Past News Items

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and Assistant Secretary- Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk today provided the Department’s draft Tribal Consultation Policy to the leaders of the nation’s 565 federally-recognized American Indian and Alaska Native tribes for their review and comment.

Washington, D.C. – Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk today announced that on December 21 the Bureau of Indian Affairs began its 2009 drunk-driving prevention campaign, “Don’t Shatter the Dream,” which is being conducted by BIA and tribal law enforcement in Indian Country through January 3, 2010.

Washington, D.C. – Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk today announced the schedule for the month of January 2010 for the Interior Department’s series of tribal consultation meetings to develop a Department-wide tribal consultation policy.

The Assistant Secretary noted two changes in the January schedule: the January 5 meeting will be held in Ft. Snelling, Minn., instead of Minneapolis and the January 14 meeting will be held in Palm Springs, Calif., instead of Sacramento.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Department of the Interior proposes to acknowledge the Shinnecock Indian Nation of Southampton, New York as a federally recognized Indian tribe, Acting Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs George T. Skibine announced today. The Department will issue a notice of this proposed finding in the Federal Register.

Washington, D.C. – Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk today announced he has named Dr. Sherry R. Allison, who is currently the acting president of the Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute located in Albuquerque, N.M., as SIPI President. Dr. Allison, who is an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah, had been serving as acting president since January 5, 2009. The appointment is effective December 6, 2009.

Washington, D.C. – Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk welcomed representatives of several federal agencies and non-profit organizations who are at the forefront of combating alcohol and substance abuse and domestic violence to a conference on creating safe schools held December 8 by the Bureau of Indian Education. The Safe School Summit kicked off a BIE initiative to establish partnerships with law enforcement, security, and health and safety agencies to ensure BIE-funded schools are safe and secure learning environments for their students.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and Attorney General Eric Holder today announced a settlement of the long-running and highly contentious Cobell class action lawsuit regarding the U.S. government's trust management and accounting of over three hundred thousand individual American Indian trust accounts. Also speaking at the press conference today were Deputy Secretary of the Interior David Hayes and Associate Attorney General Tom Perrelli.

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary–Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk today issued a final determination not to acknowledge the petitioner known as the Juaneño Band of Mission Indians, Acjachemen Nation (Petitioner #84A) as an Indian tribe. This petitioner, located in San Juan Capistrano, Calif., has 1,940 members.

Washington, D.C. – Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk today announced the schedule for the month of December for the Interior Department’s series of tribal consultation meetings to develop a Department-wide tribal consultation policy.

The December schedule of tribal consultation meetings is as follows (all times are local time):

Date: Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Times: 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 noon/1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Location: Hilton-Anchorage, 500 W 3rd Ave., Anchorage, Alaska, 99501 907-272-7411

Washington, D.C.—Today is Native American Heritage Day, thanks to legislation signed by President Obama that permanently designates the Friday after Thanksgiving Day each year as a day of honoring American Indian and Alaska Native cultural heritage and tribal sovereignty.

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk thanked President Obama and the Congress for the designation.