Past News Items

The Department of the Interior announced today that it is withdrawing a proposal submitted to Congress on March 4, 1960, for the enactment of legislation that would end Federal trusteeship and supervision over the property of the Lower Elwha Band of Indians in Clallam County, Washington.

The Department’s proposal has been introduced as H. R. 11104.

(Washington, D.C.) -- The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) Office of Law Enforcement Services (OLES) will hold its 13th Annual Memorial Service on Thursday May 6, 2004, to commemorate the sacrifice made by law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty while serving on Indian lands. The Memorial Service will start at 10:00 A.M. MDT on the BIA Indian Police Academy grounds in Artesia, New Mexico.

Award of a $298,469.48 contract for construction of additional irrigation works on the Hogback Unit of the Navajo Indian reservation near Shiprock, New Mexico, was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

Two major items are included in the contract: (1) 5,932 linear feet of main canal with a capacity of 130 cubic feet per second, and (2) 3,600 linear feet of 60 inch diameter steel pipe across Malpais Arroyo.

SALEM, Ore. – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs David W. Anderson shared his message of hope and the philosophies he credits for the personal and business successes in his life at a visit today with the students, faculty and staff of Chemawa Indian School, a Bureau of Indian Affairs-operated boarding school for grades 9-12 located just outside of the city of Salem. This was the new assistant secretary’s first visit to the school since his swearing-in last month.

Award of two contracts totaling $255,749 for road and bridge construction on the Cheyenne River and Lower Brule Indian Reservations in South Dakota was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

WASHINGTON – Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Aurene Martin today announced her final decision to acknowledge that the Schaghticoke Tribal Nation exists as an Indian tribe within the meaning of Federal law. The Schaghticoke Tribal Nation, as defined in the Assistant Secretary’s final determination, meets the regulatory requirements for a government-to-government relationship with the United States.

A $178,907.28 contract for construction of two bridges on Navajo Route 1 in New Mexico was awarded today by the Department of the Interior.

These bridges in San Juan County will replace two timber structures that no longer will carry the heavy traffic which the oil and mining operations in northern Arizona and southeastern Utah have generated.

One 2-span pre-stressed concrete box-girder bridge will be constructed across Rattlesnake Wash west of Shiprock, New Mexico, and one 6-spansteel-girder bridge with a concrete deck will cross the Red Rock Wash.

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Neal A. McCaleb today announced the awarding of a $250,000 grant to the Metlakatla Indian Community (MIC) of the Annette Island Reserve in southeast Alaska to support the tribe’s efforts to explore mineral development on its lands. The grant will fund an environmental review of the tribe’s Bald Ridge Aggregate Project, a proposed quarry that would help alleviate high unemployment among tribal members and provide a source of high quality crushed rock for infrastructure projects in the Pacific Northwest.

The Department of the Interior today announced its endorsement of H. R. 6128, a bill that will permit members of the Catawba Indian Tribe of South Carolina to divide their tribal assets and discontinue their special Indian relations with the Federal Government.

The Catawba Indians have requested such legislation and have explicitly approved the provisions of H. R. 6128.

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Neal A. McCaleb today announced he has issued a Notice of Final Determination whereby he declined to acknowledge that the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe (petitioner #111, formerly known as Ohlone/Costanoan Muwekma Tribe) located in San Jose, Calif., exists as an Indian tribe within the meaning of Federal law. The decision is based on a determination that the petitioner does not satisfy three of seven mandatory criteria set forth under 25 CFR Part 83, specifically 83.7(a), 83.7(b) and 83.7(c).