Past News Items

WASHINGTON - In a letter sent to the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission, Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Neal McCaleb expressed the Department of the Interior's deep regret over the International Whaling Commission's (IWC) decision not to renew the aboriginal subsistence whale quota for the 2003 - 2007 period. He also offered his agency's support to ensure that the subsistence needs of Alaska Natives are met, and that their whaling traditions continue.

The Government has extended for another five years the trust restrictions on allotted Indian lands, scheduled to expire in calendar year 1962, the Department of the Interior reported today.

Assistant Secretary of the Interior John A. Carver, Jr., said the action underscores the Department's policy of taking all precautions against prematurely ending Federal trust protection of the property of individual Indians.

(Washington) - Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Neal McCaleb will be the keynote speaker at the U.S. Department of the Interior's opening ceremony of American Indian Heritage Month on November 5, 2001. The celebration will officially begin a month of acknowledgment for the contributions made by American Indians to our country. With recent events in our nation, this year's theme is entitled, "Uniting All Nations Together As One." in honor of American Indians and this nation's commitment to freedom for all people.

Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall announced proposed rules today that would help several Pueblo Indian tribes in central New Mexico block up their land holdings and improve their livestock operations.

The new rules would carry out exchange provisions of a law passed last September. That law transferred 69,700 acres of the national land reserve to eight Pueblo Indian tribes in New Mexico.

WASHINGTON - A cooperative agreement between the General Services Administration (GSA) and the Department of the Interior's (DOI) Indian Affairs eGovernment initiative will allow Federally recognized Indian tribes to participate in a program that will provide a domain name suffix identifying the tribe on the World Wide Web as a government entity.

Appointment of Kenneth L. Payton as superintendent of the Mescalero Indian Agency, Mescalero, N. Mex., effective November 12 was reported today by the Department of the Interior.

He succeeds Hobart Johnson who transferred from Mescalero in September to be superintendent of the Indian Bureau's Intermountain School at Brigham, Utah.

Thank you, Neal. Last Wednesday, Neal made his first appearance at the Senate Indian Affairs Committee since he was confirmed as Assistant Secretary.

Neal talked with Senators about tribal governance practices, economic development and education. That was expected – that’s his job.

It’s what happened after his testimony that took Washington by surprise. He could have driven back to his BIA office – and returned phone calls and other tasks.

The lead agency coordinating the federal response to COVID-19 is the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) Office of Emergency Management (OEM) are supporting this by planning and implementing DOI’s response.

Award of a $962,754 contract that will double the enrollment capacity of the Wide Ruins Boarding School on the Navajo Indian Reservation in Arizona was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

The Department of the Interior provided its determination to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that the bones of the 9,000 year-old human skeletal remains known as Kennewick Man be given to the five Indian tribes that have collectively claimed him as their ancient ancestor. The decision was announced in a letter from Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt to Secretary of the Army Louis Caldera and represents the culmination of a thorough process of scientific examinations and investigations. The U.S.