PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
Fort Apache, Arizona February 20, 2007
CONTACT:
Karl Hoerig
(928) 338-4625
karlhoerig@hotmail.com
Chairman Ronnie Lupe of The White Mountain Apache Tribe, announced today,
the transfer of management authority of most of the Fort Apache National
Register Historic District from the U. S. Government to the Tribe.
Pursuant to a settlement agreement reached between the Tribe and the United
States government in White Mountain Apache Tribe vs. United States of
America, U.S. Court of Federal Claims, No. 99-148L, twenty four of the
twenty seven historic buildings at Fort Apache have been transferred from
the Bureau of Indian Affairs of the U.S. Department of Interior to the
Tribe, along with more than $12 million to be used for the restoration,
rehabilitation, and long term maintenance of the historic district.
Management of the historic district will be assumed by the Fort Apache
Heritage Foundation, Inc., a non-profit 501 (c)3 organization, established
in 1998 to provide assistance to the Tribe in the preservation,
rehabilitation, and adaptive reuse of Fort Apache for the educational,
cultural, and economic benefit of the local Apache community and visitors
who come from all over the world.
"This is an historic moment for the Apache people, as we take back Fort
Apache," said Tribal Chairman Ronnie Lupe. "Many members of our Tribe and
friends of the White Mountain Apache people have worked very hard to make
this happen. We will preserve and renew this important place, so that all
of our stories of Fort Apache's culture and history can be told."
The U.S. Army made its first significant incursion into White Mountain
Apache lands in 1869, seeking to locate a new post in the region.
Recognizing the hardship the army would impose on their people and trying to
limit that impact, local Apache band chiefs including Escapa (Miguel),
Eskininla (Diablo), Pedro, and Eskiltesela directed Brevet Colonel John
Green to the confluence of the East and North forks of the White River.
Construction on the post that would become Fort Apache began on May 16,
1870, and the Apache people's lives changed forever. The White Mountain
Indian Reservation (later reduced and subdivided into the Fort Apache and
San Carlos Indian Reservations) was established surrounding the post in
1871. When the army abandoned Fort Apache in 1922, the land and facilities
were turned over to the Department of the Interior for the establishment of
the Theodore Roosevelt Boarding School. The school continues to operate at
the site under Tribal administrative control.
A 1960 act of Congress moved the Fort Apache and TR School facilities and
lands from federal ownership and placed them into trust for the White
Mountain Apache Tribe, under management by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
Following decades of neglect, the White Mountain Apache Tribe filed suit
against the Bureau for the mismanagement of the Fort Apache trust asset in
1998. A 2003 U.S. Supreme Court decision in the Tribe's favor paved the way
for this historic settlement.
With support from a Preserve America grant (administered by the U.S.
National Park Service) the Tribe and the Fort Apache Heritage Foundation are
conducting a detailed analysis of the buildings and the site to create a new
master plan for long term management of the site. Critical building
preservation treatments will begin immediately, with rehabilitation and
adaptive reuse efforts continuing over a number of years.
The Tribe and the Fort Apache Heritage Foundation invite everyone to join
them for a celebration of Fort Apache's revitalization at Ndee La
Ade/Gathering of the People, the 8th Annual Great Fort Apache Heritage
Reunion on May 19, 2007. Fort Apache is located near the center of White
Mountain Apache Tribal Lands in eastern Arizona, one-half mile east of
Arizona Highway 73, and five miles south of Whiteriver, Arizona. It is
approximately 90 miles southeast of Flagstaff and 100 miles northeast of
Phoenix.
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Posted by the:
White Mountain Apache Tribe
Ronnie Lupe
Executive Office of the Chairman
PO Box 1150
Whiteriver, AZ 85941
Tel (928) 338-2500 Fax (928) 338-1514