Past News Items

Secretary of the Interior Stewart Lo Udall and Vernon Smith, Council President for the Salt River Pima Maricopa Indian Community near Scottsdale, Arizona, discussed the industrial development potential of the 46,000-acre reservation on November 20.

Mr. Udall promised his support for a proposal to construct a million dollar electronic plant on the reservation. Area Redevelopment Administration financial support for the Dickson Electronic Corporation project is also being sought, Mr. Smith said. Employment for more than 200 Indians is forecast.

When the fire started on June 11 at the Over the Rainbow housing subdivision located on the Fort Apache Reservation in central-eastern Arizona, the initial response to it was performed by the Fort Apache Bureau of Indian Affairs Fire Department. But the fire grew quickly and in minutes was beyond the capacity of local resources. The Bureau of Indian Affairs coordinated the effort to get other resources from the state of Arizona and the U.S. Fish and Game Department to combat the fire that was quickly threatening surrounding property.

Canadian administrators of Indian affairs will be guests of the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs at a three-day joint meeting starting October 7 in Phoenix, Ariz., the Department of the Interior announced today.

The conference is an outgrowth of a visit made to the University of Toronto last December by United States Commissioner of Indian Affairs Philleo Nash. Its major purpose is to provide for an interchange of information between the administrators of Indian affairs in the two countries on a wide array of topics of mutual interest.

Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Kevin Gover, a Lawton native and a Pawnee tribal member, is returning to his home state to speak about critical American Indian issues and his vision for Tribal America during a University of Oklahoma American Indian Law and Policy Symposium on Saturday, March 21. The symposium, sponsored by the American Indian Law Review editors and the University of Oklahoma College of Law, commemorates the 25th anniversary of the American Indian Law Review.

Approval of $1,852,000 in additional Accelerated Public Works projects was announced today by Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall. The funds will be invested in a wide range of forest conservation activities in 19 States. Most of the work is scheduled to begin within 30 days.

Secretary Udall said the projects will provide approximately 4,200 man months of on-site employment and generate additional jobs by creating a demand for goods and services.

Ada E. Deer, Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs and Joann Sebastian Morris, Director, Office of Indian Education programs attended the inaugural meeting establishing the Arctic Council in Ottawa, Canada on September 19, 1996.

Responding to tribal requests, the Department of the Interior announced today it is restoring to the San Carlos Apache Indian Tribe ownership of the subsurface interest in approximately 225,000 acres of land in a portion of eastern Arizona known as the "San Carlos Mineral Strip."

Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Kevin Gover today thanked both Congress and President Clinton for approving a land claims settlement act that awards approximately $70 million to five Ottawa and Chippewa tribes of Michigan.

The first leasing of California Indian-owned land for oil and gas development in about a decade was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

On January 18, bids were opened at the Sacramento area office of the Bureau of Indian Affairs for the oil 8nd gas leasing of two tracts of tribally owned land which comprise the entire acreage of the Colusa Indian Reservation in Colusa County. One tract is 214.5 acres, the other 54.53 acres.

Ada E. Deer, Assistant Secretary Indian Affairs, issued a notice today declining to acknowledge the Ramapough Mountain Indians Inc., as a federally recognized tribe.

A Proposed Finding to decline to acknowledge the Ramapough Mountain Indians Inc., was first published in the FEDERAL REGISTER on December 8, 1993 and the original 180-day comment period was extended until May 8, 1995. The 60-day comment period for the Ramapoughs to respond to third-party comments ended on July 10, 1995.