Past News Items

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Eight federally recognized tribes will collectively receive nearly $2.5 million in grant awards from the U.S. Departments of Education and Interior to bolster their educational programs and advance self-determination goals through the development of academically rigorous and culturally relevant programs.

A White Mountain Apache tribal delegation from Arizona will arrive in Washington Saturday, December 11, poised for a full week of activities prior to the official Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony slated for next Friday.

The five-member delegation, representing the Tribe which donated the Nation's Christmas tree this year, will be composed of: Lester Oliver, Tribal Chairman; Fred Banashley, Vice-Chairman; Mary Enfield; Mary V. Riley; and Nelson Lupe, Sr.

WASHINGTON – Acting Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Lawrence S. Roberts announced today the availability of approximately $9.1 million for three funding opportunities for federally recognized Indian tribes, Alaska Native villages, Alaska Native regional or village corporations, authorized tribal organizations, and Tribal Energy Resource Development Organizations.

The Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs today announced the appointment of James D. Hale to the post of Superintendent of the Choctaw Agency, at Philadelphia, Mississippi.

He succeeds Lonnie Hardin, who has transferred to the Bureau's Muskogee Area Office in Oklahoma as education director.

The new Superintendent has been Land Operations Officer at the Seminole Agency, Hollywood, Florida since March 1962. Prior to that he was a soil conservationist at the Seminole Agency and at the Muskogee Area Office. He joined BIA in 1952.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – As part of the Obama Administration’s commitment to promote strong, prosperous and resilient communities, Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan will visit the Beatrice Rafferty School in Perry, Maine on Monday to discuss ongoing educational reform initiatives to ensure students attending schools funded by the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) receive a high quality education delivered by tribal nations.

The Department of the Interior today announced that the Bureau of Indian Affairs has terminated supervision of three Indian rancherias in California, under the provisions of the Rancheria Act of August 18, 1958 (P.L. 85-671), as amended.

The rancherias, which are actually small tracts of Indian land under Federal trust, are: Scotts Valley Rancheria, a 56.6 acre tract in Lake County; Robinson Rancheria, 168 acres in Lake County; and Guidiville Rancheria, 244 acres in Mendocino County.

PHOENIX, Arizona – As part of the Obama Administration’s efforts to build strong and prosperous tribal communities and the Climate Action Plan to cut carbon pollution and create clean energy jobs, Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell today announced the approval of the 200-megawatt Moapa Solar Energy Center Project on tribal trust land in Nevada and that nine federally recognized tribes have been awarded Tribal Energy Development Capacity grants totaling ove

MULTIPURPOSE CONSERVATION PROJECT AT FORT HALL

A multipurpose project on the Fort Hall Reservation in Idaho will combine a 12,000-acre bird refuge on Grays Lake with efficient irrigation and flood control. The project was made possible through joint agreement of the Fort Hall Indians, the Grays Lake Protective Committee, and the Department of the Interior.

The White House Office of Public Engagement and Council on Environmental Quality, in conjunction with the U.S. Departments of Energy, Agriculture, the Interior, Health and Human Services (DHS), Housing and Urban Development, and Transportation; the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), is pleased to announce a webinar series entitled “The Climate Change Impacts and Indian Country.”

Effective May 17 the Interior Department's Bureau of Indian Affairs offices was moved to 1951 Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington, D. C. The Bureau formerly had its headquarters in the Interior Department's main building at 18th and C Sts., NW.

The new quarters were formerly occupied by the National Science Foundation. The building was constructed in the early 1930's.

The move will enable most of the Bureau's Washington staff to be together under one roof for the first time in several years. About 350 persons will be affected.