Past News Items

The Department of Agriculture and the Department of the Interior today announced the signing of an agreement on extension work with American Indians. The agreement, which goes into effect July 1, gives the Agriculture Department responsibility for rendering technical advice and guidance in extension work formerly carried on by the Interior Department's Bureau of Indian Affairs.

In September, President Trump announced the successful repatriation of ancestral remains and funerary items from Tribes associated with the Mesa Verde region from Finland. Following that effort, the White House has asked the U.S. Departments of the Interior and State to work together to assist other Native American tribes in the repatriation of any additional cultural items abroad.

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Carl J. Artman today announced that the Bureau of Indian Affairs has published in the Federal Register a notice providing guidance and direction to the Office of Federal Acknowledgment (OFA) to address recurring administrative and technical problems related to the processing of petitions under the Federal Acknowledgment Process (FAP). The notice does not amend the acknowledgment regulations at 25 CFR Part 83, Procedures for Establishing that an American Indian Group Exists as an Indian Tribe.

The Indian Bureau's adult education program, now getting under way in five tribal areas from Florida to Idaho, will be extended "to meet the broader needs of Indians as funds permit and as the interests of the Indians indicate," Commissioner Glenn L. Emmons indicated today.

WASHINGTON – Associate Deputy Secretary James E. Cason today issued a Final Determination in which he declined to acknowledge that a group known as the Burt Lake Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, Inc. (BLB), located near Brutus, Mich., is an Indian tribe within the meaning of Federal law. The evidence reviewed for this Final Determination showed that the petitioner failed to meet three out of seven mandatory criteria – 83.7(b), (c) and (e) – under 25 CFR Part 83, the regulations that govern the Federal Acknowledgment Process.

The Potawatomi Area Field Office of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, which has been operating from both Mayetta and Horton, Kansas locations, will be consolidated in the near future into a single office at Horton, the Department of Interior announced today.

Up to now only the land operations personnel and the Bureau's field representative were stationed at Mayetta. Tho latter, however, served three days a week at Horton.

It is real pleasure to be back in Oklahoma and meeting once again with so many of the State's fine Indian people and with delegates to the NCAI annual convention. All of us, it seems to me, owe a hearty debt of thanks to our good friend and host, Bill Keeler, for making this gathering possible and bringing us together in such excellent surroundings.

WASHINGTON – Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Aurene M. Martin today announced that she has affirmed the results of the October 21, 2003 recall election and November 5, 2003 special election held by the Sac and Fox Tribe of the Mississippi in Iowa, a federally recognized tribe. The action ended a long-standing internal dispute over the tribe’s leadership, which led to the closing of the tribe’s casino and brought economic and political uncertainty to tribal members.

Reflecting the increasing Indian Bureau emphasis on encouraging the growth of industry around Indian reservations, Acting Secretary of the Interior Hatfield Chilson today announced the appointment of Noel Sargent, a longtime principal staff member of the National Association of Manufacturers, as consultant on the Bureau’s industrial development program and creation of a new branch of industrial development in the Bureau’s Washington office.

WASHINGTON – Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Aurene M. Martin today announced that she has confirmed Woodrow W. Hopper Jr., a member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, as Deputy Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs for Management. “Mr. Hopper is an experienced manager and a dedicated public servant,” Martin said. “His professionalism and commitment to excellence will serve both the BIA and the tribes well.” Hopper had been serving as acting Deputy Assistant Secretary since June 12, 2003. His appointment became effective on September 24.