OPA

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Tara Sweeney announced that the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ Northern Cheyenne Agency on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation has deployed Tribal Access Program (TAP) biometric/biographic kiosks at its offices in Lame Deer, Montana. This state-of-the-art equipment will help the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and the Northern Cheyenne Tribe ensure the safety of on-reservation American Indian children in foster care through expedited background checks on foster parents and the adults in their homes prior to placement.

“The continued expansion of TAP to BIA Law Enforcement officers and Social Services personnel provides them with a critical tool for keeping tribal communities safe and protecting Native children in the foster care system,” Assistant Secretary Sweeney said. “We are pleased to be able to leverage this technology for the Northern Cheyenne Tribe and partner with them in this deployment.”

The Northern Cheyenne Tribe is the second of 28 BIA agencies to receive TAP kisoks; the first was the Anadarko Agency in Oklahoma in September 2019. All will have access to TAP kiosks by the end of FY 2020. A key aspect underpinning the launch was the BIA-Tribal partnership that leveraged and maximized the kiosks’ use both by the Northern Cheyenne Agency and the Northern Cheyenne Tribe. The two kiosks have been placed with the Agency’s Social Services and Justice Services’ program offices.

“One of the most promising aspects of this technological upgrade with Tribal access to the TAPS Kiosk, is the ability to place our children in the child welfare system with family members, this includes children in the Title IV-E Foster Care Program, Indian Child Welfare Act Program and BIA Social Services,” Northern Cheyenne Tribe President Rynalea Pena said. “Expedited processing of foster care licensing for family members will help ensure our Tribal children remain connected to their families, Tribe and culture.”

Before a tribe can place a child into foster care, the Native American Children’s Safety Act of 2016 (NACSA) requires a criminal records check, including a fingerprint-based check of national crime databases of all adults in a home, and a check of tribal and state abuse and neglect registries where an individual has lived for five years. The Act also applies to BIA-operated Social Services agencies.

“We are pleased to conduct the work for the NACSA in partnership with the U.S. Department of Justice’s Tribal Access Program. The TAP kiosks will also extend access to Tribal social services and Indian child welfare programs,” said BIA Director Darryl LaCounte. “This is a necessary tool in addressing the backlog for background checks to enhance Tribal efforts to protect children, register sex offenders, have orders of protection enforced nationwide, and improve public safety.”

The Northern Cheyenne Tribe’s Indian Child Welfare (ICW) program and Rosebud Lodge, its emergency youth shelter, were granted access to run fingerprint-based record checks to comply with NACSA. The kiosks will provide social services program, ICW program and youth shelter personnel with the ability to more quickly process record checks on prospective foster parents and staff who have care and control over Indian children.

“We look forward to the continued expansion of the TAP kiosks at our Office of Justice Services locations,” said BIA Deputy Bureau Director – Justice Services Charles Addington. “Having direct access to these vital resources is crucial for Indian Country public safety programs. It also allows our law enforcement officers to receive information they need to do their jobs effectively while keeping them safe in the field.”

The kiosks process finger and palm prints, take mugshots, and allow authorized users to access national crime information databases for federally authorized criminal and non-criminal purposes. Because the kiosk system is linked to six FBI crime databases, tribal access expedites background checks which then allows the Tribe to hire temporary and substitute house-parents on a more “speedier” basis. Hiring applicants for the Tribe’s Title IV-E Foster Care Program and the ICW Program will also realize a markedly improved hiring process.

The BIA Office of Justice Services’ (BIA-OJS) law enforcement division provides services and support to 64 tribes of which 53 currently do not have any direct or local access to TAP. The BIA agencies receiving TAP kiosks are:

1. Crow Creek Agency, Fort Thompson, South Dakota
2. Fort Totten Agency, Fort Totten, South Dakota
3. Lower Brule Agency, Lower Brule, South Dakota
4. Standing Rock Agency, Fort Yates, North Dakota
5. Turtle Mountain Agency, Belcourt, North Dakota
6. Winnebago Agency, Winnebago, Nebraska
7. Yankton Agency, Wagner, South Dakota
8. Anadarko Agency, Anadarko, Oklahoma
9. Concho Agency, El Reno, Oklahoma
10. Miami Agency, Miami, Oklahoma
11. Ponca Agency, Ponca City, Oklahoma
12. Colorado River Agency, Parker, Arizona
13. Eastern Nevada Agency, Elko, Nevada
14. Fort Apache Agency, Whiteriver, Arizona
15. Hopi Agency, Keams Canyon, Arizona
16. San Carlos Agency, San Carlos, Arizona
17. Southern Paiute Agency, St. George, Utah
18. Truxton Canon Agency, Valentine, Arizona
19. Uintah & Ouray Agency, Ft. Duchesne, Utah
20. Mescalero Agency, Mescalero, New Mexico
21. Northern Pueblos Agency, Ohkay Owingeh, New Mexico
22. Southern Pueblos Agency, Albuquerque, New Mexico
23. Ute Mountain Ute Agency, Towaoc, Colorado
24. Blackfeet Agency, Browning, Montana
25. Crow Agency, Crow Agency, Montana
26. Northern Cheyenne Agency, Lame Deer, Montana
27. Wind River Agency, Fort Washakie, Wyoming
28. Nett Lake Agency, Nett Lake, Minnesota

