OPA

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Kevin K. Washburn today announced that the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) will reopen its search for a new regional director of the Bureau’s Alaska Regional Office. The BIA will begin soliciting applicants for the Senior Executive Service (SES) position, which is located in Anchorage, starting on April 22, 2013.

“The decision to continue our search for candidates for the Alaska Regional Director position was made after meeting with Alaska Native leaders who provided us valuable insight on the unique needs of their communities that require effective and proactive leadership,” Washburn said.

The Alaska post is one of 12 regional directorships who manage the BIA’s regional offices, which oversee numerous agencies directly servicing federally recognized tribes and communities across the country. All of the regional director positions are SES-level appointments and report to the director of the BIA.

Members of the Senior Executive Service serve in key management positions just below the top presidential appointee level. They are charged with leading the continuing transformation of government, possess well-honed executive skills and share a broad perspective of government and a commitment to public service that is grounded in the United States Constitution. SES members are the major link between presidential appointees and the rest of the federal workforce, and oversee nearly every government activity across 75 federal agencies, including the Office of the Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs, the BIA and the Bureau of Indian Education in the Department of the Interior.

The Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs oversees the BIA, which is headed by a director who is responsible for managing day-to-day operations through four offices – Indian Services, Justice Services, Trust Services and Field Operations. The BIA’s 12 regional offices and 85 agencies administer or fund tribal law enforcement, social services, governance, natural and energy resources, road and building construction and trust management programs for the nation’s federally recognized American Indian and Alaska Native tribes and villages.

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WASHINGTON – Indian Affairs will hold the second of three training workshops designed for tribal judges and attorneys on the topic of secured transactions. The training, to be held on May 8-9, 2013, in Bloomington, Minn., will be conducted by the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ (BIA) Office of Justice Services/Tribal Justice Support (BIA-OJS/TJS) and the Indian Affairs Office of Indian Energy and Economic Development (IEED).

The workshops, entitled Uniform Commercial Codes: Bringing the UCC to Tribal Courts, are designed to provide intensive training to tribal judges, attorneys and court staff on specific issues that arise in secured transaction litigation under the Model Tribal Secured Transaction Act (MTSTA).

This law covers, among other things, the use of all types of personal property as collateral for lenders and sellers, and the conditions which must be satisfied for an enforceable interest in collateral to arise. The tribal court workshops will be based on materials developed by the Uniform Law Commission, a principal sponsor of the Uniform Commercial Code. These information materials have been used to inform tribal governments that have enacted secured transaction laws based on the Model Tribal Secured Transactions Act or are considering such laws.

Tribal secured transactions commercial codes enable tribal businesses and individuals residing on federal Indian trust lands to obtain credit for making off-reservation purchases, such as cars, appliances and other durable goods, by allowing sellers to enforce liens or security interests in such items after they have been transported onto a reservation.

The training was developed by the OJS and IEED in partnership with the Federal Reserve Banks of Minneapolis, San Francisco, and Kansas City, Mo. The first training session in this series was held Jan. 30-31, 2013, in Seattle, Wash. The third and last session in 2013 is scheduled for December with dates and location to be announced.

CREDENTIALS: This invitation is extended to credentialed media representatives, who must display sanctioned media credentials for admittance to the event.

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WASHINGTON – On May 15, 2013, at 9:30 a.m. Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Kevin K. Washburn will participate in a roundtable discussion with tribal, state and other federal government representatives to discuss the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA). The discussion will help lead to a greater understanding of ICWA’s purpose and implementation. This discussion is part of the Great Plains ICWA summit: Bring Our Children Home and Keep Our Families Strong that will take place May 15-17, 2013, at the Best Western Ramkota Hotel and Convention Center in Rapid City, S.D.

“The Great Plains Indian Child Welfare Summit is a venue to continue to address the critical issues of the well-being and safety of American Indian and Alaska Native children and their families,” Washburn said. “I look forward to sitting down with tribal leaders and our public and private partners to exchange ideas on how to better implement the Indian Child Welfare Act and protect Indian country’s children.”

The Summit's attendees will include: the Honorable James Abourezk, former U.S. Senator during the development of ICWA; United States Attorney for the District of North Dakota, Timothy Q. Purdon; and senior leadership from the U.S. Department of the Interior's Office of the Solicitor.

