Past News Items

Secretary of the Interior Cecil D. Andrus announced today that he has asked Indian tribal leaders to recommend nominees "to head this nation's highest post relating to Indian affairs." He said this position had formerly been that of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, but would be according to Departmental plans, raised to the rank of Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs.

WASHINGTON – The Interior Department’s Sidney R. Yates Auditorium resounded with drum beats and applause this morning as Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar administered the oath of office to the Obama Administration’s Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs, Larry Echo Hawk. The ceremony took place before an estimated crowd of 300 that included family members, tribal representatives, and Interior and other federal employees. “Today is not a day for long speeches,” Echo Hawk said. “It is a day for solemn oaths, a day for thanksgiving, and a day for prayers.

The tribal plan for the distribution of $1,850,000 awarded to the "Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation" of North Dakota by the Indian Claims Commission were published in the Federal Register November 19 Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson announced today.

The award is additional payment for more than 1,750,000 acres of land in northwest North Dakota. The tribes involved, who have recently adopted the "Three Affiliated Tribes" designation, are the Hidatsa, Mandan and the Arikara.

WASHINGTON – Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy and Economic Development – Indian Affairs George T. Skibine today announced a new effort to recruit and train American Indian and Alaska Native post-secondary students to become Indian Country’s next generation of tribal energy and natural resource management professionals. The Energy Resource Development Tribal Internship Program has been developed through a partnership between the Indian Affairs Office of Indian Energy and Economic Development (IEED), the Council of Energy Resource Tribes (CERT) and the U.S.

Charles M. Soller, Department of Interior assistant solicitor for Indian Affairs, died of cancer October 25 in Washington, D.C. He had been a key legal adviser to the Bureau of Indian Affairs for 20 years.

Seller received in September of this year the Interior Department's Superior Service Award for his work on behalf of Alaska Natives under the Alaska Native Claim Settlement Act. His compassion and sensitive response to need were cited in the award.

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Carl J. Artman today announced he has named E. Sequoyah Simermeyer as Counsel to the Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs. Simermeyer, an enrolled member of the Coharie Intra­Tribal Council, Inc., of North Carolina who also shares ancestry with the Navajo Nation of Arizona, previously served as a Government Affairs Group Associate with the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI), an association of American Indian and Alaska Native tribes in Washington, D.C. His appointment became effective on August 20, 2007.

David C. Harrison, a member of the Osage Tribe, has been appointed Judicial Services Officer in the Bureau of Indian Affairs' Office of Indian Services, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson announced today.

The position is a new one created to enable the Bureau to work more effectively for the strengthening of tribal judicial systems. Harrison, in the new post, will work with national organizations of Indian judges, tribal chairmen and Indian lawyers.

WASHINGTON, DC – In a signing ceremony held at the U.S. Department of the Interior, Carl J. Artman, Assistant Secretary Indian Affairs, signed an interagency agreement with the U.S. Department of Transportation to provide funding to develop the American Indian/Alaska Native Business Opportunity and Workforce Development (ABOWD) Center for highway construction.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson-today announced that applications for enrollment at Intermountain Boarding High School, Brigham City, Utah, will be accepted from members of all tribal groups served by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. In the past, this Bureau school had been operated solely for Navajos.

WASHINGTON – Associate Deputy Secretary James E. Cason today announced that the Department of the Interior has declined to acknowledge that a group known as the St. Francis/Sokoki Band of Abenaki located in and around Swanton, Vt., is an Indian tribe within the meaning of Federal law.