Past News Items

GALLUP, N.M. – On Saturday, June 2, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and Navajo Nation President Ben Shelly will break ground on the long-awaited Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project in New Mexico. Eventually the project will provide a 280-mile-long pipeline, two water treatment plants and delivery systems that will bring water to more than 250,000 people at more than 43 Navajo chapters, portions of the Jicarilla Apache Nation and the city of Gallup.

Secretary of the Interior Fred .A. Seaton announced today the Departments’ approval of the November 1 action of the Navajo Tribal Council in appropriating $300,000 of tribal funds for use by the Tribe to induce new industrial plants to locate in the vicinity of the reservation. The added payrolls would provide increased job opportunities for tribal members, it was explained.

The Department has also approved the Tribal Council’s proposal to use $44,000 in previously advanced Federal funds for the same purpose.

­­­ Appointment of Stanley D. Lyman, 60, Superintendent of the Pine Ridge Agency, Pine Ridge, S. Dak., since October 1971, to head the Indian Trust Protection Office of the Phoenix Area, Bureau of Indian Affairs, beginning November 11, was announced today by Marvin L. Franklin, Assistant to the

WASHINGTON – On Friday, April 27, 2012, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar will be joined by Crow Tribe Apsáalooke Nation Chairman Cedric Black Eagle and Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer for the signing of a Crow Tribe-Montana Water Rights Compact. The compact seeks to resolve more than three decades of controversy, ensure safe drinking water for the reservation, and provide for the rehabilitation of the Crow Irrigation Project. The ceremony will take place at the Department of the Interior in Washington, D.C.

In order to clarify the position of the Department of the Interior with reference to the so-called ''Wyandotte Indian Cemetery" in Kansas City, Kansas, Secretary Fred A. Seaton today issued the following statement:

WASHINGTON – In June and July 2019, the Land Buy-Back Program for Tribal Nations mailed more than $140 million in purchase offers to more than 18,000 owners of fractional land interests at the Navajo Nation. The deadline for landowners to return their voluntary purchase offers is either August 30, 2019, or September 30, 2019, depending on the offer cover letter date.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – As part of President Obama’s commitment to fulfilling this nation’s trust responsibilities to American Indians and Alaska Natives, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar will convene the first meeting of the Commission established to undertake a forward looking, comprehensive evaluation of Interior’s trust management.

Six real estate employees from four field offices of the Bureau of Indian Affairs have been authorized to attend special courses in appraisal techniques at the University of Southern California starting August 6, Commissioner Glenn L. Emmons announced today.

The courses are given in two sessions, from August 6 through August 18, and from August 20 through September 1.

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs (AS-IA) Tara Katuk Sweeney recently announced that the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) schools operating on the Navajo Nation will open for students via distance learning for the first nine weeks of the 2020-21 school year. The BIE operates 32 schools within the Navajo Nation and has worked closely with tribal leaders to find the best way to implement the Return To Learn! plan. Under the plan, BIE schools have the flexibility to implement how it works for their specific needs and community conditions.

Washington – Jerry Gidner, Director, Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), announced today the Second National Conference on Child Protection & Child Welfare in Indian Country will be held August 19-22, 2008, in Billings, Mont.