Past News Items

(Following is a statement delivered by Secretary of the Interior Rogers C. B. Morton during a visit to the Uintah-Ouray Indian preservation in Utah Tuesday evening, October 5, 1971.)

I am very pleased to report to you that before I left Washington, a Secretarial Order was signed that revokes a 1930 oil shale withdrawal order as it pertained to your Indian lands.

Thus, we have erased any doubt that might have existed as to the Tribe1s ownership of lands and minerals affected by the 1930 order.

MAJOR COMPANIES TO BOOST INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT IN INDIAN COUNTRY

Executives of an electronics company, a petro-chemical company and several other major corporations have reported to BIA that they have arranged to sponsor meetings of business leaders to inform them of industrial development opportunities in Indian areas. Six such meetings will soon be scheduled for various parts of the country, at which more than 300 industrial executives will consult with Indian tribal leaders about advantages available to industries in Indian population areas.

Washington, D.C. – Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Kevin K. Washburn announced today that the Ewiiaapaayp Band of Kumeyaay Indians and the Kaw Nation are the latest tribes to receive clearance of tribal leasing codes to enable them to handle leasing of their own Indian lands without having to obtain the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) approval.

The clearance came under the Helping Expedite and Advance Responsible Tribal Homeownership Act (HEARTH Act), signed by President Obama in July 2012.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs is proposing a reV1S10n in Federal regulations in order to tighten environmental protection stipulations in f leases for the surface use of Indian-owned lands under Federal trusteeship.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Louis R. Bruce said today the proposed change is being published in the Federal Register. It relates to section 11, part 131, Title 25 of the Code of Federal Regulations. Interested persons have 30 days from the date of publication to submit comments.

An agreement between the Public Housing Administration and the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs was signed today by Housing Commissioner Marie C. McGuire and Indian Commissioner Philleo Nash, calling for joint efforts in bringing low-rent housing to thousands of American Indian families.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Education today, in conjunction with the U.S. Department of the Interior, announced the award of more than $5 million in grants to help Native American youth become college- and career-ready.

Raymond Lightfoot, 54, Assistant Area Director for the Minneapolis Area Office of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, was named Area Director for the Minneapolis Area Office today by Commissioner of Indian Affairs Louis R. Bruce.

An enrolled member of the Michigan Band of Chippewa Indians, Lightfoot replaces Owen D. Morken, who retired in January 1971.

Lightfoot was born at Fort Thompson, S. Dak. After he completed a course in Business Administration at Nettleton College, Sioux Falls, S. Dak., Lightfoot, joined the Bureau in 1937.

Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall will meet December 1 with 11 top management representatives of major industrial firms to discuss the potential for plant expansion and development on or near Indian reservations.

The luncheon meeting is the second such conference in Secretary Udall's drive to speed economic development and employment possibilities for Indians. In May the Secretary met with representatives of major electronic firms.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – In keeping with President Obama’s commitment to empowering tribal nations, rebuilding their homelands and strengthening their economies, Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Kevin K. Washburn today announced that he has approved the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians’ probate code, which the Department of the Interior’s Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA) will start applying when probating trust or restricted lands within the Fond du Lac Reservation in Minnesota.

The President today signed H. R. 471 which declares that certain lands in Carson National Forrest, New Mexico, are held in trust for the Pueblo de Taos. This tract, comprised of approximately 48,000 acres of land and the Blue Lake, has been used by the Taos Pueblo Indians for religious and tribal purposes since the fourteenth century.