Past News Items

Plans for further insuring the secrecy of absentee ballots in Osage Indian Tribal Council elections, and representation proportionate to each voter’s financial interest in the Osage mineral estate, were announced today by the Department of the Interior.

In a letter to the chairman of the House Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, the Department said it has submitted a notice of the proposed changes for publication in the Federal Register.

Acting Secretary of the Interior Elmer F. Bennett today announced he has signed an order transferring to the Navajo Indian Tribe approximately 52,000 acres of public land in the McCracken Mesa area of Utah.

He said the transfer substantially completes a land exchange agreement under which the Navajo people receive additional acreage in Utah's “Four Corners” area in compensation for lands they surrendered to permit construction of Glen Canyon Dam, key feature of the billion-dollar Upper Colorado River Storage Project.

The Department of the Interior today announced the retirement of one Indian Bureau agency superintendent and the transfer of two others in a related series of moves.

The Department of the Interior has submitted to Congress a proposal for legislation that would add nearly 350,000 acres to the land holdings of 18 Indian tribes or communities in 9 States, Assistant Secretary Roger Ernst announced today.

Award of a $663,330 contract for a major road construction project that will provide the final paved link on Route 3 across the Navajo Indian Reservation in Arizona was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

Route 3 is the connecting road between Highway 666 in New Mexico and Highway 89 in Arizona.

Twenty-nine proposals to lease lands on the Dania Indian Reservation in south Florida for commercial or industrial development have been received by the Seminole tribal organization since the availability of the lands for leasing was publicly announced last August, the Department of the Interior reported today.

Award of a $1,085,400 contract for the construction of new school facilities at Nenahnezad School on the Navajo Indian Reservation near Fruitland, New Mexico, was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

Facilities to be constructed include two 160-pupil dormitories, a kitchen-dining building, a multipurpose building, a storage and utility building, employees' quarters, and a 9-stall garage. In addition, the existing school building will be remodeled, the streets and parking areas paved, and all utility systems will be replaced or expanded.

Award of a $2,988,988 contract for construction of a complete new Navajo Indian boarding school for 672 pupils at Crownpoint, New Mexico, was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

The contract calls for the construction of a 23-clsssroom school with library and multipurpose room, four 168-pupil dormitories, a 672-pupil kitchen and dining room; 68 employees’ quarters, a storage and maintenance shop, a fire station, and the development of a complete utility system.

A substantial reduction in interest rates charged on loans from the revolving fund of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, in line with recommendations of the Task Force on Indian Affairs for economic development on Indian reservations, was announced today by Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall.

Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall today announced he has instructed the Bureau of Indian Affairs to examine into the rights of approximately 35 Indian groups in western Washington who have complained to him about asserted encroachments.

He took note of tribal apprehensions generated by Congressional proposals in past years for the termination of Federal protection and services for Indians, and the transfer of criminal and civil jurisdiction over Indian land to State and local governments.