Past News Items

WASHINGTON – President Bush has proposed a $2.3 billion budget for the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) for Fiscal Year 2005 that will ensure the continuation of the Interior Department’s Indian trust reorganization and management improvement efforts, maintain the commitment to implementing the No Child Left Behind Act in BIA-funded schools, continue school replacement construction projects, and support law enforcement. The request also includes payments for Indian water and land claims settlements.

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Tara Sweeney today announced a number of firsts for the Bureau of Indian Affairs and its Wildland Fire and Aviation Management program resulting from their efforts to aid Indian Country and which demonstrate exceptional interagency collaboration abilities and commitment to improving the development of their wildland fire workforce through new training opportunities for women.

Bureau of Indian Affairs Sends Seven Wildland Firefighters to Australia

WASHINGTON – Building on the momentum created by the National Summit on Emerging Tribal Economies, Interior Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Neal A. McCaleb today announced that he plans to use the event as a springboard for developing a national strategy on reducing unemployment and enhancing economic development in Indian Country.

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Tara Mac Lean Sweeney today announced she has approved a business leasing ordinance submitted by the Catawba Indian Nation in South Carolina under the Helping Expedite and Advance Responsible Tribal Homeownership (HEARTH) Act.

WASHINGTON - Interior Assistant Secretary - Indian Affairs extended his gratitude to Special Trustee for American Indians Tom Slonaker, who resigned from his position earlier today. McCaleb thanked Slonaker for his record of public service:

"Tom Slonaker has been a good friend of mine and an effective ally for the people we serve across Indian Country. I wish him all the best in his future endeavors."

McCaleb also extended his congratulations to Donna Erwin, who was named Acting Special Trustee by Interior Secretary Gale Norton today:

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – Interior Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Neal A. McCaleb today announced that the Joint DOI/Tribal Leaders Task Force will hold its next meeting on May 19- 21, 2002 in Minneapolis, Minn. The Task Force was established in February of 2002 to review plans on improving the Department’s management of individual Indian and tribal trust assets.

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – Interior Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Neal A. McCaleb and Deputy Assistant Secretary Wayne Smith will meet with tribal leaders on Thursday, January 10, 2002 in Rapid City, S.D., at the fourth in a series of consultation meetings on the Department’s plan to improve the management of Indian trust assets. The meeting will be held at the Holiday Inn Rushmore Plaza (505 N. 5th St.) starting at 9:00 a.m. (MST).

Effective April 2000, all remaining Individual Indian Monies (IIM) trust fund accounts have been converted to a new, automated Trust Fund Accounting System (TFAS). The implementation of this new accounting system at all BIA Regional Offices marks the completion of a significant component of the Secretary of the Interior’s Trust Management Improvement Project. TFAS is the responsibility of the Office of the Special Trustee for American Indians (OST).

Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne, Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley Jr. and Hopi Vice Chairman Todd Honyaoma today signed an historic Navajo-Hopi intergovernmental Compact, resolving a 40-year-old dispute over tribal land in northeastern Arizona.

"I am grateful to all the people who worked so hard over the years to resolve this dispute," Kempthorne said at the signing ceremony in Phoenix. "You have overcome a long history of bitterness and dispute. You truly have laid the foundation for a new relationship - one that will benefit all your people. You have made history."

The Bureau of Indian Affairs Aberdeen, SD Area Office responded to the devastation caused by two tornadoes on June 4, 1999, that destroyed houses and other buildings on the Pine Ridge Reservation. Immediately after the disaster, BIA allocated Welfare Assistance and Emergency Assistance Funds to the Pine Ridge Agency to address the immediate need for food, shelter, and clothing, and assisted in the coordination of other emergency relief efforts. Mel Lone Hill, a former tribal vice president, praised the BIA personnel who worked many hours to bring relief to reservation.