Past News Items

WASHINGTON – Today, the Department of the Interior (DOI) forged a new partnership with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) by signing the National Programmatic Agreement among the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development Programs, National Conference of State Historic Preservation Officers and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation for Sequencing Section 106 (USDA-RD NPA).

WASHINGTON – Interior Secretary Gale Norton and Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Neal A. McCaleb will address the pressing need for economic and employment growth throughout Indian Country at the National Summit on Emerging Tribal Economies, which will be held September 16-19, 2002 in Phoenix, Ariz., at the Phoenix Civic Plaza. Norton and McCaleb are scheduled to speak on September 17.

Sarah Ann Johnson, Miss Indian America XIV, will visit Washington March 3 through 7 for a round of meetings with Congressmen, Department of the Interior and Bureau of Indian Affairs officials, and Indian leaders.

She will fly to New York March 7 for radio and TV appearances, to attend a coffee Friday morning given by the Girl Scouts of America Commissioner of Indian Affairs Robert L. Bennett and Indian leaders will be a guest at a luncheon Friday given by industrialists who have plants on or near Indian lands.

WASHINGTON - In a letter sent to the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission, Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Neal McCaleb expressed the Department of the Interior's deep regret over the International Whaling Commission's (IWC) decision not to renew the aboriginal subsistence whale quota for the 2003 - 2007 period. He also offered his agency's support to ensure that the subsistence needs of Alaska Natives are met, and that their whaling traditions continue.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs announced today the release of a new, updated booklet, "Answers to Your Questions about American Indians."

Earlier editions have been popular with persons interested in the American Indian. The questions answered are chosen from the many thousands directed to the Bureau during the past years.

According to Commissioner of Indian Affairs Robert L. Bennett, the answers to some of the questions will startle those with preconceived ideas about Indians and their status in this country.

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – Interior Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Neal A. McCaleb and Deputy Assistant Secretary Wayne Smith will meet with tribal leaders on Thursday, January 17, 2002 in San Diego, Calif., at the fifth in a series of consultation meetings on the Department’s plan to improve the management of Indian trust assets. The meeting will be held at the Hanalei Red Lion Hotel (2270 Hotel Circle North) starting at 9:00 a.m. (PST).

Chairman Nakai, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen:

It is exciting to represent the Department of the Interior on this occasion. An event such as this can only happen once in a lifetime, and I am very pleased to share it with you. I have looked forward to the opportunity to become better acquainted.

I believe a Navajo must have originated the saying: "The first hundred years are the hardest." Nowhere in the United States ... and perhaps nowhere else in the world -- have a people faced challenge more ener­getically than have the Navajo in the years since 1868.

"The approval of these compacts helps bring to a close a long and difficult phase in the implementation of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. For twelve years the Tribal governments of California have diligently moved forward, through some extremely difficult and trying times to secure their rights of self-determination through Tribal government gaming. Today, they have redeemed their rights.

"The resolution of this issue demonstrates that the political process works when people of foresight, and good will resolve themselves to finding a solution.

Indians from as far away as Idaho, Montana, Minnesota and the Dakotas are being flown with heavy snow removal machinery to help open some 2,000 miles of roads blocked by snow on the huge Navajo Indian reservation in Arizona, New Mexico and Utah.

Reporting today on measures underway to aid the storm-stricken Navajos, and other Indians, the Interior Department's Bureau of Indian Affairs said six 40,000-pound gross weight four-wheel drive snow plow trucks are scheduled for movement by big C-124 Air Force planes today.

WASHINGTON – As part of its efforts to improve and reform the management of the Indian trust for the benefit of all Indians, the Department of the Interior has revised existing—and drafted new—federal Indian trust regulations to implement the American Indian Probate Reform Act (AIPRA) and the Fiduciary Trust Model. The Department held an initial comment period on the first drafts of new regulations from January through April of this year. After incorporating comments, the proposed AIPRA regulations will be published in the Federal Register in coming weeks.