OPA

ALBUQUERQUE, NM (January 12, 2010) – U.S. Department of the Interior officials today welcomed college football All-American and Rhodes Scholar Myron Rolle to Isleta Elementary School at the Pueblo of Isleta, New Mexico, American Indian Reservation to kick off the new Our Way to Health™ Program.

A public-private partnership between the U.S. Department of Interior’s Office of Indian Affairs, Bureau of Indian Education and the Myron L. Rolle Foundation, the initiative brings an innovative physical fitness and health program into Bureau of Indian Education-funded Native American schools, initially launched at five schools in New Mexico and Arizona.

“The Our Way to Health Program developed by the Myron L. Rolle Foundation is designed to inspire American Indian students to live healthier lifestyles through exercise, outdoor activity, and proper nutrition,” said Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk. “The program will celebrate the uniqueness of their heritage and identity in curriculum, develop trust amongst peers, train leaders and involve the community to ensure their needs are met.”

Rolle met with 143 fifth and sixth graders from Isleta Elementary and San Felipe Pueblo Elementary School on Tuesday afternoon. He explained the Our Way to Health Program, his interest in First Americans, the importance of physical activity and leading a health lifestyle, and answered questions from students, teachers, parents and members of the community. Tomorrow Rolle will kick off the program in Tuba City, Arizona, with an additional 279 Navajo and Hopi Tribe fifth and sixth graders from Tuba City Boarding School, Hotevilla Bacavi Community School and Keams Canyon Elementary School.

“I am inspired by the way First American tribes have persevered and thrived, while retaining their cultural heritage and identity,” Rolle said. “There are, however, significant health concerns that challenge this population -- in particular diabetes and obesity. I am excited to be here to launch the Our Way to Health Program, which we hope will encourage First American children in middle school to begin managing not only their own diet and exercise but, hopefully by extension, influence the adults in their lives to also begin adopting healthy life style changes.”

Our Way to Health provides incentive-based learning experiences, team-building physical activities in the outdoors, health education and diabetes awareness sessions. Rolle initially developed the curriculum while a student at Florida State University for Native American fifth graders at a Seminole Tribe charter school in Okeechobee, Florida. Rolle was an All-American safety for the FSU Seminoles football team in 2008-09. He delayed entering the National Football League Draft until 2010, however, to accept the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship at the University of Oxford. Rolle will earn a Master’s Degree in Medical Anthropology and, after playing in the NFL, plans to pursue a career as a brain surgeon.

Unique features of the six-week program include two in-person visits by Myron Rolle and a trip at the end of the semester for the winning teams to a professional or collegiate sporting event. The curriculum will allow the Bureau of Indian Education to reach students in a new and direct way. The program is competitive, fun, rewarding and is being tailored to meet each school’s individual needs.

The U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) serves 42,000 students in 183 schools and dormitories across the country on 64 reservations in 23 states. The mission statement of BIE reflects its commitment to “manifest consideration of the whole person by taking into account the spiritual, mental, physical, and cultural aspects of the individual.”

The Myron L. Rolle Foundation is a tax-exempt, non-profit organization dedicated to the support of health, wellness, educational and other charitable initiatives throughout the world that benefit children and families in need. The Foundation was established in 2009 by Rhodes Scholar and College Football All-American Myron L. Rolle and his family.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – President Obama’s proposed $2.6 billion budget request for Indian Affairs is a fiscally responsible plan that focuses strategic investments to empower tribal nations. Overall, the proposed budget is a net decrease of $3.6 million from the 2010 enacted level, when taking into account the elimination of the one-time increase in 2010 to forward fund the tribal colleges. The budget targets more than $70 million in program increases to strengthen tribal management of federally-funded programs and to enhance energy, education and public safety programs that will bring jobs to Indian Country. These programs are central to the mission of Indian Affairs and major priorities identified by Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk.

“The Indian Affairs Fiscal Year 2011 budget request supports the Administration’s goals for developing the nation’s energy resources and addressing climate change, while making targeted investments in Indian Country that support tribal self-determination, improve education, protect tribal communities and fulfill the federal trust responsibility to federally recognized tribes and individual American Indians and Alaska Natives,” Assistant Secretary Echo Hawk said.

