Past News Items

The Department of the Interior today announced the award of a $574,589 school construction contract which will provide facilities for 120 additional Indian children at the Oglala School on the Pine Ridge Reservation at Pine Ridge, South Dakota.

The contract provides for construction of a two-story brick and concrete masonry building with 24 classrooms and a library. This new building will replace the existing elementary school which is extremely overcrowded and structurally unsound. Capacity of the school will be increased from 786 to 906 pupils.

Assistant Secretary of the Interior Eddie F. Brown today announced approval of historic agreements giving five Indian Tribes greatly increased authority in the budgeting and spending of federal funds for Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) programs. "This is a major step toward giving tribal governments full authority and responsibility for governing their reservations," according to Brown, assistant secretary for Indian Affairs. "These agreements are historic for these tribes and for the BIA."

The Department of the Interior today announced its endorsement of legislation that would permit the leasing of Indian lands on the Palm Springs Reservation in California and the three Seminole Reservations in Florida for periods up to a maximum of 99 years.

Under present law the maximum term permitted for such leases is 25 years with an option to renew for an additional 25 years.

Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Ross Swimmer said today he supports the repair of existing Navajo homes on Hopi Partitioned Lands (HPL) in northern Arizona, but pledged legal recourse if evidence is found new home construction is underway in the area.

A change in Federal regulations that will permit the Bureau of Indian Affairs to make loans to withdrawing members of the Klamath Indian Tribe of Oregon regardless of their degree of Indian blood was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

Under the former rules, loans could not be made to individuals of less than a quarter degree Indian blood.

The amendment of the regulation was made possible as a result of legislation recommended by the Department and recently enacted by Congress (Public Law 86-40).

Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Ross Swimmer today awarded contracts to three firms that will act as model business development centers to create jobs for Indian tribes and individuals.

The three corporations, selected from 21 applicants, are the United Indian Development Association (UIDA) of El Monte, California; The Rensselaerville Institute of Rensselaerville, New York, and the Fairbanks Native Association (FNA) of Fairbanks, Alaska

Secretary of the Interior Fred A. Seaton today announced the Department, hoping to keep as much of the present Indian estate as possible in Indian hands, has recommended major amendments of S.51, a bill dealing with the sale or leasing of tracts owned by two or more Indians.

One of the most important recommendations asks for a $15,000,000 increase in the Indian Revolving Loan Fund set up to help Indians acquire land, he said.

The Department of the Interior announced today that it will deny requests to take off-reservation Indian lands into trust status for the purpose of establishing bingo or other gaming enterprises which do not conform with state and local laws. Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Ross Swimmer said, "We do not oppose tribal bingo operations on established reservations, but we do not think it is desirable -- or in the tribes' best interests -- to establish small, satellite bingo reservations in or near urban areas.

Award of a $176,168 contract to rehabilitate approximately 1,200 acres of land on the Duck Valley Indian Reservation in northern Nevada, was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

The contract calls for re-leveling of the land and the construction of canals, laterals and water control structures. The work to be done is part of an over-all program to develop available resources on the Duck Valley Reservation for use by Indian families.

Revised regulations governing Indian fishing on the Hoopa Valley Indian Reservation are being published in the Federal Register, July 29, 1982, Interior Assistant Secretary Ken Smith said today.

The regulations, which become effective August 1, ban gillnet fishing during the fall chinook run from 9 a.m. Monday to 5 p.m. Wednesday of each week and from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Thursdays and Fridays.

Proposed regulations were published for review and comment June 1. The Federal Register notice includes information on changes recommended and made and those that were not made.