Past News Items

New programs instituted by the Department of the Interior during 1961 to stem inroads on vital natural resources by this Nation's explosive growth were outlined today in the Department's annual report entitled "Resources for Tomorrow."

"Because so much of what is happening inside America today is drowned out by the clamor of an embattled world, “Secretary Stewart t. Udall writes in the report, is only recently that we have become aware of a growing internal crisis which deeply affects the lives of all Americans."

Charles M. Soller, Department of Interior assistant solicitor for Indian Affairs, died of cancer October 25 in Washington, D.C. He had been a key legal adviser to the Bureau of Indian Affairs for 20 years.

Seller received in September of this year the Interior Department's Superior Service Award for his work on behalf of Alaska Natives under the Alaska Native Claim Settlement Act. His compassion and sensitive response to need were cited in the award.

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Carl J. Artman today announced he has named E. Sequoyah Simermeyer as Counsel to the Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs. Simermeyer, an enrolled member of the Coharie Intra­Tribal Council, Inc., of North Carolina who also shares ancestry with the Navajo Nation of Arizona, previously served as a Government Affairs Group Associate with the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI), an association of American Indian and Alaska Native tribes in Washington, D.C. His appointment became effective on August 20, 2007.

A study of ways to enhance the tourist attractiveness of the tribally owned and operated Hot Springs Enterprise at Hot Springs, Mont., on the Flathead Indian Reservation, is being undertaken by the Bureau of Business and Economic Research of Montana State University, the Department of the Interior has announced.

Purpose of the study is to accumulate market data which will enable the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Reservation to participate are fully in the growing tourist business of the Northwest.

David C. Harrison, a member of the Osage Tribe, has been appointed Judicial Services Officer in the Bureau of Indian Affairs' Office of Indian Services, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson announced today.

The position is a new one created to enable the Bureau to work more effectively for the strengthening of tribal judicial systems. Harrison, in the new post, will work with national organizations of Indian judges, tribal chairmen and Indian lawyers.

WASHINGTON, DC – In a signing ceremony held at the U.S. Department of the Interior, Carl J. Artman, Assistant Secretary Indian Affairs, signed an interagency agreement with the U.S. Department of Transportation to provide funding to develop the American Indian/Alaska Native Business Opportunity and Workforce Development (ABOWD) Center for highway construction.

The Department of the Interior has asked Congress to increase the authorized amount of annual appropriations for vocational training of adult Indians from $7.5 million to $12 million.

In its request, the Department said the number of Indians who are qualified and wish to participate in the training program greatly exceeds the number for whom funds are available. If the present limitation is retained, some of those who have applied in the past six months cannot expect to enroll in vocational training courses before June 30, 1964.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson-today announced that applications for enrollment at Intermountain Boarding High School, Brigham City, Utah, will be accepted from members of all tribal groups served by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. In the past, this Bureau school had been operated solely for Navajos.

WASHINGTON – Associate Deputy Secretary James E. Cason today announced that the Department of the Interior has declined to acknowledge that a group known as the St. Francis/Sokoki Band of Abenaki located in and around Swanton, Vt., is an Indian tribe within the meaning of Federal law.

The Department of the Interior today announced its endorsement of proposed Federal legislation that would permit the leasing of Indian lands on the Fort Mojave Reservation in Arizona, California, and Nevada for periods up to a maximum of 99 years.

Under present law the maximum term permitted for such leases is 25 years, with an option to renew for an additional 25 years.