News by Year

Washington, D.C. – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk today announced that on December 20 the Bureau of Indian Affairs began its 2010 impaired driving prevention campaign, “Don’t Shatter the Dream,” which is being conducted by BIA and tribal law enforcement agencies in Indian Country through January 2, 2011.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Cowlitz Tribe of Indians in Washington State may conduct gaming under a decision approved by the Department of the Interior today.

WASHINGTON, DC – Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar kicked off the Second White House Tribal Nations Conference today, calling the gathering a testament to President Obama’s respect for the inherent sovereignty of Indian nations and determination to honor the Nation’s commitments to American Indian and Alaska Native communities.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk announced today that he has directed the head of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Michael S. Black, and the BIA’s Deputy Bureau Director for Justice Services, Darren A. Cruzan, to increase the training of BIA and tribal law enforcement officers to aid them as they respond to domestic violence incidents in the tribal communities they serve.

WASHINGTON – Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today praised President Obama’s signing of five major settlements for Indian Country, calling the agreements a milestone in empowerment and reconciliation for the Nation’s First Americans.

Washington, D.C. - Today, the Departments of Justice, Interior and Agriculture applauded the bipartisan House passage of the Claims Settlement Act. The Act, which recently passed the Senate, will provide long-awaited funding for the agreements reached in the Pigford II lawsuit, brought by African American farmers; the Cobell lawsuit, brought by Native Americans over the management of Indian trust accounts and resources; and four separate water rights suits made by Native American tribes. President Obama has said that he will sign the legislation into law.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The joint Indian Affairs, Indian Health Service (IHS) and Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) listening sessions for tribes on suicide prevention that began this month will continue through December and into early February of 2011. The sessions seek input from tribal leaders on how the agencies can effectively work within their communities to prevent suicide, and will lead up to a national conference on the topic early next year.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Bureau of Indian Affairs Director Michael S. Black today announced that he has named Amy L. Dutschke as Regional Director of the BIA’s Pacific Regional Office in Sacramento, Calif. Dutschke, an enrolled member of the Ione Band of Miwok Indians in California, had been serving as the Office’s Deputy Regional Director for Trust Services since June of 2000. The Pacific Regional Office oversees four agencies serving 103 federally recognized tribes located within the state of California. Her appointment became effective on October 10, 2010.

Washington, D.C. - Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today lauded Senate approval of legislation to authorize implementation of the Cobell Settlement, a $3.4 billion agreement that will resolve the long-running and highly contentious class action lawsuit regarding the U.S. government's trust management and accounting of individual American Indian trust accounts.

WASHINGTON – Acting Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs George T. Skibine has issued a proposed finding not to acknowledge the petitioner known as the Tolowa Nation (TN), Petitioner #85, located in Fort Dick, Calif., as an Indian tribe under the regulations governing the federal acknowledgment process at 25 CFR Part 83. The evidence in the record is insufficient to demonstrate that Petitioner #85 meets the criterion 83.7(b), one of the seven mandatory criteria of the regulations for a determination that the petitioning group is an Indian tribe.

WASHINGTON - On Thursday, December 16, 2010, President Obama will host the White House Tribal Nations Conference. As part of President Obama's ongoing outreach to the American people, this conference will provide leaders from the 565 federally recognized tribes the opportunity to interact directly with the President and representatives from the highest levels of his Administration. Each federally recognized tribe will be invited to send one representative to the conference.

ALBUQUERQUE, NM – In a speech this morning to the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI), Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar described the progress being made in a comprehensive agenda to reform, restructure and rebuild federal relations with Indian Country.

Secretary Salazar outlined a broad range of efforts underway to restore integrity in U.S. government relations with American Indian and Alaska Native leaders, fulfill trust responsibilities to tribal members, and to work cooperatively to build stronger economies and safer tribal communities.

The Indian Health Service and the Department of the Interior will hold ten tribal listening sessions across Indian Country to seek input on how the agencies can most effectively work within American Indian and Alaska Native communities to prevent suicide. American Indians and Alaska Natives have a suicide rate 72 percent higher than the general U.S. population.

“We are very concerned by the ongoing tragedy of suicide in Indian Country,” said IHS Director Yvette Roubideaux, M.D., M.P.H. “We know the consequences of suicide are devastating to our families and tribal communities.”

