Past News Items

Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall stated today that the revised budget estimate for fiscal year 1962 which President Kennedy submitted to the Congress is a great step forward in the Administration's programs in conserving and developing our Nation's natural and human resources.

"The request for additional appropriation of $40,668,000 over the amount submitted by the previous administration", he said, “will launch a vigorous resources program.”

WASHINGTON – As part of President Obama’s Generation Indigenous (“Gen-I”) initiative to remove barriers to success for Native American youth, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Lawrence S.

Secretary of the Interior Cecil D. Andrus announced today the appointment of Sidney L. Mills as the Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs, effective January 19, 1980, when Assistant Secretary Forrest J. Gerard leaves the Department.

Gerard announced his resignation December 11 to return to private business.

Award of a $34,193 contract for improvement to the water supply system at Shiprock, New Mexico, on the Navajo Indian Reservation was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

The contract provides for approximately 2,000 feet of water main, and for the construction of a water treatment plant with a capacity of 750,000 gallons per day. This work is the second phase of a project to provide adequate water supply at Shiprock for a recently completed Indian hospital, a 1,000-pupil Indian boarding school and a sub-agency headquarters of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Kevin K. Washburn today announced that the Department of the Interior has finalized updates to Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) regulations on Secretarial elections for tribal governments that will, among other things, protect the rights of tribal members living away from their communities to vote in these elections. A Secretarial election is a federal election conducted by the Secretary of the Interior for federally recognized tribes under a federal statute or tribal governing document (25 C.F.R. Part 81).

Senator Henry M. Jackson (D. Wash.), chairman the Senate Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs announced today following an executive session of the full committee that he has appointed an ad hoc subcommittee to make a thorough study of a long-standing dispute between the Navajo and Hopi tribes over reservation boundary lines. The subcommittee is composed of Senator Frank Church (Idaho) as chairman and Senator Frank. E. Moss of Utah and Paul J. Fannin, Arizona.

The Second Annual Invitational Exhibition of American Indian Paintings will open November 30, at the Department of Interior Art Gallery.

The exhibition is composed of 91 paintings and 12 works of sculpture, assembled and organized through direct invitation to the outstanding Indian artists in the Nation. The exhibition illustrates the great diversity of fine artistic expression among contemporary Indian, Eskimo and Aleut artists living in the United States. The majority of these works were created in 1965 and will be offered for sale to gallery visitors.

ST. PAUL, MINN. – In keeping with President Obama’s commitment to supporting Indian families and fostering resilient, thriving tribal communities through his all-of-government approach, acting Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Lawrence S. Roberts today announced that the Departments of Interior (DOI), Justice (DOJ), and Health and Human Services (HHS) have entered into a collaborative agreement to ensure more robust compliance with and implementation of the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) of 1978 (Public Law 95-608).

Secretary of the Interior Rogers C. B. Morton declared today that "God and the courts willing, there will be a trans-Alaska pipeline."

In remarks prepared for delivery in Alaska to the Fairbanks Chamber of Commerce, Secretary Morton emphasized, "We at Interior and in President Nixon IS administration are proud of the conscientious fashion in which the pipeline decision was made.”

The proposed 789 mile hot oil pipeline linking the North Slope oil fields to a tanker terminal at Valdez "will mean- unprecedented social and economic change for your State,” he said, adding:

OKLAHOMA CHEROKEES PLAN $2 MILLION PROGRAM

The Oklahoma Cherokees have announced plans for a $2 million program of social and economic benefits for tribal members, to be financed from judgment awards by the Indian Claims Commission for Cherokee claims against the United States.