Past News Items

Indian tribes have found that projects to enhance natural beauty get more results than meet the eye, according to the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Clean-up campaigns have prevented accidents and fires.

Efforts to stop unsightly erosion and to start landscaping programs have resulted in better soil conservation.

But, best of all, "face lifting" of the reservations has helped the tribes' tourist business and lifted the morale of tribal members.

WASHINGTON – Furthering President Obama’s efforts to support American Indian and Alaska Native families and protect tribal communities, Acting Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Lawrence S. Roberts; U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) Administrator Robert L. Listenbee; and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) Acting Administrator Kana Enomoto today announced a draft revised BIA Model Indian Juvenile Code.

A remote Eskimo village hugging the rim of the Arctic Ocean has become a proving ground for the Federal Government's national environmental policy.

The Village of Barrow, Alaska, located in the last reaches of civilization on the North American Continent, over the last half century has had tons of garbage laid on its doorstep - - much of it from government agencies.

Award of three contracts totaling over $707,500 for road improvement projects on the Fort Berthold Reservation in North Dakota and the Cheyenne River and Pine Ridge Reservations in South Dakota was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – On the heels of President Obama’s historic visit yesterday to the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe of North and South Dakota, Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Kevin K. Washburn today announced the implementation of a new initiative to hire more American Indian and Alaska Native veterans to work for Indian Affairs.

On November 23, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon announced proposed legislation to acquire over one-half million acres of this most unique of natural areas. The Big Cypress. But Big Cypress is more than beautiful ... it is essential. It is biologically one of the most unique ecosystems in the world and hydrologically the most important watershed in Florida.

For it is this great natural reservoir that quenches the thirst of the Everglades and provides South Florida with the universal natural resource ...water.

The Department of the Interior has submitted to Congress a proposed bill to provide for disposition of funds appropriated to pay a judgment in favor of the Snake or Paiute Indians of Oregon.

The judgment is for $3,650,000 for the Snake Tract, or Oregon Area, in Docket No. 87 of the Indian Claims Commission. The Commission has divided the total area involved into three tracts. The Snake Tract, consisting of lands in Oregon, Nevada, and California, is the only one for which a final award has been granted.

KITSAP PENINSULA, Wash. – Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell today met with representatives of Pacific Northwest tribes to discuss federal efforts to address the economic, social and climate change challenges facing American Indian and Alaska Native governments and helping them to build strong, prosperous and resilient communities.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Louis R. Bruce announced today the award of an initial $36,000 contract to the United Southeastern Tribes, Inc. for the establishment of an Employment Assistance Destination Services Center at Pascagoula, Mississippi.

The awarding of this contract is in keeping with the Commissioner's new thrust to encourage tribal groups to undertake services normally rendered by BIA. The USET, headquartered in Sarasota, Florida, consists of representatives from the Seminole, Miccosukee, Choctaw and Cherokee Indian tribes.

Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall today directed the Department's Bureau of Indian Affairs and Office of Territories to make family planning services available in their social services programs.

The service will be on an entirely voluntary basis. It is in line with the May 25, 1965, report of the National Research Council, National Academy of Sciences. The study described the growth of U. S. population as a serious obstacle to the realization of many goals of society and one which puts the nation's general prosperity out of reach of millions of its citizens.