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Office of Public Affairs
Mescalero, New Mexico – The South Fork Fire was determined to be caused by lightning sometime prior to the fire’s detection on June 17, 2024. Certified Wildland fire and law enforcement investigators continue their thorough investigation and will release a complete investigation report when it is available.
Mescalero, New Mexico – Wildland fire and law enforcement investigators completed the investigation into the cause of the South Fork Fire. The identification of the point of origin and all evidence and data support lightning as the cause of the fire. Human activity and factors did not contribute to the cause.
These are the official social media accounts for the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs.
These are the official social media accounts for the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
These are the official social media accounts for the Bureau of Indian Affairs' Office of Justice Services.
These are the official social media accounts for the Bureau of Indian Affairs' Office of Trust Services, Division of Wildland Fire Management.
In keeping with the authorities and responsibilities under the Snyder Act of 1921 and other federal laws, regulations, and treaties, BIA employees across the country work with tribal governments and tribal members in the administration of employment and job training assistance; law enforcement and justice; agricultural and economic development; tribal governance; and natural resources management programs to enhance the quality of life in tribal communities.
Learn about BIA's History and Current Leadership
Johnna Blackhair is the Deputy Bureau Director for Trust Services at the Bureau of Indian Affairs. She oversees 16 divisions responsible for assisting 574 tribal governments and allottees (individual Indians owning federal Indian trust assets) in managing, protecting, and developing their trust lands and natural resources, totaling 56 million surface acres and 60 million acres of subsurface mineral estates.
Johnna began her federal career in 1991 in the Land Conservation Office at the Uintah and Ouray Agency in Fort Duchesne, Utah, where she conducted various real estate transactions, natural resource, and conservation functions. She served as the Realty Officer in 2002 at the agency and became the Southwest Regional Officer in 2010.
Throughout her federal career, she has held a number of field leadership positions and supported national initiatives, including Superintendent positions at Mescalero Agency and Uintah and Ouray Agencies, Eastern Regional Office Regional Director, and Deputy Regional Director. In these positions she also served as the Superintendent at the Seminole Agency in Florida, Syracuse Field Office in New York, Choctaw Agency, Mississippi.
In 2018, she temporarily served as the Acting Associate Deputy Bureau Director from January to April. This provided key experience for her that led to being named Deputy Bureau Director, Trust Services in September 2019. This includes oversight of the Indian Energy Service Center in Lakewood, Colorado. When the Bureau's Office of Indian Services Deputy Bureau Director position was vacated in 2022, Johnna served in an acting capacity from July 2022 – Oct. 2023 lending stability and guidance until a new deputy bureau director could be selected.
As one of four Department of the Interior federal employees appointed to the Congressional Wildland Fire Mitigation & Management Commission, Johnna works with others leaders responsible for making recommendations to improve Federal wildland fire management policies related to the prevention, mitigation, suppression, and management of wildland fires and the rehabilitation of land in the United States devastated by wildland fires. She also serves as the bureau's most senior member on the National Wildland Fire Leadership Council.
Johnna is an enrolled member of the Chippewa Cree Tribe in Montana. She holds an associate's degree from Northern Montana College and a bachelor’s degree in information systems and business administration from Utah State University. She remains connected with her culture, traditional arts, crafts, and ceremonies and enjoys time in the outdoors with her family.
Richard “Glen” Melville, an enrolled member of Makah Tribe of Washington, is the deputy bureau director, Office of Justice Services. Melville joined the Bureau of Indian Affairs in 1997 and served a 29-year career with the bureau and Tribal law enforcement programs before retiring in 2021 as the deputy associate director for the Office of Justice Services. He returned from retirement in 2022 to lead OJS’s public safety programs.
Melville began his career as a police officer with the Makah Tribe in Washington in 1995. He advanced through numerous leadership law enforcement positions with the National Park Service and Homeland Security’s Coast Guard Investigative Services before continuing his career with the BIA in 2012 as the assistant agent in charge of District I in Aberdeen, South Dakota, and then special agent in charge of District VII in Portland, Oregon, before becoming the deputy associate director.
Melville has also served as the acting regional director for Great Plains Region in 2018 and the acting regional director for the Eastern Region in 2020.
Melville is a graduate of the Department of the Interior’s Senior Executive Service Candidate Development Program, the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center Criminal Investigations Training Program, the Naval Criminal Investigations Service Training Program, the FBI Command College, and the Indian Police Academy.
When not working, Melville enjoys spending time outdoors hunting and fishing with his family and volunteering as a soccer coach at the local high school.