The request will fund three major Interior initiatives – Empowering Tribal Nations, the New Energy Frontier and Climate Change Adaptation – to support self-determination for the 564 federally recognized tribes, carry out the federal trust responsibility for tribal and individual Indian trust beneficiaries, and meet the Administration’s goals of developing domestic energy resources, understanding the effects of climate change and adding jobs to the nation’s economy.

The FY 2011 budget request for the Empowering Tribal Nations Initiative is a multi-faceted effort that will advance DOI’s nation-to-nation relationships with the tribes, improve Indian education, protect Indian communities and reform trust land management, in support of greater tribal self-determination. The initiative builds on the historic White House Tribal Nations Conference in 2009 and the President’s commitment to improving quality-of-life conditions throughout Indian Country. The request for the Empowering Tribal Nations Initiative includes:

• Program increases of $29.9 million for the Advancing Nation-to-Nation Relationships component to help tribes achieve the Administration’s vision of tribal self-determination. The increases include $21.5 million to strengthen tribal management of federal programs, $1.0 million to strengthen self-determination contract oversight, $2.0 million for additional social workers to address high unemployment and substance abuse in tribal communities, $3.0 million to support small tribes (those with populations under 1,700) in strengthening their government operations, $500,000 to support the development of a performance data management system that will help tribes meet annual audit and reporting requirements, and $450,000 to improve acquisition management. The increase also includes $1.5 million for the final payment that fulfills the Department’s portion of the Puget Sound Regional Shellfish Settlement (Pub. L. 109-479).
• An additional $20.0 million in program funding over the 2010 enacted level for the Protecting Indian Country component. The funding supports Indian Affairs’ trust obligations to uphold tribal sovereignty in the area of public safety and it strengthens collateral efforts with the U.S. Department of Justice to fight crime in tribal communities. The increase includes $19.0 million to fund additional law enforcement personnel within the Justice Department dedicated to investigating drug, gang and public corruption crimes on reservations and those affecting tribal gaming enterprises in Indian Country. An additional $1.0 million will fund operations and maintenance for new detention facilities built with Justice Department grants.
• Program increases of $9.1 million for the Improving Trust Land Management component to assist tribes in the management, development and protection of Indian trust lands and natural resources. The increases, which are part of the FY 2011 budget request of $318.3 million for continuing trust reform, include $1.9 million for enhanced probate management and oversight, $1.2 million for development efforts in the former Bennett Freeze area of the Navajo Nation reservation in northeastern Arizona, $659,000 for cadastral surveys on the Nez Perce Indian reservation in Idaho per the Nez Perce/Snake River Water Rights Act of 2004 (Pub. L. 108-477), $1.5 million for tribal water management and water rights programs, and $3.8 million for repairs and risk mitigation on high-risk and significant hazard dams.
• Increases of $8.9 million for the Advancing Indian Education component that enhances the Department’s ongoing commitment to improving Indian education for students in BIE-funded elementary and secondary schools and tribal colleges and universities. The increase includes $3.9 million to address safety and security issues identified by the Department’s Inspector General in the past year, $2.0 million to fund 13 full-time environmental professionals to conduct environmental audits at BIE schools and $3.0 million to cover tribal administrative and indirect costs at 124 tribally controlled schools and residential facilities.

The FY 2011 budget request for Operation of Indian Programs is $2.4 billion, which is $58.7 million or 2.5 percent above the 2010 enacted level. The request also includes $115.7 million for Construction, a program reduction of $51.6 million from the 2010 level.

The request takes into consideration the $285.0 million provided to Indian Affairs for school and detention center construction activities and the $225.0 million provided to the Justice Department for detention center construction under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, which allowed the completion of a number of high priority projects.

