Past News Items

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."

Recommendations designed to eliminate certain management practices and to strengthen the organizational structure of the Washington headquarters Office of Territories, Department of the Interior, have been approved by Under Secretary Ralph Tudor.

A four man survey team which was assigned the task of surveying the operations of the Office said in its report that its recommendations would correct internal operating procedures by clarifying lines of authority and improving organizational relationships.

WASHINGTON– Acting Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Lawrence S. Roberts today announced final, updated measures to protect the rights of Indian children, their parents and their tribes in state child welfare proceedings. The measures, comprised in a final rule announced today, will support the stability and security of Indian families and tribes by providing a more consistent interpretation of the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 (ICWA), regardless of the child welfare worker, judge or state involved.

Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall today announced appointment of Eugene W. Barrett, Agricultural Extension Officer for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, to superintendency of the Seminole Agency, Hollywood, Fla.

Barrett brings to his new post a varied background as a ranger, conservationist and agricultural extension officer. His most recent assignment has been at BIA headquarters in Washington, D.C.

Legislation is being drafted in the Bureau of Indian Affairs which will authorize transfer to the State of Texas complete trust responsibility over the affairs of the 410 Alabama-Coushatta Indians living on an approximately 4,000-acre reservation in Polk County, Texas, Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay announced today.