Past News Items

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk conveyed the nation’s gratitude to the families of seven police officers who were being remembered and honored at the 20th Annual Indian Country Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Service held today at the United States Indian Police Academy in Artesia, N.M.

Two changes in the Federal regulations governing the preparation of an up-to-date membership roll for the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians of North Carolina were announced today by the Department of the Interior.

Both modifications were recommended by the tribal council of the Eastern Cherokee Band to clarify the intent of the regulations which have been in effect since January 1959.

The Department of the Interior announced today that it plans to distribute more than $14 million to the Absentee Delaware Tribe of Western Oklahoma and the Cherokee Delaware Tribe of Oklahoma on September 15, 1977.

The money was awarded to the Delawares by the Indian Claims Commission as compensation for land taken by the United States in violation of an 1854 treaty.

Washington, D.C. – Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk today announced that on December 21 the Bureau of Indian Affairs began its 2009 drunk-driving prevention campaign, “Don’t Shatter the Dream,” which is being conducted by BIA and tribal law enforcement in Indian Country through January 3, 2010.

American Indians, widely considered a vanishing race in the early years of the present century, are now increasing at a faster rate than the whole United States population, the Bureau of Indian Affairs of the Department of the Interior reported today.

The annual growth rate for the Nation's Indian population during the decade of the 1950's was about 2.5 percent as compared with 1.7 percent for the entire country.

Leo M. Krulitz, the Solicitor of the Department of the Interior, said today that unless Indian tribes can fully utilize their natural resources, the opportunity to determine their own future will hold little promise for them.

In an address to the two-day conference of the Federal Bar Association in Phoenix, Arizona, on Indian law, Krulitz said: "Self-determination will mean little to many Native Americans if the Federal trustee does not insure that water rights are preserved.

WASHINGTON – On Thursday, November 5th, 2009, President Obama will host the White House Tribal Nations Conference. As part of President Obama’s sustained outreach to the American people, this conference will provide leaders from the 564 federally recognized tribes the opportunity to interact directly with the President and representatives from the highest levels of his Administration. Each federally recognized tribe will be invited to send one representative to the conference.

Visitors travelling to the Pacific Northwest will find many reasons for lingering beyond their visit to the Seattle World Fair in a special informational pamphlet being readied by the Department of the Interior.

Vincent Little has been appointed Director of the Portland Area for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Acting Commissioner Raymond V. Butler announced today.

The area includes the states of Washington, Oregon and Idaho. There are eight agency offices in the area.

Little, a member of the Mohave Tribe, has been Superintendent of the Northern Idaho Agency at Lapwai, Idaho.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Responding to a call for greater transparency throughout government, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today said the Department will provide regular status updates to the American public on the financial health and ongoing reforms of the American Indian trusts, which consists of $3.5 billion in Indian trust funds.