Past News Items

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.

The Department of the Interior today released the attached letter from Attorney General Griffin B. Bell to Secretary Cecil D. Andrus concerning the legal principles governing the conduct of the Department of Justice in litigation for the purpose of protecting Indian property rights secured by statutes and treaties.

Honorable Cecil D. Andrus

Secretary of Interior

Washington, D.C.

Dear Mr. Secretary:

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.

Interior Secretary Cecil D. Andrus today asked Commerce Secretary Juanita Kreps to seek further needed restrictions in the 1979 Pacific Salmon Plan.

Andrus expressed disappointment and concern about the recent action of the Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council which he said earlier this month voted restrictions for ocean fisheries which will be insufficient to provide for conservation and the allocation between ocean and inside fishermen.

Referring to Interior data analyzing the impact of the proposed ocean fishing regulations, Andrus told Secretary Kreps:

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".

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk today announced that the Office of Indian Energy and Economic Development (IEED) has awarded approximately $2.0 million in economic development technical assistance grants to 30 federally recognized tribes. The funding was provided by the IEED’s Native American Business Development Institute (NABDI) grant program to foster economic activity and create jobs within tribal communities.

Assistant Secretary - Indian Affairs Forrest J. Gerard said today the Bureau of Indian Affairs plans to have draft regulations for the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1979 ready for comment by January 31, 1979.

The Act, which was passed during the last session of Congress, 1requires that regulations be published within 180 days.

He said when the draft regulations are completed they will be made available to both on and off-reservation Indian people as well as the general public for comment and consultation.

Department of the interior Solicitor Leo M. Krulits has asked the Justice Department to appeal a Federal District Court decision against the Government and the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe of Nevada, which seeks Truckee River water rights to maintain a fishery on the Pyramid Lake Indian Reservation.

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk will participate in a ribbon-cutting ceremony and speak at the official opening of the replacement Rough Rock Community School on Monday, August 15, 2011.

Echo Hawk will be joined at the event by Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) Deputy Director, School Operations Bart Stevens; Indian Affairs Office of Facilities, Environmental and Cultural Resources Director Jack Rever and Office of Facilities Management and Construction (OFMC) Deputy Director Emerson Eskeets.