Past News Items

The U.S. Department of the Interior will hold a public panel discussion to gather comments on the proposed amendment to the Federal Regulations governing the Department's decisions about whether to take land into trust on behalf of Indian tribes. The amendment of these regulations is an important step in providing tribes and their non-Indian neighbors with a clearer understanding of how the Department reviews requests to take land into trust.

On May 20, 1997 Ms. Deer, Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs called an all employees meeting at BIA Headquarters, Washington, DC. The purpose of this meeting was to provide information relative to current matters taking place within the Bureau of lndian Affairs and to present a Summer Action Plan. "I would like to see the Bureau become a dynamic entity accomplishing positive things at the end of this Summer," Ms. Deer said.

The Summer Action Plan

"New Mexico's economy is going to be especially hard hit by the U.S. Senate's proposed budget cuts for Indian programs," said Ada E. Deer, Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs, yesterday. New Mexico, because it is home to most of the Bureau of Indian Affairs' central office operations, in addition to being the site of two area offices and seven agency offices, will bear a major share of the cuts. Additionally, there are twenty-three tribes in New Mexico, each of which are slated for a 32 percent cut in tribal program funds.

President Bill Clinton's fiscal year 1994 budget for the Bureau of Indian Affairs proposes to spend $2.4 billion, an increase of $261.3 million over the current year, according to documents released today by the Department of the Interior. This is a significant change from budget requests of the last decade, which often proposed substantial funding reductions for the Bureau.

Ownership of the 170-acre campus of the former Intermountain Indian School in Brigham City, Utah will be formally returned to the city in a ceremony to be held in the City Hall January 28.

John W. Fritz, the Interior Department's Deputy Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs, will give Mayor Peter C. Knudson a quit claim deed to the Congressman James V. Hansen CR. Utah) and the Brigham City council will be present.

The Assistant Secretary— Indian Affairs has made a final determination to acquire 10.36 acres, more or less, into trust for the Indians of the Tejon Indian Tribe. The Assistant Secretary—Indian Affairs made the final determination on September 1, 2020.

The White House Conference on Indian Education's National Advisory Committee announces the appointment of Lionel Bordeaux (Rosebud Sioux), President of Sinte Gleska College in Rosebud, South Dakota, and Nora Garcia (Fort Mojave), Chairperson of the Fort Mojave Indian Tribe which is headquartered in Needles, California, as Co-Chairs of their conference.

Secretary of the Interior Manuel Lujan today announced that the Department's Fiscal Year 1992 $8.7 billion budget continues the Bush Administration's commitment to improving our Nation's human, cultural and natural resources. Underscoring Lujan's goal of responsible stewardship, the budget increases funding for the America the Beautiful and Legacy '99 initiatives and establishes a new Tribal Horizons program.

Secretary of the Interior Manuel Lujan today announced that President Bush intends to nominate Eddie Frank Brown to be Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs. Brown will assume his post at Interior following hearings before the Senate Select Committee on Indian Affairs and confirmation by the full Senate. He will be responsible for Interior programs serving more than 1.4 million Indians and Alaska Natives in the United States.

A Bureau of Indian Affairs concept paper on reducing costs at the central office and area office levels by consolidating administrative functions and making other changes has been sent to Indian leaders for review and counsel, 'Interior Assistant Secretary Ken Smith said today.

The concept paper on "streamlining the Bureau of Indian Affairs" has been sent to nine tribal leaders, appointed by NTCA and NCAI in March to function as an Indian Policy Review Team for Smith and Interior Secretary James Watt.