Washington, D.C. – The Navajo Nation and Cherokee Nation are eligible to conduct gaming activities on newly acquired trust lands under decisions approved by the Department of the Interior today.

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk today announced that he has named Kevin J. Martin, an enrolled member of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation in Oklahoma, as Director of the Indian Affairs Office of Budget Management (OBM). The Director, who reports to the Chief Financial Officer for Indian Affairs, is responsible for all aspects of the Indian Affairs budget process including planning, formulation, presentation, justification and execution. His appointment became effective September 26, 2010.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk today announced that the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) Office of Justice Services (OJS) will conduct tribal consultation with the federally recognized tribes throughout the month of October, 2010. A letter announcing the meetings was sent to tribal leaders on September 17, 2010. “The input from tribal leaders is crucial to ensuring safety in Indian Country,” Echo Hawk said.

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk today announced that he has named Kevin J. Martin, an enrolled member of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation in Oklahoma, as Director of the Indian Affairs Office of Budget Management (OBM). The Director, who reports to the Chief Financial Officer for Indian Affairs, is responsible for all aspects of the Indian Affairs budget process including planning, formulation, presentation, justification and execution. His appointment became effective September 26, 2010.

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk today announced the second competition for students attending high schools and tribal colleges funded by the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) that will promote careers in the fields of green and renewable energy. This year’s competition will be looking for designs of a conversion process that will change biomass into diesel fuel.

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk will be a Keynote Speaker with remarks following by the Director of the Bureau of Indian Education Keith Moore at the National Indian Education Association (NIEA) 41st Annual Convention on Thursday, October 7, 2010. They will discuss the roles of the current administration and their policies on making Indian education a priority.

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk joined Rosebud Sioux Tribe President Rodney Bordeaux and a gathering of students and community members on September 27 at a groundbreaking ceremony for the Interior Department’s 4,000th project funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) at the St. Francis Indian School, a Bureau of Indian Education funded school on the Rosebud Sioux Reservation in South Dakota.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk today announced Darren A. Cruzan as Deputy Bureau Director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) Office of Justice Services (OJS). Cruzan, an enrolled member of the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma, comes to the position from the Department of Defense, Pentagon Force Protection Agency (PFPA). The appointment became effective on September 27, 2010.

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk announced today that a groundbreaking ceremony will take place at the St. Francis Indian School in South Dakota on Monday, September 27, 2010. This ceremony marks the Department of the Interior’s 4,000th American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) project, a $7.2 million school improvement project at a Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) school.

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk announced today that a listening session will take place at Haskell Indian Nations University on Monday, September 20, 2010. This youth listening session is a part of America’s Great Outdoors Initiative and will be hosted by the Department of the Interior Office of Youth in the Great Outdoors and the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE).

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced today that the Department of the Interior has started work on its 4,000th American Recovery and Reinvestment Act project, a $7.2 million school improvement project at the St. Francis Indian School in South Dakota. Larry Echo Hawk, Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, will visit the school next week, where he will represent Secretary Salazar in a groundbreaking ceremony.

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk today announced that tribal consultation will be held regarding the Interior Department’s Fiscal Year 2011-2016 Strategic Plan in a series of meetings across Indian Country from September 15 through October 7, 2010. The Plan is a roadmap for the Department for the next six years, and a means of communicating its goals and specific commitments to the federally recognized tribes, DOI employees and other stakeholders.

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk today announced that he has taken steps to address the change in accreditation status of the Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute (SIPI), a Bureau of Indian Education post secondary institution of higher learning in Albuquerque, N.M., by its accrediting organization, the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk today announced that the Indian Affairs Office of Indian Gaming (OIG) will conduct tribal consultation with federally recognized tribes on Indian Gaming Land into Trust Determinations. A letter announcing the meetings was sent to tribal leaders on August 24, 2010.

“I am pleased that Indian Affairs is continuing our consultation with tribes,” Echo Hawk said. “It is critical that we work together with tribes to address important issues regarding Indian Gaming and sovereignty.”

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary - Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk today announced that the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) Office of Justice Services (OJS) Division of Drug Enforcement (DDE) worked in successful cooperation with the Caddo County Okla. Sheriff’s Office, the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics (OBN), and the Oklahoma Highway Patrol to halt a drug operation discovered by a lease holder looking for lost livestock. The land being leased is a Kiowa tribal member’s allotment near Carnegie, Okla.