Included in the $115.7 million request is $52.9 million for Education Construction, $11.4 million for Public Safety and Justice Construction, $42.2 million for Resource Management Construction, which includes an increase of $3.8 million for the Safety of Dams program, and $9.3 million for Other Program Construction. The request funds the Dennehotso Replacement School Phase II Project at the Dennehotso Boarding School located near Chinle, Ariz., on the Navajo Nation reservation, and the start of the Riverside Academic School Replacement Phase I Project for the Riverside Indian School located in Riverside, Okla.

The request also reflects a proposed transfer of $57.3 million in facilities operations and maintenance funding from the Construction account to the Operations of Indian Programs account. By consolidating all operations and maintenance funds in the Operations account, the transfer will increase transparency of those funds thereby improving the management of the maintenance and construction programs.

The budget proposes a net increase of $28.0 million in Tribal Priority Allocations, which is 3.4 percent above the 2010 enacted level. Collectively, the request includes program increases of $21.5 million for contract support and the Indian Self-Determination Fund, $3.0 million for Small and Needy Tribes, $2.0 million for additional social workers, $1.2 million to develop the former Bennett Freeze area and $1.5 million for energy development on the Fort Berthold reservation.

The 2011 budget request for the Department’s New Energy Frontier Initiative contains an increase of $2.5 million for Indian Affairs to assist those tribes whose lands hold active and potential energy resources with their exploration and development. The increase includes $1.0 million for grants to tribes to evaluate and develop renewable energy resources on their trust lands and $1.0 million for conventional energy development on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation in North Dakota, the home of the Three Affiliated Tribes, under which sits the Bakken Basin, one of the most prolific gas and oil producing geographic areas in the U.S. The increase also includes $500,000 to support the “one-stop shop” established by the Department and the tribe last year to bring greater accountability and efficiency to energy development on the reservation.

The FY 2011 budget request for the Climate Change Adaptation Initiative reflects the essential role Indian Affairs will play in the Department’s response to the impacts of climate change given its special role in protecting tribal trust resources and Alaska Native subsistence harvests. The request includes $200,000 to support Landscape Conservation Cooperatives (LCC) to improve understanding of and address the impacts of climate change on Indian lands.

The FY 2011 budget request for Resolving Land and Water Claims is $46.5 million. It includes $15.5 million, the fifth of seven payments, for the Nez Perce/Snake River Water Rights Settlement; $6.5 million for the final year of funding for the Puget Sound Regional Shellfish Settlement and $5.5 million for the second and last payment for the Soboba Band of Luiseño Indian Water Settlement Act. The request also includes funds authorized by the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 of $12.0 million, the second of five payments, for the Shoshone-Paiute Tribes of the Duck Valley Reservation Water Settlement and $6.0 million for the second payment to the Navajo Nation Water Resources Development Trust Fund.

In light of the proposed Cobell v. Salazar settlement agreement, which is awaiting Congressional action and final approval by the U.S. District Court, and the anticipated impact of the new $2 billion Trust Land Consolidation Fund, the budget includes $1.0 million for the current Indian Land Consolidation Program This is a reduction of $2.0 million from the 2010 level, but will allow for maintaining staff to assist beneficiaries with estate planning, family trust regulations, educational efforts and consolidation agreements.

Indian Affairs is participating in a Department-wide effort to produce savings and efficiencies and to improve government operations by implementing proposals submitted by federal employees to the President’s SAVE Award program in the areas of travel, information technology and strategic sourcing. Indian Affairs’ share of the projected $62.0 million in savings under this initiative includes $271,000 in reduced travel and relocation expenditures, $2.3 million from improved effectiveness and efficiencies in IT and $2.7 million by expanding the use of strategic sourcing. In addition, Indian Affairs is absorbing all of its employee pay and benefits cost increase this year, which totals over $19.4 million.

Other decreases reflected in the FY 2011 budget request are $1.1 million for Education Program Management to fund other priorities within the education program and $7.5 million for probate since the backlog has been eliminated.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk today announced that he has named Paula L. Hart as Director of the IA Office of Indian Gaming. Hart, an enrolled member of the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe in New York, had been serving as the office’s acting director since May 2008. The appointment became effective on February 1, 2010.

