Past News Items

Officials of the Bureau of Indian Affairs in the storm-stricken areas of Arizona, where snow depths, up to 79 inches are reported, said today everything humanly possible is being done for the affected Indians and their livestock.

Similarly, the Public Health Service's Division of Indian Health reported its staff in the storm area participating in rescue work and alert to possible heavy demands on personnel and facilities in the storm aftermath.

Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Thomas W. Fredericks announced today that proposed regulations governing business practices on Indian reservations were published January 6 in the Federal Register.

WASHINGTON, DC – Following Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell’s recent visit with the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Reservation, Deputy Secretary of the Interior Mike Connor today announced that more than $8.3 million in purchase offers have been mailed to nearly 2,100 individual landowners with fractional interests on that reservation.

Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall said today that recent weeks had brought "heartening examples of solid economic gains for American Indians as the result of a determination to put tribal resources and energies to work for the benefit of all."

Udall approved plans last week for a multi-million dollar forest product complex on the Warm Springs Reservation in Oregon that will create 250 jobs for Indians and bring about $2 million in annual revenues to the tribe.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Glenn L. Emmons will leave Washington, D.C., September 5, for a trip to the major Indian areas of Oklahoma. He is acting under broad instructions from President Eisenhower.

WASHINGTON – The Department of the Interior today announced that an additional $4.8 million has been transferred to the Cobell Education Scholarship Fund (Scholarship Fund), bringing the total amount contributed so far to almost $39 million. The Scholarship Fund – funded in part by the Land Buy-Back Program for Tribal Nations (Buy-Back Program) and authorized by the Cobell Settlement – provides financial assistance through scholarships to American Indian and Alaska Native students wishing to pursue post-secondary and graduate education and training.

A coordinated effort to develop more effective leadership for Indian community development has been launched by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Commissioner Robert Lo Bennett said today.

"We hope th4t the group spirit and cultural strengths which have enabled many Indian groups to survive and maintain their identity against tremendous odds may be translated into new community actions which can generate the social and economic progress necessary to bring Indians into their rightful place in American society." Bennett said.

Louis R. Bruce, Commissioner of the Bureau of Indian Affairs of the Department of the Interior, today lauded the Salt River Indian Community of Arizona for receiving the Meritorious Program Award of the American

Institute of Planners. The award was presented at the Institute's 52nd annual convention in Boston.

In a letter addressed to the President of the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community Council, Commissioner Bruce said this was the first time that the Nation's leading professional planning organization has honored an Indian community.

Funding Opportunity Part of Bureau of Indian Education’s implementation of American Indian Education Study Group’s “Blueprint for Reform;” Sovereignty in Indian Education grants will promote tribal self-determination in education through tribal control of BIE-funded schools

Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall and Secretary of Agriculture Orville L. Freeman this week commended the cooperation of citizens in communities across the country where 85 Job Corps Conservation Centers are operated by the Departments of Interior and Agriculture.

March 26 to April 2 has been designated by the Job Corps as "Salute to Communities Week." Open house celebrations and other activities will be held by Job Corps Centers throughout the country during the week.