Past News Items

Interior Assistant Secretary Forrest Gerard has issued guidelines to the BlA's Minneapolis Area Director for dealing with certain issues raised by recent actions of the Red Lake Tribal Council.

Referring to the Council's removal from office of the elected tribal treasurer, Stephanie Hanson, Gerard stressed that he regarded "the matter as one that should primarily be resolved within the framework of tribal governmental processes."

Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall today issued the following statement on education programs for Indian children:

"Indian children in Federal schools are handicapped educationally, economically and geographically through physical and social isolation from the mainstreams of American life. Many are further handicapped by an only partial understanding of the English language, if, indeed, they speak English at all.

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk today announced that the Deputy Assistant Secretary − Indian Affairs Del Laverdure will be the Featured Speaker in Las Vegas, Nev., at the 24th Annual Reservation Economic Summit (RES 2010). The event runs from February 21-24, 2010. Laverdure will speak to the many accomplishments and projects being undertaken by the Office of the Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs.

Proposed regulations to implement the provisions of the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 (P.L. 95-608) were published in the Federal Register April 23, Interior Deputy Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Rick Lavis said today.

Lavis also said that proposed regulations establishing procedures for Tribal Reassumption of jurisdiction over child custody proceedings and a statement of recommended guidelines for use by state courts in Indian child custody cases were published in the same Federal Register issue.

Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall and Secretary of Agriculture Orville L. Freeman this week commended the cooperation of citizens in communities across the country where 85 Job Corps Conservation Centers are operated by the Departments of Interior and Agriculture.

March 26 to April 2 has been designated by the Job Corps as "Salute to Communities Week." Open house celebrations and other activities will be held by Job Corps Centers throughout the country during the week.

WASHINGTON - Today, November 28, 2011, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk will hold a media teleconference to announce a sweeping reform of federal leasing regulations for American Indian lands that will help to expedite economic development and spur renewable energy development in Indian Country.

Media wishing to participate in the 12:00 pm noon (Eastern Time) conference call should dial 1- 888-606-7043; the passcode is LAND LEASE.

Interior Assistant Secretary Forrest Gerard has announced that public hearings will be held at seven locations between March 28 and April 13 on proposed formulas for distributing Johnson-O'Malley Act funding to schools serving Indian students.

Six alternative proposed formulas were published in the Federal Register March 9 for review and comment. The formulas will be revised according to comments received by May 1 and submitted to a vote of the tribes. The formula chosen by the tribal vote will be published as a final rule.

Two newly-appointed members of the Department of the Interior's Indian Arts and Crafts Board--Alvin M. Josephy, Jr., and Dr. Mitchell A. Wilder-- attended their first Board meeting Friday, January 27, with Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall. The five-member Board promotes the development of Indian arts and crafts by providing professional advisory and technical assistance in production, promotion and marketing.

The five members (commissioners) are appointed by the Secretary of the Interior and serve four-year terms without salary or fee.

WASHINGTON, D.C.— Department of Interior (DOI) Solicitor Hilary Tompkins, Associate Deputy Secretary Meghan Conklin, and Deputy Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs for Policy and Economic Development Jodi Gillette met with tribal officials in Phoenix, Ariz., today for the fifth of six scheduled regional government-to-government consultation meetings on the Trust Land Consolidation component of the Cobell Settlement. The meetings with tribal leaders are a part of the Obama Administration’s commitment to re-invigorating nation-to-nation relationships with tribes.

The Department of the Interior today announced award of a contract for construction of 10.056 miles of roadway from Betatakin Turnoff to Marsh Pass on the Navajo Indian Reservation in Arizona.

This section of road is part of Navajo Route 1, for which authorizing legislation was provided by Public Law 85-740 enacted in 1958.