Indian Affairs' draft plan gets preliminary approval

The legislative committee that works on Native American issues has given its approval to a draft of a new strategic plan developed by the Utah Division of Indian Affairs.

Division director Forrest Cuch told members of the Native American Legislative Liaison Committee this past week that repatriation and interment of some 1,500 human remains will be a top priority.

He hopes to have one-third of the remains in the state burial vault repatriated by the end of the year. Cuch said his office is working on an estimate to help fund the cost of forensics experts, which is by law covered by landowners.

He said the "biggest holdup" has been relying on landowners who sometimes don't have the reports done correctly, or can't afford them.

Cuch described the plan as ambitious and asked for a bill to appropriate funding for an additional staff member to help meet the goals.

Senate Chairwoman Beverly Evans, R-Altamont, made a successful motion to add "natural resources" to the draft proposal's economic development section, and to give it the committee's approval. Another successful motion was to work with the division on legislation requests.

"It's an opportunity for us to do what we should have been doing in a more formal way," she said of the plan. "I'm really excited about it."

Allyson Isom, deputy director of the Utah Department of Community and Culture, said the plan is a return to the division's legislatively mandated position and the focus is "real results."

Those deliverables include 14 goals. Among them:

• Education: A stable program that helps preserve oral tradition and Native American dialects; and strong partnerships to improve education for Native Americans.

• Housing: Create two transitional homes for Native American youth in foster care; and bring more attention to housing needs.

• Economic development: Create two new businesses and 100 new jobs.

The plan also focuses on interaction between the tribes, the Division of Indian Affairs and the Native American Legislative Liaison Committee. There are also plans for a spring conference among tribal leaders, state agencies and all other stakeholders.

Lora Tom, chairwoman of the Piute Tribe of Utah, and Ivan Wongon, chairman of the Northwestern Band of Shoshone, expressed a concern that only five of 14 state divisions are required to work with the tribes. At a special meeting earlier this month, they said, tribal leaders decided unanimously to study the draft further before approving it.

Legislators said although they have given their support to the plan, they would welcome any proposed changes at their next meeting in October.

"I'm hoping the tribes will look at it, and if there are any recommendations to make, we'll look at it," said House Chairman David Cox, R-Lehi. "I want to have their buy-in on it."

Yvette Donosso Diaz, executive director of the Department of Community and Culture, said it could take up to a year to work out all the kinks, but the draft plan is already being used as a basic framework for the office's activities.

"We realize it's a flexible process," Diaz said. "It is an ambitious plan. It will take at least two years to get everything done. We want to get it right."

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E-mail: dbulkeley@desnews.com