Past News Items

WASHINGTON, D.C.— U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) Deputy Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs for Policy and Economic Development Jodi Gillette and Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) Director Michael Black met with tribal leaders in Rapid City, S.D., today in the final regional government-to-government tribal consultation meeting on the Trust Land Consolidation component of the Cobell Settlement. The consultations are part of the Obama Administration’s commitment to re-invigorating nation-to-nation relationships with tribes.

Secretary of the Interior Thomas S. Kleppe has notified the Governor of Alaska that the State will be allowed an additional 90 days --until April 1 --to exercise an exclusive preference right to select lands described in Section 11 of the Alaska Native Claims
Settlement Act.

Generally, these Section 11 lands are the 9 townships surrounding Alaska Native Villages. Until October 1, 1976, these lands were held by the Federal Government exclusively for Alaska Natives to make selections.

Washington, D.C.— On Friday, September 16, the Deputy Associate Secretary Meghan Conklin at the United States Department of the Interior, and Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) Director Michael Black, will attend the third regional government-to-government tribal consultation regarding the Trust Land Consolidation component of the Cobell Settlement.

BACKGROUND ON COBELL SETTLEMENT:

Richard C. Whitesell, an enrolled member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe,, has been named Superintendent of the Bureau of Indian Affairs' Flathead Agency at Ronan, Montana, Assistant Secretary Forrest J. Gerard announced today. Whitesell's appointment will be effective November 6.

Whitesell has been Assistant Area Director for Community Services in the BIA's Phoenix, Arizona office for the past year. He was the Education Program Administrator at the Flandreau Indian School in South Dakota from 1971 to 1976 and at the Riverside: School in Oklahoma 1969-71.

WASHINGTON, D.C.--Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today announced the establishment of a new Secretarial Commission on Indian Trust Administration and Reform that will conduct a comprehensive evaluation of Interior’s trust management and provide recommendations on how to improve performance. The announcement kicks off a 30-day period during which Secretary Salazar is seeking nominations and input from the public on individuals to serve on the new commission, as well as comments on the commission’s proposed charter.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs has announced the appointment of Norman L. Tippeconnic as Superintendent of the San Carlos Indian Agency, Arizona. His appointment is effective August 28.

Tippeconnic, a Comanche, has been Superintendent of the Hoopa Agency in California since 1971.

Tippeconnic, 44, attended Oklahoma State University. He came to work for the BIA in 1959 at Gallup, New Mexico. He was the Supply Management Officer at the Bureau's Data Center in Albuquerque before taking the Hoopa job.

NEW YORK, NY—Donald “Del” Laverdure, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs, today addressed the United Nations on U.S. support for the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. He emphasized that President Obama holds his Administration to a high standard of action on Native American issues.

Secretary of the Interior Cecil D. Andrus announced today that he has decided to take no action on the proposed Navajo-El Paso/Consolidation Coal lease and mining plan until the royalty rate is renegotiated.

In a letter to Peter MacDonald, chairman, of the Navajo Tribal Council, Andrus said: "I have concluded that, as trustee, I cannot approve a lease which would return to the beneficiaries of the trust less than I would be required by law to charge for the trustee's, in this case the Nation's, identical resources."

WASHINGTON, DC -- Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today announced that the Court-ordered process of notifying individuals of their right to participate in the $3.4 billion Cobell settlement is underway.

Wilson Barber has been appointed Superintendent of the Bureau of Indian Affairs Agency on the Mescalero Apache Reservation, Acting Deputy Commissioner Raymond V. Butler announced today.

Barber, a Navajo, has been Superintendent of the Cheyenne River Agency at Eagle Butte, South Dakota.

Barber, 35, attended the University of New Mexico. He worked for the Navajo Tribe and for the BIA on the Navajo Reservation before going to Cheyenne River in 1975.

His appointment of the Mescalero Reservation in south-central New Mexico becomes effective June 5.