“I am pleased that Ms. Hart has accepted this opportunity to continue leading the Office of Indian Gaming,” Echo Hawk said. “Her knowledge and experience in the field of tribal gaming make her a strong member of my team.”

“I am grateful to have been provided this leadership opportunity,” Hart said. “I am looking forward to working with Assistant Secretary Echo Hawk to meet the goal of empowering tribal nations.”

Hart’s federal career began in March 1993 when she joined the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ ranks as a Rights Protection Specialist in its Eastern Area Office (now Eastern Regional Office), then located in Fairfax, Va., where she assisted federally recognized tribes with boundary disputes, treaty issues and tax rights.

In June 1994, she joined the Interior Department’s newly established office on tribal gaming as a Management Analyst, where she was tasked with developing the initial national guidance for Indian Country on gaming matters – some of which is still being used today.

From July 1997 to May 2005, Hart served as a Paralegal Specialist under the Director of the Office of Indian Gaming Management (now the Office of Indian Gaming). As such, she assisted the Director and senior operating staff on all legal matters concerning tribal government operations and authorities relating to Indian gaming operations.

In May 2005, Hart was promoted to Deputy Director of the Office of Indian Gaming Management. In that post she held supervisory responsibilities and served in an advisory capacity to the Director, the Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs and senior IA officials on the formulation and development of the BIA’s national gaming programs to ensure compliance with the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988 (IGRA) and DOI policies, regulations and guidelines.

In May 2008, Hart was named the Acting Director of the Office of Indian Gaming, where her responsibilities have included, in addition to budget, personnel and administrative matters, overseeing the development of policies and procedures used to implement the Secretary’s responsibilities under IGRA relating to land acquisition requests from federally recognized tribes for gaming purposes, tribal-state gaming compacts, tribal gaming per capita distribution plans, secretarial approvals of trust assets and gaming-related contracts and secretarial procedures for Class III casino-type gaming.

She also served from May 2008 to May 2009 as the acting Chief of Staff to the Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs where she advised on matters relating to human resources, budget and administrative functions of IA offices and programs, and worked on special projects concerning a variety of issues including federal acknowledgment, economic development, finance and tribal governance.

Hart holds a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from St. Lawrence University in Canton, N.Y. (1984) and a Juris Doctorate from the University of Maryland’s School of Law in Baltimore (1990). She has been a member of the State Bar of Maryland since 1992.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk today announced that he has named Bartholomew “Bart” Stevens as Acting Director of the Bureau of Indian Education while the process for finding a permanent director continues. The temporary appointment became effective February 2. The vacancy announcement for the post opened last November and closed on February 1.

“This temporary move was necessary as we review and assess what we expect to be a talented slate of candidates for the critical position of Director of the Bureau of Indian Education,” Echo Hawk said. “I am pleased that Bart Stevens has assumed this leadership role to keep the Bureau on track in delivering quality education services to all BIE students.”

Stevens, an enrolled member of the San Carlos Apache Tribe in Arizona with ancestry from the Gila River Indian Community in Arizona, the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes in Idaho and the Ute Indian Tribe in Utah, has been the Bureau’s Deputy Director for School Operations since January 4, 2009. He replaces Kevin Skenandore, who had been serving as the acting BIE director since August 2007.

“I want to express my deep appreciation to Kevin Skenandore for his diligence as acting BIE director over the past 29 months and his dedication to the improvement of our schools,” Echo Hawk said.

Following a long career in teaching, counseling and school administration positions in tribal and public schools in Utah, Stevens joined the BIE’s New Mexico South Education Line Office in Albuquerque in July 2006 as an Education Line Officer (ELO).

Starting in August 2007, he concurrently held two of three BIE associate deputy directorships – Acting Associate Deputy Director-East and Acting Associate Deputy Director-West – in which he was responsible for the line management, direction and supervision of 16 Education Line Offices overseeing BIE-funded schools in 25 states. He continued to serve in both posts until his promotion to Deputy Director for School Operations.