Other participants will include representatives of the U.S. Department of the Interior; U.S. Department of Justice; Casey Family Programs, The Annie E. Casey Foundation; tribal and state judges; Washington State Office of Indian Policy; and the National Child Welfare Resource Center for Tribes, Children’s Bureau, Administration for Children and Families. Representatives from tribes in the States of South Dakota, Washington, Oklahoma and Minnesota will also participate. Also invited to speak are representatives from the National Indian Child Welfare Association and the Minneapolis American Indian Center in Minnesota which administers an internet-based Indian child welfare case management system known as “QUICWA.”

The Great Plains Indian Child Welfare Summit is sponsored by the Great Plains Tribal Chairman’s Association in conjunction with officials and ICWA directors of the 16 federally recognized tribes in the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ Great Plains Region States of North Dakota, South Dakota, and Nebraska. The three-day Summit will assist in the development of proactive strategies to foster collaboration among stakeholders, identify areas for communities to improve implementation of ICWA’s intent to protect the best interests of Indian children, and to promote the stability and security of Indian tribes and families.

The Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs oversees the Bureau of Indian Affairs BIA, which is headed by a director who is responsible for managing day-to-day operations through four offices – Indian Services, Justice Services, Trust Services and Field Operations. Through 12 regional offices and 85 agencies, the BIA administers or funds tribally-based infrastructure, law enforcement, social services (including child welfare), tribal governance, natural and energy resources and trust management programs for the nation’s federally recognized American Indian and Alaska Native tribes and villages.

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WASHINGTON – For the first time in their histories, the National Museum of the American Indian and the Bureau of Indian Affairs Office of Justice Services will co-host a special exhibit of the Indian Country Law Enforcement Officers Memorial during the 2013 National Police Week. The special exhibit will be located in the Museum’s Potomac Atrium from May 13 through 17.

“National Police Week is an important opportunity to educate the public about the Indian Country Law Enforcement Officers Memorial and honor those in law enforcement who have given their lives in the line of duty in Indian Country,” said Kevin K. Washburn, Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs. “I want to thank the National Museum of the American Indian and its director, Kevin Gover, for co-hosting this special exhibit on the Memorial.”

“The National Museum of the American Indian is pleased and proud to host this special exhibit of the Indian Country Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in conjunction with the Bureau of Indian Affairs Office of Justice Services,” said Museum Director Kevin Gover (Pawnee). “It is only fitting that the Museum, which is home to so much of Indian Country’s history, should acknowledge during National Police Week those law enforcement officers who have given their lives to protect Indian people.”

The Indian Country Law Enforcement Officers Memorial includes the names of 101 tribal, state, local and federal law enforcement officers working on federal Indian lands and in tribal communities who have died in the line of duty since the mid-1800s. It is located at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Artesia, N.M.

First dedicated on May 7, 1992, at the United States Indian Police Academy then in Marana, Ariz., both the Memorial and Academy were moved to their present site on the Center’s Artesia campus and re-dedicated there on May 6, 1993. Each year since 1991, the Office of Justice Services has hosted a service at the site to honor the officers on the Memorial.

The special exhibit, which is maintained by the Office of Justice Services at its headquarters in the Department of the Interior building in Washington, D.C., includes a plaque with all of the names inscribed on the Memorial, a binder with officer profiles, a display case of police badges, and a Book of Remembrance that visitors can sign.

According to the website of the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, President John K. Kennedy in 1962 proclaimed May 15th as National Peace Officers Memorial Day and the week in which that date fell as National Police Week. Established by a joint resolution of Congress the same year, National Police Week pays special recognition to those law enforcement officers who have lost their lives in the line of duty for the safety and protection of others.

Established in 1989 through an Act of Congress, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian is an institution of living cultures dedicated to advancing knowledge and understanding of the lives, languages, literature, history and arts of the Native peoples of the Western Hemisphere. For more information about the museum and its public program schedules, visit www.AmericanIndian.si.edu.

The BIA Office of Justice Services’ mission is to enhance public safety and protect property in Indian Country by funding or providing law enforcement, corrections and tribal court services to the nation’s federally recognized tribes. It operates 36 law enforcement programs, oversees 152 tribally operated law enforcement programs, coordinates emergency preparedness support on federal Indian lands by working cooperatively with other federal, state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies throughout Indian Country, and provides training and professional development to BIA and tribal law enforcement through the U.S. Indian Police Academy in Artesia, N.M.

