Past News Items

Grants to Help Native Americans Identify and Repatriate Human Remains, Cultural Objects

WASHINGTON – The National Park Service today announced the award of eight Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) Repatriation grants totaling $74,348. The grants will assist in the repatriation of individuals and sacred objects, objects of cultural patrimony and funerary objects back to the tribes.

Robert L. Bennett, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, will be honored as “Indian of the Year" during special ceremonies July 16 at the annual Indian Exposition at Anadarko, Okla.

The first Indian to head the Bureau in 97 years, Bennett is a member of the Oneida Tribe of Wisconsin. He was a career employee of the Bureau, with 29 years of service, before being appointed Commissioner by President Johnson on March 18, 1966.

HOLLYWOOD, Fla. – As part of President Obama’s commitment to empowering American Indian and Alaska Native tribal nations and strengthening their economies, Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell and Bureau of Indian Affairs Director Michael Black today joined Seminole Tribal Chairman James E. Billie to formally approve tribal leasing regulations that will help spur investment and commercial development on the Seminole Tribe’s reservations.

An old Indian saying goes, "Give us good roads and we'll take care of our other problems."

While more than roads are needed to meet the many problems of the Indian people, a vigorous road-building program is doing much to improve the living conditions on the Navajo Reservation, largest and most heavily populated in the country, according to the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Before 1950, the vast interior of the Navajo Reservation, which is roughly equivalent to the size of West Virginia, was virtually devoid of roads.

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk today announced that he has named Kevin J. Martin, an enrolled member of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation in Oklahoma, as Director of the Indian Affairs Office of Budget Management (OBM). The Director, who reports to the Chief Financial Officer for Indian Affairs, is responsible for all aspects of the Indian Affairs budget process including planning, formulation, presentation, justification and execution. His appointment became effective September 26, 2010.

Mrs. Stewart L. Udall and the District of Columbia Committee for National Library Week, April 17-23, are presenting a dual exhibit of art works, "This Is Our Library," by school children of Metropolitan Washington and displays depicting new trends in library services.

The free exhibit will be in the Interior Department Art Gallery and will be open to the public from April 18 to 28.

A reception and preview celebrating the opening of the exhibit will be held Sunday, April 17, from 3 to 5 o'clock in the Art Gallery for invited guests.

WASHINGTON – Bureau of Indian Affairs Director Michael S. Black today announced that he has named Bryan L. Bowker as Regional Director of the BIA’s Western Regional Office in Phoenix, Ariz. Bowker, an enrolled member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe in South Dakota, had been serving as Project Manager of the Bureau’s San Carlos Irrigation Project in Coolidge, Ariz. The Western Regional Office oversees 13 agencies and one federal irrigation project serving 44 federally recognized tribes located within the states of Arizona, California, Nevada and Utah.

From prosperity to poverty and back again--three times! That’s the story of North Carolina's Cherokee Indians, as told in a new booklet published this week by the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs.

“Indians of North Carolina," second in a series of regional brochures devoted to the life and times of American Indians, traces Cherokee history in the State from the 18th century to date. According to the booklet, progress of the tribe has been phenomenal in almost every field. For example:

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk today announced that the Indian Affairs Office of Acquisition and Property Management (OAPM) will conduct tribal consultation with the federally recognized tribes on draft regulations to implement the Buy Indian Act (25 U.S.C. 47), which provides authority to set aside procurement contracts for qualified Indian-owned businesses. A letter announcing the meetings was sent to tribal leaders on March 26, 2010. A notice announcing the meetings was published in the Federal Register also on March 26.

The Department of the Interior has recommended to Congress enactment of legislation designed to amend the Indian Long-Term Leasing Act of 1955.