OPA

(TULSA, Okla.) – Interior Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Neal A. McCaleb was named last night as the 2001 Native American Newsmaker of the Year by the Native American Times, Oklahoma’s largest Indian-owned newspaper. McCaleb received the newsmaker award during the Oklahoma Native American Business Development Center awards banquet at the Gilcrease Museum here. The center holds the annual awards ceremony to recognize individuals and companies from the Oklahoma Indian business community.

McCaleb, a member of the Chickasaw Nation and a native of Oklahoma City who used to own an engineering business, stressed in his remarks that, “strong, healthy tribal economies are a vital part of Oklahoma and the nation. They are the fuel in the economic engine that drives our country towards the future.” The Assistant Secretary also said he, “looked forward to a candid dialogue with you and others on how the BIA can effectively encourage the growth of Indian entrepreneurship and tribal enterprise.”

Speaking to an audience of several hundred state and local Indian business and political leaders, McCaleb said, “I am honored to receive this recognition by the Native American Times.” The weekly newspaper, which covers local and national news and events affecting the Oklahoma Indian community, has a circulation of 12,000 with subscribers in 47 states and three countries (see www.okit.com). “It is important for Indian people, no matter where we live and work, to know what’s going on in our communities and the larger world. Native news outlets such as the Times, who are also Indian businesses, not only meet our need for news and information, but help us maintain our cultural connections.”

McCaleb also had the honor of seeing two people he had mentored receive awards at the ceremony. “I’ve been privileged to watch these young men grow and achieve economic success,” he said. Frank Narcomey, a member of the Seminole Nation and President of Southwind Construction Co., Inc., of Edmond, Okla., received the ONABDC’s Native American Firm of the Year award and the Oklahoma American Indian Chamber of Commerce’s Business Award of the Year. Mark Farris, a member of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation and President of Red Plains Professional, Inc., also of Edmond, received the Oklahoma Department of Transportation’s Native American Business of the Year Award. McCaleb proudly acknowledged these winners in his remarks saying, “it makes my soul sing and my heart soar like an eagle to see these two young Indian businessmen achieve success and recognition.”

Also among the evening’s honorees were Oklahoma State Senator Kelley Haney as the U.S. Department of Commerce Minority Business Development Agency’s Regional Leader of the Year, the Iowa Tribe’s BKJ Solutions as ONABDC Tribal Business of the Year, and other Chamber of Commerce and ODOT award winners. The evening’s keynote speaker was Menominee Tribal Chairman Apesanahkwat. McCaleb oversees the BIA, a 176-year-old federal agency with almost 10,000 employees nationwide that provides services to, carries out its federal trust responsibilities for, and promotes the self-determination of the 558 federally recognized Tribal governments and approximately 1.4 million American Indians and Alaska Natives. Under his purview are a 185-school system, one of only two federally administered school systems in the country; 29 tribally controlled colleges; law enforcement and detention programs and facilities; social service, firefighting, tribal economic development and Indian child welfare programs; trust resource management programs, including management of tribal and individual Indian trust assets; and the federal acknowledgement process.

Prior to his selection by President Bush as Assistant Secretary, McCaleb served as Secretary of Transportation as well as Director of the Oklahoma Transportation Authority and the Department of Transportation under Governor Frank Keating. He is the eighth Assistant Secretary - Indian Affairs to be sworn in since Congress established the position in 1977. His appointment followed a professional life in Oklahoma where he enjoyed several careers including civil engineering, business, state government, politics and as a proponent of tribal self-determination through sustained, successful economic development.

In the 2000 Census, Oklahoma, which is home to 39 federally recognized tribes, ranked second behind California in total American Indian population. According to a 1997 Census report, the last year such data was available, the state ranked third behind California and Texas as having the largest number of American Indian- and Alaska Native-owned businesses.

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(WASHINGTON) – Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Neal A. McCaleb today praised Indian Country’s outstanding generosity as our nation rebounds from this week’s tragic terrorist attack.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with the friends and families of innocent people lost or injured by this act of enormous horror,” McCaleb said. “An attack on America is an attack on Indian Country. I am gratified, but hardly surprised, that so many tribes have quickly offered support to the victims and their loved ones.

” Many tribes have donated time, personnel and monetary help to the recovery effort. For example, the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation in Mayetta, Kan., the Morongo Band of Mission Indians and the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians, both of California, donated funds to the rescue endeavor.

