Past News Items

Conservation projects totaling $20,102,500 which will create thousands of new jobs and extend into virtually every State were announced today by Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall following approval by President Kennedy of additional allotments under the Accelerated Public Works Program.

The White House Conference on Indian Education will take place January 22-24 at the Ramada Renaissance at Techworld, 999 9th St., N.W., Washington, D.C.

With the opening last month of a large-scale electronics assembly plant on the Navajo Reservation, a trend toward Indian employment in precision industries has been solidly established, the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs reported.

The Navajo-based enterprise--Semiconductor Division of Fairchild Camera and Instrument Corporation of New York--extends the company's worldwide operations to another economically underdeveloped area and offers promise of a further breakthrough in the Indians' efforts to bring new vitality to isolated regions.

Secretary of the Interior Manuel Lujan today announced his intention to appoint Joel Matthew Frank, Sr., a Seminole from Hollywood, Florida, to serve on the newly-created National Indian Gaming Commission.

"Joel Frank is extremely well-qualified for the demanding tasks involved in establishing the National Indian Gaming Commission," Lujan said. "His experience as Vice Chairman of the National Indian Gaming Association will be an especially important asset in helping build a framework for successful operation of the Commission."

The Department of the Interior today announced that all Tillamook Indians who consider themselves eligible to participate in a judgment distribution totaling approximately $149,000 should contact the Bureau of Indian Affairs' Office in Portland, Oregon, regarding applications.

The funds cover a 1962 judgment of the Indian Claims Commission in favor of the Nehalem and Tillamook Indian Bands. Money was appropriated by Congress in May 1963. Public Law 88-506 of August 30, 1964 provides for disposition of the funds.

Interior Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Eddie F. Brown will keynote the third in a series of regional economic development conferences with Indian tribal leaders May 14-15 in Oklahoma City. The meeting is being held in conjunction with the Oklahoma Department of Commerce's third annual Indian economic development conference on May 14.

Award of a $4,563,129 contract for the construction of school facilities that will provide for 768 additional students at Shonto, Arizona, was announced today by the Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall.

Ross Swimmer, Interior Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs, today announced the appointment of Nancy Garrett as Director of the Office of Administration in the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) Garrett, a member of the Senior Executive Service (SES) since 1978, currently serves as Deputy-Comptroller in BIA's Office of Indian Education Programs. Her new appointment is effective December 22.

Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall has scheduled a conference of top field administrators of Indian reservations for June 16-18 in Santa Fe, New Mexico. It will be the second such conference since 1938 and a sequel to one called by the Secretary in 1961.

In making the announcement today, Secretary Udall said:

Under Secretary of the Interior Ann McLaughlin announced today that the Administration has accepted the agreement for funding the Animas-La Plata Project.

"While the agreement that has been reached contains several elements that are quite different from those we requested at the opening of negotiations, I believe that we have reached the best agreement possible with the states of Colorado and New Mexico and the Ute Mountain Ute and Southern Ute Tribes," McLaughlin said. "Considerable concessions were granted on all sides during the formulation of this agreement.