Stevens holds a Bachelor’s degree in Family and Human Development (2000) and a Master’s degree in School Administration and Supervision (2005) from Utah State University. He also holds a Master’s degree in Social Work (2003) from the University of Utah. In 2005, he received an administrative/supervisory education license from the Utah Office of Education.

The Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs oversees the Bureau of Indian Education which operates the federal school system for American Indian and Alaska Native children from the federally recognized tribes. The BIE implements federal education laws, such as the No Child Left Behind Act, in and provides funding to 183 elementary and secondary day and boarding schools and peripheral dormitories located on 64 reservations in 23 states and serving approximately 42,000 students (School Year 2009-2010). The BIE also serves post secondary students through higher education scholarships and support funding to 26 tribal colleges and universities and two tribal technical colleges. It directly operates two post secondary institutions: Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence, Kan., and the Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute in Albuquerque, N.M.

Washington, D.C. – Bureau of Indian Affairs Director Jerold L. “Jerry” Gidner today announced that he has named William Tandy “Bill” Walker as the Regional Director of the BIA’s Southwest Regional Office in Albuquerque, N.M. His appointment became effective on December 20, 2009. The Southwest Regional Office oversees nine BIA agencies serving the 25 federally recognized tribes located in the states of New Mexico, Colorado, and Texas.

“I am pleased that Bill Walker has joined the ranks of Bureau of Indian Affairs senior regional executives,” Gidner said. “His years of experience working with BIA field staff, tribal governments, and other federal and state agencies make him a great addition to my team.”

Walker, a member of the Chickasaw Nation of Oklahoma, had been serving as the Acting Regional Director in the Southwest Regional Office in since September 2008. He is currently on a 120-day detail as the Acting Deputy Bureau Director of the BIA’s Office of Justice Services in Washington, D.C. The BIA OJS is responsible for managing the Bureau’s law enforcement, detention facilities and tribal courts programs, either directly in tribal communities or by funding tribally administered programs through contract and grants.

Prior to this detail, he had served as the Deputy Regional Director-Trust Services of the BIA’s Western Regional Office in Phoenix, Ariz.

Walker began his BIA career as a soil conservationist for the Land Operations Branch of the Fort Apache Agency in Whiteriver, Ariz., in 1992 and was named to the position of Environmental Protection Specialist for the agency in 1994. Walker completed the Criminal Investigator Training Program in 1999 and handled the Archaeological Resource Protection Act cases, wild land arson and environmental crime cases on the Fort Apache Reservation as the Environmental Protection Specialist. He served in that capacity until May of 2000 when he moved to the Regional Environmental Scientist position in the Southwest Regional Office. There he served on the EPA-New Mexico State Environmental Crime Task Force for two years representing the BIA.

In 2004 Walker was selected to be the Superintendent of the BIA’s Mescalero Agency in Mescalero, N.M., which he held until he was selected for the Deputy Regional Director-Trust Services post. A year later, he moved back to the Southwest Regional Office as the Deputy Regional Director-Trust Services and was detailed as the acting regional director until his appointment.

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk today announced that the Deputy Assistant Secretary − Indian Affairs Del Laverdure will be the Featured Speaker in Las Vegas, Nev., at the 24th Annual Reservation Economic Summit (RES 2010). The event runs from February 21-24, 2010. Laverdure will speak to the many accomplishments and projects being undertaken by the Office of the Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs.

“We are proud to be a Presenting Sponsor to RES in this wonderful opportunity for networking and business transactions,” Echo Hawk said. “It provides a learning experience through the variety of workshops relevant to doing business in Indian country. Del Laverdure is actively engaged in our economic development efforts and is excited to share some of the wonderful programs we are conducting in Indian Affairs.”

The Office of Indian Energy and Economic Development (IEED), which is located in the Office of the Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs, strives to encourage economic development in Indian Country. Following Laverdure’s Featured Speaking engagement are a series of panels and workshops over the course of the four day summit sponsored by IEED:

• Developing Powerful Trade Opportunities for American Indian Workforce
• Powerful Success Stories from the Public Law 102-477
• General Assistant “The Power of Energy in Indian Country”
• Building a Powerful Reservation Economy
• The Power of Native Women Entrepreneurs

Who: Del Laverdure, Deputy Assistant Secretary − Indian Affairs, U.S. Department of the Interior.

