Past News Items

Interior Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Forrest Gerard said today that his office has initiated plans to implement changes in Indian education programs mandated by Title XI of the Education Amendments Act of 1978, (P.L. 95-561), signed by President Carter November 1. Title XI, of the Act stresses self ... determination and control of Indian education programs by the Indian community. Its three parts deal with federally assisted programs in public schools, Bureau of Indian Affairs education programs, and programs administered by the Department of Health, Education and Welfare.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – As part of President Obama’s commitment to help American Indian leaders strengthen self-sufficiency and self-determination, U.S. Department of Interior officials will remove liens placed on thousands of acres of tribal lands acquired under the Indian Land Consolidation Act (ILCA) program and return the revenues generated by these liens to tribal communities to use for reacquiring tribal homelands. The announcement was made today by U.S. Deputy Secretary of the Interior Michael Connor, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Lawrence S.

Interior Secretary James Watt, and Ken Smith, Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs, flew into Navajo land for a brief visit September 17. En route from Phoenix to Denver, the Navajo stopover marked another leg of Watt's three-week tour of western states.

Watt was given a blessing by a Navajo medicine man, high on a chilly ridge facing a steep canyon wall. He and Smith visited the hogan of a traditional Navajo couple -- a home without electricity or running water and then were taken to the council chamber for a special evening session of the Navajo Tribal Council.

Secretary Cecil D. Andrus announced today that he will visit the Pacific Northwest in September to review the status of salmon and steelhead runs and to make an official visit to the Quinault Indian Reservation

"There is a growing concern for the condition of the fishery and I want to take the opportunity not only to review its current status but also to obtain first-hand reports about the future of the runs from Federal, State and Tribal representatives," Andrus said.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Kevin K. Washburn today issued the following statement regarding the $40 million in additional Bureau of Indian Education (BIE)-related funding in the recently enacted Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act of 2015.

A newly developed automatic data processing system for the Bureau of Indian Affairs' social services programs will be implemented October 1 in all areas except Alaska, Interior Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Ken Smith announced today.

With the new system in place, the processing of a request for general assistance, which in the present manual system takes 3-6 weeks before delivery of the first check, will be completed in 2-3 days.

Interior Solicitor Leo M. Krulitz announced today the working groups formed to help work out negotiated settlements of the New York land claims of the Cayuga Nation and the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe will resume meetings soon.

WASHINGTON, DC – Building off of sustained momentum from the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Land Buy-Back Program for Tribal Nations (Buy-Back Program), Deputy Secretary Mike Connor today announced that purchase offers worth more than $63.5 million have been sent to nearly 2,800 landowners with fractional interests on the Lake Traverse Indian Reservation in South Dakota (homeland of the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate). Interested sellers will have until November 24, 2014, to return accepted offers.

The American Indian Task Force of the Small Community and Rural Development Policy (SCRD) has focused its activity on four high priority concerns of American Indians, according to an updated report from Deputy Assistant Secretary Thomas Fredericks. As task force co-chairman, he identified the four concerns as 1) tribal consultation, 2) information systems, 3) Federal assistance management systems (FAMS), and 4) housing.

The Administration established the Indian Task Force last August to improve coordination and delivery of Federal services to American Indians.

Twenty Alaska Natives from villages in the Kuskokwim Delta area came to Washington, D.C., in mid-May to tell United States Congressmen how pending legislation, H.R. 39, involving millions of acres of Alaska land could affect their lives.

The Eskimo group raised funds for the trip through tribal activities in 56 villages. For most of the group it was a first visit to the Nation’s Capital.