Past News Items

A new Assistant Area Director for Administration in the BIA's Portland Area has been appointed by Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson. He is William V. Battese, who has been serving as Acting Deputy Area Director in the Anadarko, Oklahoma Area. The Portland Area includes three states: Oregon, Washington and Idaho.

"Bill is an Indian himself --a member of the Potawatomi Tribe and he has more than 25 years experience working in Indian programs. He will be a valuable addition to the Portland staff," said Commissioner Thompson.

WASHINGTON, DC – Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today announced that the Indian Affairs Office of Indian Energy and Economic Development (IEED), in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), has launched a website to create a web-based clearinghouse of environmental information that will support American Indian and Alaska Native traditional and renewable energy resource development.

A proposal for a National Recreation Area adjoining Yellowtail Reservoir in Big Horn and Carbon Counties, Montana, and Big Horn County, Wyoming, is detailed in a report released today by the Department of the Interior.

A 7l-mile long reservoir will be formed by the construction of the Yellowtail Dam now being built near the mouth of Big Horn Canyon, about 42 miles southwest of Hardin, Montana, by the Bureau of Reclamation as a part of the Missouri River ( Project. The dam is expected to be completed by 1966.

Anthony Whirlwind Horse, a member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, has been appointed Superintendent of the Bureau of Indian Affairs agency
on the Pine Ridge Reservation, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson announced today.

Whirlwind Horse has been the Education Program Administrator at the agency. He succeeds Albert Trimble who is now Tribal Chairman of
the Oglala Sioux Tribe.

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Carl J. Artman will visit Southern California tomorrow to inspect extensive damage caused by the Poomacha Fire on the La Jolla Indian Reservation and the Rincon Indian Reservation, two Luiseno tribal communities headquartered in San Diego County. He also will join other Federal and State officials in meetings with leaders from these and other affected tribes to discuss relief efforts for their communities.

Transfer of Llewellyn Kingsley, superintendent of the Winnebago Indian Agency in Nebraska for the past three years, to the comparable position at Pine Ridge, South Dakota, effective September 15, was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

At Pine Ridge, Kingsley replaces Leslie P. Towle, who was recently appointed area director for the Bureau of Indian Affairs at Anadarko, Oklahoma successor at the Winnebago Agency has not yet been selected.

A "bill of rights" for students attending Bureau of Indian Affairs schools has become a part of the Code of Federal Regulations, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson announced today.

"This new part of the Code," Commissioner Thompson said, "is like our Constitutional Bill of Rights in that it is simple, brief and to the point. It provides a sound base for local school communities --parents, students and staff -- to develop regulations and programs which accord with the law, are respectful of individual rights and promote a spirit of responsibility."

WASHINGTON – Bureau of Indian Affairs Director W. Patrick Ragsdale today announced that he has confirmed Edward F. Parisian as regional director of the BIA Rocky Mountain Regional Office in Billings, Mont. Parisian, an enrolled member of the Chippewa-Cree Tribe of the Rocky Boy’s Reservation in Montana, had been serving as the acting regional director since May 8, 2006. His new appointment was effective April 1. The Rocky Mountain Regional Office serves federally recognized tribes in Montana and Wyoming.

Responding to tribal requests, the Department of the Interior announced today it is restoring to the San Carlos Apache Indian Tribe ownership of the subsurface interest in approximately 225,000 acres of land in a portion of eastern Arizona known as the "San Carlos Mineral Strip."

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson today named superintendents to three Alaska Bureau of Indian Affairs agencies - those at Fairbanks, Nome, and Bethel. The appointments are effective August 1, September 1, and August 4, respectively.