Past News Items

The Department of the Interior has issued an administrative order restoring to the San Carlos Apache Tribe full ownership of, approximately 200,000 acres of land known as the "mineral strip," ceded to the Government in 1896.

The land, lying along the southern border of the tribe's Arizona reservation, was ceded by the tribe with the understanding that the Government would supervise mineral recovery on the lands and return all mineral revenues to the tribe.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – On Thursday, May 15, Deputy Secretary of the Interior Michael Connor will hold a news media teleconference to discuss the schedule for the continued implementation of the Land Buy-Back Program for Tribal Nations (Buy-Back Program) through the end of calendar year 2015. Connor will be joined by Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Kevin K. Washburn.

The Department of the Interior today announced the award of a $499,557 contract for construction of an eight-mile section of Navajo Route 8 in the northeastern Arizona part of the Navajo Indian Reservation.

The new stretch of Navajo 8 will link the reservation towns of Ganado and Klagetoh in Apache County with an all-weather, paved highway. The towns are located a few miles south of Canyon de Chelly National Monument, near the Petrified Forest area, a popular tourist locale.

WASHINGTON, DC – The Department of the Interior today announced that quarterly transfers of funds to the Cobell Education Scholarship Fund are set to begin this week with a first transfer of nearly $580,000 to the American Indian College Fund. The Scholarship Fund was authorized by the historic Cobell Settlement, approved in November 2012, to provide financial assistance through annual scholarships to American Indian and Alaska Native students wishing to pursue post-secondary education and training.

SPECIAL PROJECTS READY INDIANS FOR VOCATIONAL TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT

Two promising projects involving pre-vocational training for Indian men and women are being undertaken through the joint efforts of the Interior Department's Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Department of Labor, and State education and employment assistance agencies in Washington, Arizona, and Texas.

WASHINGTON, DC – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Kevin K. Washburn today issued proposed findings for two petitioners under the Federal Acknowledgment Process. The decisions include a proposed finding to acknowledge the petitioner known as the Pamunkey Indian Tribe (Petitioner #323) as a federally recognized Indian Tribe, and a proposed finding to decline acknowledgment for the petitioner known as the Meherrin Indian Tribe of North Carolina (Petitioner #119b).

Award of a $491,000 contract for the construction of a dormitory and related facilities at the Wahpeton Indian School, Wahpeton, North Dakota, was announced today by the Department of the Interior. The successful bidder was Meide and Son, Inc., of Wahpeton. Eight higher bids ranging to $588,400 were received.

WASHINGTON, DC – In advance of the 5th White House Tribal Nations Conference, Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Kevin K. Washburn today announced a final rule that demonstrates the Obama Administration’s continuing commitment to restoring tribal homelands and furthering economic development on Indian reservations.

Assistant Secretary of the Interior John A. Carver, Jr., today instructed the heads of two Bureaus to take every action possible to reduce economic losses to the people of flood-damaged West Coast areas.

In a special memorandum to the Director of the Bureau of Land Management and the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Mr. Carver said:

WASHINGTON, D.C. – As part of the Obama Administration’s Generation Indigenous (“GenI”) initiative to remove barriers standing between Native youth and their opportunity to succeed, Assistant Secretary - Indian Affairs Kevin K.