Past News Items

The course of American Indian history was drastically changed, fifty years ago, by the passage of the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, Interior Assistant Secretary Ken Smith told Indian leaders in a letter marking the act's fiftieth anniversary. Smith, a Wasco Indian from Oregon, is the Reagan Administration's top Indian official.

Smith noted that the act "marked a turning point in Federal-Indian relations. It halted or reversed prior policies which had cumulatively proved disastrous for Indians."

Interior Assistant Secretary Kenneth L. Smith has announced the appointment of new area directors for the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) at Sacramento, California and Anadarko, Oklahoma.

Maurice W. Babby, area director at Anadarko, has been transferred to the Sacramento office and William P. Ragsdale, assistant area director for economic development in the Phoenix, Arizona area, has been assigned to Anadarko. The BIA has a total of 12 area offices, or regional offices, throughout the United States.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) has asked Congress to appropriate $928.7 million for its 1985 fiscal year programs and projects. This is an increase of $21 million over the 1984 appropriations.

The BIA will receive an additional $100 million for reservation road construction, through the Department of Transportation, under provisions of the Highway Improvement Act of 1982.

The budget also proposes FY 1984 supplemental including $17.0 million for the Ak-Chin Irrigation Project in Arizona and $7.4 million for welfare grants (as a transfer from the construction account).

Continuing a program he initiated in July to speed the settlement of Indian water claims through negotiation rather than litigation, Interior Secretary James Watt will meet today with a delegation of Indian leaders, western industry spokesmen and Governors.

"This is part of our cooperative, Good Neighbor Policy of discussing and negotiating problems facing the Indian tribes, the State and the Federal Governments," Watt said.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs has distributed draft regulations to Indian tribal leaders for two proposed grant programs scheduled to begin in Fiscal Year 1983 (October 1, 1982 - September 30, 1983).

Interior Assistant Secretary Ken Smith asked for an early reaction to the proposed regulations because he intends "to implement these grant initiatives as soon as possible contingent upon appropriations from the Congress.

The Minerals Management Service (MMS has extended the deadline to five days for oil and gas operators to report the startup of production from new wells or wells recompleted in new intervals on Federal and Indian lands.

MMS Director Harold E. Doley, Jr., said the previous one-day deadline for reporting the startup of production to district supervisors was impractical.

"To avoid penalties, operators felt compelled to hand-deliver written notifications, sometimes at great expense," Doley said.

Revised regulations governing Indian fishing on the Hoopa Valley Indian Reservation are being published in the Federal Register, July 29, 1982, Interior Assistant Secretary Ken Smith said today.

The regulations, which become effective August 1, ban gillnet fishing during the fall chinook run from 9 a.m. Monday to 5 p.m. Wednesday of each week and from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Thursdays and Fridays.

Proposed regulations were published for review and comment June 1. The Federal Register notice includes information on changes recommended and made and those that were not made.

Alaskan land selections by Alaska Native corporations which exceed the acreage to which corporations are entitled may be reduced through procedures proposed in the Federal Register by the Department of the Interior.

Native corporations, entitled to a total of 44 million acres of land under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971, applied for more acreage than they are entitled to receive during the early 1970s when the Act required them to select lands for possible conveyance.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs has announced that it is publishing in the Federal Register, July 21, 1982, regulations to govern the preparation of a membership roll of the Pribilof Islands Aleut Communities of St. Paul and St. George. The roll to be prepared will serve as a basis for a per capita distribution of judgment funds awarded to the communities by the U.S. Court of Claims.

For additional information, contact the Enrollment Coordinator, Enrollment Coordinating Office, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Pouch 7-1971, Anchorage, Alaska 99510, telephone 907/271-3761.

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Interior Secretary James Watt, responding to the President's instructions, today announced formation of a Policy Advisory Group and negotiating teams to spearhead his Department's effort to achieve negotiated settlements for the more than 50 outstanding lawsuits over Indian water claims.

"President Reagan has forcefully indicated his concern that these suits-- which have stalled essential economic progress in both Indian and non-Indian areas--be settled quickly through negotiated settlements that are equitable to all parties," Watt said.