Past News Items

The Bureau of Indian Affairs, which has announced its intention to do an environmental impact statement on a proposal to allow commercial harvesting of anadromous fish on the Hoopa Valley Indian Reservation in northern California, has scheduled a series of 1 meetings in the area, December 7-14 to identify significant issues related to the proposed action and to determine the scope of the study.

BIA officials expect the draft EIS to be prepared and available for public review by the end of March, 1982.

The Commission on Fiscal Accountability of the Nation's Energy Resources will hold its first meeting on July 27 in Washington, Commission Chairman David F. Linowes announced today.

Formation of the Commission to investigate problems of waste and loss of revenues from energy resources, principally oil and gas, extracted from Federal and Indian tribal lands, was announced this week by Interior Secretary James Watt.

Secretary of the Interior James Watt today announced reduced Interior budget requests totaling $5.94 billion in Fiscal Year 1981 and $5.75 billion in Fiscal 1982. The new budget figures, part of President Reagan's economic recovery program, represent reductions of $383 million in Fiscal 1981 and $877 million in Fiscal 1982 from the Carter Administration budgets for the two fiscal years.

"During the past month, I have participated extensively in discussions with President Reagan and the rest of the Cabinet on the state of the economy and Federal budget," Watt said.

Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay announced today that Don C. Foster, area director for the Bureau of Indian Affairs at Minneapolis, Minn., has been designated, effective November 16, to serve as acting area director for the Bureau's operations in Alaska with headquarters in Juneau, pending the selection of a successor to Hugh J. Wade. Mr. Wade, who has been area director for the Bureau at Juneau since 1950, was recently advised that for administrative reasons his services will no longer be required.

Public school enrollment of Indian children is increasing at a fast rate a Bureau of Indian Affairs survey released by Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay, shows. Comparative figures for the years 1942 and 1952 show that while the number of Indian children enrolled in all schools rose some 25 percent in that decade, the number attending public schools in their home states rose approximately 40 percent.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs today made public an exchange of letters between Commissioner Glenn L. Emmons and Mr. Reuben Olson, director of public relations, Anselm Forum, Inc., Gary, Indiana.

The correspondence deals with basic questions of Indian affairs policy on which there has been widespread public misunderstanding. The text of the two letters follows:

ANSELM FORUM INC. Gary, Indiana

Bureau of Indian Affairs November 1, 1954

Washington, D. C.

Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay today announced that the Crow Creek Indian Agency now located at Fort Thompson, South Dakota, will be moved about December 1, to Pierre, S. Dak.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs is launching today a greatly expanded disease prevention program designed to bring the benefits of modern sanitation and personal hygiene directly into Indian homes and communities in the Western States and in the native villages of Alaska.

Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay today announced that the Crow Creek Indian Agency, now located at Fort Thompson, S. Dak., will be moved to Chamberlain, S. Dak., in the near future. While the exact date of the move has not yet been determined, it will have to be made before summer when water backed up by the Fort Randall Dam will create serious problems at the present agency site.

Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay today approved a series of recommendations Lade by a Survey Team which has been studying the organization and operations of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.