Past News Items

Awarding of a $40,880 contract to Erhardt Dahl Andersen of Pocatello, Idaho, for preliminary construction work on the Michaud Unit of the Fort Hall (Idaho) Indian Irrigation Project was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – Assistant Secretary - Indian Affairs Neal McCaleb today issued a proposed finding to decline to acknowledge the Ohlone/Costanoan Muwekma Tribe, also known as the “Muwekma Tribe,” the 400-member group based in San Jose, Calif. The Assistant Secretary found that the petitioner did not meet three of the seven mandatory criteria for Federal acknowledgement under 25 CFR Part 83, thereby automatically resulting in a proposed negative finding.

Award of a $46,458 contract for construction of a temporary movable school on the Navajo Indian Reservation at Inscription House, Arizona, was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) today issued a proposed finding for Federal acknowledgement of The Nipmuc Nation headquartered in Sutton, Massachusetts, saying the Nation (petitioner) meets the seven criteria for Federal acknowledgement under 25 CFR Part 83. The positive proposed finding states that the petitioner exists as an Indian tribe within the meaning of Federal law and meets the requirements for a government-to-government relationship with the United States.

Proposed regulations to govern the preparation of an up-to-date membership roll of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians in North Carolina were announced today by the Bureau of Indian Affairs of the Department of the Interior.

Under the rules, which have been recommended by the Eastern Cherokee Tribal Council, and will be published in the Federal Register, the membership roll of the band would be brought up to date as authorized by congressional legislation enacted last August.

Interior Department representatives today strongly defended the rights of American Indian tribes to tribal self-determination. "Centuries of tribal rights of self-government and self-determination should under no circumstance be abridged based on mere anecdotal evidence," said Interior Department Associate Solicitor for Indian Affairs Derril Jordan today during a Senate Committee on Indian Affairs hearing on Tribal Sovereign Immunity.

Award of five school-access road construction contracts totaling nearly half a million dollars on Indian reservations in North Dakota and South Dakota was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

Ada E. Deer, Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs signed a final decision recognizing a separate government-to-government relationship between the Delaware Tribe of Eastern Oklahoma and the federal government.

Award of a $64,850.08 contract for construction of a 50-foot bridge and reinforced concrete box culverts on the road between U. S. Route 59 and State Highway 100, in Adair County, Oklahoma, was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

The road when completed will be an important asset to the Indians and other residents of the district and will serve as an important school bus route, mail route and farm-to-market road passing through heavily populated Indian lands.

In a newly released report, Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt charged each Interior Department office and bureau with identifying policies and procedures that protect and conserve Indian resources. The report, entitled Protection of Indian Trust Resources Procedures, outlines how each Interior Department bureau and office will integrate trust protection practices and policies into daily activities.