Past News Items

WASHINGTON, DC – As part of President Obama’s commitment to upholding the nation’s trust responsibilities to American Indian and Alaska Natives, Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs Kevin K. Washburn today announced a final rule that will allow the Department of the Interior to accept land into trust for federally recognized Alaska tribes.

Kenneth L. Smith, a Wasco Indian from Oregon, became the nation's top Indian official May 15 when he was sworn in by Interior Secretary James Watt as the Department's Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs. Smith is the third American Indian to hold that position, which was established in 1977.

At the swearing in ceremony Smith said that it was his intention and that of Secretary Watt to further self determination for Indian tribal groups.

Bureau of Indian Affairs plans to poll Osage Indian descendants to obtain their views on the future form of the Osage tribal government.

Under existing legislation, the present system of tribal government will expire January 1, 1984, if not extended. The extent of authority of the present Osage tribal government is also being questioned in litigation by some tribal members.

WASHINGTON, DC – Deputy Secretary of the Interior Mike Connor today announced that the Department’s Land Buy-Back Program for Tribal Nations (Buy-Back Program) has sent purchase offers worth more than $298 million to nearly 4,000 landowners with fractional interests on the Crow Indian Reservation in Montana. Interested sellers will have until November 21, 2014, to return accepted offers.

Regulations establishing procedures for Indian tribes seeking to form tribal constitutions or charters, or make changes in existing ones, were published in the Federal Register January 7, Commissioner of Indian Affairs William E. Hallett said today.

The Bureau of Reclamation and the Bureau of Indian Affairs, both of the U. S. Department of the Interior, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to further the cause of dam safety. The purpose of the memorandum, according to Commissioner of Reclamation R. Keith Higginson, is to identify those areas where Reclamation can provide technical expertise to assist BIA in developing formalized program for dam safety.

WASHINGTON – The Secretarial Commission on Indian Trust Administration and Reform will hold the seventh in a series of public meetings on Aug. 19, 2013, in Anchorage, Alaska, as part of the Commission’s comprehensive evaluation of the Department of the Interior’s management and administration of Indian trust assets. The meeting also will be accessible by teleconference and Webinar.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Glenn L. Emmons will leave Washington, D.C., September 5, for a trip to the major Indian areas of Oklahoma. He is acting under broad instructions from President Eisenhower.

Wilfred Brown, a Navajo, has been appointed Superintendent of the Bureau of Indian Affairs' agency at Fort Defiance, Arizona Interior Assistant Secretary Forrest Gerard announced today.

The Fort Defiance agency is one of five serving the huge Navajo Reservation.

Brown, 38, has been Administrative Manager and Program Officer at the agency. He previously worked for the Navajo Tribe as a planning assistant and economic planner.

An Army veteran, Brown earned a B.S. in Civil Engineering and Industrial Design at Arizona State University.

WASHINGTON, D.C.