Past News Items

WASHINGTON – Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Aurene M. Martin today announced she has issued a Notice of Final Determination to decline to acknowledge as an Indian tribe a group known as the Snohomish Tribe of Indians located in and around Edmonds, Wash. The Snohomish petitioning group did not demonstrate that it met all seven mandatory criteria for Federal acknowledgment as an Indian tribe under 25 CFR Part 83, Procedures for Establishing that an American Indian Group Exists as an Indian Tribe.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Tara Katuk Sweeney was in Anchorage, Alaska, to open the sixth office to investigate cold cases involving missing and murdered American Indians and Alaska Natives. She was also joined by Commissioner Jean Hovland with the Administration for Native Americans and Bureau of Indian Affairs-Office of Justice Services Director Charles Addington. This is an initiative of Operation Lady Justice, the task force established to address missing and murdered American Indians and Alaska Natives.

The Department of the Interior has submitted to Congress a proposal for legislation that would donate 640 acres in Sandoval County, New Mexico, to the Indian Pueblos of Zia and Jemez, Assistant Secretary Roger Ernst announced today.

WASHINGTON – Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Aurene M. Martin will meet with tribal leaders October 27 through 30, 2003, in Las Vegas, Nev., at a series of consultation meetings on the realignment of the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ (BIA) Alaska, Great Plains, Navajo, Northwest, Pacific, Rocky Mountain, Southwest and Western regional and agency offices. The meetings will be held at the MGM Grand Hotel (3799 Las Vegas Blvd.) starting daily at 9:00 a.m. (PST).

WASHINGTON – The Department of the Interior announced today that it has once again made substantial progress in Fiscal Year 2020 to reduce the risk of wildfire nationwide, treating 1.5 million acres of public land. The Bureau of Indian Affairs treated more than 364,000 acres across Indian Country, which is a record for the bureau.

The Department of the Interior today announced its support of legislation that would give the Nez Perce Indian Tribe of Idaho beneficial ownership of about 1,700 acres on the Nez Perce Reservation subject to the right of the United States to use the land for agency, school or administrative purposes.

The Tribe has indicated that it intends to use a substantial portion of the land for the development of an "Indian village" as a tourist attraction.

TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – As part of his continuing visits to Bureau of Indian Affairs schools, Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs David W. Anderson today regaled students, staff and faculty of Sequoyah High School, a BIA-funded facility for grades 9-12 operated by the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, with his experiences and expertise that have ultimately led to both personal and business success for the highest-ranking American Indian at the Interior Department.

The Department of the Interior today announced the award of a $574,589 school construction contract which will provide facilities for 120 additional Indian children at the Oglala School on the Pine Ridge Reservation at Pine Ridge, South Dakota.

The contract provides for construction of a two-story brick and concrete masonry building with 24 classrooms and a library. This new building will replace the existing elementary school which is extremely overcrowded and structurally unsound. Capacity of the school will be increased from 786 to 906 pupils.

WASHINGTON – Interior Secretary Gale Norton and Acting Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Aurene M. Martin will join students, parents, and tribal officials on August 28, 2003, to celebrate the opening of Baca/Dlo’ay azhi Community School, a new Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA)-operated day school located in Prewitt, N.M.

The Department of the Interior today recommended enactment of legislation for construction of the Navajo Indian Irrigation Project and the initial stage of the San Juan-Chama Project.

In a report to Congress, the Department supported R.R. 2352 and R.R. 2494, identical bills authorizing construction and maintenance of the two projects as participating projects of the Colorado River Storage Project.