White House, Indians Seek Maine Land Agreement

A presidential study group proposed Wednesday that Congress and the state of Maine give more than $50 million and 300,000 acres of land to two Indian tribes that are seeking to regain possession of more than one-half the land in the state of Maine.

The proposals, approved by representatives of the White House and the Penobscot and Passamoquoddy Indian tribes, call in part for Congress to appropriate $25 million to the tribes in exchange for the Indians' agreement to relinquish claims to 7.5 million acres in one area of the state.

"The government is just trying to sell the Indians out," Winona LaDuke Westigard '80, a member of the Logiabwa tribe, said yesterday, adding that the Indians should not have to pay for something that is already theirs.

"What is fair has nothing to do with the proposals," Frank A. Ryan, director of the American Indian program at the Graduate School of Education said yesterday.

He described the proposals as a "shadowed form of enforcement," adding that most members of the Indian program probably feel the same way.

The provisions also stipulate that the Indians drop all charges for the 350,000 acres of state-owned land if Maine will agree to pay the Indians $1.7 million annually for each of the next 15 years. The Indians would also drop claims for three million acres of land owned by large corporations in return for 300,000 acres of average-value timber land and the option to buy 200,000 acres of somewhat poorer-quality land.

One of the major considerations of these proposals, Oscar S. Rodriguez '80, a member of the Apache tribe, said yesterday, should be to "try to give the Indians a chance to make their own lives, to do something with their land and not to be dependent on the government or anybody but themselves.

Rodriguez added that money involved with Penobscot and Passamoquoddy Indians would only be good for the next ten years. The type of lands the Indians do get will greatly determine the number of jobs and money available to the Indian reservations, he added.

The amount of land the tribes receive will determine the future of the tribes, Cliff Saunders '69, executive director of the Boston Indian Council, said yesterday.

If the federal or state governments or the 14 large land owners involved do not agree to the various options presented Wednesday, Francis J. Nicholas, governor of the Passamoquoddy Indian tribe at Pleasant Point, Maine, said the Indians will be going to court.

The Maine Indian dispute is six years old, stemming back to 1972 when the Penobscot and Passamoquoddy tribes filed suit in federal court for more than 12 million acres of land.

Wednesday's proposals mark the second effort by the Carter administration to end the dispute.

"There is no doubt that these are Indian tribes with just claims," Albert M. Sacks, dean of the Law School, said yesterday