Visit the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center website at http://www.fletc.gov/aboutfletc/locations/artesia/indian-country-law-enforcement-officers-memorial.html to view the Indian Country Law Enforcement Officers Memorial and a list of officers’ names.

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WASHINGTON – Because of a high level of interest, the Bureau of Indian Affairs Office of Justice Services (OJS) is providing legal training it successfully held last year to new groups of tribal court prosecutors, defenders and judges to improve their trial advocacy skills. The training focuses on cases involving the trafficking of illegal narcotics, domestic violence and sexual assault on adults and children.

The first session in the 2013 OJS Tribal Court Trial Advocacy Training Program will take place on May 14-16 in Missoula, Mont., with cases on domestic violence. It will include a roundtable discussion on the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA).

The remaining 2013 training schedule and topics are: June 17-20 in Grand Forks, N.D. (sexual assault on children); July 22-25 in Reno, Nev. (illegal narcotics), Aug. 6-9 in Philadelphia, Miss. (domestic violence); and Dec. 2-5 in Oklahoma City (sexual assault on adults). As with the May session, each will include a roundtable discussion on VAWA.

Tribal court trial advocacy training is mandated by the Tribal Law and Order Act of 2010 and is being conducted under the Tribal Court Trial Advocacy Training Program – a joint effort by the Department of the Interior and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) that furthers the mandate of the Act to strengthen tribal sovereignty over criminal justice matters on federal Indian lands by sharpening the skills of those who practice within the tribal court system.

The program is the result of a collaborative effort by the OJS and DOJ’s Access to Justice Initiative to offer trial advocacy training with courses designed specifically for tribal courts and free training to the judges, public defenders and prosecutors who work in them. Training will be conducted by working law professionals using instructional materials prepared by experts knowledgeable about tribal court issues. The program is unique for its public defenders training.

President Obama signed the Violence Against Women Act on March 7, 2013. It includes important provisions for federally recognized tribes to combat violence against Native women such as homicide, rape, assault and battery in the home, workplace and on school campuses throughout Indian Country.

CREDENTIALS: This invitation is extended to credentialed media representatives, who must display sanctioned media credentials for admittance to the event.

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The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today announced Tribal Wildlife Grants awards to Native American tribes in 14 states to fund a wide range of conservation projects.

“The mindful stewardship of fish, wildlife, plants and their habitats is a value that tribal nations share with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,” said Service Director Dan Ashe. “Tribal Wildlife Grants create opportunities for us to work together in a variety of ways, including species restoration, fish passage, protection of migratory birds, and coping with long-term effects of a changing climate.”

More than $60 million has gone to Native American tribes through the Tribal Wildlife Grants program since 2003, providing support for more than 360 conservation projects administered by participating federally recognized tribes. These grants provide technical and financial assistance for development and implementation of projects that benefit fish and wildlife resources and their habitats, including non-game species.

The grants have enabled tribes to develop increased management capacity, improve and enhance relationships with partners (including state agencies), address cultural and environmental priorities, and heighten tribal students’ interest in fisheries, wildlife and related fields of study. Some grants have been awarded to support recovery efforts for threatened and endangered species.

The grants are provided exclusively to federally recognized Indian tribal governments and are made possible under the Related Agencies Appropriations Act of 2002 through the State and Tribal Wildlife Grants program. Proposals for the 2014 grant cycle are due September 3, 2013.

For additional information about Native American conservation projects and the Tribal Wildlife Grants application process, visit http://www.fws.gov/nativeamerican/grants.html.

The mission of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is working with others to conserve, protect, and enhance fish, wildlife, plants, and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. We are both a leader and trusted partner in fish and wildlife conservation, known for our scientific excellence, stewardship of lands and natural resources, dedicated professionals, and commitment to public service. For more information on our work and the people who make it happen, visit www.fws.gov. Connect with our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/usfws, follow our tweets at www.twitter.com/usfwshq, watch our YouTube Channel at http://www.youtube.com/usfws and download photos from our Flickr page at http://www.flickr.com/photos/usfwshq.

