Past News Items

Ray F. Maldonado, a member of the Yakima Tribe, has been appointed Superintendent of the Bureau of Indian Affairs Olympic Peninsula Agency at Hoquiam, Washington, Commissioner of Indian Affairs William E. Hallett announced today.

Secretary of Agriculture Orville L, Freeman and Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall today announced adoption of 8 study and recommendations made by the two Departments to bring timber sale practices by the two agencies into closer uniformity.

WASHINGTON— U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke and Blackfeet Nation Chairman Harry Barnes today signed documents implementing the Blackfeet Water Rights Settlement of 2016 and the accompanying Blackfeet Water Compact, which resolve a decades-long battle by the Blackfeet Tribe of Montana to protect its water rights while also accommodating state and federal water requirements. Secretary Zinke has worked on the issue as a State Senator in the Montana State Legislature, as the U.S. Representative from Montana, and now as Secretary of the Interior.

A report on current governmental problems on the Red Lake Indian Reservation, Minnesota:., prepared at the request of Interior's Acting Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Sidney Mills, has been distributed to members of the Tribal Council of the Red Lake Band of Chippewas, Mills said today.

Award of a $288,588 contract for enlargement and improvement of Federal Indian school facilities at Tuba City, Arizona, on the Navajo Reservation was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

The contract provides for construction of a new six-classroom building and 10 two-bedroom houses as well 8S for rehabilitation of an existing dining room kitchen structure.

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Kevin K. Washburn announced today that he has signed a reservation proclamation for approximately 292 acres of trust land located in the city of Payson, Gila County, Ariz., belonging to the Tonto Apache Tribe of Arizona. The parcel will be added to the Tribe’s existing reservation under the authority of the Indian Reorganization Act of June 18, 1934 (48 Stat. 984; 25 U.S.C. 467).

Regulations have been issued to govern distribution of $9.2 million for the Delaware Tribe of Indians and the Absentee Delaware Tribe of Western Oklahoma, the Interior Department's Bureau of Indian Affairs announced
today. The regulations will be published in the Federal Register on Dec. 27.

The new regulations specify procedures to followed by eligible persons in order for them to share in the distribution of judgment funds.

Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall today announced he has instructed the Bureau of Indian Affairs to take every possible action to assure that needy Indians benefit from the expanded distribution of surplus food ordered January 21 by President Kennedy.

The Secretary pointed out that the program is aimed at helping all underprivileged Americans, and stressed that a number of Indian reservations are among the hardest-hit economic areas of the Nation.

WASHINGTON – Acting Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Lawrence S. Roberts announced today that the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) has improved its Fee-to-Trust Handbook to reduce the processing time for requests from federally recognized tribes to have land taken into trust for their benefit and proclamations that declare the lands are part of their tribal reservations.

secretary of the Interior Rogers C. B. Morton announced today that he is setting aside nearly 79 million acres in Alaska which will be studied for possible additions to the National Park, Forest, wildlife Refuge, and Wild and Scenic Rivers Systems.

The so-called "Four Systems" lands thus withdrawn fire almost half the size of Texas. Put another way, they are as large as New York State and New Jersey, plus .a11 six of the New England States combined.