Past News Items

WASHINGTON, D.C. – As part of President Obama’s commitment to help strengthen American Indian communities, the Department of the Interior today released its revised Land Buy-Back Program Valuation Plan. The Appraisal Foundation (TAF), the nation’s foremost authority on appraisal standards and qualifications, performed a comprehensive review of the draft Plan, which was revised to incorporate all of TAF’s recommendations.

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.

A recent Supreme Court decision that Indian tribes have no inherent criminal jurisdiction over non-Indians does not leave a void in criminal law enforcement on reservations, Interior Department Solicitor Leo M. Krulitz said in an opinion released today

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell will hold a news media conference call with reporters to discuss President Obama’s establishment of the White House Council on Native American Affairs. Members of the media may participate in the call by dialing 1-888-810-6756 and providing the access code INTERIOR.

The largest oil and gas mining lease sale ever made by the Bureau of Indian Affairs will be offered prospective bidders at a sale to be held at Window Rock, Arizona, April 21, May 1, May 12, and May 22, Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay announced today.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs has received petitions from forty Indian groups seeking to be acknowledged by the Federal Government as Indian tribes. A list of the forty groups, from 21 states, is being published in the Federal Register as required by regulations made effective October 2, 1978. These regulations establish the procedures for establishing that an American Indian group exists as an American Indian Tribe.

WASHINGTON – The Secretarial Commission on Indian Trust Administration and Reform will hold its next public meeting on April 29, 2013, in Nashville, Tennessee. An online component of the meeting will be available for those who are unable to attend.

Transfer of Frell M. Owl on January 26 from the position of superintendent of the Northern Idaho Indian Agency, Lapwai, Idaho, to the same position at the Fort Hall Agency near Pocatello was announced today by Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay.

Laura Bergt, a noted Eskimo leader, has been appointed as one of the five Commissioners of the Indian Arts and Crafts Board, Secretary of the Interior Thomas S. Kleppe announced today.

WASHINGTON – As part of President Obama’s commitment to honoring a nation-to-nation relationship with Indian Country, four cabinet-level departments today joined the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation in releasing an action plan to strengthen the protection of Indian sacred sites and provide greater tribal access to these heritage areas.