Past News Items

Department of the Interior Deputy Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs James H. McDivitt today announced his approval of an application to take into trust a 55-acre parcel of land located in Hudson, Wisconsin, for three Federally-recognized Indian Tribes for gaming purposes after determining it would be in the best interest of the Tribes without being detrimental to the surrounding community.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) has issued a final determination to acknowledge the Duwamish Tribal Organization, hereafter referred to as the Duwamish of Renton, Washington, as existing as an Indian tribe within the meaning of Federal law. The Duwamish first filed a letter of intent to petition for Federal acknowledgement on June 7, 1977.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) today issued a proposed finding for Federal acknowledgement of The Nipmuc Nation headquartered in Sutton, Massachusetts, saying the Nation (petitioner) meets the seven criteria for Federal acknowledgement under 25 CFR Part 83. The positive proposed finding states that the petitioner exists as an Indian tribe within the meaning of Federal law and meets the requirements for a government-to-government relationship with the United States.

Haskell Indian Nations University (HINU), the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) tribal college in Lawrence, Kansas, has announced February 2, 2001, as the inauguration date of Dr. Karen Gayton Swisher, the first woman to head the 116-year old institution. The event is scheduled for 10:00 a.m. (CST) at the Warner E. Coffin Sports Complex on the HINU campus.

Acting Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Michael J. Anderson today announced that effective today Loretta Tuell, Director of Interior’s Office of American Indian Trust (OAIT), has been designated the Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs until the end of the Clinton Administration. She will also continue as OAIT director where she is responsible for advising the Secretary and the Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs on decisions, actions, and procedures relating to the Department’s trust responsibilities affecting American Indian trust assets. Ms.

Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt has named Michael J. Anderson, as Acting Assistant Secretary - Indian Affairs until the end of the Clinton Administration. Mr. Anderson has been serving in the position of Deputy Assistant Secretary - Indian Affairs. He succeeds Kevin Gover, who resigned on January 3, 2001.

Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Kevin Gover has reaffirmed the federal trust relationship between the United States and the King Salmon Tribe and the Shoonaq’ Tribe in Alaska and the Lower Lake Rancheria in California after finding that their government-to-government relationship with the U.S. has never been severed.

One tribe’s 22-year journey through the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ (BIA) process for federal recognition ended this afternoon when Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Kevin Gover signed the final determination in favor of federal acknowledgement for the Chinook Indian Tribe/Chinook Nation of Washington State in a ceremony at the Department of the Interior’s main building in Washington, D.C.

An emergency created by a historic lack of salmon in the Bristol Bay area of Alaska has created the need for emergency funding from the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs, Kevin Gover announced today the Bureau of Indian Affairs would immediately release $206,000 to be used for emergency assistance to the hundreds of Native Alaskans dependent on the salmon harvest in the Bristol Bay area. ·

After several hearings about the need for more police on Tribal lands and the severe need for school construction and repair funds in Indian Country, the Senate Subcommittee on Interior Appropriations cut the President Clinton's request to fund the needs of the American Indian people for law enforcement and school construction by more than $140 million.