Past News Items

Washington, D.C. – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk today was joined by the Department of Interior Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) employees, tribal leaders from the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Nation and the Flathead Joint Board of Control to announce a unique and historic agreement.

On Thursday, April 8, 2010, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar will present awards to the winning high school and college teams of the 2010 Indian Education Renewable Energy Challenge in a ceremony at the Interior Department’s South Interior Building in Washington, D.C. The event will take place in the South Interior Auditorium from 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. (EDT).

WASHINGTON – Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and Assistant Secretary Larry Echo Hawk expressed their deepest condolences to the family and friends of Wilma Mankiller, the former Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation, who passed away today, praising her as a dynamic and visionary leader dedicated to the wellbeing and betterment of her tribal community.

WASHINGTON – Acting Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs George T. Skibine has issued a proposed finding not to acknowledge the petitioner known as the Tolowa Nation (TN), Petitioner #85, located in Fort Dick, Calif., as an Indian tribe under the regulations governing the federal acknowledgment process at 25 CFR Part 83. The evidence in the record is insufficient to demonstrate that Petitioner #85 meets the criterion 83.7(b), one of the seven mandatory criteria of the regulations for a determination that the petitioning group is an Indian tribe.

WASHINGTON, D.C.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – President Obama’s Fiscal Year 2016 budget request for Indian Affairs, which includes the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE), is $2.9 billion – a $323.5 million, or 12 percent increase from the FY2015 enacted level.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Deputy Secretary of the Interior Michael Connor today announced that the Department has signed two additional agreements with tribal nations in Washington State through the Land Buy-Back Program for Tribal Nations (Buy-Back Program).

HOLLYWOOD, Fla. – As part of President Obama’s commitment to empowering American Indian and Alaska Native tribal nations and strengthening their economies, Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell and Bureau of Indian Affairs Director Michael Black today joined Seminole Tribal Chairman James E. Billie to formally approve tribal leasing regulations that will help spur investment and commercial development on the Seminole Tribe’s reservations.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell will visit South Florida this week for a series of events focused on restoring the health of the Everglades. While there, Jewell will also meet with the Seminole Tribe of Florida to announce a milestone in increasing self-determination and economic development for Native American tribes.

Washington, D.C. – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk today announced that on December 20 the Bureau of Indian Affairs began its 2010 impaired driving prevention campaign, “Don’t Shatter the Dream,” which is being conducted by BIA and tribal law enforcement agencies in Indian Country through January 2, 2011.