Past News Items

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk today announced he has issued a final determination (FD) regarding the petition of the Central Band of Cherokee (Petitioner #227) for federal recognition as an Indian tribe. The final determination found that the petitioner, located in Lawrenceburg, Tenn., did not meet the mandatory criteria for acknowledgment under the Code of Federal Regulations.

Transfer of more than 10,000 acres of land and about 30 buildings at the Southwestern Sheep Breeding Laboratory, Fort Wingate, N. Mex., from the Department of the Interior to the Department of Agriculture was announced today by Secretary of the Interior Fred A. Seaton.

WASHINGTON – The Trump Administration announced today that the U.S. Department of Interior’s Indian Affairs Office of Indian Energy and Economic Development (IEED) has approved National Tribal Broadband Grant (NTBG) program grants to 23 federally recognized American Indian and Alaska Native tribes and two Navajo Nation communities to study the feasibility of developing or extending broadband services in their areas.

WASHINGTON – Bureau of Indian Affairs Director Jerold L. “Jerry” Gidner today announced that he has named Michael S. Black as Regional Director of the BIA’s Great Plains Regional Office in Aberdeen, S.D. His appointment became effective on July 20. The Great Plains Regional Office oversees 12 BIA agencies serving the 16 federally recognized tribes located in the states of Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota.

The Department of the Interior has recommended against proposed legislation which would narrow the jurisdiction of the Indian Claims Commission over claims by Indian tribes against the United States which are based on original Indian title, it was announced today.

In a letter of June 25 to Senator James E. Murray, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, Assistant Secretary Wesley A. D'Ewart gave four reasons for opposing the proposed amendment of the Indian Claims Commission Act of 1976.

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Carl J. Artman announced that the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) has published final regulations in the Federal Register implementing Section 20 of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988 (IGRA). IGRA contains a general prohibition against gaming on land acquired after October 17, 1988, the date the act was signed, which may be overcome if the land meets certain exceptions. The final rule incorporates suggestions received by the BIA through public comment and the tribal consultation process.

Nearly 500 “mixed blood" members of the Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah and Ouray Reservation in northern Utah have withdrawn from the tribe and are now in the process of setting up their own organization, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Glenn L. Emmons announced today.

The action was taken under Public Law 671 of the 83d Congress which provides for a division of tribal assets between "mixed blood" and "full blood" members and for termination of Federal trusteeship over the property and affairs of the “mixed blood" group by August 27, 1961.

WASHINGTON – Interior Associate Deputy Secretary James E. Cason today announced that the Indian Affairs Office of Indian Energy and Economic Development (IEED) has published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking regarding tribal energy resource agreements (TERAs) designated under Title V, Section 503, of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 in the August 21, 2006, issue of the Federal Register.

Secretary of the Interior Fred A. Seaton today called attention to the final roll of the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin which was published in the Federal Register December 12, 1957.

The roll, comprising 3,270 names, was compiled under the Menominee Termination Act of 1954 and represents the final listing of tribal members after disposition of all appeals that have been made to the Secretary. Only those people on the roll are entitled under the Termination Act to share in the benefits of tribal property.