Past News Items

WASHINGTON – The Joint Tribal Leaders/DOI Task Force on Trust Reform will hold its next meeting on August 26-28, 2002 at the Hilton Anchorage Hotel in Anchorage, Alaska. At this meeting task force members will continue to look at reforming current trust management systems and processes to better serve American Indian and Alaska Native tribal and individual trust account beneficiaries.

WASHINGTON – Interior Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Neal McCaleb will address the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) 2002 Mid-Year Conference on June 18 in Bismarck, N.D. His speech “The Path to Prosperity” will focus on building strong, sustainable tribal economies. He also will announce the Bureau’s national conference on tribal economic development scheduled for September 16-19, 2002 in Phoenix, Ariz.

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – Interior Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Neal A. McCaleb today announced his approval of the United Auburn Indian Community of California’s application to acquire 49.21 acres of land into trust in Placer County, Calif., for the purpose of constructing and operating a Class III gaming facility. The Tribe has agreed to financial and other conditions that support state and county operations affected by the proposed casino, including the preservation of natural and scenic qualities of county lands.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs has changed the location of the public meeting scheduled for August 8-9, 2000, to address technical questions raised by state, local and tribal officials concerning the Department of the Interior’s March 31, 2000, proposed findings to acknowledge federal recognition of the Eastern Pequot Indians of Connecticut and the Paucatuck Eastern Pequot Indians of Connecticut.

Robert Abbey will hold a news media teleconference regarding domestic oil and gas production on public and Tribal lands.

Credentialed media may also participate in the teleconference media roundtable by telephone by dialing 1-888-972-9240 and entering the access code INTERIOR.

Santa Clara Day School in the Pueblo of Santa Clara, New Mexico, will play host as the featured site in the Bureau of Indian Affairs' Net Day 1999. Santa Clara Day School and18 other BIA funded schools from eastern Maine to Washington's Olympic Peninsula will celebrate their accomplishments, as well as their connection to each other through the Internet, as part of the Four Directions Project.

Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs (AS-IA) Kevin Gover signed on December 16, 1997, a Final Determination that denies Federal acknowledgment of the Mobile - Washington County Band of Choctaw Indians of South Alabama (MOWA) of Mount Vernon, AL.

Ada E. Deer, Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs is thrilled to announce that there is $34.6 million in loan guarantee authority currently available to assist tribal and individual enterprises on or near Indian reservations.

--First of all, I don't think I have to tell you that there has literally been an explosion in Indian gaming during the last one to two years. No one -- not Congress, Interior, BIA, the Indian people, or anyone else anticipated this tremendous growth. The 1988 legislation did not provide for a time period after it became law for all the safeguards and rules and regulations to be put into place. Neither did it provide time for anyone to hire the necessary expertise to monitor all the things for which we were given the responsibility.

The Department of the Interior's Minerals Management Service (MMS) today announced that it will pay $541,951 to four Indian tribes as reimbursement of auditing costs for participating in the MMS's Cooperative and Delegated Audit Program during Fiscal Year 1993.

The Navajo Nation will receive $308,866; the Ute Indian Tribe, $87,600; the Southern Ute Indian Tribe, $93,000; and the Ute Mountain Ute Indian Tribe, $52,485.