Past News Items

A change in Federal regulations that will permit the Bureau of Indian Affairs to make loans to withdrawing members of the Klamath Indian Tribe of Oregon regardless of their degree of Indian blood was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

Under the former rules, loans could not be made to individuals of less than a quarter degree Indian blood.

The amendment of the regulation was made possible as a result of legislation recommended by the Department and recently enacted by Congress (Public Law 86-40).

Secretary of the Interior Fred A. Seaton today announced the Department, hoping to keep as much of the present Indian estate as possible in Indian hands, has recommended major amendments of S.51, a bill dealing with the sale or leasing of tracts owned by two or more Indians.

One of the most important recommendations asks for a $15,000,000 increase in the Indian Revolving Loan Fund set up to help Indians acquire land, he said.

Award of a $176,168 contract to rehabilitate approximately 1,200 acres of land on the Duck Valley Indian Reservation in northern Nevada, was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

The contract calls for re-leveling of the land and the construction of canals, laterals and water control structures. The work to be done is part of an over-all program to develop available resources on the Duck Valley Reservation for use by Indian families.

Grave moral issues would be raised by last-minute attempts now to disturb Navajo Indian title to small "islands” of former public lands in Utah within the tribal reservation boundaries, the Department of the Interior warned today.

Assistant Secretary of the Interior Roger Ernst presented the Department’s views in letters to Senator Frank E. Moss, and Representative David S. King, both of Utah.

Development of both human and natural resources on Indian reservations will be the prime objective for the Bureau of Indian Affairs under the Kennedy Administration, Commissioner Philleo Nash told an audience in Denver, Colorado, Tuesday evening.

Visiting in Denver for a nationwide conference on Indian Bureau superintendents, the new Commissioner, woe entered on duty September 26, spoke on “The New Trail for American Indians” before a meeting of the Indian Visitors of the American Friends Service Committee.

The final act ending federal supervision over Klamath Indian tribal property has been completed in Washington, D. C. with signing of the Klamath Termination Proclamation by the Acting Secretary of the Interior, James K. Carr.

Robert D. Holtz, director of the Portland area, Bureau of Indian Affairs, said today that Under Secretary Carr signed the proclamation on behalf of Secretary Stewart Udall who was away from the capital.

The proclamation is effective Sunday, August 13.

Award of a $777,777 Bureau of Reclamation contract for the clearing of approximately 15,600 acres of land along the border of New Mexico and Colorado, to be inundated by the waters of Navajo Reservoir, was announced by the Department of the Interior today.

The contract went to Universal Grading Company, Incorporated, of Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Award of five contracts totaling $878,597 for road and bridge construction on three Indian reservations in South Dakota was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

The contracts are for road and bridge construction work on the Standing Rock, Cheyenne River, and Pine Ridge Indian Reservations.

WASHINGTON –Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs John Tahsuda, Federal Law Enforcement Training Center Director Thomas J. Walters, Navajo Nation Department of Public Safety Director Jesse Delmar and the Department of the Interior-Office of Law Enforcement and Security Director Darren Cruzan, are among federal and Indian Country representatives slated to speak at the 27 th Annual Indian Country Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Service on Thursday, May 3, 2018, at the United States Indian Police Academy in Artesia, N.M.

To have the opportunity to address the group that represents so many of America's first citizens is indeed an honor for the Secretary of the Interior.

It is good to have the opportunity to get away from Washington, D. C. and out in the land, with you - America's first citizens. It is good to join you in celebrating this 25th anniversary of the NCAI.

Through your organization, America's Indians, individually and collectively have made great strides, unfortunately, the NCAI and all of the other Indian groups, for too long have been trying to carve out their niche alone.