News by Year

Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne, Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley Jr. and Hopi Vice Chairman Todd Honyaoma today signed an historic Navajo-Hopi intergovernmental Compact, resolving a 40-year-old dispute over tribal land in northeastern Arizona.

"I am grateful to all the people who worked so hard over the years to resolve this dispute," Kempthorne said at the signing ceremony in Phoenix. "You have overcome a long history of bitterness and dispute. You truly have laid the foundation for a new relationship - one that will benefit all your people. You have made history."

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne and Rep. Rick Renzi of Arizona will join Hopi and Navajo leaders at a historic signing ceremony in Phoenix, Ariz., tomorrow. Representatives of the Navajo Nation and Hopi Tribe will sign a compact resolving a long-standing dispute over access to sites for traditional tribal religious observances.

Signing the agreement will be Todd .Honyaoma, Vice Chairman of the Hopi Tribal Council, and Joe Shirley, President of the Navajo Nation. The signers, Secretary Kempthorne and Rep. Renzi will make remarks.

WASHINGTON – As part of its efforts to improve and reform the management of the Indian trust for the benefit of all Indians, the Department of the Interior has revised existing—and drafted new—federal Indian trust regulations to implement the American Indian Probate Reform Act (AIPRA) and the Fiduciary Trust Model. The Department held an initial comment period on the first drafts of new regulations from January through April of this year. After incorporating comments, the proposed AIPRA regulations will be published in the Federal Register in coming weeks.