Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson announced today that the Bureau of Indian Affairs sub agency office, serving the Cocopah and Quechan Indian Tribes, has been made an agency office.
The office was formerly under the Colorado River Agency at Parker, Ariz., some 125 miles north of Yuma Ariz. The Fort Yuma Office is located three miles northwest of Yuma on the California portion of the reservation.
The Colorado River Agency will continue to serve the Chemehuevi, the Fort Mojave and the Colorado River Indian Tribes.
All of the tribes affected by this organizational change have expressed support for the new structure through tribal council resolutions.
Establishment of the new agency is expected to make Bureau services more available to the Cocopah and Quechan Tribes. The distance and the lack of public transportation between Yuma and Parker has been a limitation.
Both agencies are under the Bureau's Phoenix Area Office.
