Past News Items

Secretary of the Interior Rogers C. B. Morton today issued a policy statement concerning Indian cultural and religious use of migratory bird feathers and parts. Following is the text of the statement.

Secretary of the Interior Manuel Lujan hosted the first gathering of the Advisory Committee for the White House Conference on Indian Education in Washington, D.C., on April 17, 1991.

"Our program for Indian education must have one important objective in mind -- achieving the highest quality education for the children it serves," Lujan said in greeting the group. "As we strive to achieve this goal we realize that the essential roots of Indian heritage must be implicit in any program of Indian education. We can not separate Indian education from Indian communities."

Because of increasing reports of violence and the alleged breakdown of law and order on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, Morris Thompson, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, today said he was taking several steps to alleviate the situation there and to help the Oglala Sioux Tribe find solutions to the causes which are disrupting the quality of life on the reservation.

Thompson said he was detailing a Bureau of Indian Affairs Special Officer and an assistant, along with 10, members of the Special Operations Service, to Pine Ridge immediately.

Secretary of the Interior Manuel Lujan announced today the formation of a Working Group on Indian Water Settlements, which will report to Interior's Water Policy Council.

The Group's primary tasks will be to establish a set of principles to guide Indian water settlements; assist in the work of negotiating teams dealing with such settlements; and. keep the Council apprised of upcoming actions and report to the Council on the progress of ongoing negotiations, particularly when key decision points are approached.

Richard Romero, a member of the Taos Pueblo Tribe, has been appointed Superintendent of the Bureau of Indian Affairs' Winnebago, Nebraska Agency. Commissioner Morris Thompson announced today that the appointment would be effective May 4.

Romero has been the Tribal Operations Officer for the Northern Pueblos Agency in New Mexico since 1971.

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke applauded President Donald J. Trump's nomination of Tara Mac Lean Sweeney, a prominent Alaska Native leader and acclaimed businesswoman with the Arctic Slope Regional Corporation, to be the department’s next Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs.

If confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Sweeney, a member of the Native Village of Barrow and the Iñupiat Community of the Arctic Slope, would be the first Native Alaskan and only the second woman in history to hold the position.

Interior Assistant Secretary Ken Smith has approved an economic development grant of $358,666 to a Navajo tribal enterprise for the expansion of a potato production and processing business.

The grant is part of a Bureau of Indian Affairs program to provide "seed money" for the development of profit-making enterprises on Indian reservations. At least 75 percent of the project funds must come from non-federal sources.

Richard C. Whitesell, Superintendent of the Bureau of Indian Affairs Flathead Agency at Ronan, Montana, has been detailed to act as Area Director at the Bureau office in Billings, Montana. He will serve in this capacity pending the appointment of a temporary successor to James Canan.

Canan was recently assigned by Assistant Secretary Forrest Gerard to manage the field operations portion of a BIA Management Improvement Program.

WASHINGTON - Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Lawrence S. Roberts, who leads the Office of the Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs, today announced the Department’s decision to place a 1.08-acre land parcel owned by the Craig Tribal Association, a federally recognized tribe headquartered in the City of Craig, Alaska, into federal Indian trust status.

John W. Fritz, senior corporate counsel for Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company, has been named Deputy Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs, Interior Secretary James G. Watt announced today.