Past News Items

Award of a $288,588 contract for enlargement and improvement of Federal Indian school facilities at Tuba City, Arizona, on the Navajo Reservation was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

The contract provides for construction of a new six-classroom building and 10 two-bedroom houses as well 8S for rehabilitation of an existing dining room kitchen structure.

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Kevin K. Washburn announced today that he has signed a reservation proclamation for approximately 292 acres of trust land located in the city of Payson, Gila County, Ariz., belonging to the Tonto Apache Tribe of Arizona. The parcel will be added to the Tribe’s existing reservation under the authority of the Indian Reorganization Act of June 18, 1934 (48 Stat. 984; 25 U.S.C. 467).

Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall today announced he has instructed the Bureau of Indian Affairs to take every possible action to assure that needy Indians benefit from the expanded distribution of surplus food ordered January 21 by President Kennedy.

The Secretary pointed out that the program is aimed at helping all underprivileged Americans, and stressed that a number of Indian reservations are among the hardest-hit economic areas of the Nation.

WASHINGTON – Acting Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Lawrence S. Roberts announced today that the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) has improved its Fee-to-Trust Handbook to reduce the processing time for requests from federally recognized tribes to have land taken into trust for their benefit and proclamations that declare the lands are part of their tribal reservations.

Indian tribes have found that projects to enhance natural beauty get more results than meet the eye, according to the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Clean-up campaigns have prevented accidents and fires.

Efforts to stop unsightly erosion and to start landscaping programs have resulted in better soil conservation.

But, best of all, "face lifting" of the reservations has helped the tribes' tourist business and lifted the morale of tribal members.

WASHINGTON – Furthering President Obama’s efforts to support American Indian and Alaska Native families and protect tribal communities, Acting Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Lawrence S. Roberts; U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) Administrator Robert L. Listenbee; and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) Acting Administrator Kana Enomoto today announced a draft revised BIA Model Indian Juvenile Code.

Award of three contracts totaling over $707,500 for road improvement projects on the Fort Berthold Reservation in North Dakota and the Cheyenne River and Pine Ridge Reservations in South Dakota was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – On the heels of President Obama’s historic visit yesterday to the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe of North and South Dakota, Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Kevin K. Washburn today announced the implementation of a new initiative to hire more American Indian and Alaska Native veterans to work for Indian Affairs.

The Department of the Interior has submitted to Congress a proposed bill to provide for disposition of funds appropriated to pay a judgment in favor of the Snake or Paiute Indians of Oregon.

The judgment is for $3,650,000 for the Snake Tract, or Oregon Area, in Docket No. 87 of the Indian Claims Commission. The Commission has divided the total area involved into three tracts. The Snake Tract, consisting of lands in Oregon, Nevada, and California, is the only one for which a final award has been granted.

KITSAP PENINSULA, Wash. – Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell today met with representatives of Pacific Northwest tribes to discuss federal efforts to address the economic, social and climate change challenges facing American Indian and Alaska Native governments and helping them to build strong, prosperous and resilient communities.