Past News Items

Eddie F. Brown, Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs, today approved an amended constitution adopted in a 139-70 vote by the Sitka Tribe of Alaska in November.

The Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin and the Department of the Interior are now in agreement on a plan developed by the Tribe for future control of its property and service functions after Federal trusteeship is terminated next year, Acting Secretary of the Interior Elmer F. Bennett announced today.

The plan was developed by the Tribe under terms of the Menominee Termination Act of 1954 and was submitted to the Secretary of the Interior on July 28. It includes six major parts.

Interior Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Eddie F. Brown today announced a national line officers meeting of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) to discuss the future role of the Bureau in working with Indian tribal governments. The meeting of BIA line officers, the first since 1988, will be held July 23-25 in Scottsdale, Arizona.

The Department of the Interior announced today the award of a $372,551 contract for the construction of educational facilities at Rosebud, South Dakota.

Interior's Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Eddie F. Brown said today the President's fiscal year 1991 budget request of $1.7 billion for the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) will reverse a decade-long trend of reducing resources available to carry out the Bureau's responsibilities to the Indian people of this country.

The Indian Arts and Crafts Board of the Department of the Interior announced today the third set of awards which are being made "in recognition of long and outstanding services in the preservation, encouragement and development of the arts and crafts of the American Indians."

These awards, consisting of certificates of appreciation, are being presented today in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Recipients, and the categories for which they on, include:

Interior's Assistant Secretary Ross Swimmer today announced the appointments of C. L. Henson as Superintendent of the Bureau of Indian Affairs' Colorado River Agency in Parker, Arizona; and George E. Keller as Superintendent of the Truxton Canon Agency in Valentine, Arizona.

Award of a $181,400 contract for construction of a new 80-pupil dormitory and additional dining facilities to provide for Indian school children at Ramah, New Mexico, was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

Completion of the work will make it possible for the Bureau of Indian Affairs to accommodate additional children at the existing Ramah facility while they attend the local public schools under arrangements worked out with the school district. This will also relieve the present overcrowding.

The Department of the Interior announced today plans to contract for services to strengthen internal management and administration of more than $1.5 billion of Indian trust funds. Ross Swimmer, Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs, said that sound administration of the trust funds is one of Interior's paramount Indian trust responsibilities. He said that after assessing the consequences of further delay that he, as the manager for the trustee, decided to move ahead and take immediate steps to improve federal management of the funds.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Glenn L. Emmons today strongly urged the Army Corps of Engineers to take action "at the earliest possible date” to eliminate a flood threat to tribally developed pasturelands on the Big Cypress Seminole Indian Reservation in Florida.