Past News Items

Interior Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Ken Smith has appointed Jacob Lestenkof, an Aleut from St. George Island, Alaska, as the Bureau of Indian Affairs' area director for Alaska. The BIA's Alaska area office is in Juneau.

Lestenkof's appointment is Smith's first official action as Assistant Secretary, since being sworn into office May 15.

Smith said Lestenkof's "extensive experience with both Alaska Native organizations and the government demonstrated his qualifications for this position of critical importance to the Alaska Natives."

Secretary of the Interior Cecil D. Andrus announced today he will review the Department's policy requiring five years' occupancy before land can be withdrawn under the 1906 Alaska Native Allotment Act.

Action on such withdrawals will be suspended pending the review, the Secretary said. A notice of the review and suspension was published in the Federal Register July 11, 1978

WASHINGTON, DC – As part of President Obama’s commitment to working with Indian Country leaders to promote strong, prosperous and resilient tribal economies and communities, Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Kevin K. Washburn today announced that more than $9.4 million has been awarded to 46 tribal projects to assist in developing energy and mineral resources. The grants were awarded as part of the Energy and Mineral Development Program administered by the Office of Indian Energy and Economic Development (IEED), a division of the Office of the Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs William Hallett announced today a policy, pursuant to the Anti-Deficiency Act, to assure that the Bureau of Indian Affairs does not spend more than Congress entitles it to spend.

The policy prohibits all area directors and program directors from obligating funds in excess of Congressional appropriations, on penalty of “appropriate administrative discipline, including, when circumstances warrant, suspension from duty without pay, or removal from office.”

Edwin L. Demery, an enrolled member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe has been named Director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs' Minneapolis area Interior Assistant Secretary Forrest Gerard announced today.

In his new position, Demery is the BIA's top official in the four states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan and Iowa.

A native of Fort Yates, North Dakota, Demery has been since 1970 Superintendent of the Minnesota Agency at Bemidji, Minnesota.

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Kevin K. Washburn announced that the Department is extending the opportunity for public comment on a Preliminary Discussion Draft of potential changes to the Federal Acknowledgment Process by more than 30 days to September 25, 2013. This extended period is in response to written requests as well as requests received at the tribal consultation sessions and public meetings held in July and August.

Headquarters of the Fort Berthold Indian Agency is being moved from Elbowoods to Newtown, North Dakota, the Bureau of Indian Affairs announced today.

The move, part of the readjustment and relocation at Fort Berthold made necessary by construction of the Garrison Dam and Reservoir Project of the Missouri River Basin Development, was originally scheduled to take place later. Because of an emergency need to use the agency buildings at Elbowoods for school purposes, however, the move is being undertaken at the present time and should be completed in the next few weeks.

Fred Thompson, Jr., has been made Assistant Area Director, Community Services, in the Bureau of Indian Affairs' Navajo Area Office, Interior Assistant Secretary Forrest Gerard announced today.

Thompson, a member of the Navajo Tribe, has been the Housing Development Officer in the area office since August, 1976.

After serving as Assistant Executive Director of the Navajo Housing Authority, Thompson, 34, became Housing Development Officer at the Fort Defiance Agency in 1971. He transferred to the area office in 1974.

WASHINGTON – The Bureau of Indian Affairs Office of Justice Services will offer the next in its series of training sessions for tribal court personnel on June 17-20, 2013, in Grand Forks, N.D., with cases focusing on sexual assault on children.

Increased emphasis on the ultimate goal of transferring basic Indian Bureau functions either to the Indians themselves or to State and local highlighted the 1952 work of the Bureau, Commissioner Dillon S. Myer said today.

Among the major moves during the year were Indian Bureau-sponsored bills introduced in the last Congress to transfer civil and criminal jurisdiction over Indians to the States of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Nebraska, California, Oregon and Washington;