Past News Items

The Department of the Interior announced in the Federal Register July 26 that a land use plan and a draft environmental impact statement for the addition of land to the Havasupai Indian Reservation are now available. The Department also announced that public hearings on the land use plan will be held September 11, 12 and 14.

WASHINGTON - Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy and Economic Development - Indian Affairs George T. Skibine today announced that a major oil and gas mining lease sale conducted this week by the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ Anadarko (Okla.) Agency, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the Office of the Special Trustee for American Indians (OST), resulted in 916 winning bids totaling $6,114,443.59. The agency is one of five within the BIA’s Southern Plains Region serving 24 federally recognized tribes in Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas.

The largest cession of land to a group of Native Americans in the history of the United States is one way to describe the effect of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act passed by the Congress December 18, 1971.

Or, put another way, The Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act will put about one-twelfth of Alaska into the hands of the Alaska Native corporations --an administrative device unique in the annals of solutions to aboriginal land claims.

Proposed regulations to establish rules and procedures for the conduct of an election of an interim Yurok Tribal governing committee are being published in the Federal Register, Forrest J. Gerard, Assistant Secretary Indian Affairs announced today.

Gerard said the action is in accord with his November 20, 1978, message to the Hoopa Valley and Yurok people and is intended as one of the first steps leading to participation by the Yurok Tribe in the management of the Hoopa Valley Indian Reservation.

WASHINGTON, D.C.– Speaking to a summit of American Indian leaders,Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today highlighted more than $2 billion in President Obama’s economic recovery package to create jobs and economic opportunity in Indian Country.

Secretary of the Interior Rogers C. B. Morton today announced that on the basis of a vote count made on November 6, a Thirteenth Regional Corporation will not be established for Non-Resident Alaska Natives.

The Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act provides that if a majority of all eligible non-resident Alaska Natives, 18 years of age or older, voted for the establishment of a Thirteenth Regional Corporation the Secretary would establish that corporation. The necessary majority was not obtained.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs has appointed Bernard W. Topash as the field representative for the Siletz Indian Tribe, Interior Assistant Secretary Forrest Gerard announced today.

The position is a newly created office to serve the Oregon Indians who were accorded federally-recognized tribal status by legislation passed November 18, 1977.

Topash, a Snohomish and Potawatomi Indian, has been Administrative Manager of the BIA's Fort Hall Agency in Idaho.

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Carl J. Artman will visit Southern California tomorrow to inspect extensive damage caused by the Poomacha Fire on the La Jolla Indian Reservation and the Rincon Indian Reservation, two Luiseno tribal communities headquartered in San Diego County. He also will join other Federal and State officials in meetings with leaders from these and other affected tribes to discuss relief efforts for their communities.

A $1. 2 million dollar contract has been let for the construction of a new gymnasium at Phoenix lndian School, Phoenix, Ariz., Assistant to the

Secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs Marvin L. Franklin announced today. The contract was awarded to M. Greenburg Construction Company, Inc. of Phoenix.

Indian educators will be meeting February 28 to March 2 in Denver, Colo., to review draft regulations required for implementation of Indian sections of the Education Amendments Act of 1978. Title XI of the Act, dealing with Indian education, has a June 27 deadline for publication of some final regulations.

Rick Lavis, Interior Deputy Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs, said that the steering committee, responsible for implementing Title XI, will also be reporting on the status of task force projects and schedule of future actions.