Past News Items

Restoration of mineral rights in 480 acres on the Wind River Indian Reservation in Wyoming to the Shoshone and Arapaho Tribes of that reservation was announced today by Secretary of the Interior Fred A. Seaton.

The lands involved in the restoration were originally among the unallotted and unreserved lands of the Wind River Reservation and were homesteaded by non-Indians during the 1930's. Mineral rights, however, were reserved to the United States.

WASHINGTON – In late 2019 the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) launched an innovative school bus internet connectivity project with the goal of using its 25 longest bus routes to keep students connected to learning. Well before COVID-19 hit the United States, the Bureau had begun to transform the designated school bus fleet into extended classrooms so that students remained connected while traveling, in some cases over 200 miles roundtrip per day, on distant bus routes.

WASHINGTON – Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy and Economic Development – Indian Affairs George T. Skibine today announced the publication of a Notice of an Amended Proposed Finding declining to acknowledge that a group known as Pointe-au-Chien Indian Tribe in Louisiana is an Indian tribe according to federal law.

Three changes in the Federal regulations governing the leasing of Indian lands for development of minerals other than oil and gas were announced today by Commissioner of Indian Affairs Glenn L. Emmons.

One change, involving the acreage of Indian land which may be leased to any one operator in a single State for development of uranium and associated minerals, removes the previous limitation of 960 acres and permits leasing for such purposes without acreage limitation.

WASHINGTON, DC -- Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne will discuss Indian issues and be joined by Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Stephen Johnson and other Administration officials to launch a new Native American-focused online training course for federal employees at a press conference at the National Press club on Thursday, January 31.

Appointment of Herman E. O'Harra as superintendent of the Hopi Indian Agency, Keams Canyon, Ariz., was announced today by Acting Commissioner of Indian Affairs W. Barton Greenwood.

WASHINGTON – Interior Associate Deputy Secretary James E. Cason today announced that the Indian Affairs Office of Indian Energy and Economic Development (IEED) will sponsor the conference “Accessing Capital: Lending Opportunities in Indian Country” to be held May 1-3, 2006, on the White Earth Band of Chippewa Indians reservation in Minnesota. The conference will take place at the tribe’s Shooting Star Casino Hotel and Event Center in Mahnomen, Minn.

It is real pleasure to be back in Oklahoma and meeting once again with so many of the State's fine Indian people and with delegates to the NCAI annual convention. All of us, it seems to me, owe a hearty debt of thanks to our good friend and host, Bill Keeler, for making this gathering possible and bringing us together in such excellent surroundings.

WASHINGTON – Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Aurene M. Martin today announced that she has affirmed the results of the October 21, 2003 recall election and November 5, 2003 special election held by the Sac and Fox Tribe of the Mississippi in Iowa, a federally recognized tribe. The action ended a long-standing internal dispute over the tribe’s leadership, which led to the closing of the tribe’s casino and brought economic and political uncertainty to tribal members.

Reflecting the increasing Indian Bureau emphasis on encouraging the growth of industry around Indian reservations, Acting Secretary of the Interior Hatfield Chilson today announced the appointment of Noel Sargent, a longtime principal staff member of the National Association of Manufacturers, as consultant on the Bureau’s industrial development program and creation of a new branch of industrial development in the Bureau’s Washington office.