Past News Items

Washington, D.C. - Today, the Departments of Justice, Interior and Agriculture applauded the bipartisan House passage of the Claims Settlement Act. The Act, which recently passed the Senate, will provide long-awaited funding for the agreements reached in the Pigford II lawsuit, brought by African American farmers; the Cobell lawsuit, brought by Native Americans over the management of Indian trust accounts and resources; and four separate water rights suits made by Native American tribes. President Obama has said that he will sign the legislation into law.

Responsibility for the administration of the Federal Water Pollution Control program was transferred today to the Department of the Interior from the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare.

Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall began immediately to exercise his new authority by issuing guidelines to the States for the setting of water quality standards on the Nation's interstate waters.

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk announced today that a groundbreaking ceremony will take place at the St. Francis Indian School in South Dakota on Monday, September 27, 2010. This ceremony marks the Department of the Interior’s 4,000th American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) project, a $7.2 million school improvement project at a Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) school.

WHITE MOUNTAIN APACHES ESTABLISH PRIMITIVE AREA

The White Mountain Apache Tribal Council has voted to set aside a 7,400-acre tract on its Arizona reservation as a primitive area for the next five years. The area, which includes Mount Baldy on the east boundary of the reservation, will not be subject to any development, timber cutting, or vehicular traffic, except as needed for fire or insect control operations. It will remain under tribal control and-is not part of the National Wilderness Preservation system.

WASHINGTON – Acting Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs George T. Skibine on June 13, 2010, issued a final determination that affirms the proposed finding of December 15, 2009, to acknowledge the Shinnecock Indian Nation (Petitioner #4) as an Indian tribe. This petitioner, located in Southampton, Suffolk County, N.Y., has 1,292 members.

A bill to provide a means of settling claims of Alaska Natives to lands in that state is being submitted to Congress today, Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall has announced.

The problem of Native Land Claims, in Alaska has been unsettled ever since an Act of May 17, 1894 provided that the Natives "shall not be disturbed in the possession of any lands actually in their use and occupation or now claimed by them, but the terms ono conditions under which such persons may acquire title to such lands is reserved for future legislation by Congress."

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Secretary Ken Salazar today announced that the Department of the Interior has moved to the next stage in its plan of actions to develop a department-wide tribal nations consultation policy by constituting a Tribal Consultation Team. The Team will consist of 12 tribal officials and alternates representing federally recognized tribes in each Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) region along with representatives from each DOI Bureau or Office. Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk notified tribal leaders by letter on March 23 and requested nominations.

INDIAN MONEY EARNS BETTER INTEREST -- Indian money has been earning more interest lately, thanks to cooperative investment agreements worked out by the Tribes and the Bureau of Indian Affairs of the Department of the Interior. Over a year's time this increased earning power will put an additional $1 million into tribal treasuries.

Trustee by law of Indian funds, the Bureau has traditionally kept these funds in the United States Treasury where they are super-safe, but draw lower interest rates.

DENVER — The Department of the Interior’s Office of Natural Resources Revenue (ONRR) today published a Federal Register Notice establishing an Indian Oil Valuation Negotiated Rulemaking Committee charged with bringing clarity and consistency to oil valuation regulations governing production on American Indian lands.

Wilma Louise Victor, a Choctaw Indian and the Bureau of Indian Affairs' top-ranking woman educator, has been selected as one of the six women in Government to receive the coveted 1967 Federal Woman's Award.

A native of Idabel, Oklahoma, Miss Victor is Superintendent of Intermountain School in Brigham City, Utah, which is a home away from home for 2,100 Navajo youngsters from Arizona, New Mexico and Utah.

She was selected for her “exceptional creative and executive ability in the administration of a unique and complex school program for disadvantaged Indian youth".