Past News Items

Trump Administration Announce

Grant will replace outdated facilities as part of the historic Great American Outdoors Act.

Date: 01/19/21
Young AI/AN Woman uses computer to access internet.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Interior’s (DOI) Indian Affairs released the National Tribal Broadband Strategy (NTBS), a work product of the American Broadband Initiative. Designed as a roadmap for the Federal Government and the private sector, the NTBS highlights the strategic components to broadband deployment and expansion, and the necessary actions needed to spur investment within American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) communities.

Date: 01/16/21
Sandstone ruins in Arizona.

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Tara Sweeney today announced the appointment of Charles Addington as the Senior Advisor – Law Enforcement, Security and School Safety in the Office of the Assistant Secretary - Indian Affairs and the appointment of Jason O’Neal as the Deputy Bureau Director for the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ Office of Justice Services (BIA-OJS). The appointments become effective January 17, 2021.

Date: 01/15/21
Bison stands in the plains.

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary David L. Bernhardt signed Secretary’s Order 3390 and directed the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to facilitate the transition of property related to the National Bison Range (NBR) to the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). The BIA will formally take the land into trust for the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes (CSKT) of Montana and restore the land to the Flathead Indian Reservation.

Date: 01/15/21
Eagle flying over body of water.

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary -- Indian Affairs Tara Katuk Sweeney announced today that Indian Affairs’ Office of Indian Energy and Economic Development (IEED) has approved $762,346 in Native American Business Development Institute (NABDI) grants to fund 14 federally recognized American Indian and Alaska Native tribes and tribal entities to perform feasibility studies of proposed economic development projects, businesses, and technologies located in designated Opportunity Zones.

Date: 01/14/21
Tribal Flags next to the American Flag

Office is last of seven established starting in July 2020.

Date: 01/13/21
Hall of Flags

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Tara Katuk Sweeney today announced proposed changes to regulations put in place in 2008 that govern the probating of trust and restricted property belonging to individual American Indians and Alaska Natives. The proposed changes would streamline Department of the Interior’s current process.

Date: 01/08/21
Oregon Tree line with mountain range in the distance. Blue Sky. Photo Credit: Makenzie Cooper

Approval is second under DOI’s Indian Trust Asset Management Demonstration Project

Date: 01/04/21

WASHINGTON – The Secretarial Commission on Indian Trust Administration and Reform will hold its next public meeting Feb. 12-13, 2013, Seattle, Wash. The meeting will be preceded by a public youth-outreach session the evening of Feb. 11.

“The Department of the Interior has a very important role to play in administering the federal trust responsibility, and the Commission is looking forward to discussing with the public how we can work together on ways to improve the Department’s management of Indian trust lands and assets,” said Commission Chair Fawn Sharp.

Date: to

Acting Commissioner of Indian Affairs Raymond V. Butler announced today that he has extended the period for review and comment on proposed regulations governing the adoption of tribal water codes on Indian reservations published in the Federal Register March 17. The deadline has been extended from April 18 to June 2, 1977.

The regulations establish standards which tribal water codes must meet to be approved by the Secretary of the Interior.

Tribal water codes deal with the use on reservations of water subject to tribal control.

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