Past News Items

The first leasing of California Indian-owned land for oil and gas development in about a decade was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

On January 18, bids were opened at the Sacramento area office of the Bureau of Indian Affairs for the oil 8nd gas leasing of two tracts of tribally owned land which comprise the entire acreage of the Colusa Indian Reservation in Colusa County. One tract is 214.5 acres, the other 54.53 acres.

WASHINGTON – Acting Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Lawrence S. Roberts announced today that the Office of Indian Energy and Economic Development (IEED) has awarded business development grants totaling $947,406 to 20 federally recognized tribes and one Alaska Native corporation. The awards from IEED’s Native American Business Development Institute (NABDI) Feasibility Study Program will enable tribal leaders to better evaluate and identify viable economic opportunities for their communities.

Louis R. Bruce, Commissioner of the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs, announced today that two 26 inch by 36 inch maps of Indian country are now available to the public through the Superintendent of Documents. The maps are: "Indian Land Areas: General” and “Indian Land Areas: Industrial".

“We believe these maps will be invaluable to tourists that are interested in visiting Indian reservations and Indian communities, and to business people with an eye to enlarging their operations to encompass Indian reservations," said the Commissioner.

A complete do-it-yourself house planning service has been packaged by the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs to accelerate "mutual help" housing projects on Indian reservations, Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall announced today.

WASHINGTON – Acting Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Lawrence S. Roberts today announced that the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), in partnership with the Pascua Yaqui Tribe, will hold a landmark training program in 2016 designed specifically for social workers and tribal court presenters in the preparation, preservation and presentation of evidence in child welfare cases.

Dollar volume of contracts with Indian tribes and individuals for goods and services -- excluding construction -- by the bureau of Indian Affairs has reached $29.5 million in fiscal year 1972, Secretary of the Interior Rogers C. B. Morton announced today.

Another $12 million in contracts for goods and services to Indian tribes and individuals is anticipated by the close of the current fiscal year.

Thousands of American Indian high school boys and girls will keep the jobs they had this summer. But they won't be drop-outs. They will be “step-ups” into a special program combining work opportunities with part-time schooling leading to high school diplomas.

They are part of the Neighborhood Youth Corps--students who, were it not for the employment they are provided under the Economic Opportunity Act, may have joined the ranks of early school quitters because of the financial needs of their families. About 22,000 Indian youngsters were enrolled this past summer.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – As part of President Obama’s commitment to support tribal self-governance and self-determination, Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell today announced a package of regulatory initiatives intended to help tribal leaders to spur investment opportunities and economic development in Indian Country.

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Sixteen Crow Indians were greeted by newsmen Embassy officials at Dulles Airport here Tuesday as they changed from the airplane that brought them from Billings, Mont., to one that would take them to London, England on an European tour may rival those staged by Buffalo Bill Cody.

The Department of the Interior has recommended enactment of Federal legislation authorizing long-term leasing of lands on the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Reservation and the Papago Reservation, both in Arizona.