As the oldest bureau in the Department of the Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs employees have experienced a long and complicated history when it comes to our federal relationship with Tribes. It involves 150 years of enforcing federal policies designed to terminate, relocate, and assimilate American Indians and Tribal Nations. Collectively, these policies represented attacks on Tribal sovereignty and did lasting damage to Tribal communities, Tribal economies, and the institutions of Tribal governance. Only in the last 50 years have employees, who are tribal members themselves, been able to lift up policies designed to support Tribal governance and self-determination. Today, the Bureau of Indian Affairs is proud to live out our mission to enhance the quality of life, promote economic opportunities, and to carry out the responsibilities entrusted to us to protect and improve the trust assets of American Indians and Alaska Natives.
For almost 200 years, dating back to the role it played in negotiating treaty agreements between the United States and tribes in the late 18th and 19th centuries, the BIA has embodied the trust and government-to-government relationships between the United States and federally recognized Tribes.
Over the years, the BIA has been involved in the implementation of federal laws that have directly affected all Americans. The General Allotment Act of 1887 opened tribal lands west of the Mississippi to non-Indian settlers, the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924 granted American Indians and Alaska Natives U.S. citizenship and the right to vote, and the New Deal and the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 established modern tribal governments. The World War II period of relocation and the post-war termination era of the 1950s led to the activism of the 1960s and 1970s that saw the occupation of the BIA’s headquarters and resulted in the creation of the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act of 1975. The Tribal Self-Governance Act of 1994 along with the Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act have fundamentally changed how the federal government and the tribes conduct business with each other.
Since 1824, there have been 45 Commissioners of Indian Affairs, of whom six have been American Indian or Alaska Native:
Ely S. Parker, Seneca (1869-1871); Robert L. Bennett, Oneida (1966-1969); Louis R. Bruce, Mohawk-Oglala Sioux (1969-1973); Morris Thompson, Athabascan (1973-1976); Benjamin Reifel, Sioux (1976-1977); and William E. Hallett, Red Lake Chippewa (1979-1981).
William Hallett was the last to serve as BIA Commissioner following the establishment of the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs position within the Department of the Interior in 1977. Since then, 12 individuals, all American Indians, have been confirmed by the United States Senate for the post: Forrest J. Gerard, Blackfeet (1977-1980); Thomas W. Fredericks, Mandan-Hidatsa (1981); Kenneth L. Smith, Wasco (1981-1984); Ross O. Swimmer, Cherokee Nation (1985-1989); Dr. Eddie F. Brown, Tohono O’odham-Yaqui (1989-1993); Ada E. Deer, Menominee (1993-1997); Kevin Gover, Pawnee (1997-2001); Neal A. McCaleb, Chickasaw Nation (2001-2002); David W. Anderson, Lac Courte Oreilles Chippewa-Choctaw (2004-2005); and Carl J. Artman, Oneida Tribe of Wisconsin (2007-2008); Larry Echo Hawk, Pawnee (2009-2012); Kevin K. Washburn, Chickasaw Nation (2012-2016). Tara Katuk Mac Lean Sweeney, Native Village of Barrow Inupiat Traditional Government/Iñupiat Community of the Arctic Slope (2018-2021). Bryan Newland, Bay Mills Indian Community (2021-Current).
From 1981 to 2003, the title "Deputy Commissioner" was used to denote the head of the BIA. In 2003, after a major reorganization of the BIA, the title was administratively changed to "Director," which is still in use today.
The first BIA Director was Terrance Virden, followed by Brian Pogue and Patrick Ragsdale (2005-2007). Jerold L. "Jerry" Gidner, Sault Ste. Marie Chippewa served from (2007-2010). Michael Black, Oglala Lakota Sioux, served as Director from 2010 to November, 2016. Bruce Loudermilk, a citizen of the Fort Peck Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes of the Fort Peck Indian Reservation in Montana, served as Director from November 2016 to September 2017. Bryan Rice, a citizen of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma was appointed in October of 2017. On April 28, 2019, Darryl LaCounte was appointed, and is the current Director. He is a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians in North Dakota.
In keeping with the authorities and responsibilities granted under the Snyder Act of 1921 and other Federal laws, regulations, and treaties, BIA employees across the country work with tribal governments in the administration of law enforcement and justice; agricultural and economic development; tribal governance; and natural resources management programs to enhance the quality of life in tribal communities.
The BIA carries out its core mission to serve 574 federally recognized Tribes through the Office of the Director, and four offices led by senior executive service leaders.
