Past News Items

The Department of the Interior today announced the completion of property distribution plans on six additional Indian rancherias of California under terms of a 1958 law.

The rancherias involved are Alexander Valley (54 acres, 11 members) and Lytton (50 acres, 33 members) in Sonoma County, Chicken Ranch (40 acres, 16 members) in Tuolumne County, Mooretown (80 acres, 4 members) in Butte County, and Potter Valley (96 acres, 11 members) and Redwood Valley (80 acres, 27 members) in Mendocino County.

Appointment of George A. Boyce, superintendent of the 2,000-pupil Intermountain Indian boarding school at Brigham, Utah, to develop a new instruction program in Indian arts and crafts at Santa Fe, New Mexico, was announced today by the Department of the Interior. The appointment will be effective August 6.

Award of a $770,300 contract for the construction of a new elementary school for Indian students at Cherokee, North Carolina, was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

The contract calls for the construction of a 24-classroom building with a multipurpose room, office, kitchen and library. It will have a total floor area of approximately 65,000 square feet.

The contract also includes grading and utility connections.

Secretary of the Interior Walter J. Hickel, on behalf of President Nixon, today announced the nomination of Louis R. Bruce, 6,3, of Richfield Springs, New York, as Commissioner of Indian Affairs.

Bruce, a member of the Oglala Sioux tribe of South Dakota, was praised by the Secretary as "a man of unparalleled qualifications, with the leadership skills and the desire necessary to carry out the Administration's pledge to bring dignity, education and economic progress to all of our American Indian, Eskimo and Aleut citizens.

Indian children in three Bureau of Indian Affairs schools will be given special education services and assistance next school year with the help of funding by the Office of Education.

Schools in which the programs will be initiated include Wahpeton Indian School, Wahpeton, N.D.; Phoenix Indian School in Phoenix, Ariz. and Intermountain School, Brigham City, Utah.

The three programs are intended to establish guidelines for Similar, future operations in other Bureau schools, where they are applicable.

A conference was held July 6-7 at Lake Tahoe on the California-Nevada border to discuss water needs of the area, including Lake Tahoe, the Truckee Carson River Irrigation District, and the water requirements of the Pyramid Lake Indians.

Job opportunities for American Indians in careers involving the land and its resources are discussed in "Careers for Indians in
Agriculture," a new eight-page leaflet just published by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Aimed primarily at interesting high school students in furthering their education, the leaflet may be obtained from the Bureau of
Indian Affairs, Department of the Interior, Washington, D.C. 20242 or any Indian agency without cost.

Promotion of Otto K, Weaver, an II-year veteran of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, to superintendent of the Crow Agency in Montana, effective August 6, was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

He succeeds Clyde W. Hobbs who was recently transferred as superintendent to the Wind River Agency, Fort Washakie, Wyoming.

In line with a recommendation recently made by his task Force on Indian Affairs, Secretary of the Interior Stewart L, Udall has proposed to Congress the enactment of legislation to establish an Advisory Board on Indian Affairs.

High bids totaling $866,695 have been received by the Uintah and Ouray Indian Tribe of Utah for oil and gas leases on 14 tracts of tribally owned land comprising nearly 31,000 acres, the Department of the Interior announced today.

The high bidder on all 14 of the tracts was Standard Oil Company of California.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs has asked the Department's Geological Survey for technical recommendation prior to acceptance of the bids