Past News Items

Proposed regulations to govern the preparation of a roll of Eastern Creek Indians eligible to share in a judgment award made by the Indian Claims Commission are being published in the Federal Register the Bureau of Indian Affairs announced today.

The award of $1,346,000 in favor of the Creek Nation of Indians for lands in Georgia and Alabama taken in 1818 is to be apportioned between the Creek Tribe of Oklahoma and the unorganized group of Creek Indian descendants called Eastern Creek Indians.

FARGO – A number of concerns have recently been raised about public safety and criminal investigations on the Fort Berthold Reservation. In response to these concerns, Christopher Myers, the U.S. Attorney for the District of North Dakota, and Charles Addington, the Director of the Office of Justice Services at the Bureau of Indian Affairs, met in Fargo earlier this month to discuss law enforcement resources and jurisdictional issues on the Fort Berthold Reservation.

Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs Ken Smith announced today an early opening of the Sockeye and Pink Salmon Fishery of the Fraser River System in the State of Washington in two areas of the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

The Makah and Klallam Indian tribes began fishing in their treaty fishing sites within the Strait on June 27. This opening date precedes by approximately six days the opening by other treaty tribes and non-Indians on July 3-5.

Interior Solicitor Leo M. Krulitz announced today he has named Claudeen Bates Arthur a Field Solicitor for the Window Rock, Arizona, and Office, which provides legal service to the Bureau of Indian Affairs for the Navajo Indian Reservation.

Ms. Arthur, 36, is now an attorney in the Division of Indian Affairs in the Solicitor's Washington Office. She will begin work in Window Rock on August 14, replacing Dale H. Itschner who was transferred to the Portland, Oregon, Regional Solicitor's Office.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – On Tuesday, October 28, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell will deliver keynote remarks at the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) Annual Convention in Atlanta, Georgia.

John A. Jollie, an enrolled member of the Turtle Mountain Chippewa Tribe of North Dakota, has been selected as the new coordinator of the Tribal Managers Corps (TMC), a program in the BIA's Division of Self-Determination Services.

Indian Affairs Assistant Secretary Forrest J. Gerard today announced that he has appointed Suzan Harjo to be Special Assistant for Legislation and Liaison.

Harjo, 32, is Cheyenne and Creek and an enrolled member of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma. She will serve on the Assistant Secretary's immediate staff in the areas of Congressional and Tribal relations.

WASHINGTON – The Department of the Interior – Office of the Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs, Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), and Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) will provide limited services to tribes, students and individuals during the shutdown of the federal government. Of the total 8,143 employees, a total of 2,860 will be furloughed.

Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay today named three businessmen from outside the Government to make a survey of the operations and programs of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Walter Bimson, chairman of the board, Valley National bank of Phoenix, Arizona, was chosen as the chairman of the team. The other non-Government members are Robert D. Lutton, Santa Fe Railroad, Chicago, Illinois, and J.R. Johns, Sears Roebuck Company, Dallas, Texas.

Three officials of the Department will assist in the survey.

A plan for the distribution and use of more than $6 million awarded to the Potawatomi Nation is being published in the Federal Register, Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Forrest Gerard announced today.

The judgment award, granted by the Indian Claims Commission, is compensation for lands in Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana and Michigan ceded to the United States by the Indians during the treaty making period of 1795 to 1833.