Past News Items

Washington DC – Department of the Interior’s Acting Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Aurene Martin applauds the American Indian firefighting crews that were dispatched to assist with the recovery of the space shuttle Columbia, and its crew. The Shuttle broke apart during re-entry February 1, 2003, and is spread over a 500 square-mile area, much of it heavily wooded.

Revised regulations governing Indian fishing on the Hoopa Valley Indian Reservation are being published in the Federal Register, July 29, 1982, Interior Assistant Secretary Ken Smith said today.

The regulations, which become effective August 1, ban gillnet fishing during the fall chinook run from 9 a.m. Monday to 5 p.m. Wednesday of each week and from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Thursdays and Fridays.

Proposed regulations were published for review and comment June 1. The Federal Register notice includes information on changes recommended and made and those that were not made.

WASHINGTON – Acting Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Aurene M. Martin today announced the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) is part of a three-year Department of the Interior (DOI) agreement with one of the nation’s leading producers of high-tech geographic mapping software that will expand the usage of geographic information system (GIS) technology throughout Indian Country.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Improving Indian student academic achievement through Native language and culture in Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) schools will be the focus of the upcoming Office of Indian Education Programs (OIEP) Journeying Home: Language and Culture Preservation Conference. The event, with the theme “Creating Our Future From Our Past,” will be held March 3-6 in Minneapolis, Minn., at the Hilton Minneapolis and Towers hotel.

WASHINGTON - Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton will participate in a swearing-in ceremony this week at the inaugural board meeting of an independent foundation chartered by Congress to accept financial and other contributions for Indian students attending Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) schools.

The board of directors of the Foundation for the Advancement of American Indian Education (FAAIE) will be welcomed on Thursday, March 6 by Secretary Norton, acting Assistant Director - Indian Affairs Aurene M. Martin, and FAAIE Founding Director Lorraine P. Edmo.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Acting Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Aurene M. Martin today announced that the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ (BIA) popular family literacy program, FACE, will be expanded to seven BIA-funded schools in the 2003-2004 school year. The Family and Child Education program, which is administered by the Bureau’s Office of Indian Education Programs (OIEP), provides early childhood and adult education programs to American Indian families at home and in school. The FACE program has served over 15,000 infants, children and adults since its start in 1991.

WASHINGTON - Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton today conducted a ceremonial swearing-in of the founding members of the American Indian Education Foundation (AIEF) Board of Directors at its inaugural meeting in the Interior Department's headquarters in Washington, D.C. Congress established the Foundation in December, 2000 under the Omnibus Indian Advancement Act (Public Law 106-568).

On February 20, 2003, the Department of the Interior received amendments to a Class III gaming compact executed by the Forest County Potawatomi Community and the State of Wisconsin. Under the terms of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA), the Secretary may approve or disapprove the compact before the date that is 45 days after receipt of the compact. If the Secretary does not approve or disapprove the compact by that date, the compact is considered to have been approved, but only to the extent that its terms comply with the requirements of IGRA.

WASHINGTON – Acting Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Aurene M. Martin will observe Earth Day 2003 during a visit she will make to the Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute (SIPI) on April 23 at 2:20 p.m.(local time) to view its new Science and Technology Building and reforestation project. SIPI is a Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) funded, two-year institution located in Albuquerque, N.M., that provides general education, business, science and technical instruction at the associate degree and certificate levels for American Indians and Alaska Natives.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Acting Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Aurene M. Martin will be a guest on the “Indian in the Spotlight” program of Native America Calling on the show’s April 25, 2003, edition. NAC is the national public affairs and news radio program on the American Indian Radio on Satellite (AIROS) and National Public Radio networks. Assistant Secretary Martin will speak on today’s Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), the 179-yearold federal agency that serves the nation’s 562 federally recognized tribes.