Past News Items

The Department of the Interior announced today approval of a final membership roll of 631 persons who will be entitled to share in division of the assets of the Catawba Indian Tribe of South Carolina that have been held in Federal trusteeship.

WASHINGTON – On Wednesday, November 4, U.S. Deputy Secretary of the Interior Michael L. Connor and Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Kevin Washburn will hold a press conference call to discuss this year’s accomplishments and important new opportunities for engagement for the continued implementation of the Land Buy-Back Program for Tribal Nations (Buy-Back Program).

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Louis R. Bruce announced today the award of a $1. 9 million contract with Broce G6nstruction Co. of New Mexico, Inc., of Tucumcari, N. M., for the bituminous surfacing of 20.582 miles of highway and the widening of a bridge on the Navajo ‘Reservation. When the surfacing is completed it will provide an all-weather highway from Crownpoint, N. M. to within approximately three miles of Whitehorse, N. M.

An $878,780 contract for construction of a 128-pupil dormitory and other facilities for Choctaw Indian high school students and their teachers at Pearl River, Mississippi, was announced today by the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs. The new buildings, slated for occupancy next fall, will complete a school complex for Choctaw Indians, which includes a new high school opened this fall, an elementary-junior high school and a 40-pupil dormitory for elementary students.

WASHINGTON – Acting Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Lawrence S. Roberts announced today the 10 Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) schools eligible for funding for campus-wide replacement. Publication of this list completes the process for identifying the Department’s top priority schools for campus-wide replacement developed through negotiated rulemaking required by the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB).

For many of the years leading up to Alaska's statehood the Federal Government had periodic interest in converting Alaska into a penal colony. The idea seems to have started during Andrew Johnson's Administration and ran out sometime in the 1940's when Harold Ickes was Secretary of the Interior.

It's my impression that a lot of Alaskans suspect that the penal colony view, is still prevalent in Washington. The fact is that this couldn't be farther from the truth. We think of Alaska as you do, not as America’s “last frontier,” but as America’s "great frontier."

The largest coal supply letter of intent agreement ever negotiated, utilizing Navajo and Hopi Indian coal reserves in Arizona, was announced today by Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall. The coal to be supplied under this agreement will be used in a planned electric generating plant to be built in Clark County, Nevada, by a group of private and public utilities, with Southern California Edison Company as project manager.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – As part of President Obama’s Climate Action Plan and continued commitment to support Native American leaders in building strong, resilient communities, Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell and Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs Kevin Washburn today announced the Administration has dedicated nearly $10 million this year to help tribes prepare for climate change through adaptation and mitigation.

A Bureau of Indian Affairs Task Force" in Sacramento, Calif. processed more than 5,000 applications for Eskimo, Indian, and Aleut homesteads in Alaska in an eight week period ending April 21, approximately 20 times the number of homestead applications the Bureau handled in the previous 66 years.

The award of a $540,998 contract for remodeling and construction at the 200-man Job Corps Center at Poston, Arizona, on the Colorado River Reservation was announced today by the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs. The center is expected to be ready for activation within six months.