Washington -- Assistant Secretary–Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk on August 6, 2010, issued a proposed finding not to acknowledge the petitioner known as the Central Band of Cherokee (CBC) (Petitioner #227) as an Indian tribe. The petitioner, located in Lawrenceburg, Tennessee, has approximately 407 members. The evidence shows the petitioner is a voluntary association formed in 2000 of individuals who claim but have not documented Indian ancestry.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk today praised President Obama’s signing of legislation that will strengthen tribal law enforcement on American Indian reservations. Secretary Salazar, Interior Deputy Secretary David Hayes, Assistant Secretary Echo Hawk, and Interior Solicitor Hilary Tompkins joined the President at a White House signing ceremony.

WASHINGTON – Bureau of Indian Affairs Director Michael S. Black today announced that he has named Bryan L. Bowker as Regional Director of the BIA’s Western Regional Office in Phoenix, Ariz. Bowker, an enrolled member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe in South Dakota, had been serving as Project Manager of the Bureau’s San Carlos Irrigation Project in Coolidge, Ariz. The Western Regional Office oversees 13 agencies and one federal irrigation project serving 44 federally recognized tribes located within the states of Arizona, California, Nevada and Utah.

WASHINGTON – Deputy Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Donald “Del” Laverdure, acting on behalf of Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk who was travelling, issued on July 2, 2010, a proposed finding not to acknowledge the petitioner known as the Choctaw Nation of Florida (Petitioner #288) as an Indian tribe. The petitioner, located in Marianna, Fla., has approximately 77 members. It claims to be a group of Choctaw Indians that migrated from North Carolina to Georgia, and then Florida following the Indian removal of the 1830s.

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk on June 24, 2010, issued a final approval to the May 11, 2010, proposed Class III Gaming Compact (Compact) between the Seminole Tribe of Florida (Tribe) and the State of Florida (State). The signing of the approval letter was conducted on his behalf by Deputy Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Del Laverdure.

WASHINGTON – Secretary Ken Salazar has laid out his vision that restoration of tribal lands is key to Interior’s strategy of empowering tribes and that there must be an improved land-into-trust process for non-gaming applications, Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk said today.

WASHINGTON – The Department of the Interior will continue to process eligible pending applications for gaming on Indian lands while it consults and collaborates with tribal leaders in a comprehensive review of federal Indian gaming policy, Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk said today.

WASHINGTON – Bureau of Indian Affairs Director Michael S. Black today announced that he has named Weldon “Bruce” Loudermilk as Regional Director of the BIA’s Great Plains Regional Office in Aberdeen, S.D. Loudermilk, an enrolled member of the Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes of the Fort Peck Indian Reservation in Montana, had been serving as the acting regional director since March 18, 2010. The Great Plains Regional Office oversees 12 agencies serving 16 federally recognized tribes located within the states of Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota.

WASHINGTON – Acting Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs George T. Skibine on June 13, 2010, issued a final determination that affirms the proposed finding of December 15, 2009, to acknowledge the Shinnecock Indian Nation (Petitioner #4) as an Indian tribe. This petitioner, located in Southampton, Suffolk County, N.Y., has 1,292 members.

WASHINGTON, DC – Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today applauded the Senate’s confirmation of Tracie Stevens as chair of the National Indian Gaming Commission. The President nominated Stevens on April 28, 2010.

“Tracie Stevens brings to the commission a wealth of expertise and experience from a distinguished career working on both tribal government and gaming issues,” Salazar said. “She will be an outstanding chair of the National Indian Gaming Commission.”

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk today announced that the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ Division of Transportation has obligated to-date $29.9 million of $38.7 million in funding under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (P.L. 111-5) to perform maintenance on transportation infrastructure on the Navajo Nation reservation in northeastern Arizona. These ARRA-funded maintenance projects will enhance or repair approximately 760 miles of roads and repair 41 bridges used by residents and visitors travelling through the Navajo Nation.

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk today announced a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) and NIKE, Inc. The MOU presents an opportunity for both the BIE and Nike to address health and social lifestyle choices in American Indian and Alaska Native communities that contribute to disease and other medical conditions.

