Past News Items

Responsibility for the administration of the Federal Water Pollution Control program was transferred today to the Department of the Interior from the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare.

Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall began immediately to exercise his new authority by issuing guidelines to the States for the setting of water quality standards on the Nation's interstate waters.

Dr. S. Gabe Paxton, Jr., a Choctaw Indian, has been appointed to serve as Deputy Director, Office of Indian Education Programs, Kenneth L. Smith, Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs, announced today.

Most recently, Paxton held positions of Area Vocational Development Officer and Area Indian Self Determination Officer at the Bureau of Indian Affairs Muskogee Area Office in Muskogee, Oklahoma. In 1977 he was the Associate Deputy Commissioner for Indian Education in the Department of Health, Education and Welfare.

WASHINGTON – U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell today announced that Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Kevin K. Washburn, after more than three years of leadership, will conclude his service to the Department and will return to the faculty of the University of New Mexico School of Law in January. Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Lawrence “Larry” Roberts will lead Indian Affairs for the remainder of the Obama Administration.

With American families taking to the highways in greater numbers every year, often in search of a scenic trail or a restful campsite, Indian reservations are putting up welcome signs.

American Indians have discovered that they are the owners of some of the most scenic, unspoiled and undeveloped real estate to be found. As business men, they are turning these natural beauties into profits, with financial and technical aid from the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Interior Secretary James Watt announced today that the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) at Santa Fe, New Mexico will be moved for the 1981-82 school year to the nearby campus of the College of Santa Fe.

Watt said he approved a one-year Bureau of Indian Affairs contract with the College of Santa Fe to allow IAIA to use facilities on the campus of the 1,200-student liberal arts college.

WASHINGTON, DC – Deputy Secretary of the Interior Mike Connor today announced that nearly $1.5 million in purchase offers have been sent to more than 600 landowners with fractional interests at the Squaxin Island Indian Reservation in Washington through the Department’s Land Buy-Back Program for Tribal Nations (Buy-Back Program). Interested sellers will have until January 26, 2015, to return accepted offers.

A total of $65.8 million was awarded to Indian tribes in judgments handed down by the Indian Claims Commission during calendar year 1965, the Bureau of Indian Affairs reported today. Appropriations to meet the judgments were made during the year in 17 of the 24 cases.

Judgment funds from land claims settlements are held in trust for the tribes by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Programs for use of the funds are developed by tribal governing bodies and approved by the Secretary of the Interior.

Wyman J. McDonald, a member of the Flathead Tribe, has been appointed superintendent of the BIA's Northern Idaho Agency at Lapwai, Idaho. He succeeds Jerry Jaeger who is now the BIA area director at Aberdeen, South Dakota.

McDonald was superintendent of the Fort Hall Agency, Idaho since 1976 and had earlier been superintendent of the Mescalero Apache Agency in New Mexico.

A former Marine, McDonald, 42, is a graduate of the University of Montana.

WASHINGTON, DC – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Kevin K. Washburn today announced that the Department of the Interior has extended to Nov. 3, 2014, the public comment period on proposed regulations to reform the process by which rights-of-way on Indian lands are approved and managed. He also announced the Department will hold an additional tribal consultation session on the proposed regulations during the week of Oct. 26, 2014, during the National Congress of American Indians 2014 Annual Convention in Atlanta, Ga.

Robert L. Bennett, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, today hailed the agreement to provide electric power for the Quinault Indian village of Queets, Wash., as "the final step in bringing the basic comforts of adequate homes to this community."