Past News Items

The Bureau of Indian Affairs has published eligibility criteria and application procedures for Indian tribes interested in participating in the Tribal Managers Corps program, Commissioner of Indian Affairs William E. Hallett said today.

WASHINGTON - Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Lawrence S. Roberts, who leads the Office of the Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs, today announced the Department’s decision to place a 1.08-acre land parcel owned by the Craig Tribal Association, a federally recognized tribe headquartered in the City of Craig, Alaska, into federal Indian trust status.

Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall today announced three appointments to high-level positions in the Bureau of Indian Affairs and said the appointments were "key steps in making the Bureau more responsive to the needs of the Indian people."

Named to the top-level posts under Commissioner of Indian Affairs Robert LaFollette Bennett were:

-- Theodore W. Taylor, a career civil servant, to be Deputy Commissioner. Taylor has been Assistant to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution since 1959, and is a veteran of Interior and BIA service.

Secretary of the Interior Cecil D. Andrus today announced the Justice Department will not seek offsets against future monetary awards in Indian claims cases f or federal monies paid out under the Indian Self-Determination Act

"I was concerned that the tribes not be made reluctant to take over the responsibilities for many of the programs in operation on their land," said Andrus. "The provisions of the Indian Self-Determination Act easily could be frustrated if the trade-off for self-determination is a cloud over pending tribal claims."

WASHINGTON - The Department of Justice, the Department of the Army and the Department of the Interior issued the following statement regarding Standing Rock Sioux Tribe v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers:

Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall announced today that the Department's Distinguished Service Award will be presented June 4 to 42 outstanding employees and former employees and Valor Awards to 9 others for acts of bravery in which they risked their own lives in successful rescues. Award ceremonies will be in the Interior Building Auditorium, Washington, D.C., at 2 p.m.

Interior Assistant Secretary Ken Smith has appointed Carl Shaw, a Cherokee Indian, as his special assistant and director of public affairs for the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Smith said that Shaw would be the principal counselor to the Assistant Secretary and the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Operations on all matters of public affairs nature.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – As part of President Obama’s Generation Indigenous (“Gen-I”) initiative to remove barriers standing between Native youth and their opportunity to succeed, Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Kevin K. Washburn today announced two Indian Affairs initiatives offering learning and training opportunities to Native youth: the Native American Water Corps internships and the Energy Challenge for Native Youth.

WHITE MOUNTAIN APACHES ESTABLISH PRIMITIVE AREA

The White Mountain Apache Tribal Council has voted to set aside a 7,400-acre tract on its Arizona reservation as a primitive area for the next five years. The area, which includes Mount Baldy on the east boundary of the reservation, will not be subject to any development, timber cutting, or vehicular traffic, except as needed for fire or insect control operations. It will remain under tribal control and-is not part of the National Wilderness Preservation system.

Interior Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Ken Smith has appointed Jacob Lestenkof, an Aleut from St. George Island, Alaska, as the Bureau of Indian Affairs' area director for Alaska. The BIA's Alaska area office is in Juneau.

Lestenkof's appointment is Smith's first official action as Assistant Secretary, since being sworn into office May 15.

Smith said Lestenkof's "extensive experience with both Alaska Native organizations and the government demonstrated his qualifications for this position of critical importance to the Alaska Natives."