Past News Items

Interior Assistant Secretary Forrest Gerard has announced that Sidney L. Mills, Director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs' Albuquerque Area, will serve as Acting Deputy Commissioner of Indian Affairs, beginning July 30.

In this capacity Mills will direct the day-to-day operations of the Bureau of Indian Affairs until, the announcement says, "the appointment of a Commissioner takes place."

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today praised the U.S. Senate’s confirmation of Larry Echo Hawk, an enrolled member of the Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma and the first American Indian in U.S. history elected as a state attorney general, to serve as the Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson today announced the appointment of James P. Howell, 53, enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation, Okla., to the post of Superintendent, San Carlos Agency, Bureau of Indian Affairs, with headquarters at San Carlos, Ariz.

Howell moves to this field position from one of Equal Employment Opportunity Officer of the Bureau in Washington, D.C., a position he has held since August 1972.

Secretary of the Interior Cecil D. Andrus has announced the excavation of the 6.8-mile-long Buckskin Mountains Tunnel is expected to be completed on Thursday, May 24. The tunnel, located near Parker, Ariz., is a major feature of the Central Arizona Project.

WASHINGTON — With the goal of better preserving and enhancing the natural and cultural heritage of the nation’s public lands and waters, five U.S. government agencies today joined the National Geographic Society in a ceremony at Society headquarters unveiling a ground-breaking framework to formally adopt the principles of geotourism.

American Indians who work for the Bureau of Indian Affairs at its headquarters in Washington, D.C., are offering three multi-colored travel posters for sale as unusual Christmas gifts.

The posters, designed by American Indian art students, are based on the theme, "Discover America with the First Americans," an invitation to visit Indian reservations at vacation time.

The posters sell for $1.75 each with all proceeds going directly into college scholarships for Indian youngsters

Zane O. Browning, a Chickasaw Indian, has been named Superintendent of the Bureau of Indian Affairs Agency at Ardmore, Oklahoma, Interior Assistant Secretary Forrest Gerard announced today.

Browning has been Program Analysis Officer in the BlA's Muskogee Area Office.

The 43-year-old Haskell Indian School alumnus has worked for the Bureau since 1955. He studied Business and Public Administration at Oklahoma State and Oklahoma University. He also completed the Interior's Departmental Management Training Program.

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Carl J. Artman today announced that the Indian Affairs Office of Indian Gaming (OIG) has cancelled its October 25, 2007, tribal consultation meeting on tribal gaming revenue allocation plans (RAPs), which was to be held at the Barona Valley Ranch Resort and Casino in Lakeside, Calif., due to Southern California’s wildland fire emergency, which is occurring near the facility’s location.

The Navajo Indian Tribe will receive more than $7.3 million, under a contract with the Bureau of Indian Affairs, to be used in public schools
serving Navajo students, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson announced today.

The contract, awarded August 11, gives the tribe administrative responsibility for the Johnson-O'Malley (JOM) programs serving the reservation.

Acting Secretary of the Interior Elmer F. Bennett today announced the Code of Federal Regulations has been amended to guarantee that Indian tribes will receive adequate offers for mineral leases on their lands.

The amendment provides greater uniformity in regulating the leasing of Indian lands for the mining of minerals other than oil and gas. It also furnishes a safeguard patterned after that which applies to oil and gas leases. The latter are required by law to be advertised, not negotiated.