News by Year

Russell Felicia, a graduate of South Dakota State University, recently completed the BIA Office of Trust Services Pathways Internship Program for Wildland Firefighters.

Learning how to write key messages and using those messages in the right context and platform can be tricky. That is why the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma sponsored “Getting Your Message Out, Wildland Fire Prevention Key Message Training for Indian Country.”

Many Tribes conduct frequent vegetation treatments in and around their communities as a means of protecting their homes, resources and other values from the damaging effects of wildfires. For scientists wishing to prove the effectiveness of these treatments, collecting documentation can be difficult. This is because ecologists can only evaluate treatments after a randomly occurring wildfire burns the treated area. New developments in the Department of the Interior Fire Treatment Effectiveness Model (FTEM) may help overcome this challenge.

WASHINGTON – Today, Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Tara Mac Lean Sweeney announced the Blackwater Community School, located within the Gila River Indian Community in Coolidge, Ariz., will receive $30.1 million dollars, and the Quileute Tribe will receive $44.1 million dollars for the Quileute Tribal School located on Quileute reservation in La Push, Wash., to award design-build contracts for new school buildings.

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Tara Mac Lean Sweeney announced today that the Office of Indian Energy and Economic Development (IEED) has awarded business development grants totaling $400,000 to 12 federally recognized American Indian and Alaska Native tribes.

The awards from IEED’s Native American Business Development Institute (NABDI) Feasibility Study Program will enable tribal leaders to better evaluate and identify viable economic opportunities for their communities.

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary - Indian Affairs Tara Sweeney announced today that the Department of the Interior has signed agreements with the Oglala Sioux Tribe of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, the Northern Cheyenne Tribe of the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation in Montana, and the Santee Sioux Nation of the Santee Sioux Reservation in Nebraska to guide implementation of the Land Buy-Back Program for Tribal Nations at each of these reservations.

Washington, D.C. – The Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) announced today the release of the BIE Strategic Direction (“Direction”) for 2018-2023. The Direction is designed to improve the ability of the BIE to increase its services to Native students by organizing management activities, setting priorities, and ensuring efficient and effective utilization of staff and resources.

WASHINGTON – Earlier this month, Tara Mac Lean Sweeney, a prominent Alaskan leader and acclaimed businesswoman with the Arctic Slope Regional Corporation, was sworn in as the Department’s Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs. Sweeney was nominated by President Donald J. Trump in October 2017. Sweeney, a member of the Native Village of Barrow and the Iñupiat Community of the Arctic Slope, is the first Alaska Native and only the second woman in history to hold the position.

On August 2, 2018, Fire Commissioners from each of the Northeast Forest Fire Protection Commission Compact (NFFPC) approved the Bureau of Indian Affairs request to allow Tribes and agencies in Eastern Region to become members to NFFPC.

Bena MN – The Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke was among the dignitaries to speak at the dedication of the newly constructed Bug-O-Nay-Ge-Shig High School on the Leech Lake reservation, a replacement building resulting from the combination of efforts made over 25 years. The new building replaces the metal clad pole barn, a structure originally built as an auto mechanic shop and bus garage. It lacked proper insulation that made regular classroom sessions difficult during Minnesota’s harsh winters.

FARGO, ND - Today, U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke recognized Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) - Turtle Mountain Agency Law Enforcement Officers Stacey Larocque and Michael Slater and BIA-Standing Rock Agency Law Enforcement Officers Wayland Bad Hand and Gary Sandland with the Secretary’s Commendation Award for their quick and heroic actions to save the lives of individuals who overdosed on deadly, synthetic opioid drugs.

WASHINGTON – Yesterday, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke and Principal Deputy Secretary for Indian Affairs John Tahsuda met with a group of high school students from across Indian Country. The students are in Washington, D.C., with George Washington University's INSPIRE Pre-College Program which is an abridged version of the school's Native American Political Leadership Program, a semester-long internship program for college and graduate students.

WASHINGTON – Today U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke and the Bureau of Indian Affairs announced the selection of Eugene R. Peltola Jr. (of Yupik and Tlingit descent), from Orutsararmiut Native Council, a federally recognized tribal government, as Regional Director for the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) in Alaska. The BIA Alaska Regional Office oversees offices in Anchorage and Fairbanks, all of which provide services to 227 federally recognized Alaska Native tribes. The selection of Mr. Peltola, fulfills a commitment Secretary Zinke made to Alaska Natives while visiting in 2017.

On July 10, 2018 firefighters from the Oregon Department of Forestry-Northeast Oregon District and Bureau of Indian Affairs, Umatilla Agency, gathered near Meacham, Oregon for a unique training opportunity with the Oregon National Guard. 30 firefighters were on scene to participate in an interagency training session with Guard members using their Boeing CH-47 Chinook helicopter, a large helicopter used for transporting water during wildfire suppression activities.