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk today announced that he has selected Keith O. Moore as Director of the Bureau of Indian Education. Moore, an enrolled member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe in South Dakota, had been serving as the Chief Diversity Officer at the University of South Dakota since August 15, 2009. He takes over from the acting BIE director, Bartholomew “Bart” Stevens. Moore’s appointment will become effective on June 1, 2010.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk today announced that the Indian Affairs Office of Indian Energy and Economic Development (IEED), is soliciting proposals from tribes. The grants will be funded through IEED’s Energy and Mineral Development Program (EMDP) that enables tribes to assess, evaluate and promote the development of tribal energy and mineral resources. A formal solicitation was published in the Federal Register on April 27, 2010, by the Department of the Interior.

WASHINGTON – Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today applauded President Obama’s nomination of Tracie Stevens to be the chair of the National Indian Gaming Commission.

“Tracie Stevens is an outstanding choice as chair and will bring significant experience in both tribal government and gaming to the commission,” Salazar said. “She will provide strong leadership to the commission as it deals with the many complex issues associated with Indian gaming.”

WASHINGTON, DC- Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk announced today that savings in the Indian Affairs’ American Recovery and Reinvestment Act construction projects will be used to start four additional high-priority school projects in Arizona, New Mexico and South Dakota.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today announced the winning college and high school teams that designed and built the most efficient portable wind turbine systems as part of the 2010 Indian Education Renewable Energy Challenge with the Argonne National Laboratory. The awards were presented today at the Interior Department’s headquarters in Washington, D.C.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk today announced that he has named Michael S. Black as Director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Black, an enrolled member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe in South Dakota, had been serving as the acting BIA Director since March 18, 2010. He takes over from Jerold L. “Jerry” Gidner who is now the Special Counselor in the Office of the Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs. Black’s appointment became effective on April 25, 2010.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar issued the following statement regarding remarks made at the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues by United States Permanent Representative to the United Nations Ambassador Susan E. Rice on April 20, 2010:

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk today announced that the Indian Affairs Office of Acquisition and Property Management (OAPM) will conduct tribal consultation with the federally recognized tribes on draft regulations to implement the Buy Indian Act (25 U.S.C. 47), which provides authority to set aside procurement contracts for qualified Indian-owned businesses. A letter announcing the meetings was sent to tribal leaders on March 26, 2010. A notice announcing the meetings was published in the Federal Register also on March 26.

Albuquerque, NM – Today Assistant Secretary for Policy, Management, and Budget at the Department of the Interior Rhea Suh delivered welcoming remarks at the Federal Employment Workshop: Accessing Employment with the Department of the Interior at the Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute (SIPI) in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The Federal Employment Workshop is part of Secretary Ken Salazar’s Youth in the Great Outdoors Initiative aimed at employing, educating, and engaging youth in America’s great outdoors.

Washington, D.C. – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk today was joined by the Department of Interior Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) employees, tribal leaders from the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Nation and the Flathead Joint Board of Control to announce a unique and historic agreement.

On Thursday, April 8, 2010, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar will present awards to the winning high school and college teams of the 2010 Indian Education Renewable Energy Challenge in a ceremony at the Interior Department’s South Interior Building in Washington, D.C. The event will take place in the South Interior Auditorium from 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. (EDT).

WASHINGTON – Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and Assistant Secretary Larry Echo Hawk expressed their deepest condolences to the family and friends of Wilma Mankiller, the former Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation, who passed away today, praising her as a dynamic and visionary leader dedicated to the wellbeing and betterment of her tribal community.

On April 7, 2010 the Department of the Interior will launch the First Annual Federal Employment Workshop in partnership with Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute. In February, Secretary Salazar challenged the Interior bureaus to increase youth employment opportunities in 2010 by 50 percent over 2009 figures and in 2011 by 60 percent. A key component of the Secretary’s Youth in the Great Outdoors initiative, this new challenge will give a big boost to youth employment and education programs throughout the nation.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Secretary Ken Salazar today announced that the Department of the Interior has moved to the next stage in its plan of actions to develop a department-wide tribal nations consultation policy by constituting a Tribal Consultation Team. The Team will consist of 12 tribal officials and alternates representing federally recognized tribes in each Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) region along with representatives from each DOI Bureau or Office. Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk notified tribal leaders by letter on March 23 and requested nominations.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today announced that the Office of Indian Energy and Economic Development has awarded $3.7 million to tribes that are developing renewable energy resources for their communities. Access to these resources will allow these communities to develop jobs and additional economic opportunities on their reservations, while decreasing their reliance on fossil fuels.

