Past News Items

WASHINGTON -- Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today applauded President Obama’s intent to nominate Vincent G. Logan, a member of the Osage Nation, as the next Special Trustee for American Indians.

Selection of Hans Mork Jensen, a fish biologist with 13 years' experience in the Washington State Department of Fisheries, to fill the newly established position of fisheries management specialist in the Portland area office of the Bureau of Indian Affairs was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

Marvin L. Franklin, Assistant to the Secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs, announced today that representatives of the National Center for Dispute Settlement will preside at a meeting of the Prairie Band Potawatomi Indian Tribe in Holton, Kansas, Saturday, September 29. A move to stop the meeting had been turned down by the Federal Court on September 11 in Kansas City, Kansas.

Billings, Mont. — The second of five in a series of listening sessions will begin Thursday, August 16, 2012. The Obama Administration recognizes that the protection of sacred sites on federal lands is integral to traditional religious practices, tribal identities and emblematic of sovereign tribal nations. These sacred site listening sessions are intended to assist in developing policies that result in effective, comprehensive and long-lasting federal protection of, and tribal access to, the places that are so important to the fabric and culture of tribal nations.

Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay today announced the reappointment of Floyd E. Maytubby, Oklahoma. City, Okla., as Principal Chief of the Chickasaw Indian Tribe tor a two-year term beginning October 18.

American Indians who work for the Bureau of Indian Affairs at its headquarters in Washington, D.C., are offering three multi-colored travel posters for sale as unusual Christmas gifts.

The posters, designed by American Indian art students, are based on the theme, "Discover America with the First Americans," an invitation to visit Indian reservations at vacation time.

The posters sell for $1.75 each with all proceeds going directly into college scholarships for Indian youngsters

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Acting Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Donald E. “Del” Laverdure today announced that the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) has provided $50,000 in a one-time emergency funding for the Emmonak Women’s Shelter in the Yup’ik Eskimo village of Emmonak, Alaska. The village’s only facility offering domestic violence protection is facing imminent closure due to a funding shortfall.

In a major step designed to improve and expand Federal health services to Indians in the United States and Alaska, the Bureau of Indian Affairs of the Department of the Interior will transfer its entire health program to the Public Health Service on July 1.

Involved in the transfer will be about 3,600 Indian Bureau employees and about 970 buildings. The real property inventory, estimated to be worth about $40,000,000, includes 56 hospitals, 21 health centers, 13 boarding school infirmaries, and numerous other structures used in the health program.

DEAR CONGRESSMAN:

The President has recent­ly received a number of letters concerning the pro­posed Trans-Alaska pipe­line. He has asked me to share with you our view of some of the issues raised.

ANCHORAGE, ALASKA. — The final government-to-government tribal consultation regarding the draft report on Indian Affairs Administrative Organizational Assessment and Bureau of Indian Affairs/Bureau of Indian Education streamlining plans will take place on Wednesday, May 23, 2012, at the Dimond Center Hotel in Anchorage, Alaska. The consultation is the final of seven that have taken place around the country in Arizona, Florida, South Dakota, Washington, Oklahoma and California. The first was held in Miami on April 12 and 13, 2012.