Past News Items

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson announced today that new regulations governing the fishing rights of the Metlakatla Indian Community within the Annette Islands Reserve in Alaska were published in the Federal Register June 5.

The purpose of the new regulations is to give the Metlakatla Indians the opportunity to catch their fair share of the annual salmon run.

Salmon canning is the chief industry of the community and the Reserve includes the waters within 3,000 feet of the shoreline of the islands.

On September 1, 2020, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) approved the Kickapoo Traditional Tribe of Texas’ (Tribe) Part 3 Business Leases, Chapter 27 Leasing Code under the Helping Expedite and Advance Responsible Tribal Homeownership Act of 2012 (HEARTH Act). With this approval, the Tribe is authorized to enter into business leases without further BIA approval.

Secretary of the Interior Manuel Lujan announced that effective November l, 1991, the Bureau of Reclamation will implement interim operating criteria at Glen Canyon Dam on the Colorado River. The criteria will remain in effect until the Glen Canyon Dam Environmental Impact Statement (GCDEIS) is completed in late 1993 and final criteria for the operation of the facility are approved and implemented

Funeral services were held January 9 for the last full-blooded member of the Mandan Indian Tribe, Mrs. Mattie Grinnell, who lived to be 108 years old. Mrs. Grinnell died January 6 at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Rose Fournier, in Twin Buttes, North Dakota.

Living through more than a century of tremendous changes for her people and her land, Mrs. Grinnell retained to the end an amazing vitality, charm and spirit.

Interior Assistant Secretary Eddie F. Brown and United states Peace Corps Director Paul D. Coverdell today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that provides for cooperation between the two agencies in recruitment of returned Peace Corps Volunteers (PCV) to work in Bureau of Indian Affairs-funded (BIA) schools on Indian reservations.

Proposed new regulations for HEW's programs of assistance for college students have been described as a "major breakthrough in Indian education" by Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson.

In a letter to HEW Secretary Caspar W. Weinberger, Thompson expressed his "strong support" for the new rules published in the Federal Register in March. They set forth provisions for coordinating the HEW programs with BIA's higher education assistance program.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – The Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute in Albuquerque has received notification of re-accreditation, affirming that its degree and certification programs in advanced technical fields, liberal arts and business education will continue to enrich the lives of students from 66 American Indian tribes.

Washington, DC--Secretary of the Interior Manuel Lujan announced today that President Bush intends to nominate Martin L. Allday of Midland, Texas as the Department's Solicitor. Allday will assume his post at Interior upon confirmation by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

"Martin Allday is a veteran attorney, a strong executive, and a distinguished leader of his profession and his community," said Secretary Lujan. "I am delighted that he has accepted the challenge of serving the President and the American people as the Interior Department's Solicitor."

Acting Secretary of the Interior, Kent Frizzell today announced approval of new procedures on appeals from administrative decisions of the Commissioner and the Area Directors of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Under the new procedures, review authority is given to the Board of Indian Appeals of the Department's Office of Hearings and Appeals on all appeals except those requiring the exercise of the Secretary's discretion and appeals from decisions concerning tribal enrollments.