Past News Items

Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall today announced he has appointed H. Rex Lee, veteran career specialist on American Indians and dependent peoples, as Governor of American Samoa.

Secretary Udall also announced that Air Force Maj. Eric J. Scanlan, whose family has lived in American Samoa for three generations, is returning to his home islands to be Government Secretary. The post is similar to that of a lieutenant governor.

WASHINGTON – U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke announced today that the Laguna Elementary School in New Laguna, New Mexico, will receive $26.2 million for the construction of a new school.

Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall today expressed gratification over the selection of Mrs. Clara B. Gonzales, a school principal on the Zuni Indian Reservation in New Mexico, as one of the recipients of Seventh Annual Career Service Awards which are being presented by the National Civil Service League at a Washington banquet ceremony on March 21.

WHAT: In October of this year, President Obama announced a series of public and private sector efforts to address the prescription drug abuse and heroin epidemic. As part of those commitments, the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy; the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Indian Health Service; and the U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs will host a press conference to announce an agreement to equip BIA officers with naloxone for responding to incidents of opioid overdose.

Assistant Secretary of the Interior George W. Abbott today announced approval of a public land order restoring to tribal ownership about 1,161 acres of scattered tracts on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation in North Dakota.

The lands being restored were ceded to the United States by the Indians many years ago and were opened to settlement and entry under the homestead laws in 1911. These particular tracts, however, have not been sold or disposed of over the 50-year period.

WASHINGTON – Today, the director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Michael S. Black, announced that the BIA is publishing a final rule intended to officially reinstate to the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) the correct operative version of 25 CFR Part 226—Leasing of Osage Reservation Lands for Oil and Gas Mining.

Three Alaskan Eskimos have set out to prove that reindeer have other uses than pulling Santa's sleigh. They have joined the ever-growing number of Alaskan "reindeer cowboys" who manage the animals as livestock--a project encouraged by the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs to spur the Alaskan economy.

Request builds on commitment to Indian Country to promote tribal self-determination and self-governance through investments in education for Native youth, support to Indian families, public safety in tribal communities, full payment of contract support costs, tribal governance of land and natural resources, tribal resilience to climate change, and promotion of tribal culture

RECOLD CORPORATION TO OPEN OKLAHOMA PLANT

There will be a new source of employment for Cherokee Indians in the Pryor, Oklahoma, area when Recold Corporation opens a branch plant, scheduled for immediate construction there. The new plant will hire 25 workers initially, increasing to 75 employees within a year and one-half. Company officials plan to negotiate an on-the-job training contract with the Bureau of Indian Affairs, to prepare Indian workers for employment in the plant.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Kevin K. Washburn today announced that the Office of Indian Energy and Economic Development (IEED) is soliciting grant proposals from federally recognized tribes for projects that promote the assessment and development of energy and mineral resources on Indian trust lands. IEED has $11 million available in FY 2014 for grants, which is a historic level of investment that will support tribes seeking to put their energy and mineral assets to work for their communities.