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wildlife and fisheries management- activities on 22 other 

 reservations within the Albuquerque Area. 



Mr. Chairman and members of the committee,. T am sure you will 

 agree that we have done a commendable job despite our limited 

 financial resources. Although, we have taken the initiative to 

 develop our own capabilities, we have realized that present funding 

 levels are not sufficient if we are to continue our progressive 

 development. Federal funding to aid in the development of Tribal 

 fish and wildlife programs has been non-existent. This appears to 

 be prevalent not only with our Tribe but throughout Indian country 

 as a whole. We are in dire need of assistance to remedy this 

 situation . 



At this time T would like to respectfully present some 

 recommendations for the subcommittees consideration. 



1. Direct the Bureau of Indian Affairs to fulfill their trust 

 responsibility in fishery and wildlife management and direct 

 more dollars for this effort. 



2. Direct the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to make available a 

 set amount of the Pittman-Robertson/Dingell-Johnson 

 Administrative funds and the Reverted funds for tribal fishery 

 and wildlife programs and projects. 



3. Work with congress to amend the Pittman-Robertson/Dingell- 

 Johnson/Wallop-Breaux Acts to allow full tribal participation 

 in funding of fishery and wildlife projects. 



4. Work with congress and the tribes to draft and introduce a 

 Native American Fish and Wildlife Enhancement Act that will 

 legislatively mandate and guarantee tribal governments full 

 participation in management of fisheries and wildlife resources 

 including adequate funding to rectify the budget shortfalls. 



5. Consider the option of having the U.S. Fish and Wildlife 

 Service be the primary agency to provide technical assistance 

 to tribes. As you know, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's 

 mission is 100 percent fishery and wildlife management 

 oriented. Consequently, 100 percent of their funding and 

 effort is allocated for that purpose. On the other hand, we 

 find the BIA's mission to be "complex" in that it deals with a 

 multitude of programs including education, economic 

 development, roads, law enforcement , social services, forestry, 

 range, water rights, and archaeology, to name a few. These 

 individual programs must compete with one another for funding 

 and unfortunately, fishery and wildlife resources management 

 programs are usually under-funded, if even funded at all. We 

 receive no direct BIA funding for fish and wildlife management 

 programs . 



