Past News Items

A plan for the use and distribution of more than $9 million awarded to the Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation by the Indian Claims Commission is being published in the Federal Register, Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Forrest Gerard announced today.

The award is compensation for reservation land taken by the United States in the early part of this century. The reservation is in North Dakota.

Secretary of the Interior Rogers C. B. Morton today addressed a group of 21 teachers of Indians from 14 states who were attending a workshop in environmental education at the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Washington D. C., and Catoctin National Park Maryland.

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk will participate in a ribbon-cutting ceremony and speak at the official opening of the replacement Rough Rock Community School on Monday, August 15, 2011.

Echo Hawk will be joined at the event by Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) Deputy Director, School Operations Bart Stevens; Indian Affairs Office of Facilities, Environmental and Cultural Resources Director Jack Rever and Office of Facilities Management and Construction (OFMC) Deputy Director Emerson Eskeets.

Interior's Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Forrest J. Gerard said today he was disappointed by the United States Supreme Court ruling March 6 that Indian tribes do not have criminal jurisdiction over non Indians on reservations. He said that he thought the decision would inhibit the development of tribal self-government and the maintenance of criminal justice systems on the reservations.

Acting Secretary of the Interior Hatfield Chilson today announced the receipt of cashier's checks in the amount of $40,000 from S. W. Barton, president of Colorado River Enterprises, Inc., representing payment of advance rental on two tracts involved in the corporation's 25-year lease on 67,000 acres of the Colorado River Indian Reservation in Arizona.

WASHINGTON – The Department of the Interior (DOI) has awarded a contract to Bronner Group, LLC, a small, woman-owned business based in Chicago that specializes in consulting with government and the public sector. The contract for more than $400,000 is on behalf of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE), and is to conduct an evaluation of their support services. Bronner will assist the Assistant Secretary–Indian Affairs as he oversees a review of functions that support the two bureaus and suggest improvements.

Regulations governing eligibility for preference in employment in the Bureau of Indian Affairs were published January 17 in the Federal Register, Interior Assistant Secretary Forrest Gerard announced today.

The regulations define the term "Indian" for purposes of initial hire, promotion, transfers and all other appointments to vacancies in the Bureau.

Those persons entitled to Indian preference, according to the regulations are:

* Members of any recognized Indian tribe now under Federal jurisdiction;

The Department of the Interior today announced award of a road construction contract calling for asphalt paving of approximately 8.141 miles of the Chuichu-Covered Wells Road on the Papago Indian Reservation, about 27 miles south of Casa Grande, Arizona, in Pima and Pinal counties.

The contract was awarded to Palmer Contracting Company, Phoenix. Its bid of $248,164.80 was the lowest of 12 received. The others ranged from $249,280 to $310,770.02.

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk will deliver a keynote address at the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) Mid-Year Conference on Tuesday, June 14, 2011, in Milwaukee, Wis. Echo Hawk will be speaking on the accomplishments and progress made by Indian Affairs over the last 24 months. He will address such topics as: federal Indian policy, economic development, restoration of homelands, Indian energy development, safe communities, education, Indian gaming, and Indian Affairs leadership.

Approximately 20 percent of the Central Arizona Project (CAP) agricultural water supply available under Arizona's basic entitlement to water from the Colorado River has been allocated to five Indian tribes by Secretary of the Interior Thomas S. Kleppe.