What: Del Laverdure will be the Featured Speaker for the premier gathering of American Indian and Indigenous Entrepreneurs, tribal entrepreneurs, tribal representatives, corporations and government agencies at the 24th Annual Reservation Economic Summit (RES 2010) and American Indian Business Trade Fair.

When: Monday, February 22, 2010, 8:00-10:00 a.m. (EST)

Where: Las Vegas Hilton Hilton Ballroom 3000 Paradise Road Las Vegas, NV 89109 702-732-5111 (hotel)

CREDENTIALS: This invitation is extended to working media representatives who are required to display sanctioned media credentials for admittance to this event. Please arrive thirty minutes before the event.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Secretary Ken Salazar today announced the Interior Department’s plan of actions, as directed by President Obama in his memorandum dated November 5, 2009, to implement Executive Order 13175, Consultation and Coordination With Indian Tribal Governments, which directs Executive Branch departments and agencies to develop policies on tribal consultation and cooperation. Under the Department’s plan Interior will establish a comprehensive, department-wide policy for meaningful consultation with the nation’s 564 federally recognized American Indian and Alaska Native tribes in accordance with the Executive Order as well as any other applicable statutes and regulations.

“In keeping with President Obama’s memorandum of November 5, 2009, I am pleased to announce the Interior Department’s plan of actions to develop a department-wide policy on tribal consultation and coordination,” Salazar said. “Establishing a comprehensive, department-wide policy for meaningful consultation is vital to our goals of supporting tribal self-determination, ensuring tribal self-government, respecting tribal sovereignty and carrying out our federal trust responsibilities.”

The Department’s plan outlines guiding principles for a comprehensive policy to support Interior, its agencies and bureaus in conducting “regular and meaningful consultation and collaboration” with tribes as stipulated in the executive order and in the presidential memorandum. The policy will:

• Recognize the special legal status of tribal governments;
• Respect tribal sovereignty and support self-determination and self-governance;
• Honor the trust relationship between the United States and tribal governments;
• Demonstrate Interior’s commitment to improving communications while maximizing tribal input and coordination; Ensure that Interior consults on a government-to-government basis with appropriate tribal representatives;
• Identify appropriate Interior officials who are knowledgeable about the matters at hand and are authorized to speak for Interior;
• Ensure that Interior’s bureaus and offices conduct consultation in a manner consistent with the department-wide policy, thus harmonizing the consultation practices of Interior’s bureaus and offices;
• Be clear, understandable, and workable

The plan also includes a separate action item to create a Tribal Consultation Team, comprised of senior Department representatives and tribal leaders. The Tribal Consultation Team will draft the consultation policy document; ensure compliance with the President’s goal and policy of transparency during the policy development process; require the review and evaluation of Interior functions, policies, procedures and practices to identify policies with tribal implications; and require on-going review and comments from the tribes and general public on the draft policy.

The plan also requires the Department to identify an official who will be responsible for overseeing the implementation of the plan, as well as progress on reporting and compliance with the Executive Order. The Department official will also be responsible for overseeing the development of supplemental consultation policies specific to each bureau and office and coordinating with other federal departments and agencies to bring greater efficiency and consistency to the consultation process throughout the federal government.

The presidential memorandum directs Executive Branch departments and agencies to implement Executive Order 13175 dated November 6, 2000. The President signed the memorandum at the White House Tribal Nations Summit held at the Interior Department’s headquarters in Washington, D.C., on November 5, 2009.

