Past News Items

The States we know as Nevada, Utah, and Colorado were once the hunting and warring grounds of numerous Indian tribes. Their stories are told in an illustrated, 24-page booklet just issued by the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs -- Indians of the Lower Plateau.

WASHINGTON – Bureau of Indian Affairs Director Michael S. Black today announced that he has named Bryan Rice deputy bureau director of the BIA’s Office of Trust Services at the bureau’s headquarters in Washington, D.C. Rice, an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation, had been serving as the OTS’s assistant director for resource protection since August 2009. His appointment became effective on October 23, 2011.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs has scheduled public hearings on proposed regulations dealing with the acquisition of trust land, for Indians. Notice of the hearings is being published in the Federal Register.

The proposed regulations were published in the Federal Register July 26, 1978 for review and comment. A number of persons and organizations requested that hearings be held. They expressed concern about the potential removal of land from tax rolls and jurisdictional problems which might arise on lands placed in trust status for Indians.

This year's Miss Indian America, Wahleah Lujan, 18, from Taos, N. Mex. will pay her first visit to Washington today through Tuesday, Jan. 31, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Robert L. Bennett announced today.

While here, the Ft. Lewis College (Colorado) sophomore will meet members of the House Interior and Insular Affairs Committee; will be welcomed to the District by Commissioner Walter Tobriner, Friday at 2:00 P.M. in the District offices; and feted at a reception given Saturday night by the American Indian Society at the home of its president, Mitchell Bush, Jr.

WASHINGTON, D.C.— Associate Deputy Secretary Meghan Conklin, Principal Deputy Special Trustee Ray Joseph today were in Albuquerque, N.M., for the fourth of six regional government-to-government tribal consultations regarding the Trust Land Consolidation component of the Cobell Settlement. The meetings with tribal leaders are a part of the Obama Administration’s commitment to reinvigorating nation-to-nation relationships with tribes.

Sales of timber from lands belonging to Indian tribes and individual Indians brought the owners a record high income of $12,388,000 in the fiscal year 1960, or 23 percent more than the 1959 income, the Department of the Interior announced today.

The volume of timber cut under contract was also at the record level of 597 million board feet, an increase of 63 million board feet over the 1959 total. Not included in these figures are the data for Klamath Indian Reservation, in Oregon, where sales are affected by the approaching termination of all Federal trust responsibility.

The Department of the Interior has scheduled a hearing on the Klamath River fishing situation November 15 at Eureka, California, Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Forrest Gerard announced today.

The purpose of the hearing is to receive and record the views of persons not eligible to exercise Indian fishing rights, and who are interested in the Indian fishery on the Klamath river system. It will be an information gathering meeting only.

WASHINGTON –– The White House hosted its first ever lacrosse clinic today on the South Lawn featuring some of the nation’s best lacrosse players showcasing the health benefits of the nation’s fastest growing sport to 100 youth as part of the First Lady’s Let’s Move! in Indian Country (LMIC) initiative.

Award of a $31,740 contract for development of approximately 320 acres of land on the Sandia Pueblo Grant under the jurisdiction of the United Pueblo Agency of the Bureau of Indian Affairs was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

This is a part of the rehabilitation program for Indian lands of the Middle to Grande Pueblos authorized by the Flood Control Acts of 1948 and 1950, and will provide additional developed land for use of tribal members.

The LaPointe Indian Cemetery, burial place of the Chippewa Chief Great Buffalo, has been listed in The National Register of Historic Places, the Bureau of Indian Affairs announced today.

The cemetery is located on Madeline Island, in Lake Superior off the coast of Wisconsin. The property is held in trust by the United States for the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians.