Past News Items

Award of three contracts totaling $171,820.40 for road construction work in Indian areas of Oklahoma was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

All three projects involve a stabilized asphalt base and single bituminous surfacing on grade and drainage completed sometime ago. All of the roads run through heavily populated Indian areas and are school-bus and mail-service routes.

Interior Assistant Secretary Kenneth L. Smith has announced the appointment of new area directors for the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) at Sacramento, California and Anadarko, Oklahoma.

Maurice W. Babby, area director at Anadarko, has been transferred to the Sacramento office and William P. Ragsdale, assistant area director for economic development in the Phoenix, Arizona area, has been assigned to Anadarko. The BIA has a total of 12 area offices, or regional offices, throughout the United States.

Award of a $53,878 contract for flood control work on the Papago Indian Reservation in southern Arizona was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

The contract covers construction of 32 earth-filled flood control structures and the placement of about 3,000 linear feet of metallic pipe of varying diameters.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs has determined that a proposed wood supply agreement between the Penobscot Indian Tribe of Maine and the Lincoln Pulp and Paper Company, Inc., would have no significant impact on the environment.

An environmental assessment, prepared by the Bureau, indicates that some short-term environmental effects on land on wildlife resources would result from the timber harvesting, but would be typical of those encountered elsewhere in nearby locations in Maine where timber harvesting regularly occurs.

Award of a $868,653 contract for construction of school facilities to accommodate 188 Indian children not now in school at Dilcon, Arizona, on the Navajo Reservation was reported today by the Department of the Interior.

The contract calls for construction of a 7-classroom structure with a multipurpose room, a 128-pupil dormitory, a kitchen and dining room, employees' quarters, a bus garage, and a storage and utility building.

Interior Assistant Secretary Ken Smith today announced a major realignment of the Bureau of Indian Affairs' administrative structure. The changes, he said, will improve management efficiency, reduce personnel in central and area offices by 20 percent and reduce overhead costs by $16 million in fiscal year 1983.

Smith said the administrative cuts, coupled with an increase of $55 million in the Bureau of Indian Affairs' 1983 budget request, will result in increased funding of programs at the reservation level.

The unparalleled development of human end natural resources that has taken place on the Navajo Indian Reservation since the end of World War II is "only a prologue:" to the further development that must be accomplished over the coming decade, the Commissioner-designate of Indian Affairs, Philleo Nash, told a predominantly Navajo audience today.

Vincent Little, the Bureau of Indian Affairs Portland, Oregon Area Director, has been detailed to serve as the acting Phoenix Area Director for a period not to exceed 120 days.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs William Hallett said that Little "is an excellent administrator who will provide effective leadership for the Phoenix area in a critical period of change."

A Mohave Indian, Little was named Arizona Indian of the Year in 1971 when he was in charge of the Phoenix Indian School.

A conference was held July 6-7 at Lake Tahoe on the California-Nevada border to discuss water needs of the area, including Lake Tahoe, the Truckee Carson River Irrigation District, and the water requirements of the Pyramid Lake Indians.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs William Hallett today announced the appointment of Susan Drake to his Public Information Staff in the Washington Office. Ms. Drake, who will head the publications function for the BIA, will be responsible for the annual report, fact sheets, newsletters, brochures and the many BIA publications distributed to the general public.