Past News Items

This October, 12 students received certificates for completing S-219 Firing Operations training (S-219) at the BIA Pine Ridge Agency in South Dakota. The instructors for the course were Justin Bauer, BIA Pine Ridge Agency Forestry Aid, Kyle Golus, BIA Sisseton Agency Fire Operations Specialist and Eric O’Connor, Lieutenant with the Rapid City Fire Department’s Wildfire Mitigation Program. The students came from six different fire management offices including BIA Agencies, state, city, and a volunteer fire department. Date: 12/08/22

The Department of the Interior’s Office of the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs today announced the publication of proposed revisions to two regulations, one regarding the fee-to-trust process and one regarding Class III gaming compacts. The updated regulations will provide clearer and more efficient processes for Tribes that are applying to place land into trust or enter into gaming compacts. Date: 12/05/22

The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) announced an agreement that updates guidelines to provide for the effective and efficient administration of criminal investigations in Indian Country. This is the first update since the early 1990s to a memorandum of understanding between the bureaus. Date: 12/01/22

In FY 22, The Timber Team spent 30 weeks traveling in response to Tribal forestry project needs. Between driving and flying to project locations, they traveled over 32,000 miles and successfully completed forestry work for 16 Tribes throughout the United States. Date: 11/22/22

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Bryan Newland announced today the approval of a land into trust acquisition for the Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska. This is the second fee-to-trust acquisition in Alaska since the passage of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act in 1971, and the first in five years. Date: 11/17/22

The Indian Affairs Office of Indian Economic Development announced grants under two programs that support economic development in Indian Country, the Native American Business Incubators Program and the Native American Business Development Institute Feasibility Study Program. Date: 11/03/22

This past September, the Timber Team traveled to southern South Dakota to assist the Rosebud Sioux Tribal Forestry Department. The team helped the tribe with the layout, marking and cruising (measuring forestland to determine merchantability) of ponderosa pine trees to salvage materials lefts behind in the wake of the West SF Fire. Date: 11/03/22

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) provides funds to dramatically increase fuels treatments and post-wildfire recovery efforts. This funding represents an opportunity to dramatically improve the tools and modeling to plan individual fuel treatments, monitor fuel treatment effectiveness, and account for landscape scale risk reduction. Date: 10/27/22

The Bureau of Indian Affairs announced today that Richard “Glen” Melville, an enrolled member of Makah Tribe of Washington, will lead the Office of Justice Services as a deputy bureau director starting this month. Melville joined the Bureau of Indian Affairs in 1997 and served a 29-year career with the bureau and Tribal law enforcement programs before retiring in 2021 as the deputy associate director for the Office of Justice Services. He has since returned from retirement to lead OJS’s public safety programs. Date: 09/21/22

Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Bryan Newland announced today that the Indian Affairs Office of Indian Economic Development is soliciting applications for its Fiscal Year 2022 Tribal Tourism Grant Program. Date: 08/23/22