On November 23, 2009 the Department invited tribal leaders to participate in a series of tribal consultation meetings to discuss their experiences with federal consultation efforts, provide suggestions on the Department’s plan of actions, and make recommendations on improving its consultation practices. Meetings were held in seven cities from December 2009 through January 2010: Anchorage, Alaska (December 2); Portland, Ore. (December 9); Washington, D.C. (December 14), Ft. Snelling, Minn. (January 5); Oklahoma City, Okla. (January 7); Phoenix, Ariz. (January 12) and Palm Springs, Calif. (January 14). Approximately 300 tribal representatives and over 250 officials from Interior as well as the U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Department of Labor, the U.S. Department of State, the Environmental Protection Agency and other federal agencies invited by the Department to hear the tribes’ ideas and concerns attended.

After the draft consultation policy has been circulated to tribes and tribal organizations for review and comment, the Department will publish the revised draft in the Federal Register with a 60-day comment period. Following the Department’s publishing of the final consultation policy within 90 days of the close of the comment period, the Secretary will issue a Secretarial Order directing all Interior bureaus and offices to comply with the department-wide policy and its guiding principles.

The text for the Department’s plan of actions can be found on our website at Tribal Consultation Plan.

WASHINGTON – Bureau of Indian Affairs Director Jerold L. “Jerry” Gidner today announced that he has named Diane K. Rosen as Regional Director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ Midwest Regional Office in Ft. Snelling, Minn. Rosen, who has ancestry from two federally recognized tribes in Wisconsin, the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians where she is enrolled and the Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians, had been serving as the acting regional director since October 25, 2009. The Midwest Regional Office oversees four agencies serving 35 federally recognized tribes located within the states of Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin. Her appointment became effective on February 28, 2010.

“Diane Rosen brings to the post of Midwest Regional Director extensive experience with the Bureau of Indian Affairs and its mission to serve the federally recognized tribes,” Gidner said. “I am pleased to welcome her to my regional management team.”

“I want to express my deep appreciation to BIA Director Gidner and to Assistant Secretary Echo Hawk for giving me this tremendous opportunity to serve Indian Country,” Rosen said. “I am looking forward to working with the tribes of the Midwest Region, and I am committed to ensuring they receive the highest level of service from our regional office and agencies.”

Rosen’s 26-year federal career began in August 1979 at the BIA’s Great Lakes Agency in Ashland, Wisc., as a clerk in the Real Estate Services and Tribal Operations divisions working in a wide variety of subject areas including per capita payments, tribal enrollment, secretarial elections, attorney contracts, leasing and rights-of-way. At the Agency she progressed until attaining the position of Realty Specialist in May 1991.

In May 1994, she was promoted to Tribal Operations Officer, where she was in charge of the Branch of Tribal Operations assisting tribes with governance matters such as tribal constitutions, ordinances, laws, charters, enrollment, revenue allocation plans and attorney contracts, as well as trust funds, land consolidation, records management and labor data collection.

From June 2003 to March 2004, Rosen also served as the Acting Superintendent of the Great Lakes Agency, where she managed the full range of BIA programs, including forestry, probate, real estate services, natural resources and tribal operations, on behalf of ten federally recognized tribes with over 200,000 acres in federal trust and over 48,000 enrolled members.

She was named the Superintendent of the Great Lakes Agency in March 2004, a position she held until being named the acting Midwest Regional Director.

Rosen graduated from Washburn High School in Washburn, Wisc., in 1976 and attended the Secretarial Science/Account Clerk Program at Chippewa Valley Technical College in Eau Claire in 1979. She graduated Magna Cum Laude from Northland College in Ashland in 2006, receiving a Bachelor of Science degree in Management and Leadership.

Among the honors she has received are several federal employment and performance awards, as well as the Northland College Native American Studies Award for Academic Excellence in 2004 and the Northland College Merit Award for Management and Leadership in 2006.

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk will give the luncheon keynote address at the U.S. Department of Justice’s National Symposium on Child Protection in Indian Country being held March 9-11, 2010, at the Hyatt Regency Tamaya Resort at the Santa Ana Pueblo in New Mexico. He will speak on Tuesday, March 9, from 12:30 to 1:45 p.m. (MST). The Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs oversees the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), which operates and funds tribally based social services, Indian child welfare, law enforcement and justice programs, and the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE), which operates a federal school system of 183 elementary and secondary schools for American Indian and Alaska Native students from the federally recognized tribes. '

The Assistant Secretary will discuss his Safe and Secure Schools Initiative for BIE campuses to provide safe and secure learning environments for students, faculty and staff; the Indian Affairs fiscal year 2011 funding request for additional BIA social workers; and the creation of child protection teams by the BIA’s Office of Justice Services (OJS).

