Past News Items

WASHINGTON – Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today praised President Obama’s signing of five major settlements for Indian Country, calling the agreements a milestone in empowerment and reconciliation for the Nation’s First Americans.

Applications for grant funds for Indian tribes and organizations to use in the establishment and operation of Indian child and family service programs are now being accepted, Interior Assistant Secretary Forrest Gerard announced today.

Travelers who are planning a trip to Washington, D. C., next month, can add an Indian Dance Festival to their itinerary. The Department of the Interior's Center for Indian Arts in America will stage a performing arts program made up entirely of Indians and scheduled for Carter Barron Amphitheatre on June 1, 3, 4 and 5. It will be produced by the staff and students of the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, and includes 75 performers representing 31 Indian tribes from all over the United States.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk today announced Darren A. Cruzan as Deputy Bureau Director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) Office of Justice Services (OJS). Cruzan, an enrolled member of the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma, comes to the position from the Department of Defense, Pentagon Force Protection Agency (PFPA). The appointment became effective on September 27, 2010.

Sidney L. Mills, Acting Deputy Commissioner, announced today the appointment of three new Assistant Area Directors for the Bureau of Indian Affairs' office in Aberdeen, S. Dak.

Richard D. Drapeaux, formerly Deputy Area Director in Aberdeen will be the Assistant Area Director for Human Resources. This office will supervise the office of Employment Assistance, Social Services, Tribal Government, Law Enforcement, Housing and Indian Business Development.

Acting Secretary of the Interior John A. Carver Jr. today announced the resignation of Philleo Nash as Commissioner of Indian Affairs, effective March 15, 1966.

Mr. Nash, a former lieutenant governor of Wisconsin, was nominated by President Kennedy as Commissioner of Indian Affairs in August 1961.

Prior to this appointment he served for five months as a member of the Indian Affairs Task Force named by Secretary Udall.

WASHINGTON, DC – Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today applauded the Senate’s confirmation of Tracie Stevens as chair of the National Indian Gaming Commission. The President nominated Stevens on April 28, 2010.

“Tracie Stevens brings to the commission a wealth of expertise and experience from a distinguished career working on both tribal government and gaming issues,” Salazar said. “She will be an outstanding chair of the National Indian Gaming Commission.”

Secretary of the Interior Cecil D. Andrus released the attached statement and fact sheet today concerning the Pacific Northwest salmon fisheries, at a joint news conference held in Seattle with Senator Warren G. Magnuson of Washington.

CLOVERDALE RANCHERIA TERMINATED

Twenty descendants of Porno Indians who live on the Cloverdale Rancheria in Sonoma County, California, began a new chapter in their lives recently when the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs terminated trusteeship over their lands. The termination, approved by the Indians and involving 27.5 acres of small land parcels, was the 22nd such action taken by the Bureau under the California Rancheria Act of 1958. The act provides for distribution of rancheria assets to the Indian owners and an end to Federal services.

On April 7, 2010 the Department of the Interior will launch the First Annual Federal Employment Workshop in partnership with Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute. In February, Secretary Salazar challenged the Interior bureaus to increase youth employment opportunities in 2010 by 50 percent over 2009 figures and in 2011 by 60 percent. A key component of the Secretary’s Youth in the Great Outdoors initiative, this new challenge will give a big boost to youth employment and education programs throughout the nation.