Past News Items

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson will present the Indian Leadership Award of the Bureau of Indian Affairs to Mrs. James M. (Marie) Cox, Comanche Indian of Oklahoma, and to the Cherokee Action Committee for Foster Children of North Carolina April 2 at 2 p.m. in the Department of the Interior Auditorium in Washington, D.C.

"These awards represent unique contributions in the realm of foster care by American Indians and are a part of National Action for Foster Children Week," Thompson said. National Action for Foster Children Week is March 31-Apri1 6, 1974.

WASHINGTON—Assistant Secretary—Indian Affairs David W. Anderson today announced he has named W. Patrick Ragsdale to be Director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs(BIA) effective Feb. 13, 2005.

Ragsdale, who is an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, has been serving for the last year as Director, Trust Review and Audit in Albuquerque, New Mexico in the Office of the Special Trustee for American Indians.

Transfer of Howard F. Johnson from the position of superintendent, Blackfeet Agency, Browning, Mont., to the comparable position at Osage Agency, Pawhuska, Okla., effective February 15, was announced today by the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Johnson, superintendent of the Blackfeet Agency for the past five and a half years, succeeds Thomas H. Dodge, who recently retired. A successor for Johnson at Blackfeet Agency has not yet been selected.

The Indian Arts and Crafts Board announced today issuance of revised Source Directories No. 1 and No. 2, which will be of particular interest to potential customers of authentic Native American arts and crafts.

Source Directory No.1 deals with Native American owned and operated arts and crafts organizations located throughout the United States, including artist and craftsman cooperatives, tribal arts and crafts enterprises, and non-profit Native American arts organizations

WASHINGTON – Interior Secretary Gale Norton and Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Dave Anderson today formally signed an agreement with leaders of the Zuni Tribe of New Mexico that will resolve the tribe’s water rights claims in the Little Colorado River Basin of Arizona without harming other water users.

The Tyonek Indians of Alaska, with a population of about 200 persons, have accepted oil and gas lease bids totaling almost $11 million for some 8,500 acres of their reservation, the Department of the Interior announced today.

The council members of the tiny village of Tyonek will decide this week whether to accept bids for oil and gas leases on 20 tracts comprising the remainder of their reservation of some 26,000 acres, the Bureau of Indian Affairs lid. The Bureau acts as trustee for the Tyonek people.

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Tara Mac Lean Sweeney announced today that the Office of Indian Energy and Economic Development (IEED) has awarded business development grants totaling $400,000 to 12 federally recognized American Indian and Alaska Native tribes.

The awards from IEED’s Native American Business Development Institute (NABDI) Feasibility Study Program will enable tribal leaders to better evaluate and identify viable economic opportunities for their communities.

TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – As part of his continuing visits to Bureau of Indian Affairs schools, Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs David W. Anderson today regaled students, staff and faculty of Sequoyah High School, a BIA-funded facility for grades 9-12 operated by the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, with his experiences and expertise that have ultimately led to both personal and business success for the highest-ranking American Indian at the Interior Department.

This building we are dedicating today is testimony to the enterprising spirit of the Turtle Mountain Chippewa Indian Tribe, the business wisdom of the men who recognized a market for low-cost authentic reproductions of Chippewayan handicraft, and the concern of congress, the Department of the Interior, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs for economic improvement among the Indian people.

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