Past News Items

Three Alaskan Eskimos have set out to prove that reindeer have other uses than pulling Santa's sleigh. They have joined the ever-growing number of Alaskan "reindeer cowboys" who manage the animals as livestock--a project encouraged by the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs to spur the Alaskan economy.

Request builds on commitment to Indian Country to promote tribal self-determination and self-governance through investments in education for Native youth, support to Indian families, public safety in tribal communities, full payment of contract support costs, tribal governance of land and natural resources, tribal resilience to climate change, and promotion of tribal culture

"The unique content and method of traditional Indian teachings, development of morality and will power in the formation of Indian character, the spiritual training of Indian children by kin .and medicine man. All will be discussed at '" I the Second Conference of American Indian Elders on Traditional Indian Education," Commissioner of Indian Affairs Louis R. Bruce announced today. The Conference will be held at the Mather Training Center, Harper's Ferry, West Virginia, June 19-23.

RECOLD CORPORATION TO OPEN OKLAHOMA PLANT

There will be a new source of employment for Cherokee Indians in the Pryor, Oklahoma, area when Recold Corporation opens a branch plant, scheduled for immediate construction there. The new plant will hire 25 workers initially, increasing to 75 employees within a year and one-half. Company officials plan to negotiate an on-the-job training contract with the Bureau of Indian Affairs, to prepare Indian workers for employment in the plant.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Kevin K. Washburn today announced that the Office of Indian Energy and Economic Development (IEED) is soliciting grant proposals from federally recognized tribes for projects that promote the assessment and development of energy and mineral resources on Indian trust lands. IEED has $11 million available in FY 2014 for grants, which is a historic level of investment that will support tribes seeking to put their energy and mineral assets to work for their communities.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Louis R. Bruce, today announced that Flore Lekanof, 45, an Aleut and Acting Director of Community Services of the Bureau of Indian Affairs will be Director of Alaska Native Affairs and assume the duties of that post immediately. In that capacity he will coordinate Bureau efforts that will result from enactment of Alaska Native land claims legislation.

The Department of the Interior has recommended enactment of legislation (H.R. 8917) to provide for distribution of $1,750,000 in judgment funds to the 0maha Tribe of Nebraska.

The award, by the Indian Claims Commission, represents additional compensation for lands in what is now western Iowa and the northwestern Missouri to which the Omahas and other Tribes owned recognized title when the United States made treaties with them in 1825 and 1830.

Live Stream
Sally Jewell, Secretary of the Interior
2014 SIPI Commencement Address
at
Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute (SIPI)
Albuquerque, NM
Thursday, April 17, 2014
ustream.tv/channel/sipi-it
Live Stream begins at 10 a.m. (MST)

Regulations for preparing a roll of the Northwestern Band of Shoshone Indians eligible to share in the distribution of $15.7 million were issued today by the Secretary of the Interior Rogers C. B. Morton, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Louis R. Bruce announced.

To stimulate greater economic growth and development on Indian reservations, the Department of the Interior has asked Congress to increase by $35 million the authorized amount of the revolving loan fund of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Under a bill proposed by the Department, authorization for the program would be boosted from $27 million to $62 million and the Bureau would be permitted to make grants of not more than 20 percent of the borrowed amount in connection with the loans under certain circumstances.