Past News Items

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.

Under Secretary of the Interior Hatfield Chilson today announced preliminary results of the Klamath Indian election in which members of the Oregon tribe were given the opportunity to remain in the tribal organization or withdraw and receive cash payment for their pr0portionate share of the tribal assets.

Of 2,133 members who received ballots in March, 1,649 or 77.3 percent have elected to withdraw and 74 or 3.5 percent have elected to remain. Ballots for 405 or 19 percent of the tribal members have not been received. Five ballots still remain to be validated.

Interior Assistant Secretary Eddie Brown has ordered the Bureau of Indian Affairs to tighten the procedures for leasing of Indian lands in the Palm Springs, California, area and to put in place regulations specifically designed to fit long-term business leasing needs of the Agua Caliente Indian landowners.

"We have seen evidence of leases negotiated many years ago that do not meet today's market value. Future leases must contain provisions for escalation when land values skyrocket," Brown said.

A $116,373.90 contract for construction work on 5.603 miles of road on the Soboba and Pechanga Indian Reservations in Riverside County, California, has been awarded to the Hubbs Equipment Co., P.O. Box 17; Colton, California, the Department of the Interior announced today.

The Hubbs bid was the lowest of sixteen received. The others ranged from $117,597.05 to $159,761.00. Bids were opened by the Bureau of Public Roads.

Forty-three Indian tribal leaders and officials of the Department of the Interior (DOI) and Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) will meet January 27-29 at Washington, D.C.'s Dulles Airport to finalize a report to the Secretary of the Interior on the reorganization of the BIA.