Past News Items

The Department of the Interior today announced issuance of an order restoring to tribal ownership a large number of scattered lots, comprising about 253 acres, on the Flathead Indian Reservation in western Montana.

The lands being restored are comparatively small parcels designated as townsites and villa sites which have not been disposed of. The action was originally requested by the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Reservation, was recommended by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, and was concurred in by the Director of the Bureau of Land Management.

WASHINGTON - Today, Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt highlighted another successful seizure of narcotics. While on patrol near the exterior boundaries of the Laguna Indian Reservation in New Mexico, a Bureau of Indian Affairs K-9 police unit arrested an individual and seized 85 pounds of narcotics worth more than $4 million dollars.

The K-9 police unit seized:

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Department of the Interior today announced two important steps in the ongoing commitment to fulfilling this nation’s trust responsibilities to Native Americans. Today, Interior announced the publication of a draft plan and a request for comment on implementing the potential Cobell Land Consolidation Program. Additionally, Interior announced that the first meeting of the Commission established to undertake a forward-looking, comprehensive evaluation of Interior’s trust management of Native American trust funds is set for the first week of March.

The action of the Jicarilla Apache Tribe of New Mexico in setting up a $1,000,000 trust fund to provide college scholarships for the younger members was hailed today by Commissioner of Indian Affairs Glenn L. Emmons as “an outstanding example of tribal progress.”

The fund, largest of its kind ever established by an Indian tribal organization, represents chiefly income from oil and gas leasing of the tribal lands, It will be administered by the First National Bank of Albuquerque under terms of a 20-year agreement which was approved by Commissioner Emmons on July 2.

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs Tara Katuk Sweeney today announced the establishment of the Bureau of Trust Funds Administration (BTFA) which will report directly to her office. The new BTFA will assume responsibility for financial operations and functions currently performed by the Office of the Special Trustee for American Indians (OST) effective today.

WASHINGTON – Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy and Economic Development – Indian Affairs George T. Skibine today announced a substantial enhancement in existing efforts to increase capital investment for business and economic development in Indian Country. Since the advent of the Indian Financing Act of 1974, Indian Affairs’ Guaranteed Loan, Insurance, and Interest Subsidy program has provided opportunities for tribal and Indian-owned businesses to obtain adequate credit in the capital investment market

Successful bidders for oil and gas leases on Indian lands will be required to deposit 25 percent of the bonus bid and will be given 30 days to complete the lease under new regulations announced today by Commissioner of Indian Affairs Glenn L. Emmons.

The amended rules also require the successful bidder to remit, within the 30-day period, the balance due on the bonus bid, the first year’s rental, and his share of the costs of advertising. In the event of failure to meet these requirements, the deposit will be forfeited."

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The fiscal year 2009 budget requests $2.2 billion for Indian Affairs, which includes Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) programs. The budget request includes increased funding for the Interior Department’s Safe Indian Communities and Improving Indian Education initiatives as well as for the Indian Guaranteed Loan and Job Placement programs to meet tribal and individual Indian business financing needs and to help alleviate high unemployment rates in Indian Country.

More Indians are being educated and receiving aid in voluntary relocation than ever before in history, Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay pointed out today in commenting on the annual report submitted by Commissioner of Indian Affairs Glenn L, Emmons.

The Indian Commissioner told of the increased emphasis which the Department placed on Indian education and the voluntary relocation, as well as other facets of the Bureau's many-sided program for the year just ending,

ALBUQUERQUE – An estimated audience of almost 1,000 guests and dignitaries today watched as Interior Department officials formally dedicated the Bureau of Indian Affairs gleaming modern office building at 1011 Indian School Road N.W. in Albuquerque, N.M., to former Secretary of the Interior Manuel Lujan, Jr., and officially opened DOI’s new National Indian Programs Training Center (NIPTC), a major occupant of the facility. Interior Associate Deputy Secretary James E. Cason and Special Trustee for American Indians Ross O.