Past News Items

Both educational and economic opportunities for Indian people were significantly increased by Federal Government action in fiscal year 1958, Secretary of the Interior Fred A. Seaton said in the Department's annual report released today.

Promotion of Jose A. Zuni, an Indian career employee of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, to the position of superintendent of the Consolidated Ute Agency, Ignacio, Colorado, was reported today by the Department of the Interior.

Award of a $962,754 contract that will double the enrollment capacity of the Wide Ruins Boarding School on the Navajo Indian Reservation in Arizona was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

Job opportunities for American Indians in careers involving the land and its resources are discussed in "Careers for Indians in
Agriculture," a new eight-page leaflet just published by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Aimed primarily at interesting high school students in furthering their education, the leaflet may be obtained from the Bureau of
Indian Affairs, Department of the Interior, Washington, D.C. 20242 or any Indian agency without cost.

Secretary of Agriculture Orville L, Freeman and Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall today announced adoption of 8 study and recommendations made by the two Departments to bring timber sale practices by the two agencies into closer uniformity.

WASHINGTON— U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke and Blackfeet Nation Chairman Harry Barnes today signed documents implementing the Blackfeet Water Rights Settlement of 2016 and the accompanying Blackfeet Water Compact, which resolve a decades-long battle by the Blackfeet Tribe of Montana to protect its water rights while also accommodating state and federal water requirements. Secretary Zinke has worked on the issue as a State Senator in the Montana State Legislature, as the U.S. Representative from Montana, and now as Secretary of the Interior.

Award of a $288,588 contract for enlargement and improvement of Federal Indian school facilities at Tuba City, Arizona, on the Navajo Reservation was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

The contract provides for construction of a new six-classroom building and 10 two-bedroom houses as well 8S for rehabilitation of an existing dining room kitchen structure.

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Kevin K. Washburn announced today that he has signed a reservation proclamation for approximately 292 acres of trust land located in the city of Payson, Gila County, Ariz., belonging to the Tonto Apache Tribe of Arizona. The parcel will be added to the Tribe’s existing reservation under the authority of the Indian Reorganization Act of June 18, 1934 (48 Stat. 984; 25 U.S.C. 467).

Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall today announced he has instructed the Bureau of Indian Affairs to take every possible action to assure that needy Indians benefit from the expanded distribution of surplus food ordered January 21 by President Kennedy.

The Secretary pointed out that the program is aimed at helping all underprivileged Americans, and stressed that a number of Indian reservations are among the hardest-hit economic areas of the Nation.

WASHINGTON – Acting Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Lawrence S. Roberts announced today that the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) has improved its Fee-to-Trust Handbook to reduce the processing time for requests from federally recognized tribes to have land taken into trust for their benefit and proclamations that declare the lands are part of their tribal reservations.