Past News Items

Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt today transmitted proposed Congressional legislation to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives that would allow several small parcels of Bureau of Land Management land to be transferred to California tribes throughout the State.

A concentrated attack on chronic unemployment and hard core poverty among American Indians will begin next April in Madera, Calif., with the opening of an Employment Training Center directed by Philco-Ford Corp. under a $497,846 contract with the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Unprecedented attacks in Congress on American Indians programs demonstrate a reckless disregard for the federal government's deep and historic legal responsibilities to Indian Tribes. Yesterday, the Interior Appropriations conferees proceeded to gut the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the federal agency most responsible for fulfilling the Federal Indian Trust Responsibility. The conferees cut a full 26 percent from the Bureau's Central Office function, compromising the capacity of the agency to perform its mission, provide executive direction, and conduct oversight.

Legislation to add some 370,000 acres of land to Indian tribal holdings was described by Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson as "a needed step toward better management and use of the land."

Public Law 94-114, signed by President Ford October 17, transfers certain tracts of "submarginal" land purchased by the United States in the 1930's for tribal uses.

The 17 Indian tribes involved have had the use of the land but have been limited in its development and use because of the lack of clear title.

Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt said today that while he is approving a lease between an Indian tribe and a solid waste disposal company that contemplates construction of a landfill on tribal land in southern California, he will take steps to prevent the wholesale targeting of tribal lands across America for waste disposal.

Final regulations governing the preparation of a roster of those persons eligible to share on a $1.2 million judgment fund awarded by the Indian Claims Commission to the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon are being published on the Federal Register Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson announced today.

The award, to be distributed on a per capita basis represents additional compensation for the accession of and under an 1855 treaty.

The President's 1986 budget request for the Bureau of Indian Affairs continues to stress the basic goals of strengthening tribal government, encouraging economic development and providing essential program services on the reservations.

Stanley K. Hathaway, former two-term Governor of Wyoming, was sworn into office today as the 40th Secretary of the Interior.

Hathaway, 50, was confirmed by the United States Senate as Secretary of the Interior June 11, 1975.

Hathaway was born in Osceola, Nebraska, July 19, 1924, and moved with his family in 1928 to Goshen County, Wyoming. The family homesteaded near Huntley, Wyoming, and he graduated from Huntley High School in 1941.

The Assistant Secretary— Indian Affairs has made a final determination to acquire 44.10 acres, more or less, into trust for the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe. The Assistant Secretary—Indian Affairs made the final determination on September 1, 2020.

Forty-three Indian tribal leaders and officials of the Department of the Interior (DOI) and Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) will meet November 19-21 in San Diego, California, to discuss the reorganization of the BIA.