Also, the Mashantucket Pequots of Conn. turned two high-speed ferries into recovery vessels that rescued panicked people who leaped from a Manhattan pier to escape incoming rubble and ferried firefighters, police officers and doctors from Long Island to Manhattan’s tragic scene. In another example, the Tunica-Biloxi Tribe of La. organized a community-wide blood drive.

Also, when the attacks took place, the Bureau of Indian Affairs immediately reassigned 25 criminal investigators and chiefs of police who were attending training classes at the Marine Corps base in Quantico, Va. The officers are providing security assistance at the Interior Department headquarters and federal locations outside the city. They will continue to provide essential security support for Interior employees and the public for the foreseeable future.

“I am deeply proud of all of our employees who conducted themselves in a calm and professional manner under extremely stressful circumstances, and I am grateful for their courage and dedication to duty in the face of danger,” McCaleb said.

The BIA’s central office in Washington, D.C., reopened for business Wednesday after being temporarily evacuated. The BIA, an agency with almost 10,000 employees nationwide, provides services to, carries out its federal trust responsibilities for, and promotes the self-determination of the 558 federally recognized Tribal governments and approximately 1.4 million American Indians and Alaska Natives.

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(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Neal A. McCaleb today announced he has issued a Notice of Proposed Finding whereby he proposes to decline to acknowledge that the Webster/Dudley Band of Chaubunagungamaug Nipmuck Indians of Dudley, Mass., (petition #68B) exists as an Indian tribe within the meaning of Federal law. The proposed finding is based on a determination that the petitioner does not satisfy three of seven mandatory criteria for Federal acknowledgment under 25 CFR Part 83, the Federal acknowledgment regulations, and therefore does not meet the requirements for a government-to-government relationship with the United States.

The petitioner did not satisfy criteria 83.7(a), 83.7(b) and 83.7(c) of the regulations. Criterion 83.7(a) requires the petitioner to have been identified on a substantially continuous basis as an American Indian entity. Criterion 83.7(b) requires the petitioner to have maintained a continuous community from historical times until the present. Criterion 83.7(c) requires the petitioner to have maintained political authority or influence on a substantially continuous basis from historical times until the present.

Having completed his review, the Assistant Secretary will publish the Notice of the Proposed Finding on the Webster/Dudley Band of Chaubunagungamaug Nipmuck Indians in the Federal Register. As provided by 25 CFR 83.10(i), the petitioner or any individual or organization wishing to challenge or support the proposed finding shall have 180 days after the notice’s publication date to submit arguments and evidence to rebut or support the proposed finding.

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(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Neal A. McCaleb today announced he has issued a Notice of Proposed Finding whereby he proposes to decline to acknowledge that the Nipmuc Nation headquartered in Sutton, Mass., (petition #69A) exists as an Indian tribe within the meaning of Federal law. The proposed finding is based on a determination that the petitioner does not satisfy four of seven mandatory criteria for Federal acknowledgment under 25 CFR Part 83, the Federal acknowledgment regulations, and therefore does not meet the requirements for a government-to-government relationship with the United States.

The petitioner did not satisfy criteria 83.7(a), 83.7(b), 83.7(c) and 83.7(e) of the regulations. Criterion 83.7(a) requires the petitioner to have been identified on a substantially continuous basis as an American Indian entity. Criterion 83.7(b) requires the petitioner to have maintained a continuous community from historical times until the present. Criterion 83.7(c) requires the petitioner to have maintained political authority or influence on a substantially continuous basis from historical times until the present. Criterion 83.7(e) requires the petitioner’s current members to have descended from an historical Indian tribe or tribes which combined and functioned as a single autonomous political entity.

Having completed his review, the Assistant Secretary will publish the Notice of the Proposed Finding on the Nipmuc Nation in the Federal Register. As provided by 25 CFR 83.10(i), the petitioner or any individual or organization wishing to challenge or support the proposed finding shall have 180 days after the notice’s publication date to submit arguments and evidence to rebut or support the proposed finding.

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(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Neal A. McCaleb today announced he has issued a Notice of Final Determination whereby he declined to acknowledge that the Duwamish Tribal Organization of Burien, Wash., (petition #25) exists as an Indian tribe within the meaning of Federal law. The decision is based on a determination that the petitioner does not satisfy three of seven mandatory criteria for Federal acknowledgment under 25 CFR Part 83, the Federal acknowledgment regulations, and therefore does not meet the requirements for a government-to-government relationship with the United States.