Within the Office of the Director resides three key programs. These include Emergency Management, Tiwahe, and Equal Opportunity and Civil Rights Programs.
The Office of Indian Services promotes the strength and health of American Indian communities by supporting social services like workforce development, child welfare, and tribal enrollment; uniform contract support for ISDEAA agreements, and improvement of BIA managed transportation systems.
The Office of Justice Services provides for the safety of American Indian communities by supporting protection of life and property, enforcing laws, maintaining justice and order, and by confining American Indian offenders in safe, secure, and humane environments.
The Office of Trust Services assists Tribes and allottees in managing, protecting, and developing their trust lands and natural resources, which total 56 million surface acres and 60 million acres of subsurface mineral estates. OTS aids landowners in stewardship of cultural, spiritual, and traditional resources, and helps create sustainable sources of revenue and jobs for their communities.
The Office of Field Operations delivers program services to federally recognized tribes and individual Indians and Alaska Natives, either directly or through contracts, grants or compacts. These programs are administered by 12 regional offices and 83 agencies that report to the BIA Deputy Director-Field Operations.
The BIA's responsibilities once included providing health care services to American Indians and Alaska Natives. In 1954, that function was legislatively transferred to the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare, now known as the Department of Health and Human Services, where it has remained to this day as the Indian Health Service.
Staff Positions:
Division Chief
Social Science Program Specialist
Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) Specialist
Child Protection and Family Advocate
Housing Improvement Program Officer
Program Specialist
Call For Assistance: 202-513-7642
Contact Information:
| Alaska Reginal Office 3601 C Street, Suite 1200 MC403 Anchorage, AK 99503 |
Human Services Staff Phone: 907-271-4111 |
| Contact Information Eastern Oklahoma Region Office 3100 West Peak Boulevard Muskogee, OK 74401 |
Human Services Staff Phone: 918-781-4613 |
| Contact Information Eastern Regional Office 545 Marriott Drive, Suite 700 Nashville, TN 37214 |
Human Services Staff Main Office: 615-564-5600 |
| Contact Information Great Plains Regional Office 115 4th Avenue SE Aberdeen, SD 57401 |
Human Services Staff Office: 605-226-7351 |
| Contact Information Midwest Regional Office Norman Pointe II Building 5600 W. American Blvd, Suite 500 Bloomington, MN 55437 |
Human Services Staff Contact: 612-725-4572 |
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Contact Information
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Human Services Staff Regional Social Worker Individual Indian Monies Social Work Specialist Social Work Program Specialist (CPS/CW Social Worker) Office: 505.863.8215 |
| Contact Information Northwest Region 911 NE 11th Avenue Portland, OR 97232 |
Human Services Staff Regional Social Worker Child Welfare Social Worker Contract Social Worker Social Worker Program Specialists Office: 503-231-6785 |
| Contact Information Pacific Region 2800 Cottage Way, Suite W-2820 Sacramento, CA 95825 |
Human Services Staff Office: 916-978-6000 |
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Contact Information
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Human Services Staff Social Services: IA_RMRO_SOCIAL_SERVICES@bia.gov |
| Contact Information Southern Plains Region PO Box 368 Anadarko, OK 73005 |
Human Services Staff Regional Social Worker Individual Indian Monies Specialist Social Worker Assistant Office: 405.247.6673 |
| Contact Information Southwest Region 1001 Indian School Road NW Albuquerque, NM 87104 |
Human Services Staff Individual Indian Monies Social Worker Office: 505-563-3522 |
| Contact Information Western Region 2600 N. Central Avenue, 4th Floor Mailroom Phoenix, AZ 85004 |
Human Services Staff Regional Social Worker Child Welfare Social Worker 2 Individual Indian Monies Social Workers Domestic Violence Social Worker Social Service Representative Office: 602-379-6785 |
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The Tribal Assistance Coordination Group Conference brings together tribal emergency managers and program personnel, federal emergency management personnel, volunteer organization active in disasters personnel, state, local and non-government organizations involved in emergency management professionals to share the latest program information and best practices for all hazard emergencies and disasters.
We look forward to seeing you!
Crowne Plaza Hotel & Resort, located at 4300 E Washington Street, Phoenix Arizona 85034
ROOM RESERVATIONS:
Reserve your Room:
Call the Resort directly at (602) 273-7778 , or reserve online through the Crowne Plaza Hotel & Resort Room Reservations
There is no cost to register; however, tickets are required to reserve your seat.
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An official website of the U.S. Department of the Interior
