Past News Items

WASHINGTON — On Thursday, Feb. 14, 2013, the Department of the Interior will hold the third and last in a series of consultation sessions on its Initial Implementation Plan outlining how Interior will carry out the land consolidation component of the historic Cobell Settlement. The meeting will take place in Seattle, Wash. The first and second consultation meetings were held Jan. 31 in Prior Lake, Minn., and Feb. 6 in Rapid City, S.D.

Secretary of the Interior Cecil D. Andrus told Bureau of Indian Affairs employees March 31 that he has taken no position - pro or con - on the American Indian Policy Review Commission recommendation to remove Indian affairs from the Department of the Interior in favor of a separate, independent agency.

During the fiscal year 1970, estimated financing for Indian individuals and enterprises jumped from $382.9 million to $437.7 million -- a $54.8 million increase over the previous year, according to a report released today by Commissioner of Indian Affairs Louis R. Bruce.

The borrowed monies financed construction of thousands of new homes and rebuilding or repair of existing homes; provided funds for Indian education in technical schools and colleges; and stimulated Indian small business and development of cooperative enterprises such as cattle ranching.

WASHINGTON – Bureau of Indian Affairs Director Michael S. Black today announced that he has named Bryan L. Bowker as Regional Director of the BIA’s Western Regional Office in Phoenix, Ariz. Bowker, an enrolled member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe in South Dakota, had been serving as Project Manager of the Bureau’s San Carlos Irrigation Project in Coolidge, Ariz. The Western Regional Office oversees 13 agencies and one federal irrigation project serving 44 federally recognized tribes located within the states of Arizona, California, Nevada and Utah.

Approximately 800 acres of federally-owned land, adjoining the Fort Sill Indian School at Lawton, Okla., has been added to the land held in trust for the Kiowa-Comanche-Apache Indians of Oklahoma.

The land was administratively transferred to the Secretary of the Interior, as trustee, by Arthur F. Sampson, Administrator of the General Services Administration on March 17, 1975. Notice of the transfer has been published in the Federal Register.

Albert L. Lerner, 38, Field Employment Assistance Officer, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Chicago, has been reassigned to the same post in Los Angeles, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Louis R. Bruce announced today. He will replace Daryl L. Mahoney, who has been reassigned to the position of Area Employment Assistance Officer in the Anadarko Area Office.

WASHINGTON, DC- Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk announced today that savings in the Indian Affairs’ American Recovery and Reinvestment Act construction projects will be used to start four additional high-priority school projects in Arizona, New Mexico and South Dakota.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson announced today the appointment of Van A. Peters as Superintendent of the Stewart Indian School, Stewart, Nevada.

Peters, a member of the Washoe Tribe of Nevada, has been a school principal in Elko County, Nevada since 1972. He was previously a teacher and athletic director in Reedsport, Oregon.

A United States Army veteran, Peters earned both his B.A. and M.Ed. degrees from the University of Nevada.

Secretary of the Interior Fred .A. Seaton announced today the Departments’ approval of the November 1 action of the Navajo Tribal Council in appropriating $300,000 of tribal funds for use by the Tribe to induce new industrial plants to locate in the vicinity of the reservation. The added payrolls would provide increased job opportunities for tribal members, it was explained.

The Department has also approved the Tribal Council’s proposal to use $44,000 in previously advanced Federal funds for the same purpose.

WASHINGTON – As part of President Obama’s commitment to empower tribal nations and strengthen their economies, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Kevin K. Washburn today announced final regulations that will streamline the leasing approval process on Indian land, spurring increased homeownership, and expediting business and commercial development, including renewable energy projects.