Past News Items

(Washington)-- Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Neal A. McCaleb will participate in a ground breaking ceremony held by the Muskogee (Creek) Nation of Oklahoma for a six million dollar office building that will house a Bureau of Indian Affairs regional office. "This project is an example of federal and tribal governments working to ensure needed services continue in a cooperative effort." said Perry Beaver, Principle Chief of the Creek Nation. The ground breaking ceremony will take place in Muskogee, Oklahoma on Friday, December 14, 2001 at 10:00 a.m.

Award or a contract for construction of an earth-fill dam on the Wind River Indian Reservation in Fremont County, Wyoming was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

The accepted bid of $35,932.64 submitted by L. H. Weber of Rawlins, Wyoming, was the lowest of seven received by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The others ranged from $36,000 to $70,600.

(TULSA, Okla.) – Interior Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Neal A. McCaleb was named last night as the 2001 Native American Newsmaker of the Year by the Native American Times, Oklahoma’s largest Indian-owned newspaper. McCaleb received the newsmaker award during the Oklahoma Native American Business Development Center awards banquet at the Gilcrease Museum here. The center holds the annual awards ceremony to recognize individuals and companies from the Oklahoma Indian business community.

The Department of the Interior announced today the appointment of Charles J. Rives as superintendent of the San Carlos Indian Agency, San Carlos, Ariz., effective December 13. He succeeds Thomas H. Dodge who transferred last November to the superintendency of the Osage Agency at Pawhuska, Okla. His appointment was recommended by the San Carlos Tribal Council.

Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton today praised President Bush’s intention to nominate Neal A. McCaleb to serve as Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs. The announcement is subject to confirmation by the U.S. Senate, once the official nomination is made by the President.

Cash income from Indian-owned forests in the United States has trebled in the last decade and the interest of Indian tribes and individual Indians in the scientific management of their woodland assets has greatly increased during the same period, the Department of the Interior reported today.

Bison and the American Indian people have a symbiotic relationship that needs to be honored and respected. After a visit to the Ft. Belknap Indian reservation in Montana, Assistant Secretary Kevin Gover is encouraging American Indians everywhere to let their voices be heard in determining the outcome of the current controversy over the management of the bison herd in Yellowstone National Park.

Award of a $309,000 contract for the construction of a gymnasium at the Cherokee Indian School operated by the Bureau of Indian Affairs at Cherokee, North Carolina was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

President Clinton has signed an executive order that expands opportunities for federal assistance to tribal colleges and universities that serve approximately 25,000 American Indian and Alaska Native students. At the request of the White House, Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt made the announcement in Phoenix, AZ, today before the opening session of the National Congress of American Indians.

Award of a $51,625.00 contract for improving 5.7 miles of the Mineral Center Grand Portage Road, on the Grand Portage Indian Reservation, Cook County, Minnesota, was announced by the Department of the Interior today.

The project will provide all-weather transportation facilities for the residents of the Village of Grand Portage and will encourage tourist travel to this Indian village. The road also serves as a farm-to-market outlet, and mail and school bus route. It is the only road outlet for the residents of the Village.