BROWNING (AP) -- The Museum of the Plains Indian stands to lose its federal funding and close in less than two years, unless other support is found.

The Indian Arts and Crafts Board of the U.S. Department of the Interior plans to eliminate funding for the Browning museum, and for American Indian museums in Rapid City, S.D., and Anadarko, Okla., the Great Falls Tribune reported in Sunday's editions.

Absent other support, the Interior Department expects to lock the doors of the Browning museum on Oct. 1, 2007. Collections of war shirts, necklaces and tools historically used in daily life on the Northern Plains would be shipped to the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C.

Established in 1941, the Museum of the Plains Indian has tribal arts and artifacts of the Blackfeet, Crow, Northern Cheyenne, Sioux, Assiniboine, Arapaho, Shoshone, Nez Perce, Flathead, Chippewa and Cree. The museum houses historical clothing, horse gear, weapons, household implements, baby carriers and toys.

The Indian Arts and Crafts Board acquired the three museums in the 1950s from the Bureau of Indian Affairs, as the bureau faced budget reductions.

The board has an annual budget of about $1 million and allocates some $450,000 of that to the three museums. The Browning museum's annual budget is roughly $138,000.

The focus of the Indian Arts and Crafts Board is shifting from museums to the prevention of Indian craft counterfeiting, and prosecution of counterfeiters.

Fraud cheats Indian artists and the people who buy their work, said Scott Cameron, a Department of the Interior official.

''They are deflating the market, too,'' Cameron said. ''Something made in Malaysia might sell for $10 while something made by hand by a real live Indian might cost $75.'' Cameron said the museum funding is ''the only realistic place'' to obtain money for the work against fraud.

''Museums have these great collections and the reality is they attract a regional audience, not a national audience,'' he added.

''With millions of people walking through the National Museum of the American Indian, there is a solid vehicle at the national level to expose people to Indian arts and crafts.''

But Blackfeet artist Darrell Norman of Browning notes the Museum of the Plains Indian is prominent in German and French travel guides. Norman's wife, Angelika Harden-Norman, is a native of Germany who visited Browning to see the museum. Now she owns the nearby Lodgepole Gallery and Tipi Village.

Museum records indicate there were 15,000 visitors during the tourist season, which spans the warm-weather months. Places from which visitors came included Europe, Australia, Thailand and China, said Carleen McEvers, the museum secretary.

''In an ideal world, it would be best if the museums continue to exist and were supported adequately where they are,'' said Rick West, director of the National Museum of the American Indian. But if the museums close and their collections must be moved, the national museum will take them, West said, adding that ''I could not put a price tag on those collections.''

Glacier County is one of Montana's poorest places and ''we really need to attract visitors, people from around the nation and the world,'' said Mike DesRosier, a county commissioner.

''They do spend their dollars here,'' said DesRosier, who drives a tour bus. ''They also spend their money in grocery stores and motels, and that's important for Glacier County.''

At its recent convention in Tulsa, Okla., the National Congress of the American Indian passed a resolution of support for the regional museums.

The Blackfeet Tribal Council is ''looking at where we can find funding'' for the museum, said Pat Thomas, council chairman.

''We definitely will save the museum one way or the other,'' Thomas said.

Some museum supporters wish state government would get involved.

State money is not available at this time, but ''we can investigate why funding is on the chopping block,'' said Major Robinson, a state economic development specialist.

A spokesman for Rep. Denny Rehberg, R-Mont., said the congressman will fight to keep the museum open.

''These D.C. bean counters don't understand the cultural importance of these three museums,'' said Erik Iverson, Rehberg's chief of staff. ''Denny does understand the importance, not just in Indian Country, but in Montana as a whole.''

On the Net:

Indian Arts and Crafts Board: http://www.doi.gov/iacb