Past News Items

WASHINGTON - The Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Neal McCaleb has announced that the Department of the Interior published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for the Indian Reservation Roads Program in the Federal Register on August 7, 2002. The proposed rule is the product of negotiated rulemaking between tribal representatives and Federal representatives from the Department of the Interior and the Department of Transportation under the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century.

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – The Joint Tribal Leaders/DOI Task Force on Trust Reform will hold its next meeting on June 13-15, 2002 in Bismarck, N.D. The Task Force was established in February of 2002 to review and propose plans for improving the Department’s management of individual Indian and tribal trust assets.

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – Interior Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Neal A. McCaleb will meet with tribal leaders on Wednesday, January 23, 2002 in Anchorage, Alaska, at the sixth in a series of consultation meetings on the Department’s plan to improve the management of Indian trust assets. The meeting will be held at the Hilton Anchorage Hotel (500 West 3rd Avenue) starting at 9:00 a.m. local time.

Assistant Secretary - Indian Affairs Kevin Gover announced that Sharon Blackwell has been selected as the new Deputy Commissioner for the Bureau of Indian Affairs. "Sharon Blackwell has the sharp legal mind, the management experience and the dedication to public service that is required for success in this tremendously demanding position," said Assistant Secretary Gover. "We are very fortunate to have her on board to help guide the agency in the difficult months and years ahead."

PHOENIX - Following approval by Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne, the largest Indian water rights settlement in U.S. history is now fully in effect, concluding more than three decades of extraordinary effort by federal, state and tribal leaders to resolve critical water use issues facing tribal communities and the State of Arizona.

Schools funded by the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs will receive a donation of $100,000 worth of computer hardware from Global Commercialization Foundation, a non-profit organization. The hardware will include routers, hubs, servers and other equipment needed to connect the schools to the Internet.

Ada E. Deer, Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs, announced to day that the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma will resume their Law Enforcement activities.

Ada E. Deer, Assistant Secretary of lndian Affairs announced that Mr. M. Franklin Keel has been appointed as Area Director for the Eastern Area Office. "During this critical time for our Indian people we need dedicated, qualified, caring administrators to respond to the needs of our Indian people," Ms. Deer, said. "We welcome Mr. Keel to our senior management staff."

The Department of the Interior today released a revised list of Alaska Native tribes that are eligible to receive services from the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and which have the immunities and privileges available to other federally recognized Indian tribes in the contiguous 48 States. The list will be published in the Federal Register next week.

Department of the Interior Solicitor Thomas L. Sansonetti today issued a long-awaited legal opinion that explores the extent of Alaska Native village jurisdiction over land and non-village members.

The opinion concludes that Native village jurisdiction was significantly limited by Congress in 1971. The opinion, however, also reaffirms longstanding Departmental and Congressional actions which include Native villages as tribes for purposes of many programs of the Bureau of Indian Affairs and other federal agencies.