WASHINGTON – Today, Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Kevin K. Washburn issued for public comment a proposed rule designed to demonstrate the Administration’s commitment to restoring tribal homelands and furthering economic development on Indian reservations. The proposed rule will provide for greater notice of land-into-trust decisions and clarify the mechanisms for judicial review depending on whether the land is taken into trust by the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs, or by an official of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. During the public comment window, Indian Affairs will also conduct tribal consultation.

For the Bureau of Indian Affairs trust acquisition decisions, which are generally for non-gaming purposes and constitute the vast majority of land-into-trust decisions, the proposed rule will ensure that parties have adequate notice of the action and clarifies the requirement that exhaustion of administrative remedies within the Department is necessary to seek judicial review.

“The principal purpose of this proposed rule is to provide greater certainty to tribes in their ability to develop lands acquired in trust for purposes such as housing, schools and economic development,” said Assistant Secretary Washburn. “For such acquisitions, the proposed rule will create a ‘speak now or forever hold your peace moment’ in the land-into-trust process. If parties do not appeal the decision within the administrative appeal period, tribes will have the peace of mind to begin development without fear that the decision will be later overturned.”

For decisions made by the Assistant Secretary, which generally are for gaming or other complex acquisitions, the proposed rule clarifies that the Assistant Secretary’s decision is a final decision and allows the Assistant Secretary to proceed with taking the land-into-trust with no waiting period. Because a simple change in ownership status itself is not an act that causes irreparable harm in many cases, it will place the burden on litigants to come forth and demonstrate such harm if they wish to prevent the trust acquisition from occurring, while not affecting the right to judicial review of the basic decision.

The proposed rule issued today would also effectively repeal a 1996 procedural provision by omitting a 30-day waiting period which, as a result of a 2012 U.S. Supreme Court decision, now is unnecessary.

In 1996, the Department revised its land-into-trust regulations in Part 151 by establishing a 30- day waiting period following publication of a Departmental determination to take land into trust for an Indian tribe. At that time, prevailing federal court decisions held that the Quiet Title Act (QTA), 28 U.S.C. 2409a, precluded judicial review of such determinations after the United States acquired title to the land in trust. The waiting period was intended to ensure that interested parties had the opportunity to seek judicial review under the Administrative Procedure Act (5 U.S.C. 704) before the Secretary acquired title to land in trust. See 61 FR 18082 (Apr. 24, 1996).

The legal landscape changed, however, on June 18, 2012, when the Supreme Court issued its decision in Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatomi Indians v. Patchak, 132 S. Ct. 2199 (2012). In that decision, the Supreme Court held that the Quiet Title Act does not bar Administrative Procedure Act challenges to the Department’s determination to take land in trust even after the United States acquires title to the property, unless the aggrieved party asserts an ownership interest in the land as the basis for the challenge. Following Patchak, the 1996 procedural rule establishing a 30-day waiting period before taking land into trust to allow for Administrative Procedure Act review is no longer needed. Unless judicial review under the Administrative Procedure Act is precluded on some other basis, such as standing, timeliness, or a failure to exhaust administrative remedies, judicial review of the Secretary’s decision is available under the Administrative Procedure Act even after the Secretary has acquired title to the property.

The proposed rule will be available in the federal register at https://www.federalregister.gov/public-inspection. Public comments may be submitted to the Department for sixty days following the proposed rule’s publication in the Federal Register. Tribal Consultation on the proposed rule will occur on June 24, 2013, in Reno, Nevada.

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WASHINGTON – The Bureau of Indian Affairs Office of Justice Services will offer the next in its series of training sessions for tribal court personnel on June 17-20, 2013, in Grand Forks, N.D., with cases focusing on sexual assault on children.

Because of a high level of interest, the Office of Justice Services is providing legal training it successfully held in 2012 to new groups of tribal court prosecutors, defenders and judges to improve their trial advocacy skills. The training focuses on cases involving the trafficking of illegal narcotics, domestic violence and sexual assault on adults and children.

The first session in the 2013 Tribal Court Trial Advocacy Training Program series took place on May 14-16 in Missoula, Mont., with a focus on domestic violence cases. Remaining sessions and topics are: July 22-25 in Reno, Nev. (illegal narcotics), Aug. 6-9 in Philadelphia, Miss. (domestic violence); and Dec. 2-5 in Oklahoma City (sexual assault on adults). All of the sessions include a roundtable discussion on the Violence Against Women Act.