On July 10, all Branch of Wildland Fire Management staff attended a Stress Management and Resilience Training (SMART) in Boise, ID. The training was designed to give staff a deeper understanding into how to support regions and agencies with dealing with serious incidents while giving staff skills to manage stressful work environments.

WASHINGTON— U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke and Blackfeet Nation Chairman Harry Barnes today signed documents implementing the Blackfeet Water Rights Settlement of 2016 and the accompanying Blackfeet Water Compact, which resolve a decades-long battle by the Blackfeet Tribe of Montana to protect its water rights while also accommodating state and federal water requirements. Secretary Zinke has worked on the issue as a State Senator in the Montana State Legislature, as the U.S. Representative from Montana, and now as Secretary of the Interior.

Red Lake Reservation, located in the northern reaches of Minnesota, is home to the Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians. In May 2018, the Red Lake Helitack module assisted the Tribe with completing a 41,000 acre vegetation management project designed to thin the forest understory and restore the forest ecosystem.

In the spring of 2018, BIA began advertising student internship positions to work in the BIA, Office of Trust Services Pathways Internship Program. After receiving a healthy number of applicants, BIA selected seven interns for the 2018 year to explore careers in wildland fire management.

On July 25, 2008 a felling accident occurred on the Eagle Fire of the Iron Complex located on the Shasta Trinity National Forest. This accident, commonly known as the Dutch Creek Serious Accident, killed firefighter Andrew “Andy” Palmer and forever changed how the wildland fire community prepares for and responds to medical incidents.

During the week of June 23, regional fire management staff from Eastern and Midwestern regions completed a basic Wildland Firefighting Training school, (S-130,190, I-100, L-180) at the Passamaquoddy Tribal Government- Indian Township in Maine.

WASHINGTON - From May 15, 2018 through May 26, 2018, the Department of the Interior (DOI) Opioid Reduction Task Force conducted a Criminal Interdiction Operation in and around Tribal reservations in Arizona, seizing 9,050 Fentanyl pills, 48.2 pounds of methamphetamine, 1.2 pounds of heroin, 863 pounds of marijuana, one-half pound of cocaine, and $30,000 in cash. In total, the drug bust yielded a seizure of 913.5 pounds of illegal narcotics, with a street value of approximately $4,791,417.00, and led to 86 total arrests.

WASHINGTON – U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke announced today that the Laguna Elementary School in New Laguna, New Mexico, will receive $26.2 million for the construction of a new school.

WASHINGTON – Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs John Tahsuda spoke today of the courage and sacrifices of Indian Country’s fallen police officers during the 27th Annual Indian Country Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Service, which was held on the Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers campus in Artesia, N.M.

WASHINGTON –Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs John Tahsuda, Federal Law Enforcement Training Center Director Thomas J. Walters, Navajo Nation Department of Public Safety Director Jesse Delmar and the Department of the Interior-Office of Law Enforcement and Security Director Darren Cruzan, are among federal and Indian Country representatives slated to speak at the 27 th Annual Indian Country Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Service on Thursday, May 3, 2018, at the United States Indian Police Academy in Artesia, N.M.

Albuquerque, N.M. – Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs John Tahsuda delivered remarks at Interior Days during the 2018 Annual Tribal Self-Governance Consultation Conference, celebrating the 30th Anniversary of the Tribal Self-Governance, held at the Albuquerque Convention Center. This year’s conference registration peaked around 900 attendees.

Secretary Zinke welcomed conference attendees via videoconference:

The Bureau of Indian Affairs has named Josh Simmons as the new Director of Fire Operations for the Branch of Wildland Fire Management. Simmons succeeds Dalan Romero, who retired at the end of 2017.

WASHINGTON – Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary - Indian Affairs John Tahsuda announced today that the Department of the Interior has signed an agreement with the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation in Oregon to guide implementation of the Land Buy-Back Program for Tribal Nations.

Each year within the Department of the Interior, the Office of Wildland Fire (OWF) manages nearly $1 billion in funding and coordinates its distribution to the four bureaus (Bureau of Indian Affairs, Bureau of Land Management, Fish and Wildlife Service, and National Park Service), which conduct wildland fire management services that protect, restore, and manage our nation’s treasured landscapes. Of the nearly 70,000 employees of the Department, approximately 5,000 of them are wildland firefighters. Facing a changing and complex landscape that will have even greater demands in the future, our workforce must be as aggressive and dynamic as the landscape they will be managing over the next 100 years.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

On June 15, 2016 the Cedar Fire started on Fort Apache Indian Reservation, southwest of Show Low, Arizona. Nearly 72 square miles of invaluable resources burned before the fire was finally contained on July 1, 2016. Left in its wake were homes, churches, a cemetery, a school, and a sewer lagoon at risk of post fire damages. Cultural resources, wildlife and soil were also at risk of erosion, flooding and habitat loss.

In 2016, regional and national BIA fire leaders identified several challenges facing Indian Country’s wildland fire management program. Of key concern is Indian’ Country’s commitment to build sustainable fire management leadership.