Past News Items

Interior Assistant Secretary Kenneth. L. Smith announced today that Management Concepts, Incorporated (MCI) of Falls Church, Virginia has been awarded a $5 12,000 contract for a detailed study of the results of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971 (ANCSA).

The Secretary of the Interior, under ANCSA, must report to Congress in 1985 on actions taken to implement the act and the status of Alaska Natives.

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.

Award of an $894,186 construction contract at historic Fort Sill Indian School, Lawton, Okla., was announced today by the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Successful bidder was the V and N Construction Co., Lubbock, Tex. A total of nine bids was received, the highest $1.5 million.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs William E. Hallett today initiated a policy to quicken the recruitment, employment, and promotion of Indian women employees for mid- and senior-level supervisory/management positions in grades 9 and above

Hallett directed each BIA Area Office as well as the Central Office to: (1) determine the status of Indian women employees relative to other employees, and (2) develop recruitment plans to upgrade Indian women to a status comparable to other employees.

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. – At a signing ceremony today, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke approved the Shawnee Tribe’s application to put 102.98 acres of land in Guymon, Texas County, Oklahoma, into federal Indian trust status for gaming. The Shawnee Tribe proposes to develop a 42,309-square foot gaming facility on the site comprised of a 20,206-square foot gaming floor, a restaurant, retail space, and office spaces for the Shawnee Tribe Gaming Commission.

The Department of the Interior today announced a proposal to adopt new regulations governing the use of Indian government-owned fishing grounds by the Yakima, Umatilla, and Warm Springs Tribes and by other Columbia River Indians in the Pacific Northwest.

The lands affected are in Washington and Oregon, are under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of the Interior, and were made available to the Indians in lieu of fishing grounds flooded or destroyed when Bonneville Dam was constructed during the 1930's.

Ray F. Maldonado, a member of the Yakima Tribe, has been appointed Superintendent of the Bureau of Indian Affairs Olympic Peninsula Agency at Hoquiam, Washington, Commissioner of Indian Affairs William E. Hallett announced today.

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke applauded the efforts of a Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) Office of Justice Services (OJS) K-9 Police Officer who recently took more than 17 pounds of deadly drugs off the streets. The BIA officer was monitoring vehicle traffic on Interstate 25 on the San Felipe Pueblo Indian Reservation when he conducted a traffic stop resulting in the arrest of an individual, and the seizure of approximately 15.9 pounds of methamphetamine and 1.25 pounds of heroin.

Chairman Nakai, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen:

It is exciting to represent the Department of the Interior on this occasion. An event such as this can only happen once in a lifetime, and I am very pleased to share it with you. I have looked forward to the opportunity to become better acquainted.

I believe a Navajo must have originated the saying: "The first hundred years are the hardest." Nowhere in the United States ... and perhaps nowhere else in the world -- have a people faced challenge more ener­getically than have the Navajo in the years since 1868.

A report on current governmental problems on the Red Lake Indian Reservation, Minnesota:., prepared at the request of Interior's Acting Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Sidney Mills, has been distributed to members of the Tribal Council of the Red Lake Band of Chippewas, Mills said today.