Burns: Museum won't close

Senator: 'Under no circumstances' will Museum of the Plains Indian be closed

Political pressure to preserve the Museum of the Plains Indian in Browning past its 2007 funding cutoff mounted this week as U.S. Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., vowed that "under no circumstances" will the museum be closed.

Burns wrote to Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton to urge her to improve communication with the Blackfeet Tribe on the future of the museum. Burns is chairman of the Interior appropriations subcommittee, which funds the Department of the Interior.

The Indian Arts and Crafts Board in the Department of the Interior intends to cut all funding to the museum to free up resources to aggressively combat counterfeiting of Indian arts and crafts. In turn, the federal government hopes community groups and the Blackfeet Tribe will come up with a plan to keep the Browning museum's doors open.

Burns said the museum's contribution as a repository for Indian art and artifacts and its worth as a tourist attraction and educational resource are paramount reasons to keep its doors open past the projected October 2007 cutoff.

In the committee report accompanying the Interior appropriations bill, Burns said he inserted language cautioning the department to engage in a "true dialogue" with tribes and local communities about the future of the museum.

"While I have no intention of allowing the museum to be shut down and its collections moved out of Montana, I did not wish to preclude discussions about possible new arrangements for the financing, management and operation of the museum," Burns said in a press release. "I fear, however, that the department has not progressed very far with these discussions."

He urged the department to step up efforts to engage tribal, state, community leaders and other potential federal partners in extensive talks about the museum's future.

"Under no circumstances will the museum be closed and its collections shipped to the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C., or warehoused in some inaccessible facility outside of Montana," Burns stated.

Last week, Congressman Denny Rehberg, R-Mont. asked the Office of Management and Budget to find a way to continue funding the museum.

GORDON BELCOURT, a Blackfeet Tribe member and director of the Montana-Wyoming Tribal Leaders Council, said he believes the tribe should take over the museum, but it would need the financial resources to operate the facility.

"They should provide resources for the tribe to have the first option to take over the museum," Belcourt said, "but it looks like they [the federal government] are bailing out."

Belcourt has concerns about the condition of the 1941 museum building, such as climate control, humidity and the potential for future problems such as asbestos and mold. A building assessment is needed "so the tribe is not taking over a white elephant," he said.

The federal government should have allowed more time to plan for changes in the administration and funding of the museum, Belcourt maintained.

"One year is practically nothing," he said. "If the federal government would allow the transition over two or three years, we could do some strategic planning."

The Browning museum attracts 15,000 visitors annually. It houses a collection of varied arts of the Northern Plains tribes, including the Blackfeet, Crow, Northern Cheyenne, Sioux, Assiniboine, Arapaho, Shoshone, Nez Perce, Flathead, Chippewa and Cree.

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by e-mail at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com