Past News Items

A plan for the distribution of more than $1.5 million awarded to the Yakima Indian Tribe by the Indian Claims Commission is being published in the Federal Register, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson announced today.

The award is additional compensation for land ceded by the Yakima Nation in 1859.

According to the plan, approved by Congress and made effective May 13, 1976, the funds will be distributed on a per capita basis to the enrolled members of the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakima Indian Nation.

Regulations governing a new vocational training program for Indians between 18 and 35 years of age and residing on reservations ware announced today by the Department of the Interior.

The new program is being initiated by the Bureau of Indian Affairs with an appropriation of $1.5 million, contained in the Department’s fiscal 1958 appropriations measure signed by the President on July 1. Authorization for the program was provided by the 84th Congress in Public Law 959.

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk today joined First Lady Michelle Obama at the White House kitchen garden for the planting of the Three Sisters—corn, beans, and squash—a traditional indigenous agricultural method of planting. This activity comes a week after the launch of Let’s Move! in Indian Country (LMIC) and continues to push the message of leading active and healthy lifestyles in Indian Country.

George E. Keller, an enrolled member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, has been appointed Superintendent of the Bureau of Indian Affairs' Rosebud, South Dakota Agency.

Keller has been the Community Services Officer at the agency the past four years.

Keller is a graduate of the Chadron State Teachers College, Chadron, Nebraska and has a Masters degree in education from South Dakota State University.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs has announced the appointments of Everett Prince as Superintendent of the Bethel, Alaska agency and Irving Billy as Superintendent of the Western Navajo agency at Tuba City, Arizona. Both appointments were effective November 4.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk will be joined by Office of the First Lady, Executive Director of Let’s Move! Initiative Robin Schepper, USDA Deputy Administrator for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Lisa Pino, IHS Director for Improving Patient Care Program Lyle A. Ignace M.D., M.P.H., and Menominee Tribal Chairman Randal Chevalier to launch Let’s Move! in Indian Country (LMIC). This event marks the First Lady’s launch of Let’s Move! in Indian Country hosted by the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson has assigned Curtis Geiogamah as the BIA Acting Director on the Navajo Reservation, pending the recruitment of a permanent appointee for the position.

Thompson said that the position has been advertised and that applications would be received through March 12. ''We expect to have many excellent applicants for this important position," the commissioner said. We will, of course, consult with the governing body before making a selection, but we hope to fill the vacancy promptly."

Acting Secretary of the Interior Hatfield Chilson today authorized the Bureau of Indian Affairs to offer for agricultural development lease as a unit an area of about 65,000 acres of highly fertile irrigable land on the Colorado River Indian Reservation near Parker, Arizona.

The offering is to be made under a 1955 law which authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to lease the land on behalf of the beneficial Indian owners for not more than 25 years. Under this act the lease must be consummated by next August 14.

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk was awarded the 2012 Governmental Leadership Award from the National Congress of American Indians for his leadership on behalf of the tribal nations and his work building the foundation for a new era in nation-to-nation relations.

A contract amounting to nearly $2.4 million has been awarded to Nielson's, Inc. of Dolores, Colorado, to build slightly more than 12 miles of road and a bridge over a wash on the Navajo Indian reservation about 10 miles south of Shiprock, New Mexico, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson announced today.