Past News Items

This building we are dedicating today is testimony to the enterprising spirit of the Turtle Mountain Chippewa Indian Tribe, the business wisdom of the men who recognized a market for low-cost authentic reproductions of Chippewayan handicraft, and the concern of congress, the Department of the Interior, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs for economic improvement among the Indian people.

In an effort to resolve tribal and non-tribal allocations of Klamath River salmon, Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt and Commerce Secretary Ron Brown today agreed to a management plan designed to improve conservation measures while providing for additional salmon harvest now and in the future for Klamath River tribes.

In addition, the agreement by the two secretaries ensures that a definitive legal ruling on future allocations of Klamath River chinook stocks will be issued before Sept. 30 of this year.

The Interior Department's Acting Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs, John Fritz, ruled today that the attempted removal June 2 of eight members of the business committee of the Wisconsin Winnebago Indian Tribe would not be recognized because procedures required by the tribe's constitution had not been followed.

"We decline to recognize the attempted June 2 removal," Fritz said, "but will recognize the results of a special general council removal hearing conducted in accordance with Wisconsin Winnebago law."

I am grateful for the opportunity of discussing our mutual concern for a sound program for American citizens of Indian ancestry at this conference. The backdrop of our discussions is a national concern, and national action, on what John Kenneth Galbraith has called "insular poverty". Insular poverty, as distinguished from "case” poverty, is the poverty of an area or a region, of a community or of an Indian reservation. It has its roots in economic dislocations, changing technology, declining resources of water or soil, or geographic or cultural isolation.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs has announced that it is publishing in the Federal Register, July 21, 1982, regulations to govern the preparation of a membership roll of the Pribilof Islands Aleut Communities of St. Paul and St. George. The roll to be prepared will serve as a basis for a per capita distribution of judgment funds awarded to the communities by the U.S. Court of Claims.

For additional information, contact the Enrollment Coordinator, Enrollment Coordinating Office, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Pouch 7-1971, Anchorage, Alaska 99510, telephone 907/271-3761.

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The Department of the Interior said today it has asked Congress to enact legislation to increase by $3 million the authorization for a program of adult vocational training for Indians administered by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Several identical bills pending in Congress call for raising the annual operating funds from the present $12 million to a new high of $15 million.

The program, which began in 1958, is designed to help increase the employability of Indian men and women. It is open to those between 18 and 35 years old.

Interior Assistant Secretary Ross Swimmer Thursday told Senator James McClure that every option will be examined before a final decision is made concerning the relocation of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) agency office in Lapwai.

“I assured Senator McClure that we would look at remodeling the present site; other sites in the area; or new construction. We will not make a decision until all of those have been considered,” Swimmer said.

The Bureau of Reclamation and the National Park Service have entered into an agreement on the construction and management of recreation at Yellowtail Darn and Reservoir in Montana and Wyoming, the Department of the Interior reported today.

A proposed project to develop oil and gas resources within the boundaries of the Miccosukee Indian Reservation in Florida would not create significant environmental issues or concerns, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) has concluded.

The BIA has prepared an environmental assessment on a proposal by Natural Resource Management Corporation, Tesoro Petroleum Corporation and American Quasar Petroleum Company to engage in explorations, development and production activity for oil and gas on the reservation.

Thirty-three Indian high school students are among 700 youngsters from all over the country, representing the National Association of Student Councils in a leadership workshop scheduled June 16 through June 30, in the Washington, D.C. and Baltimore areas.

The workshop is sponsored annually by the National Association of Secondary School Principals, but this is the first time that Indian students have been involved, the result of a working agreement recently completed between the Principals' group and the Bureau of Indian Affairs.