Past News Items

Washington -- Assistant Secretary–Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk on August 6, 2010, issued a proposed finding not to acknowledge the petitioner known as the Central Band of Cherokee (CBC) (Petitioner #227) as an Indian tribe. The petitioner, located in Lawrenceburg, Tennessee, has approximately 407 members. The evidence shows the petitioner is a voluntary association formed in 2000 of individuals who claim but have not documented Indian ancestry.

Extinguishment of all past Narragansett Indian claims in the State of Rhode Island was announced by the Interior Department today following publication in the Federal Register of findings by Interior Secretary Cecil Andrus that the State legislature had enacted the necessary enabling legislation.

Under terms of the Rhode Island Indian Claims Settlement Act, the Narragansett Indians will receive 1800 acres of land in Charlestown, Rhode Island, in return for the relinquishment of all their land claims.

American Indian art--just now becoming widely recognized in the United States--has already found a solid niche abroad.

From the arts and crafts markets of the Southwest, the Plains, Oklahoma, and Alaska, a collection of these "cultural ambassadors" have been touring the world under the joint auspices of the Interior Department's Indian Arts And Crafts Board, the United States Information Agency, and the State Department.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk today announced that he has named Michael S. Black as Director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Black, an enrolled member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe in South Dakota, had been serving as the acting BIA Director since March 18, 2010. He takes over from Jerold L. “Jerry” Gidner who is now the Special Counselor in the Office of the Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs. Black’s appointment became effective on April 25, 2010.

Proposed regulations establishing procedures for Indian tribes seeking to form tribal constitutions or charters or make changes in existing ones are being published in the Federal Register, the Bureau of Indian Affairs announced today.

Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall today issued the following statement on the restoration of Fort McDowell in Arizona:

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk today announced that he has named Bartholomew “Bart” Stevens as Acting Director of the Bureau of Indian Education while the process for finding a permanent director continues. The temporary appointment became effective February 2. The vacancy announcement for the post opened last November and closed on February 1.

Regulations governing the preparation of a Yurok Indian voting list are being published in the Federal Register, the Bureau of Indian Affairs announced today.

The regulations, establishing criteria and procedures for developing such a voter list, are a first step toward the election of an interim governing committee and subsequent organization of the Yurok Tribe.

The States we know as Nevada, Utah, and Colorado were once the hunting and warring grounds of numerous Indian tribes. Their stories are told in an illustrated, 24-page booklet just issued by the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs -- Indians of the Lower Plateau.

WASHINGTON – Bureau of Indian Affairs Director Michael S. Black today announced that he has named Bryan Rice deputy bureau director of the BIA’s Office of Trust Services at the bureau’s headquarters in Washington, D.C. Rice, an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation, had been serving as the OTS’s assistant director for resource protection since August 2009. His appointment became effective on October 23, 2011.