Past News Items

Secretary of the Interior Fred A. Seaton today urged enactment of four Congressional bills which would in combination bring an end to Federal trusteeship over the property and affairs of 38 small Indian reservations or “rancherias” in California in line with recommendations made by the Indian owners.

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Neal A. McCaleb will be a keynote speaker at the Joint Fall 2001 Tribal Self-Governance Conference with the Department of the Interior and Department of Health and Human Services. The event will be held November 12-16 at the Quinault Indian Nation Resort in Ocean Shores, Wash. Topics of discussion will be self-governance and trust reform.

Haumont Contracting Company of Phoenix, Arizona, has been awarded a contract covering construction of about 11 1/2 miles of road on the Navajo Indian Reservation running easterly from Tuba City, Arizona, toward Keams Canyon and Window Rock, the Department of the Interior announced today.

Haumont's bid of $267,721.04 was the lowest of eleven received. The others ranged from $276,725.73 to $419,467.05.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs announces that it has lifted a moratorium that has been in effect since 1997, on the sale of chat from the Tar Creek Superfund site located in northeastern Oklahoma. The lifting of the moratorium will lead the way to assist with the clean up of the area and provide a financial gain for the Indian landowners. Chat has commercial value, even though it is mine waste. It resembles a fine gravel and can be used for a variety of purposes, including fill material, road bedding, and aggregate in concrete and asphalt.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs of the Department of the Interior today confirmed its agreement with leaders of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe of South Dakota on a major program of tribal land consolidation.

The program was announced by the tribal leaders in Washington on December 5.

To help finance the operation, the Bureau will extend the tribe a loan of $500,000 from its revolving loan fund.

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – President Bush’s pledge on education that “no child shall be left behind” was reaffirmed today with the release of his Fiscal Year 2002 budget request of $2.2 billion for the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA).The request includes $292.5 million for BIA school construction – an increase of $162,000 over the 2001 enacted level – of which $122.8 million is to replace six aging BIA school facilities around the country, including the Polacca Day School located in Polacca, Ariz., on the Hopi reservation.

Award of two contracts in the amounts of $34,876 and $23,741.25 for water development at ten school locations on the Navajo Reservation in Arizona and New Mexico was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

A Tribal-State gaming compact between the Pala Band of Mission Indians and the State of California was approved Saturday, April 25, by Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Kevin Gover and will take effect when the notice is published in the Federal Register. "I want to stress that this compact applies only to the future gaming operation of the Pala Band of Mission Indians," said Assistant Secretary Gover. "The terms and conditions of this compact are binding only on the State and the Pala Band.

Award of three school construction contracts on the Navajo and Hopi Indian Reservations in Arizona totaling $1,224,334 and increasing pupil capacity by more than 50 percent was announced today by the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs.

The contracts involve the replacing of a trailer school with permanent facilities; construction of a new school replacing one destroyed by fire; and construction of new facilities replacing two old schools on the reservation which are beyond rehabilitation.

Ada E. Deer, Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs announced that 177 federally-recognized tribes representing 18 tribal grantees are currently participating in a demonstration project that allows for the integration of the employment, training and related services provided by formula-funded programs from three federal agencies.