000 acres were set apart for grazing land for the tribes; and 2,033,583 acres were opened to settlement under the Presidential proclamations at various times.

The remainder was reserved for townsites under the act of March 20, 1906, 34 stat. 80 c. 1125, and additional allotments. (Fig. 2.)

The total allotted acreage to members of our three tribes have since been reduced through individual sale to a total of approximately 229,000 acres or a reduction of roughly 48.5 percent.

Tribal lands now held in trust for the Kiowa, Comanche, and Apache Tribes total, 4,539 acres, which represents slightly more than 1/100 of 1 percent of land holdings in 1865—a dramatic decrease.

In addition, the 1900 act reserved certain lands for use of the United States for schools, hospitals, and agencies.

A portion of the land on which the Fort Sill Indian School is located was reserved by the United States for these purposes.

The 791.8 acres we are seeking in S. 2818 is a part of the land area recognized as Kiowa, Comanche, and Apache holdings and ceded to the United States in the 1867 Medicine Lodge Treaty.

Prior to the purchase of this 791.8 acres for the purpose of expanding of the agricultural training program at the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Fort Sill Indian School, some 1,357 acres of the reserved area were either sold or conveyed by the United States to various parties.

It is particularly significant to note that of the total, 1,147 acres were either sold or conveyed to the city of Lawton and the remaining 213 acres were sold to non-Indian individuals.

The premature disposal of these lands by the United States to the city of Lawton and others later resulted in the United States having to purchase lands from private owners to provide sufficient acreage for the Fort Sill Indian School to maintain an agricultural training program for Indian students.

One final note; our tribal land holdings have decreased from 90 million acres to 4,539 acres.

It has been said on more than one occasion that "land is the basis of all things Indian.

"Land, moreover, has many meanings for the Indian.

"The relationship of a tribe to its land defines that tribe: its identity, its culture, its way of life, its methods of adaptation, its pattern of survival.

"Indian land is synonomous with Indian existence".

The Comanche elders teach us that the earth is the mother of all men; our predicament is that: if our part of the mother is totally lost, we will be homeless orphans.

This bill, S. 2818, is an important part of resolving that predica

ment.

We hope this historical information, together with the presentations of our obvious need to increase our land base to aid in our ongoing efforts to raise the economic level and, thus, the living standards of our people, will provide your committee further insight for your deliberations.

Thank you for the opportunity to appear before this subcommittee in support of S. 2818.

Now Senator, we have our testimony in three categories.

We would like for questions to be asked after the three witnesses are completed so that we could answer them.

We are in sequence here as to our historical problem of S. 2818. We would like the witnesses to go in order.

Senator BARTLETT. That will be fine. Thank you, Mr. Motah.

STATEMENT OF FRANK REDBONE, CHAIRMAN, THE APACHE TRIBE OF INDIANS AND CHAIRMAN, THE KIOWA, COMANCHE AND APACHE INTER-TRIBAL LAND USE COMMITTEE

Mr. REDBONE. Mr. Chairman, Senator Bartlett and other gentlemen of the Indian Affairs Subcommittee, I am Frank Redbone, chairman of the Apache Tribe of Indians and also chairman of the Kiowa, Comanche, and Apache Inter-Tribal Land Use Committee, which is the formally recognized joint planning and land-use body of the three tribes.

My colleague, Mr. Motah, has given you a brief account of our land history.

The purpose of my testimony is to acquaint you with our current efforts and plans to develop our present land holdings as well as place into the record of this proceeding a copy of and discuss a report commissioned by the KCA Inter-Tribal Land Use Committee and prepared by the Oklahoma Indian Affairs Commission and the University of Oklahoma, Office of Community Personnel and Planning Programs relating to the planned use of 791.8 acres being considered in this bill.

We began our planning activity on one of the land areas we own within the city limits of Lawton, Okla., involving 310 acres.

Our Kiowa, Comanche, and Apache Inter-Tribal Land Use Committee, in coordination with the Bureau of Indian Affairs, developed a preliminary site development concept for this area.

It was our purpose to use this plan as a basis to invite proposals from prospective developers.

This concept was accomplished in 1970 and brochures were mailed out early in 1971.

Following this initial attempt, when the Economic Development Administration in 1971 determined that Indian Tribes in Oklahoma could become eligible for their assistance, we were among the first to submit our Overall Economic Development Plan to establish recognition.

Upon recognition by EDA, we submitted a request for technical assistance to prepare a feasibility study to determine the best approach to development of the previously mentioned 310 acre site.

