Past News Items

The first Job Corps Conservation Center in the Southwest--and the second in the entire country-·-will be dedicated at Winslow, Arizona, March 12 by Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall.

On the periphery of Navajo lands in Arizona, Winslow Center formerly was an Air Force Radar Base. The property is now administered by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Another camp organized in cooperation with the Department of the Interior was dedicated at Catoctin Mountain Park, Maryland, two weeks ago. It is administered by the Interior Department's National Park Service.

DURANT, Okla. – As part of the Obama Administration's commitment to strengthen the government-to-government relationship with tribal nations and fulfill federal trust obligations, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell will join Chickasaw Nation Governor Bill Anoatubby and Choctaw Nation Chief Gary Batton on Tuesday, October 6, to announce a historic settlement regarding the U.S. government's management of funds and resources it holds in trust for these tribal nations.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Louis R. Bruce announced today the appointment of Morris Thompson, an Alaska Native, as the new Alaska Area Director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Thompson's appointment was effective February 7, 1971.

"I am most happy to be announcing this appointment, “Commissioner Bruce said, “because Thompson is the first Alaska Native to be Alaska Area Director. The Alaska Natives have long wanted this. “

At 31, Thompson is also the youngest man in BIA history to be named as an area director.

The Northern Cheyenne Indians of Lame Deer, Mont., recently launched a small industry on their reservation that is beginning to bring dividends with the Yule season. The firm, called Northern Cheyenne Originals, manufactures Christmas trees, wreaths, costume jewelry and other novelty items for decorations from pine cones collected on the reservation.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Bureau of Indian Affairs Office of Justice Services and the Tulalip Tribes of Washington will co-host a VAWA Tribal Trial Advocacy Skills Training session September 2-4, 2015, for tribal court judges, prosecutors and criminal defenders covering basic trial advocacy skills and the use of special domestic violence criminal jurisdiction (SDVCJ) authority granted federally recognized tribes by the Violence Against Women Act of 2013 (VAWA). The training will take place on the Tulalip Reservation.

Fifty American Indian students in Bureau of Indian Affairs high schools carne to Washington, D. C. last week and discussed "What is being done to preserve nature?", "How can smoke from sawmills and paper mills be prevented?" and "How can natural resources be used without creating pollution?"

Federal supervision over the Indians of Blue Lake Rancheria in Humboldt County, Calif., has been terminated with their consent, the Bureau of Indian Affairs announced today. Notice is being published in the Federal Register.

Blue Lake is the 30th rancheria in California to be removed from Federal trust supervision, in accordance with legislation enacted in 1958 and amended two years ago. More than 100 small Indian rancherias are affected by the law.

Washington, D.C. – The Bureau of Indian Affairs Office of Justice Services and the Pascua Yaqui Tribe of Arizona will hold a VAWA Tribal Court Trial Advocacy Training focusing on the challenges that occur when a tribe uses its special domestic violence criminal jurisdiction (SDVCJ) authority as authorized by the Violence Against Women Act of 2013 (VAWA) to prosecute offenders. The training is scheduled for May 5-7 on the Pascua Yaqui Reservation in Tucson.

Secretary of the Interior Walter J. Hickel announced today the appointment of Sam Yankee to the Department's new 15-member Advisory Board on Sport Fisheries and Wildlife. The newly established Board, composed of citizens from all over the country, will provide counsel and advice to the Secretary on policy matters relating to the conservation of our wildlife resources.

Opportunities for developers and investors to grow along with America's rapidly expanding recreational industry are being offered by the Cochiti Indian Tribe of New Mexico, which has concession rights on what will be the biggest lake in the Albuquerque-Santa Fe area.

When the Cochiti Dam is completed across the Rio Grande, 50 miles north of Albuquerque, in 1970, it will create a 2,300 acre-lake in the midst of some of the Southwest's most scenic and historic country.