Past News Items

Assistant Secretary Ross Swimmer today emphasized there will be no action by the federal government next month to forcibly remove Navajo families from land belonging to the Hopi Indian Tribe in Arizona.

The Department of the Interior today announced two actions looking toward a greater equalization in the value of extremely valuable individual Indian land holdings on the Agua Caliente Reservation at Palm Springs, California.

One was the recent submission to Congress of a report favoring the enactment, with amendments, of H.R. 5557, a bill that deals with the equalization problem.

The second action taken was the adoption in final form of a set of administrative instructions for equalization. These were published as a proposal in the Federal Repository last January 23.

Interior Secretary William Clark today formally transferred the 44-acre site of the former Albuquerque Indian School to the 19· Indian Pueblos of New Mexico.

In ceremonies at the U.S. Capitol, the Secretary witnessed acceptance of the deed to the property by representatives of the 19 Pueblos. Ken Smith Interior Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs, earlier this month executed the quitclaim deed which stipulated that acceptance of the property by the Pueblos must be completed no later than August 15.

Assistant Secretary of the Interior Roger Ernst today announced approval of the action of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation of Oregon in leasing 344 acres at McNary Dam town site for industrial development purposes to two California trailer manufacturing companies.

The Interior Department’s Indian Arts and Crafts Hoard announced today publication of a new 32-page Source Directory of interest to potential customers for authentic Native American arts and crafts.

All title source documents and records pertaining to trust or restricted lands on 21 Indian reservations have now been transferred from Washington, D. C. , to area offices of the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Aberdeen, S. Dak.; Billings, Mont. j Gallup, N. Mex.; and Portland, Oreg., the Department of the Interior announced today.

The transfer, Commissioner Philleo Nash emphasized, has involved only the land records formerly maintained in Washington and not those kept at the Bureau's agency offices.

A proposed project to develop oil and gas resources within the boundaries of the Big Cypress Indian Reservation in Florida would not create significant environmental issues or concerns, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) has concluded.

Words are inadequate to express the pleasure with which I come to Lewiston to talk to my friends in the National Congress of American Indians.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs William E. Hallett announced today the appointment of Gene R. Powers as Assistant Area Director for administration in the Juneau Area Office.

Appointment of George A. Boyce, superintendent of the 2,000-pupil Intermountain Indian boarding school at Brigham, Utah, to develop a new instruction program in Indian arts and crafts at Santa Fe, New Mexico, was announced today by the Department of the Interior. The appointment will be effective August 6.