Past News Items

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk today announced that the Indian Affairs Office of Indian Gaming (OIG) will conduct tribal consultation with federally recognized tribes on Indian Gaming Land into Trust Determinations. A letter announcing the meetings was sent to tribal leaders on August 24, 2010.

“I am pleased that Indian Affairs is continuing our consultation with tribes,” Echo Hawk said. “It is critical that we work together with tribes to address important issues regarding Indian Gaming and sovereignty.”

Thomas H. Tommany, a Creek Indian from Oklahoma, has been appointed Superintendent of the Bureau of Indian Affairs' Haskell Institute at Lawrence, Kansas.

Established in 1884 as a boarding high school, and the alma mater of numerous Indians prominent in public life today, Haskell moved into a new phase in its , history last year. The high school program was closed out, new curricula and facilities were created, and Haskell became the first Indian school offering vocational and technical training exclusively at the post-secondary level.

WASHINGTON – Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today applauded President Obama’s nomination of Tracie Stevens to be the chair of the National Indian Gaming Commission.

“Tracie Stevens is an outstanding choice as chair and will bring significant experience in both tribal government and gaming to the commission,” Salazar said. “She will provide strong leadership to the commission as it deals with the many complex issues associated with Indian gaming.”

Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall today issued the following statement on education programs for Indian children:

"Indian children in Federal schools are handicapped educationally, economically and geographically through physical and social isolation from the mainstreams of American life. Many are further handicapped by an only partial understanding of the English language, if, indeed, they speak English at all.

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk today announced that the Deputy Assistant Secretary − Indian Affairs Del Laverdure will be the Featured Speaker in Las Vegas, Nev., at the 24th Annual Reservation Economic Summit (RES 2010). The event runs from February 21-24, 2010. Laverdure will speak to the many accomplishments and projects being undertaken by the Office of the Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs.

Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall and Secretary of Agriculture Orville L. Freeman this week commended the cooperation of citizens in communities across the country where 85 Job Corps Conservation Centers are operated by the Departments of Interior and Agriculture.

March 26 to April 2 has been designated by the Job Corps as "Salute to Communities Week." Open house celebrations and other activities will be held by Job Corps Centers throughout the country during the week.

WASHINGTON - Today, November 28, 2011, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk will hold a media teleconference to announce a sweeping reform of federal leasing regulations for American Indian lands that will help to expedite economic development and spur renewable energy development in Indian Country.

Media wishing to participate in the 12:00 pm noon (Eastern Time) conference call should dial 1- 888-606-7043; the passcode is LAND LEASE.

Two newly-appointed members of the Department of the Interior's Indian Arts and Crafts Board--Alvin M. Josephy, Jr., and Dr. Mitchell A. Wilder-- attended their first Board meeting Friday, January 27, with Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall. The five-member Board promotes the development of Indian arts and crafts by providing professional advisory and technical assistance in production, promotion and marketing.

The five members (commissioners) are appointed by the Secretary of the Interior and serve four-year terms without salary or fee.

WASHINGTON, D.C.— Department of Interior (DOI) Solicitor Hilary Tompkins, Associate Deputy Secretary Meghan Conklin, and Deputy Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs for Policy and Economic Development Jodi Gillette met with tribal officials in Phoenix, Ariz., today for the fifth of six scheduled regional government-to-government consultation meetings on the Trust Land Consolidation component of the Cobell Settlement. The meetings with tribal leaders are a part of the Obama Administration’s commitment to re-invigorating nation-to-nation relationships with tribes.

Interior's Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Forrest J. Gerard has extended the November 28 deadline during which the Crow Tribe was to establish a coal negotiating committee and has directed Bureau of Indian Affairs officials in Montana to continue efforts to help the Crow Tribe to establish a committee that would be supported by the major interest groups of the tribe.