Tribal court trial advocacy training is mandated by the Tribal Law and Order Act of 2010 and is being conducted under the Tribal Court Trial Advocacy Training Program – a joint effort by the Department of the Interior and the U.S. Department of Justice that furthers the mandate of the Act to strengthen tribal sovereignty over criminal justice matters on federal Indian lands by sharpening the skills of those who practice within the tribal court system.

The program is the result of a collaborative effort by the OJS and the DOJ’s Access to Justice Initiative to offer trial advocacy training with courses designed specifically for tribal courts and free training to the judges, public defenders and prosecutors who work in them. Training will be conducted by working law professionals using instructional materials prepared by experts knowledgeable about tribal court issues. The program is unique for its public defenders training.

President Obama signed the Violence Against Women Act on March 7, 2013. It includes important provisions for federally recognized tribes to combat violence against Native women such as homicide, rape, assault and battery in the home, workplace and on school campuses throughout Indian Country.

CREDENTIALS: This invitation is extended to credentialed media representatives, who must display sanctioned media credentials for admittance to the event.

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WASHINGTON, D.C. – On Thursday, June 27, Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell will hold a news media conference call with reporters to discuss President Obama’s establishment of the White House Council on Native American Affairs. Members of the media may participate in the call by dialing 1-888-810-6756 and providing the access code INTERIOR.

The press call will immediately follow Secretary Jewell’s remarks at the closing session of the National Congress of American Indians Mid Year Conference in Reno, Nevada. Secretary Jewell will discuss Interior’s ongoing work to uphold President Obama’s commitment to strengthen the government-to-government relationship with Tribal Nations.

Established in 1944, the National Congress of American Indians is the oldest and largest association of tribal governments in the United States. Secretary’s Jewell’s remarks will begin at 9:30 am Pacific Time in the Grand Ballroom at the Atlantis Casino Resort.

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WASHINGTON – As part of President Obama’s commitment to strengthen the nation-to-nation relationship with Native Americans and Alaska Natives, Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Kevin K. Washburn today announced the availability of a discussion draft of potential changes to the Department of the Interior’s Part 83 process for acknowledging certain Indian groups as federally recognized tribes. The discussion draft is intended to provide tribes and the public an early opportunity to provide input on potential changes to the Part 83 process.

The Federal recognition acknowledgment process is the Department's regulatory process by which petitioning groups that meet the regulatory criteria are "acknowledged" as federally recognized Indian tribes with a government-to-government relationship with the United States. There are currently 566 federally recognized tribes in the U.S.

“The discussion draft is a starting point in the conversation with federally recognized tribes, petitioners and the public on how to ensure that the process is fair, efficient and transparent,” Washburn said. “We are starting with an open mind and no fixed agenda, and we’re looking forward to getting input from all stakeholders before we move forward with a proposed rule that will provide additional certainty and timeliness to the process. In many parts of the discussion draft, we have made no fixed recommendations in order to have the benefit of that input in formulating a proposed rule.”

The discussion draft maintains stringent standards for core criteria and seeks comment on objective criteria to be incorporated into the standards. The draft suggests changes to improve timeliness and efficiency by providing for a thorough review of a petitioner’s community and political authority. That review would begin with the year 1934 to align with the United States repudiation of allotment and assimilation policies and eliminate the requirement that an external entity identify the group as Indian since 1900.

The discussion draft further suggests providing flexibility to the Department to issue expedited denials and approvals based on the particular facts and unique history of certain petitioners. The draft suggests streamlining the process to promote greater transparency as a petitioner’s materials are evaluated by the Office of Federal Acknowledgment and the Department. The Department is making the discussion draft available for review at http://www.bia.gov/WhoWeAre/AS-IA/Consultation/index.htm. This discussion draft is a precursor to proposed regulatory changes, but is not itself a proposed rule. The Department will accept written comments on the draft until August 16, 2013. In addition to written comments, the Department will hold tribal consultations and public meetings at the following locations:

Tribal consultations will be held at each location from 9am to 12pm and public meetings will be held from 1pm to 4pm. After the close of the comment period on the discussion draft, the Department will evaluate those comments as it moves forward in the development of a proposed rule. The Department will seek additional public comment and consult further with tribes after issuing the proposed rule.

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