Past News Items

The Devil's Lake Sioux Tribe of North Dakota has officially changed its name to SPIRIT LAKE TRIBE, Ada E. Deer, Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs announced today.

According to the elders of the Tribe, who maintain the oral history of the lake for which the Tribe was named, it was always known to the Sioux as "Spirit Lake." Therefore, for members of the Tribe it has always been considered wrong to refer to the lake as "Devil's Lake."

Improved safeguards for the property interests of both individual Indians and tribes were announced today by Commissioner of Indian Affairs Glenn L. Emmons. The Department of the Interior made public his statement on the Indian Bureau's policy governing sales of individually owned Indian lands.

Ada E. Deer, Assistant Secretary - Indian Affairs, today expressed her gratitude to Vice President Al Gore for directly intervening on behalf of Americans Indians in last week's intense negotiations over the Department of the Interior's (DOI) continued funding resolution.

"Vice President Gore once again demonstrated his strong leadership and concern over the devastating effect massive budget cuts would have on American Indian programs," said Ms. Deer. "His efforts will have a decisive and immediate positive impact on the Indian Community," she says.

A $374,915.15 contract for construction of approximately 10 miles of highway on the Navajo Indian Reservation in Arizona has been awarded to Richey Construction Company of St. Johns, Arizona, the Department of the Interior announced today.

The contract involves 1.593 miles from Chinle Junction to Chinle with a 291- foot, 9-span bridge across Nazlini Wash and 8.384 miles from Chinle Junction south toward Ganado with a 33-foot precast concrete beam bridge.

Secretary of the Interior Manuel Lujan today announced the establishment of a special Indian Minerals Service Office devoted exclusively to serving Native Americans in the Four corners area of New Mexico, Utah, Colorado and Arizona.

The new office, located in Farmington, New Mexico, will be operated cooperatively by three Interior Department agencies: the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), the Minerals Management Service (MMS), and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).

Plans for further insuring the secrecy of absentee ballots in Osage Indian Tribal Council elections, and representation proportionate to each voter’s financial interest in the Osage mineral estate, were announced today by the Department of the Interior.

In a letter to the chairman of the House Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, the Department said it has submitted a notice of the proposed changes for publication in the Federal Register.

Secretary of the Interior Manuel Lujan today announced the appointment of six private citizens as members of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Review Committee "The committee faces a challenging set or tasks," Lujan said in making the appointments. "Among their duties, they must advise me on regulations needed to implement the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990, and they will assist in the resolution of disputes caused by its requirements. This will require careful reading of the law and a willingness to listen to each side of an issue."

Acting Secretary of the Interior Elmer F. Bennett today announced he has signed an order transferring to the Navajo Indian Tribe approximately 52,000 acres of public land in the McCracken Mesa area of Utah.

He said the transfer substantially completes a land exchange agreement under which the Navajo people receive additional acreage in Utah's “Four Corners” area in compensation for lands they surrendered to permit construction of Glen Canyon Dam, key feature of the billion-dollar Upper Colorado River Storage Project.

Interior Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Eddie F. Brown will keynote the fourth in a series of regional economic development conferences with Indian tribal leaders May 21-22 in Seattle, Washington. The conference will include tribal representatives from Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Alaska and California and business and industry leaders from the private sector.

The Department of the Interior today announced the retirement of one Indian Bureau agency superintendent and the transfer of two others in a related series of moves.