The petitioner did not satisfy criteria 83.7(a), 83.7(b) and 83.7(c) of the regulations. Criterion 83.7(a) requires the petitioner to have been identified on a substantially continuous basis as an American Indian entity. Criterion 83.7(b) requires the petitioner to have maintained a continuous community from historical times until the present. Criterion 83.7(c) requires the petitioner to have maintained political authority or influence on a substantially continuous basis from historical times until the present.

Having completed his review, the Assistant Secretary will publish the Notice of Final Determination on the Duwamish Tribal Organization in the Federal Register. This determination is final and will become effective 90 days from the notice’s publication date unless a request for reconsideration is filed with the Secretary of the Interior within 30 days following publication.

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(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – Interior Deputy Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Wayne R. Smith will be a guest speaker this Thursday, October 25, on Native America Calling, the national public affairs and news radio call-in program of the Koahnic Broadcast Corporation. He will address the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ role in the Federal Acknowledgment Process. The program will air live starting at 1:00 p.m. (ET).

Smith, who is Sisseton-Wahpeton Sioux, was appointed by Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Neal McCaleb to serve as his chief of staff. In addition to overseeing the Assistant Secretary’s office, Smith is also responsible for gaming, land-into-trust and acknowledgment matters.

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(Washington) - Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Neal McCaleb will be the keynote speaker at the U.S. Department of the Interior's opening ceremony of American Indian Heritage Month on November 5, 2001. The celebration will officially begin a month of acknowledgment for the contributions made by American Indians to our country. With recent events in our nation, this year's theme is entitled, "Uniting All Nations Together As One." in honor of American Indians and this nation's commitment to freedom for all people.

The event will include a prayer and the lighting of a candle ceremony to honor the victims of the September 11th terrorist attacks on the United States. Native dancers, a traditional drum group and singers will provide an example of the diversified American Indian culture found in the Washington, DC area. The event will culminate with a special performance by 2001 Native American Music Award nominee "Pamyua," an a capella group from Alaska, whose blend of Yup'ik and Inuit dance, song and humor reflect the rich diversity found in all the Native cultures of Alaska. Recently named as one of the ten most influential artists in the history of Alaska by the Anchorage Daily News, Pamyua performed at the opening ceremonies for the 2001 Special Winter Olympics and will be seen on television in "Diversity in America," an eight part documentary series airing this fall on PBS.

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(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – In remarks at the 2001 National Tribal Roads Conference held last week in Albuquerque, N.M, Interior Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Neal A. McCaleb reaffirmed the authority of the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century Negotiated Rulemaking Committee, otherwise known as the TEA-21 Negotiated Rulemaking Committee, to develop proposed regulations and a new funding formula for the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ Indian Reservation Roads Program, while acceding to the committee’s request for more time to complete its work.

“I listened, empowered the committee, and responded to their proposal for additional time to mold a single formula,” McCaleb said upon extending the deadline to January 1, 2002.

The TEA-21 Negotiated Rulemaking Committee, which is comprised of 29 tribal members and 11 Federal members from the Department of the Interior and the Department of Transportation, had been working under an October 30, 2001, deadline.

The proposed regulations and funding formula are the result of meetings the committee held from March, 1999, through December, 2000. However, committee members could only narrow their conclusions to two different formulae. In order to break the impasse, McCaleb, at a meeting with the committee’s tribal co-chairs on October 10, 2001, announced his intent to propose a single funding formula that addressed the Act’s requirements and included concepts from the two formulae. At the same time, he informed committee members that they could submit another proposed single formula for his consideration by October 30. After deciding on which funding formula to propose, he said, he would then forward the proposed rule to the Federal Register for publication.

Before an estimated audience of 300 that included over 25 tribal leaders, McCaleb, a former Oklahoma Secretary of Transportation, presented his overall views on Indian transportation issues and spoke of developing comprehensive transportation strategies in an effort to begin a consultation process geared towards having both the BIA and tribal governments address common goals of funding and program improvements for Indian Country.

The Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs oversees the Bureau of Indian Affairs, a 176-year-old federal agency with approximately 10,000 employees nationwide that provides services to, carries out its federal trust responsibilities for, and promotes the self-determination of the 558 federally recognized tribal governments and approximately 1.4 million American Indians and Alaska Natives. Under his purview are a 185-school system, one of only two federally administered school systems in the country; 29 tribally controlled colleges; law enforcement and detention programs and facilities; transportation, social service, firefighting, tribal economic development and Indian child welfare programs; trust resource management programs, including management of tribal and individual Indian trust assets; and the federal acknowledgement process.

