Past News Items

Assistant Secretary of the Interior John A. Carver, Jr., today instructed the heads of two Bureaus to take every action possible to reduce economic losses to the people of flood-damaged West Coast areas.

In a special memorandum to the Director of the Bureau of Land Management and the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Mr. Carver said:

WASHINGTON, D.C. – As part of the Obama Administration’s Generation Indigenous (“GenI”) initiative to remove barriers standing between Native youth and their opportunity to succeed, Assistant Secretary - Indian Affairs Kevin K.

An exhibit of Eskimo Graphic Arts and Sculpture will be on display in Washington's Department of the Interior Art Galleries beginning Tuesday, November 8 through December 31. Featured will be the work of Canadian Eskimos from the famed Cape Dorset area, located at the southern tip of Baffin Island. Stone-cut prints and a variety of small sculptures will be shown. Hours for the exhibit, sponsored by the Center for Arts of Indian America, will be from 10:00 a.m. to 4: 00 p.m., Monday through Friday.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan and Interior Secretary Sally Jewell announced today that the Miccosukee Indian School (MIS) has received flexibility from the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), also known as No Child Left Behind (NCLB), to use a different definition of Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) that meets their students’ unique academic and cultural needs. The Miccosukee Indian School in Florida is funded by the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Indian Education (BIE).

For those who equate reservations 'with tar-paper shacks and abject poverty, the first sight of the Seneca Indian Nation's Allegany Reservation in southwestern New York State is an impressive surprise. The story behind these new homes and the hopes that go with them is equally impressive.

It is a story of men who turned adversity into triumph. Most of these men are Senecas led by their forceful and articulate President, Martin Seneca. But one, a prime mover, is a Choctaw from Oklahoma -- Sidney Carney.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – In keeping with President Obama’s commitment to supporting Indian families and building resilient, thriving tribal communities, Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Kevin K. Washburn today announced action the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) has taken to help prevent the further dissolution of American Indian and Alaska Native families through the misapplication of the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) of 1978 (Public Law 95-608).

A $125,049 contract for grading and surfacing roads on the Uintah and Ouray I Reservation in Utah was announced today by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Improvements will include a five-mile stretch of Route 7 which provides access to picturesque Uintah Canyon and a seven-mile section of Route 17, from Neola toward Big Springs.

Better roads will open an exceptionally scenic area for which the Uintah and Ouray Tribe has recreational development plans.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The joint Indian Affairs, Indian Health Service (IHS) and Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) listening sessions for tribes on suicide prevention that began this month will continue through December and into early February of 2011. The sessions seek input from tribal leaders on how the agencies can effectively work within their communities to prevent suicide, and will lead up to a national conference on the topic early next year.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs today announced the award of a $161,960 contract for road improvement on the Warm Springs Reservation in Oregon. The reservation was among those hard-hit by floods in 1965 which washed away several accesses to Indian communities.

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk announced today that a listening session will take place at Haskell Indian Nations University on Monday, September 20, 2010. This youth listening session is a part of America’s Great Outdoors Initiative and will be hosted by the Department of the Interior Office of Youth in the Great Outdoors and the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE).