Past News Items

Interior Secretary Cecil ·D. Andrus said today that the proposed Department of Natural Resources (DNR) will provide a more orderly process for deciding which Federal land will be developed and which will be protected as wilderness.

Andrus said the current Federal organization makes it difficult to assemble and fully analyze the information choices available.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar will hold a media roundtable tomorrow – Friday, Feb. 20, 2009 -- to discuss how the department will swiftly and responsibly implement President Obama’s economic recovery plan in order to help create jobs, generate economic activity in local communities, and renew our national parks, national wildlife refuges and other public lands and resources.

Cam1issioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson today announced the awarding of two contracts accounting to nearly $9 million in Federal money for Bureau of Indian Affairs day schools at Acomita, New Mexico, and Wanblee, South Dakota.

"These two schools, when completed, will serve a need that has existed for many years," Thompson said.

A plan for the use and distribution of $600,000 awarded to the Seneca Nation of Indians by the Indian Claims Commission is being published in the Federal Register, the Bureau of Indian Affairs said today.

The award fa compensation for leased lands within the Allegany Reservation in New York State. The major portion, of the leased lands are within the boundaries of the City of Salamanca.

According to the plan, approved by Congress and made effective February l, 1979, 80 percent of the award will be distributed on a per capita basis to members of the Seneca Nation.

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Carl J. Artman today announced he has appointed Montana attorney Majel Russell, an enrolled member of the Crow Tribe of Montana, as his new Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs. Russell succeeds George T. Skibine, the acting principle deputy assistant secretary since April 2, 2007, who will continue in his current position as director of the Indian Affairs Office of Indian Gaming Management. Russell’s appointment became effective on August 20, 2007.

Regulations to govern the preparation of a roll of members of the Apache Tribe of Oklahoma to be used for the distribution of funds awarded by the Indian Claims Commission were published in the Federal Register, August 6, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson announced today.

The Apache, Kiowa and Comanche Tribes were awarded more than $35 million as additional payment for land ceded to the United States by treaties concluded in 1865 and 1867.

The San Carlos Apache Tribe has the exclusive rights to manage and develop all recreational facilities, wildlife and fisheries within the San Carlos Reservoir Site, Assistant Secretary Forrest J. Gerard announced today. The Reservoir lies entirely within the exterior boundaries of the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation and is formed by Coolidge Dam on the Gila River, near Globe, Arizona.

WASHINGTON - Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne today formally swore in Carl Artman as the department's new Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs.

"Carl's extensive work with tribal governments, his work in the private sector, his legal training, his passion for Indian Country, his intensity as well as his experience in the executive and legislative branches of the U.S Government prepare him well for this new responsibility," Kempthorne said at a headquarters' ceremony attended by tribal leaders and Artman's family and friends.

­­"Miss Indian America XX", Maxine Norris, 21, Papago Indian of Casa Grande, Arizona, will visit Washington, D.C. November 10 through 16 as the guest of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Marvin L. Franklin, and Assistant to the Secretary tor Indian Affairs announced today.

Award of two contracts in the amounts of $34,876 and $23,741.25 for water development at ten school locations on the Navajo Reservation in Arizona and New Mexico was announced today by the Department of the Interior.