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(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Neal A. McCaleb today announced the Interior Department’s decision to withdraw in its entirety the final rule titled “Acquisition of Title to Land in Trust” that was published on January 16, 2001, citing the need for clear direction and processing standards for land into trust applications. “This action is consistent with the action we took 60 days ago when we asked for comment on the proposed withdrawal of the final rule,” McCaleb said. “Following consultation with tribes, we will publish new regulations.” Today’s action will be published in the Federal Register on November 9, 2001.

The Department had published two actions on August 13, 2001, stating that it was extending the effective date of the January 16 final rule and issuing a Notice of Proposed Withdrawal of the final rule to seek comments on whether the rule should be withdrawn and a new proposed rule promulgated. The Department took the action to examine more fully the public’s continued concern with the trust land acquisition procedures set out in 25 CFR Part 151, the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ regulation for taking land into trust.

“All along we have recognized that a balance must be struck between the needs of the tribes to acquire land in accordance with the intent of Section 5 of the Indian Reorganization Act and the concerns of those governments, communities and individuals who are affected by land into trust requests,” McCaleb said.

The decision to withdraw the final rule was based on public comments the Department had received to the August 13 notice on whether the rule should be withdrawn and a new rule promulgated. The Department received a total of 139 submissions of which 93 were from tribes, 18 were from state and local governments and federally elected officials, and 28 were from other interested groups and individuals.

In the August 13 notice the Department sought comments on specific areas of concern including individual applications for land into trust for housing or home site purposes; the requirement of land use plans for off-reservation acquisitions and as part of the designation of a Tribal Land Acquisition Area (TLAA); clarifying the standards contained in the final rule; the availability of applications for review and the use of technology to facilitate review of trust acquisition applications. The Department found that since the comments received contained various opposing views about the identified issues of concern, repealing only part of the final rule would be impracticable and inefficient.

Citing the need for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the agency responsible for processing land into trust applications, to have clear direction and processing standards, the Department decided to withdraw the final rule in its entirety. The withdrawal of the final rule is effective immediately. The current regulation will remain in effect during the new rulemaking. It will also allow the Department to consult with tribes during this period on the areas of concern.

The Bureau provides services to and carries out the federal government’s trust responsibility for the 558 federally recognized tribal governments and approximately 1.4 million American Indians and Alaska Natives nationwide.

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(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Neal A. McCaleb will be a keynote speaker at the Joint Fall 2001 Tribal Self-Governance Conference with the Department of the Interior and Department of Health and Human Services. The event will be held November 12-16 at the Quinault Indian Nation Resort in Ocean Shores, Wash. Topics of discussion will be self-governance and trust reform.

Assistant Secretary McCaleb will appear on Wednesday, November 14 starting at 9:15 a.m. (PT) before a projected audience of over 400 tribal representatives from 220 federally recognized tribes who operate programs in accordance with the Tribal Self-Governance Act of 1994. The Act gives tribes the authority to administer programs and services previously managed for them by the federal government in ways that better address conditions unique to their reservations and communities. The conference is held biannually in the spring and fall.

Driving directions from Seattle-Tacoma Airport:

1. Go East on WA-518 to I-5 South (1.6 miles)
2. Go South to Exit 104, US-101, merge right (46.7 miles)
3. Stay on this road. It starts as 101, but will turn into WA-8 then to US-12 and then back to US-101 [from Exit 104 drive 6 miles, stay on road and it turns into WA-8. Proceed for 21 more miles and stay on road—it turns to US-12. Proceed for 21 more miles. You should be in Aberdeen, Wash.] (48 miles)
4. It will then turn into US-101. Continue west for 4.6 miles (you’re now in Hoquiam, Wash.) and turn left on Emerson Street or WA-109 and proceed West for 14 miles.
5. Take a left at WA-115 and go 550 feet to sign for Quinault Beach Resort. Turn right at sign.

Driving directions from Portland (OR) International Airport:

1. Go East on WA-114 to I-201 (1.4 miles)
2. Go Northwest on I-201 to I-5 North for 10 miles and it will merge onto I-5. Proceed North. (90.9 miles)
3. Take Exit 88-B
4. Drive Northwest on US-12 to Elma, Wash., take a left and merge onto Highway 12 (again). (26.6 miles)
5. Drive West for 20 more miles and Highway 12 turns into Highway 101, and you will be in Aberdeen, Wash. Proceed to Highway WA-109 (20 miles)
6. Turn left at Emerson Street (Hoquiam, Wash.) and proceed West for 14 miles. Take a left at WA-115 and go 550 feet to sign for Quinault Beach Resort. Turn right at sign.

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