This study recommended that a 56-acre tract which we own in this same vicinity should be the first development with proceeds from this venture to become the seed money and catalyst for a phased development of the larger area.

We proposed assistance from EDA to establish a light industrial park on the smaller 56-acre tract at an estimated cost of $200,000. This project has been approved, and we are now in the process of finalizing designs to proceed with inviting bids for construction. Based on contacts we have had thus far, we anticipate some promising enterprises to locate on this site.

We are looking forward to this initial development as one of, hopefully, several that will become the means for our people to improve their living standards and to reduce the chronically high unemployment level.

We have accomplished these developments in spite of the fact that Oklahoma Indian Tribes have been generally ineligible for development and other programs that have benefited Indian tribes in other parts of our Nation.

In the report prepared by the University of Oklahoma for our Land Use Committee, an important finding is that other land is available for the city of Lawton to develop a regional park.

On pages 11 and 12, the report states the following:

There is currently some discussion in the Lawton area about development of a regional park, and such a development may come about if use of the Wildlife Refuge is sharply curtailed.

Where to put such a park becomes another question.

Considerations of size, terrain, location, access and economic use all combine to indicate that this 791.8 acre tract is not the place for it.

Consideration for such a park site might better be given to the Lake Lawtonka-Mt. Scott area, on land owned by the city of Lawton and/or the federal government.

With respect to the planned use of this 791.8 acres, a cardinal purpose of planning is to catalogue potentialities and identify future opportunities.

We have begun this process of discovering future opportunities with this land use analysis commissioned by the Land Use Committee.

Our plans and use of the land, we believe, will benefit all parties in the area and will be consistent with the highest planning standards and best use available for developing this acreage.

Restoration of this land to the tribes will have the positive effect of assuring us a firmer grip on the future and will be a major step in reversing and destructive historical trend of continued loss of land by Indian tribes.

We are pleased that we have been given this opportunity to appear before your committee to seek passage of Senate bill 2818.

Senator BARTLETT. Mr. Redbone, thank you very much.

Mr. Cannon.

STATEMENT OF BOB CANNON, CHAIRMAN, THE KIOWA TRIBE OF INDIANS

Mr. CANNON. Thank you, Senator Bartlett. I also have with me this morning, two planners, Mr. Bob Wolf and Mr. Bill Cross.

It is indeed a privilege to appear before this subcommittee to urge enactment of S. 2818.

The previous testimony has in general been directed toward our tribal land history and an overview of our current development activities on tribal lands, which have been impeded by the fact that Oklahoma Indian Tribes have not been eligible for the broad array of development programs that have benefited Indian tribes in other States.

My testimony will be directed toward amalgamating and summarizing these two ideas into two main points about the future plans of the Kiowa, Comanche, and Apache Inter-Tribal Land Use Com-. mittee for the use of this 791.8-acre tract and other tribal lands.

First, it is our goal to develop a comprehensive land use plan for our tribal land holdings that will benefit our tribes and the tribal memberships.

We believe that our goals for land use are necessarily compatible with and flexible enough to mesh with local development plans by the city of Lawton or any other unit of local government.

One word of qualification, wholesale abandoning of our own interests is not included in the flexibility.

Particularly when it is not unusual to deem Indian tribes "unreasonable" when they will not totally subordinate their interests to local pressures.

We also have aspirations and we too have ambitions.

Second, we would like to lay to rest any notion that the Kiowa, Comanche, and Apache Tribes do not have or cannot muster the requisite development mechanism to keep pace with the growth in the area.

Negotiations are presently underway to local light industry on lands near the 791.8-acre site.

Through the efforts of positive Congressional leadership of years past and the new leadership in Congress today, legislation directed toward Indians in programs no longer exclude Oklahoma Indians from participating in these programs such as EDA.

I am eager to state at this point that we have developed the capability of coordinating with Federal, state, and local units of government and the tribes, a mechanism which can provide the technological expertise and funding and other resources needed to make operable any plan the Kiowa, Comanche, and Apach Tribes may undertake.

The present ability of the tribes to set up a business structure with fiscal control, planning capabilities and structured to meet the needs of the people can insure us a high success factor with these plans.

In addition, during the past year, the Kiowa, Comanche, and Apache Tribes have bought back 47 lots located in the old Ahpeahtone Townsite.

This action was initiated and consummated by the Kiowa, Comanche, and Apache Inter-Tribal Land Use Committee and is a positive indication that the tribes are capable of exercising the type leadership which will build back into the tribal governments a stable land base upon which we can build a sound economic structure for the three tribes.

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