Past News Items

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Following extensive consultations with American Indian leaders, the Department of the Interior today made a number of announcements related to the significant efforts underway for the purchase of fractional interests in American Indian trust lands from willing sellers.

Hopi farmers who have cooperated with conservation and livestock technicians of the Indian Service and increased the productivity of their farm and ranch operations were honored at a recent ceremony at Polacca school on the First Mesa in Arizona.

The Department of the Interior has ordered four coal companies to show cause within 30 days why their prospecting permits and mining leases on Crow Tribal lands in Montana should not be canceled because they exceed limitations on lease size.

Involved in the action are American Metals Climax (AMAX) and Shell Oil Co., which have mining leases; and the Peabody Coal Co. and Gulf Oil Corp. which have permits with options to lease. The companies are entitled to an administrative hearing on the matter.

WASHINGTON – President Obama’s fiscal year (FY) 2014 budget request for Indian Affairs, which includes the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE), is $2.6 billion – a $31.3 million increase above the FY 2012 enacted level. The proposed budget maintains the President’s commitment to meeting the government’s responsibilities to the 566 federally recognized American Indian and Alaska Native tribes, while exercising fiscal responsibility and improving government operations and efficiency.

Evan L. Flory, Chief of the Branch of Land Operations, Bureau of Indian Affairs, was named a fellow of the Soil Conservation Society of America at the Society's annual meeting in Jacksonville, Fla., on November 16, Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay announced today.

A plan for the use and distribution of more than $400,000 awarded to the Mojave Indians by the Indian Claims Commission for lands taken more than a century ago by the United States is being published in the Federal Register.

The award will be divided between the Fort Mojave Tribe of the Fort Mojave Reservation and certain persons of Mojave ancestry from the Colorado River Reservation. Both reservations are located on the California-Arizona, border.

WASHINGTON – Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and Assistant Secretary- Indian Affairs Kevin K. Washburn today praised the passage of the Violence Against Women Act, which includes important provisions for federally recognized tribal communities, saying it advances the progress the nation has made in combating violence against women by providing greater protections against homicide, rape, assault and battery in the home, workplace and on school campuses across the country.

Acting Secretary of the Interior Ralph A. Tudor today announced that investigation of the 10-year lease of 860.3 acres on the Fort Hall Indian Reservation by Arthur R. Hubbard, Pocatello, Idaho, reveals no grounds for cancellation.

The Potawatomi Indians of Kansas now have a tribal constitution. Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson gave formal approval February 19 to the document ratified in an election by the tribe on February 2.

The tribe has been without any form of tribal government since 1972 - and without an effective government for even longer. The new constitution provides for the prompt election of a tribal council and officers and is expected to meet the needs of the tribe for a sound governmental system.

WASHINGTON – Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today announced that the Department of the Interior disbursed, or paid out, $12.15 billion in revenue generated from energy production on public lands and offshore areas in Fiscal Year 2012 – a $1 billion increase over the previous year, and in line with increased production taking place across the country. The revenues were distributed to state, federal, and tribal accounts, providing important funding and supporting critical reclamation, conservation and preservation projects.