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk will give the luncheon keynote address at the U.S. Department of Justice’s National Symposium on Child Protection in Indian Country being held March 9-11, 2010, at the Hyatt Regency Tamaya Resort at the Santa Ana Pueblo in New Mexico. He will speak on Tuesday, March 9, from 12:30 to 1:45 p.m. (MST).

WASHINGTON – Bureau of Indian Affairs Director Jerold L. “Jerry” Gidner today announced that he has named Diane K. Rosen as Regional Director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ Midwest Regional Office in Ft. Snelling, Minn. Rosen, who has ancestry from two federally recognized tribes in Wisconsin, the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians where she is enrolled and the Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians, had been serving as the acting regional director since October 25, 2009.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Secretary Ken Salazar today announced the Interior Department’s plan of actions, as directed by President Obama in his memorandum dated November 5, 2009, to implement Executive Order 13175, Consultation and Coordination With Indian Tribal Governments, which directs Executive Branch departments and agencies to develop policies on tribal consultation and cooperation.

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk today announced that the Deputy Assistant Secretary − Indian Affairs Del Laverdure will be the Featured Speaker in Las Vegas, Nev., at the 24th Annual Reservation Economic Summit (RES 2010). The event runs from February 21-24, 2010. Laverdure will speak to the many accomplishments and projects being undertaken by the Office of the Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk today announced that he has named Bartholomew “Bart” Stevens as Acting Director of the Bureau of Indian Education while the process for finding a permanent director continues. The temporary appointment became effective February 2. The vacancy announcement for the post opened last November and closed on February 1.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk today announced that he has named Paula L. Hart as Director of the IA Office of Indian Gaming. Hart, an enrolled member of the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe in New York, had been serving as the office’s acting director since May 2008. The appointment became effective on February 1, 2010.

Washington, D.C. – Bureau of Indian Affairs Director Jerold L. “Jerry” Gidner today announced that he has named William Tandy “Bill” Walker as the Regional Director of the BIA’s Southwest Regional Office in Albuquerque, N.M. His appointment became effective on December 20, 2009. The Southwest Regional Office oversees nine BIA agencies serving the 25 federally recognized tribes located in the states of New Mexico, Colorado, and Texas.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – President Obama’s proposed $2.6 billion budget request for Indian Affairs is a fiscally responsible plan that focuses strategic investments to empower tribal nations. Overall, the proposed budget is a net decrease of $3.6 million from the 2010 enacted level, when taking into account the elimination of the one-time increase in 2010 to forward fund the tribal colleges.

ALBUQUERQUE, NM (January 12, 2010) – U.S. Department of the Interior officials today welcomed college football All-American and Rhodes Scholar Myron Rolle to Isleta Elementary School at the Pueblo of Isleta, New Mexico, American Indian Reservation to kick off the new Our Way to Health™ Program.

ALBUQUERQUE, NM (January 12, 2010) – U.S. Department of the Interior officials today welcomed college football All-American and Rhodes Scholar Myron Rolle to Isleta Elementary School at the Pueblo of Isleta, New Mexico, American Indian Reservation to kick off the new Our Way to Health™ Program.

WASHINGTON, DC. – As a follow-up to the Tribal Conference held at the Department of the Interior this past November, today Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan met with prominent American Indian educators to discuss the educational challenges and opportunities facing tribal communities and share strategies that have helped to advance opportunities for American Indian students around the Nation.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Assistant Secretary–Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk today announced that Indian Affairs Office of Indian Energy and Economic Development (IEED) and the Bureau of Indian Affairs Office of Trust Services, working in partnership with Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) are planning to hold a series of tribal energy transmission system planning workshops for tribal leaders and tribal resource managers.

WASHINGTON, DC (January 8, 2010) – U.S. Department of the Interior officials will welcome college football All-American and Rhodes Scholar Myron Rolle to Bureau of Indian Education schools in New Mexico and Arizona on January 12-13 to kick off the new Our Way to Health™ Program.

Washington, D.C. – Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk today announced that the Indian Affairs program to recruit and train American Indian and Alaska Native postsecondary students in the field of energy and natural resources management is accepting applications for twelve internships in its 2010 class. The application deadline is March 15 for an internship period beginning May 25 through August 6.