Past News Items

Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton today officially signed the Colorado River Water Delivery Agreement, a landmark pact that begins a new era of cooperation on the river by fulfilling a promise California made more than 70 years ago.

WASHINGTON – Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Aurene M. Martin today announced that the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) will hold a series of tribal consultation meetings on the realignment of the regional and agency offices in 8 of its 12 regions. The meetings will take place October 27-30 at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas, Nev.

Secretary of the Interior Manuel Lujan announced today that he is directing the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM) to issue a renewable 5-year permit for the Kayenta coal mine on Indian land in northeastern Arizona Lujan will defer a permit decision on the adjoining Black Mesa mine pending the analysis of additional information on water resource impacts In addition Lujan has ordered a study of alternatives to the use of the existing slurry-pipeline to transport coal

TEMECULA, CALIFORNIA - The U.S. Department of the Interiors Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs, Aurene M. Martin, met here today with representatives of various State and Federal agencies and tribal leaders in a "rapid response" assistance effort to help some 2,750 members of a dozen Native American tribes who have been affected by three major wildfires in southern California. Ten deaths have been reported, an estimated 30,000 acres have burned and 130 homes have been destroyed on reservations of tribes in the region.

WASHINGTON – Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Aurene M. Martin today announced that the Joseph K. Lumsden Bahweting Anishnabe School, a Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) grant day school operated by the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians of Michigan, has been named a 2003 No Child Left Behind Blue Ribbon School by the U.S. Department of Education.

WASHINGTON – Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Aurene M. Martin will meet with tribal leaders October 27 through 30, 2003, in Las Vegas, Nev., at a series of consultation meetings on the realignment of the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ (BIA) Alaska, Great Plains, Navajo, Northwest, Pacific, Rocky Mountain, Southwest and Western regional and agency offices. The meetings will be held at the MGM Grand Hotel (3799 Las Vegas Blvd.) starting daily at 9:00 a.m. (PST).

(LOS ANGELES) - Interior Secretary Gale Norton today commended federal and private land managers for the conservation partnerships they have forged with communities and urged them to find new ways to connect citizen stewards with landscapes and habitat.

Speaking to the opening session of Joint Ventures: Partners in Stewardship Conference, Norton said for conservation to succeed in the 21 st century, "we must involve the people who live on, work on and love the land."

(DENVER) - Interior's Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Aurene Martin announced today that Secretary Gale A. Norton approved $1,088,000 in federal Save America's Treasures grants to help protect and preserve the nation's American Indian cultural heritage. Martin made the announcement at a meeting today at a national Indian education summit in Denver, Colo. The meeting, "Learn Today, Lead Tomorrow: Accountability for Results," is sponsored by the Bureau of Indian Affairs Office of Indian Education Programs.

(WASHINGTON) - Interior Secretary Gale A. Norton announced today that all of the requirements of the Shivwits Band of the Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah Water Rights Settlement Act, Public Law 106-263, have been completed, allowing the settlement to become fully effective. As required by the Settlement Act, the Secretary's statement of findings will be published in the Federal Register.

WASHINGTON – Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Aurene M. Martin today announced she has issued a Notice of Final Determination to decline to acknowledge as an Indian tribe a group known as the Snohomish Tribe of Indians located in and around Edmonds, Wash. The Snohomish petitioning group did not demonstrate that it met all seven mandatory criteria for Federal acknowledgment as an Indian tribe under 25 CFR Part 83, Procedures for Establishing that an American Indian Group Exists as an Indian Tribe.