Past News Items

Twelve studies to determine the feasibility of economic development which could create greater job opportunities on Indian reservations and in the native villages of Alaska are being undertaken by the Bureau of Indian Affairs with technical assistance funds provided by the Area Redevelopment Administration of the Department of Commerce, the Department of the Interior announced today.

Contracts totaling $402,493 have been awarded to the lowest qualified bidders for carrying out the studies in 11 States.

Proposed new regulations governing mining and mineral development contracts on Indian lands were published in the Federal Register April 5, Acting Commissioner of Indian Affairs Raymond v. Butler announced today.

Butler said that "new regulations, when completed and made effective, will have a major impact on the Indian community by furthering Indian self-determination, providing for new types of mineral development contracts and reflecting national and tribal environmental concerns. "

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk joined Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley and other Indian Affairs and Navajo tribal officials September 16 in a ceremonial groundbreaking event for Phase II of a major school replacement and improvement project at the historic Rough Rock Community School on the Navajo Reservation in northeastern Arizona.

Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall announced proposed rules today that would help several Pueblo Indian tribes in central New Mexico block up their land holdings and improve their livestock operations.

The new rules would carry out exchange provisions of a law passed last September. That law transferred 69,700 acres of the national land reserve to eight Pueblo Indian tribes in New Mexico.

President Jimmy Carter showed a special interest in Indian affairs when he visited the Department of the Interior Friday, February 18.

The President, scheduled to speak to Interior employees in the Department's auditorium, came early, went directly to the fourth floor wing housing the Commissioner of Indian Affairs' offices, shook hands and exchanged greetings with BIA staffers in the hall and then visited with Acting Commissioner Raymond V. Butler for a few minutes.

SALT LAKE CITY – An unprecedented two-year undercover operation led by agents from Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the FBI today began rounding up what prosecutors call a ring of archeological grave robbers who looted pristine sites in the Southwest, desecrated ancient American Indian burials and stole priceless artifacts, selling them to dealers and collectors who were associated with the network.

An unusually large volume of legislation that will bring far-reaching benefits to American Indians was enacted by the recently adjourned 87th Congress, Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall said today.

Proposed regulations for the Bureau of Indian Affairs Housing Improvement Program (HIP) have been published in the Federal Register, it was announced today.

"This Bureau program," commissioner Morris Thompson said, "complements the programs of other Federal housing agencies. Thousands of Indian families are living in substandard homes or homes needing repairs. This program provides assistance when other resources are not available.”

DENVER, CO – Today, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar made the following statement in honor of Crow Tribal Chairman Carl Venne, who died this weekend in Montana:

The Department of the Interior has asked Congress for legislation that would make Indian tribes eligible to receive planning help under the Urban Planning Assistance Program of the Housing and Home Finance Agency.

The program is administered under Section 701 of the Housing Act of 1954 which authorizes grants to State planning agencies for the provision of planning assistance to smaller cities, counties and other local units of government.