Past News Items

Art objects by the famed San Ildefonso Pueblo, N. M., potter, Maria Martinez, her son, Popovi Da, and her grandson, Tony Da, have been assembled for showing in the Department of the Interior's Art Galleries in Washington, D. C., May 16-June 30, Mrs. Stewart L. Udall, president of the Center for Arts of Indian America, announced today. The artists will be present in the Galleries at various times during the first week.

ALBUQUERQUE, NM (January 12, 2010) – U.S. Department of the Interior officials today welcomed college football All-American and Rhodes Scholar Myron Rolle to Isleta Elementary School at the Pueblo of Isleta, New Mexico, American Indian Reservation to kick off the new Our Way to Health™ Program.

From Alaska to Florida, resource managers for the Department of the Interior are watchfully scanning snow and rainfall figures as the first signs of spring appear- - -hoping that last year's disastrous fire record will not recur in 1967.

Over most of the 550 million acres managed by Interior agencies, 1966 was called the worst fire year since 1957, year of the great Alaska fires. Paradoxically, 1965 had been one of the lightest years on record for fire damage. And the prime factor, as usual appeared to be the weather.

WASHINGTON, D.C.— U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) Deputy Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs for Policy and Economic Development Jodi Gillette and Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) Director Michael Black met with tribal leaders in Rapid City, S.D., today in the final regional government-to-government tribal consultation meeting on the Trust Land Consolidation component of the Cobell Settlement. The consultations are part of the Obama Administration’s commitment to re-invigorating nation-to-nation relationships with tribes.

Secretary of the Interior Thomas S. Kleppe has notified the Governor of Alaska that the State will be allowed an additional 90 days --until April 1 --to exercise an exclusive preference right to select lands described in Section 11 of the Alaska Native Claims
Settlement Act.

Generally, these Section 11 lands are the 9 townships surrounding Alaska Native Villages. Until October 1, 1976, these lands were held by the Federal Government exclusively for Alaska Natives to make selections.

Washington, D.C.— On Friday, September 16, the Deputy Associate Secretary Meghan Conklin at the United States Department of the Interior, and Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) Director Michael Black, will attend the third regional government-to-government tribal consultation regarding the Trust Land Consolidation component of the Cobell Settlement.

BACKGROUND ON COBELL SETTLEMENT:

Richard C. Whitesell, an enrolled member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe,, has been named Superintendent of the Bureau of Indian Affairs' Flathead Agency at Ronan, Montana, Assistant Secretary Forrest J. Gerard announced today. Whitesell's appointment will be effective November 6.

Whitesell has been Assistant Area Director for Community Services in the BIA's Phoenix, Arizona office for the past year. He was the Education Program Administrator at the Flandreau Indian School in South Dakota from 1971 to 1976 and at the Riverside: School in Oklahoma 1969-71.

WASHINGTON, D.C.--Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today announced the establishment of a new Secretarial Commission on Indian Trust Administration and Reform that will conduct a comprehensive evaluation of Interior’s trust management and provide recommendations on how to improve performance. The announcement kicks off a 30-day period during which Secretary Salazar is seeking nominations and input from the public on individuals to serve on the new commission, as well as comments on the commission’s proposed charter.