Past News Items

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – President Bush’s pledge on education that “no child shall be left behind” was reaffirmed today with the release of his Fiscal Year 2002 budget request of $2.2 billion for the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA).The request includes $292.5 million for BIA school construction – an increase of $162,000 over the 2001 enacted level – of which $122.8 million is to replace six aging BIA school facilities around the country, including the Polacca Day School located in Polacca, Ariz., on the Hopi reservation.

Award of two contracts in the amounts of $34,876 and $23,741.25 for water development at ten school locations on the Navajo Reservation in Arizona and New Mexico was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

A Tribal-State gaming compact between the Pala Band of Mission Indians and the State of California was approved Saturday, April 25, by Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Kevin Gover and will take effect when the notice is published in the Federal Register. "I want to stress that this compact applies only to the future gaming operation of the Pala Band of Mission Indians," said Assistant Secretary Gover. "The terms and conditions of this compact are binding only on the State and the Pala Band.

Award of three school construction contracts on the Navajo and Hopi Indian Reservations in Arizona totaling $1,224,334 and increasing pupil capacity by more than 50 percent was announced today by the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs.

The contracts involve the replacing of a trailer school with permanent facilities; construction of a new school replacing one destroyed by fire; and construction of new facilities replacing two old schools on the reservation which are beyond rehabilitation.

Ada E. Deer, Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs announced that 177 federally-recognized tribes representing 18 tribal grantees are currently participating in a demonstration project that allows for the integration of the employment, training and related services provided by formula-funded programs from three federal agencies.

The Department of the Interior favors legislation that would reinvest in the Indian tribes of the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming title to the minerals in 161,500 acres previously ceded to the Federal Government, it was announced today.

In a report to Congress Assistant Secretary Roger Ernst recommended enactment of H. R. 11141, a restoration pill, with some technical and clarifying amendments.

Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs Ada Deer today expressed strong concern over recent recommendations by Congressional Budget Committees to reduce the 1997 President's Budget for American Indian tribes and the Bureau of Indian Affairs with cuts from $100 million to $250 million.

Award of a $53,046.69 contract for irrigation work on the Western Shoshone Indian Reservation in Nevada to L. C. Cheney, Weiser, Idaho, was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

The contract covers construction of approximately three miles of laterals and 13 miles of farm ditches, construction or installation of 66 water control structures, leveling 211 acres to a predetermined grade, and plowing and land planning of 507 acres.

Secretary of the Interior Manuel Lujan and Secretary of Agriculture Edward Madigan today announced approval of a historic agreement in principle to resolve a century-old land dispute between the Navajo and Hopi Indian tribes in Arizona. "For the first time we have an agreement in principle between the two tribes," Lujan said. "We cannot pass up this Once-in-a-century opportunity to settle this bitter dispute." The agreement in principle, approved earlier this week by the Hopi and Navajo tribal councils, was achieved after 17 months of intense negotiations conducted by U.S.

Award of an $112,758 contract for grading, draining, and crushed gravel surfacing of 12.983 miles of road on the Cheyenne River Reservation in South Dakota, from U. S. Highway 212 north to the Thunder Butte Indian settlement along the Moreau River, was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

The successful bid, by E. Stoltenberg &Son of Naper, Nebraska, was the lowest of' 19 received. Higher bids ranged from $119,065.71 to $162,760.61.