Past News Items

Secretary of the Interior Don Hodel said today he was "absolutely that the President had nominated Ross Swimmer for Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs. “We are exceedingly fortunate that Mr. Swimmer is willing to accept this position,” Hodel said, "for he has extraordinary qualities of leadership and business experience vital to the success of U.S Indian programs.

Secretary of the Interior Don Hodel said today he has sent letters to the Pueblo of Santa Ana and to the New Mexico Attorney General rejecting the Pueblo's proposal to conduct parimutuel wagering on greyhound dog races on reservation land.

Secretary of the Interior Don Hodel has signed into existence a Royalty Management Advisory Committee, a key element of the Department's action plan to improve the processing of mineral royalties collected on federal and Indian lands.

The President's 1986 budget request for the Bureau of Indian Affairs continues to stress the basic goals of strengthening tribal government, encouraging economic development and providing essential program services on the reservations.

Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt will brief the news media Thursday, April 8 at 1 p.m. on the President's FY 1994 budget request for the Department of the Interior. The briefing will be held in the auditorium of the South Interior Building, 1951 Constitution Ave. NW.

Interior Assistant Secretary Ross Swimmer Thursday told Senator James McClure that every option will be examined before a final decision is made concerning the relocation of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) agency office in Lapwai.

“I assured Senator McClure that we would look at remodeling the present site; other sites in the area; or new construction. We will not make a decision until all of those have been considered,” Swimmer said.

Secretary of the Interior Don Hodel told Congress today that longstanding problems plaguing federal efforts to serve Indian tribes will continue until the tribes, the Congress and the Administration make a unified effort to "find new ways to work together toward our common goal: to create a framework within which American Indians can improve the quality of their lives."

"The old ways of doing things are not leading to the accomplishment of this goal," Hodel said in testimony prepared for the Subcommittee on Interior and Related Agencies of the House Appropriations Committee.

The Interior Department's Bureau of Indian affairs today recommended that the Agriculture Department provide emergency grain to feed cattle on the Tohono O'Odham Reservation in Arizona, where overstocking has brought about emergency conditions requiring a supplemental food supply.

Secretary of the Interior Don Hodel and Health and Human Services Secretary Otis Bowen, M.D., have signed a memorandum of agreement to coordinate implementation of the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986. A portion of the law is devoted to the prevention and treatment of alcohol and substance abuse among American Indians and Alaska Natives.

More than 700 Indian tribes, organizations and individuals have been invited to nominate individuals to serve as voting members on the Board of Trustees of the newly-established Institute of American Indian and Alaska Native Culture and Arts Development, a successor to the current Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) in Santa Fe, New Mexico.