The DOJ Office of Justice Programs (OJP) is convening the Symposium, which is being organized and sponsored by OJP’s Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) and the Santa Ana Pueblo. Teams from over 60 tribes comprised of individuals representing law enforcement, child protection and tribal leadership will gather to discuss approaches and efforts to prevent, interdict and respond to child abuse, neglect and exploitation.

WHO: Larry Echo Hawk, Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs, U.S. Department of the Interior

WHAT: Assistant Secretary Echo Hawk will give the luncheon keynote address at the DOJ National Symposium on Child Protection in Indian Country.

WHEN: Tuesday, March 9, 2010, 12:30-1:45 p.m. (MST)

WHERE: Hyatt Regency Tamaya Resort, Room: Tamaya EFGH, 1300 Tuyuna Trail, Santa Ana Pueblo, N.M.

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NOTE: All media must present government-issued photo I.D. (such as a driver’s license) and valid media credentials. Media inquiries regarding logistics should be directed to Sarah Matz of the DOJ at 202-598-3571.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today announced that the Office of Indian Energy and Economic Development has awarded $3.7 million to tribes that are developing renewable energy resources for their communities. Access to these resources will allow these communities to develop jobs and additional economic opportunities on their reservations, while decreasing their reliance on fossil fuels.

“This President has made the development of renewable energy in America one of his highest priorities,” Salazar said. “Many tribes are in a unique position to benefit greatly from a variety of renewable energy sources and the Department is committed to helping these communities to achieve this goal.”

The Office of Indian Energy and Economic Development, in partnership with the Office of Trust Services in the Bureau of Indian Affairs, has identified 13 tribes that have significant potential for quickly developing biomass, geothermal, or hydroelectric energy on their reservations. The tribes, resources and award amounts are listed in the attached table.

Salazar noted that tribal communities have shown exceptional interest in renewable energy development.

“This attests to the tribes’ desire to use their available energy resources for the benefit of its members,” he said. “It also indicates the willingness of tribes to help America reduce our dependence on foreign energy resources through domestic production.”

In addition to gaining access to the energy itself, all of these projects would also provide job opportunities for reservation residents. “The Department’s Office of Indian Energy and Economic Development is working hand-in-hand with tribes to provide technical assistance for energy, mineral, and economic development on reservations,” said Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Larry EchoHawk. “The Office is using innovative and collaborative approaches to improve economic opportunities for the tribes, including renewable energy development, and to help promote new jobs, new businesses, and new capital on tribal lands.”

The proposed projects were identified by the individual tribes, which developed comprehensive proposals that were evaluated by the Office of Indian Energy and Economic Development under a competitive process. The Office of Indian Energy and Economic Development is in the Office of the Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs. Its mission is to foster stronger American Indian and Alaska Native communities by helping federally recognized tribes with employment and workforce training programs; helping tribes develop their renewable and non-renewable energy and mineral resources; and increasing access to capital for tribal and individual American Indian- and Alaska Native-owned businesses. For more information about IEED programs and services, visit http://www.indianaffairs.gov/IEED.

Renewable Energy Projects and Funding Received

Geothermal (6)

• Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California - $350,000
• Benton Paiute Tribe - $350,000 • Cedarville Rancheria - $300,000
• Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe - $350,000
• Rosebud Sioux Tribe - $150,000
• Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe - $750,000

Biomass (4)

• Colville Confederated Tribes - $200,000
• Fond du Lac Reservation - $250,000
• Oneida Nation - $250,000
• Ho-Chunk Nation - $150,000

Hydroelectric (3)

• Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes (CSKT) of the Flathead Reservation - $260,000
• Cherokee Nation - $150,000
• Crow Tribe - Apsáalooke Nation - $200,000