The Colorado Commission of Indian Affairs held their quarterly meeting in Towaoc Friday during the annual summit of the three Ute tribes.

Lt. Governor Joe Rogers, who chairs the commission, was on hand to discuss tribal issues relating to economic development, education, language preservation and how to improve communication between the tribes and the Colorado state government.

Tribal leaders for the Ute Mountain, Southern Ute and Northern Ute tribes showed appreciation for the CCIA visiting the reservation, but called for more action and less talk regarding the state’s commitment toward Indian issues.

"We’re recognized more in the U.S Senate and House than in our own state," said Ute Mountain Ute Chairman Ernest House. "We need to be able to speak about the issues that relate to our reservation on a state level that is more than just lip service."

As an example of that lack of progress, Ute Mountain Ute councilman Manual Heart pointed out the unwillingness of the state of Colorado to put up their share of funding needed to build the Four Corners Monument interpretative center and museum.

"For two years I have been working very hard to get something done from our state, but it never happens, not with (former Lt. Governor Gail) Schoettler or this administration," Heart said. "There needs to be more action in order for this government to government relationship to be successful."

The $4 million facility will include history of the American Indian tribes within the Four Corner states and provide "one-stop" tourism information for the region, including Mesa Verde and the Ute Mountain Tribal Park. Vending booths selling cultural artwork from respective tribes in each state will line the outside of a new museum and visitors center, much of which burned down several years ago.

Backed by a $2 million federal grant, the proposed facility requires that each of the Four Corners states pitch in $500,000 for the rest of the funding. But so far, Colorado and New Mexico have yet to contribute their share, a problem that Rogers and the commission said could be solved by selling the idea as tourism-related, rather than as strictly a Native American issue.

"It was too late to get that money appropriated this session, but I agree, we need to get beyond talk and get this monument done," Rogers said. "Just because this came up through the Indian Affairs Commission, does not mean that it is not important for the whole state. It is a tourism issue."

The commission urged support for a bill sponsored by Senator Wayne Allard (R-Colorado) that would provide the funds for Colorado’s portion of the monument.

Southern Ute Chairman John Baker Jr. called for more support for Indian schools from the state legislature, asking the commission why promises to integrate Native American history into the state’s mandatory education curriculum have been ignored.

"Why has this not happened? You come here with kind words, but then what?" Baker asked.

Rogers was sympathetic toward the sensitive issue of what to do with ancestral Indian remains, whose fate is determined by the Colorado Historical Society and the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act.

"It is a cloud over the Ute tribes that our ancestors have been dug up, put in boxes and stored on shelves in the back rooms of museums," said Clement Frost, former Southern Ute chairman. "That is not the proper place for our human remains to be. It means a lot to have those remains put back where they should be to complete what was put before us by our creator."

In one case, Rogers suggested that NAGPRA and the Colorado Historical Society "do the right thing" and return Buckskin Charley’s traditional war bonnet back to the Southern Ute Tribe, a cultural artifact worn by a former tribal leader that has caused a bitter dispute between the CHS and the Ute tribes.