Past News Items

Washington - The Department of the Interior's Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Neal McCaleb has named Daniel J. DuBray, a member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, as his Special Assistant for Communications - Indian Affairs.

"Dan will be a valuable asset to Indian Affairs with his extensive media and Capitol Hill experience, and his understanding of American Indian issues," McCaleb said.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Robert L. Bennett will be the United States delegate to the Sixth Interamerican Indian Congress in Pátzcuaro, Michoacan, Mexico, April 15 through 21, the Department of the Interior announced today.

Commissioner Bennett will be accompanied by Indian leaders and other advisers.

The Congress meets quadrennial under provisions of a treaty to which most Latin American countries are signatories, for the purpose of exchanging information, views and experiences.

(Washington, D.C.) – The Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Neal McCaleb is in Ottawa, Canada today for bilateral talks with representatives from the Ministry of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC). The bilateral talks were created to provide an opportunity for the United States and Canada to exchange information on how each administer their responsibilities to their indigenous populations.

Robert L. Bennett, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, announced today a Washington exhibit of a series of 17 Indian dance paintings by Phyllis H. Kellar of Lead, S.D., and Santa Fe, N.M., together with a display of turn-of the-century photographs, reproduced from original. "negatives" so old they are printed on glass slides.

The showing will be free to the public in the lobby of the Bureau of Indian Affairs Building, 1951 Constitution Avenue, N.W., from 9:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M., Monday through Friday, May 20 through June 7, except for the Memorial Day holiday.

On a chilly, overcast day, leaders from twenty-nine tribal nations stood next to Bureau of Indian Affairs officials, a pen was put to paper and a historic agreement establishing the first government-to-government consultation policy between the BIA and the tribal nations was signed on December 13, 2000 in Seattle, Washington.

Timber harvesting on Indian reservations set records during the 1967 calendar' year in terms of both cash and timber volume, a final tabulation by the Bureau of Indian Affairs shows.

Cash sales exceeded 900 million board-feet and provided gross receipts of $17.9 million. This compares with a total of 527 million board-feet and $10.7 million gross sales ten years ago, and about 802 million board-feet, with $15.4 million in cash sales for 1966, and 811 million board-feet and approximately $13 million in cash sales in 1965.

The Department of the Interior published a final rule on governing review of per capita distributions in the Federal Register. The new regulation establishes procedures for the submission, review and approval of tribal revenue allocation plans for the distribution of net gaming revenues from tribal gaming activities. Assistant Secretary -Indian Affairs Kevin Gover in announcing these regulations stated, "These new rules will provide clarity and guidance to tribal governments in meeting the mandates of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act."

Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall today approved an agreement between the Crow Indian Tribe and the National Park Service under which some of the Crow Tribal lands in Montana will be included in the Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area.

The action was requested by the Crow Tribe and concerns reservation land in Montana adjacent to the Recreation Area, which surrounds the reservoir formed by the Yellowtail Dam on the Bighorn River in South Central Montana and North Central Wyoming.

This report provides a portrait of the American Indian and Alaska Native population in the United States and discusses the largest specified tribal groupings, reservations, Alaska Native village statistical areas (ANVSAs), and areas outside reservations and ANVSAs (outside tribal areas) at the national level. It is part of the Census 2000 Special Reports series that presents demographic, social, and economic characteristics collected from Census 2000.

Will Rogers, Jr., son of the humorist and grandson of Cherokee leader Clem Vann Rogers, has been given a temporary appointment as Special Assistant to Indian Commissioner Robert L. Bennett, it was announced today by Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall. Rogers took the oath of office September 18.