Past News Items

A plan for the use of $7 million awarded to the Jicarilla Apache Indian Tribe by the Indian Claims Commission is being published in the Federal Register, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson announced today.

The award represents payment for claims of the Jicarilla Apache Tribe against the United States for the general accounting of tribal funds and properties which the Federal Government controlled and managed since the last century.

Secretary of the Interior Don Hodel told Congress today that longstanding problems plaguing federal efforts to serve Indian tribes will continue until the tribes, the Congress and the Administration make a unified effort to "find new ways to work together toward our common goal: to create a framework within which American Indians can improve the quality of their lives."

"The old ways of doing things are not leading to the accomplishment of this goal," Hodel said in testimony prepared for the Subcommittee on Interior and Related Agencies of the House Appropriations Committee.

A preliminary injunction has been issued which prevents non-Indians from interfering with the Omaha Tribe's possession of valuable farm land in the Blackbird Bend area of the Omaha Indian Reservation in Iowa, the Department of the Interior said today.

The action was taken by the United States District Court for the Northern District of Iowa on June 5, 1975, in response to a request by the United States as trustee for the tribe.

On July 1, 2020, the Kialegee Tribal Town, and the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma, respectively, submitted compacts with the State of Oklahoma governing certain forms of Class III gaming.

Secretary of the Interior Manuel Lujan today announced a landmark agreement to allow construction on the Animas-La Plata water project in southwestern Colorado and northwestern New Mexico.

Under a Memorandum of Understanding, the endangered fish species in the San Juan Basin will be protected by the water releases from the Navajo Reservoir. In addition, there will be a recovery program for the endangered fish species.

WASHINGTON, Jan. 13--A group of Native American leaders, brought together through the National American Indian Council, today announced their plans to purchase the historic Willard Hotel on Pennsylvania Avenue from its New York owners for $7 million.

The building will become national headquarters for NAIC an umbrella organization representing 800,000 American Indians through 1,500 local and regional groups. Other Native American groups also will have offices there.

Washington, D.C. - OMB Director Richard Darman and Secretary of the Interior Manuel Lujan announced today that, effective immediately, all adjustments associated with the Interior Department's Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) accounting and financial management system must be reviewed by a special management team established by the Department of the Interior (DOI). Further, Darman and Lujan announced the establishment of a plan to improve management at the BIA.

Nominations for members of a special committee to advise the Secretary of the Interior and the Bureau of Indian Affairs on administration of Indian trust responsibilities are now being accepted, the Bureau of Indian Affairs announced today.

The Advisory Committee on Trust Responsibilities will render advice with respect to water rights, real property rights of every kind and nature, and personal property rights wherein the United States has a trust responsibility to an Indian tribe, band, or community.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs John Tahsuda today announced his approval of land leasing codes for 10 tribes in seven states. Today’s action brings to 39 the number of federally recognized tribes whose land leasing regulations have been approved by the Department of the Interior in accordance with the Helping Expedite and Advance Responsible Tribal Homeownership (HEARTH) Act.

Washington, DC--Secretary of the Interior Manuel Lujan announced today that President Bush intends to nominate Frank A. Bracken as Under Secretary of the Interior Department. Currently Chairman of the Board of Directors of Ball-InCon Glass Packaging Corporation in Muncie, Indiana, Bracken will assume his post at Interior upon confirmation by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.