Past News Items

Sales of timber from lands belonging to Indian tribes and individual Indians brought the owners a record high income of $12,388,000 in the fiscal year 1960, or 23 percent more than the 1959 income, the Department of the Interior announced today.

The volume of timber cut under contract was also at the record level of 597 million board feet, an increase of 63 million board feet over the 1959 total. Not included in these figures are the data for Klamath Indian Reservation, in Oregon, where sales are affected by the approaching termination of all Federal trust responsibility.

The Department of the Interior has scheduled a hearing on the Klamath River fishing situation November 15 at Eureka, California, Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Forrest Gerard announced today.

The purpose of the hearing is to receive and record the views of persons not eligible to exercise Indian fishing rights, and who are interested in the Indian fishery on the Klamath river system. It will be an information gathering meeting only.

WASHINGTON –– The White House hosted its first ever lacrosse clinic today on the South Lawn featuring some of the nation’s best lacrosse players showcasing the health benefits of the nation’s fastest growing sport to 100 youth as part of the First Lady’s Let’s Move! in Indian Country (LMIC) initiative.

Award of a $31,740 contract for development of approximately 320 acres of land on the Sandia Pueblo Grant under the jurisdiction of the United Pueblo Agency of the Bureau of Indian Affairs was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

This is a part of the rehabilitation program for Indian lands of the Middle to Grande Pueblos authorized by the Flood Control Acts of 1948 and 1950, and will provide additional developed land for use of tribal members.

The LaPointe Indian Cemetery, burial place of the Chippewa Chief Great Buffalo, has been listed in The National Register of Historic Places, the Bureau of Indian Affairs announced today.

The cemetery is located on Madeline Island, in Lake Superior off the coast of Wisconsin. The property is held in trust by the United States for the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians.

WASHINGTON – A federal judge, in response to a motion on behalf of the Department of the Interior, has granted permission for Interior officials to begin communicating with class members on land trust consolidation provisions of the Cobell Settlement agreement. The Department will soon publish a Federal Register notice announcing its intent to begin formal government-to-government consultations with tribal leaders. Interior expects the land consolidation consultations to begin by late-summer.

Transfer of Howard S. Dushane, superintendent of the Fort Belknap Indian Agency at Harlem, Montana, to the comparable position at the Cheyenne River Agency in South Dakota, effective February 20, was announced today by the Department of the Interior. He succeeds Noralf Nesset who was named superintendent of the Standing Rock Agency, Fort Yates, N. Dak., last December.

Regulations to extend the filing period for persons applying for membership on the roll of Grand River Ottawa Indians to be used for the distribution of more than $932,000 awarded by the Indian Claims Commission are being published in the Federal Register, the Bureau of Indian Affairs announced today.

In regulations published May 25, 1977 the deadline for filing was September 2, 1977. With the extension, the new deadline will be November 1, 1977.

WASHINGTON – Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Del Laverdure today announced that the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) will be holding tribal consultation meetings for tribal leaders to review and provide input on draft regulations on leasing in Indian Country. The draft regulations would establish subparts to 25 CFR Part 162 (Leases and Permits) addressing residential leasing, business leasing and wind and solar resource permitting and leasing on Indian trust lands.

Acting upon the recommendation of a special task force which visited Alaskan native villages this past summer, Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall today announced that the Tsimpshian Indians of the island community of Metlakatla will be permitted to continue using their fish traps during the 1963 fishing season.

Since 1915, by Secretarial regulation, the Metlakatlans have been allowed to fish with traps. Early in 1962, the U. S. Supreme Court ruled that an Alaskan law prohibiting traps does not apply to the Annette Island Reservation within which Metlakatla is situated.