The BIA will deploy four TAP kiosks in March 2020. The first will be deployed at the BIA’s Northern Pueblos Agency in Ohkay Owingeh, N.M., to help the tribes in its jurisdiction vet foster parents within their service areas. The six Northern Pueblos being granted access to the kiosk are:

1. Pueblo of Pojoaque
2. Pueblo of Nambe
3. Pueblo of Tesuque
4. Pueblo of Picuris
5. Pueblo of San Ildefonso
6. Ohkay Owingeh

The remaining sites are also BIA-OJS locations: Mescalero Agency, Mescalero, NM; Southern Pueblos Agency, Albuquerque, NM; and Ute Mountain Ute Agency, Towaoc, CO.

In addition, the BIA Office of Indian Services at the Fort Peck Agency in Poplar, MT, worked in partnership with the Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes, which is equipped with direct access to TAP-FULL. The Bureau began using the tribe’s TAP kiosk on January 8, 2020, to comply with NACSA’s requirements.

BACKGROUND

On October 28, 2018, the U.S. Departments of Interior and Justice jointly announced a dramatic expansion of DOJ’s Tribal Access Program, which is offered in two versions at BIA agencies: TAP-FULL (with a kiosk) and TAP-LIGHT (without a kiosk). In addition to the three BIA agencies identified in the announcement as receiving the TAP-FULL kiosk, 28 BIA-OJS agencies, including detention centers, will gain access to the TAP-LIGHT version by the end of FY 2020. At these agency sites, BIA Law Enforcement provides service and support to 64 tribes. Of these, 53 did not have any direct or local access to TAP at the time of the October announcement.

TAP is the federal government’s key program that provides tribes with access to the national crime information databases, including the National Crime Information Center (NCIC), Next Generation Identification (NGI), National Data Exchange (N-DEx), National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), Law Enforcement Enterprise Portal (LEEP) as well as other national systems such as the International Justice and Public Safety Network (Nlets).

The Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs oversees the BIA, the oldest bureau in the Department of the Interior. The BIA director is responsible for managing the bureau’s day-to-day operations through four offices – Indian Services, Justice Services, Trust Services, and Field Operations. These offices directly administer or fund tribally operated BIA infrastructure, economic development, law enforcement and justice, social services (including child welfare), tribal governance, and trust land and natural and energy resources management programs for the nation’s 574 federally recognized American Indian and Alaska Native tribes through 12 regional offices and 81 agencies.

####

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Tara Sweeney today announced a number of firsts for the Bureau of Indian Affairs and its Wildland Fire and Aviation Management program resulting from their efforts to aid Indian Country and which demonstrate exceptional interagency collaboration abilities and commitment to improving the development of their wildland fire workforce through new training opportunities for women.

Bureau of Indian Affairs Sends Seven Wildland Firefighters to Australia

In December, the Bureau of Indian Affairs sent wildland fire personnel abroad for the first time to combat the wildfires in Australia. Since December, so far 95 firefighters from DOI and the USFS have been deployed at the request of the Australian Fire and Emergency Service Authorities Council. Of these, seven employees with the Bureau of Indian Affairs have deployed.

“The loss of life, property and environment are devastating in Australia,” said U.S. Secretary David Bernhardt. “The United States stands with our partners, and we will continue to support Australia in sending our world class personnel to contain these blazes and help protect Australian communities and wildlife.”

The U.S., Australia and New Zealand have been exchanging fire assistance for more than 15 years as the Australian and New Zealand personnel filled critical needs during peak wildfire season in the United States. The last time the U.S sent firefighters to Australia was in 2010.

Receiving the NIFC Governing Board’s Prestigious Pulaski Award

In June of 2019, the governing board of the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) in Boise, Idaho, selected the Bureau’s Fort Apache Agency in Whiteriver, Ariz., and the U.S. Forest Service’s Coronado National Forest Sierra Vista Ranger District office in Hereford, Ariz., to receive its prestigious Pulaski Award recognizing their interagency collaboration and outstanding performance on a Reserved Treaty Rights Land (RTRL) project.

The Pulaski Award recognizes federal, state and local government agencies who demonstrate outstanding performance in the area of interagency collaboration, cooperation and coordination. This is the first time the governing board has recognized the BIA with this award.

“When projects that have mutual benefit to both federal and tribal partners are done collaboratively, that is when we see the highest rewards of true partnership,” said Assistant Secretary Sweeney. “By working across jurisdictional boundaries we can do more than just protect landscapes, we can help preserve tribal cultures and traditions, which are closely tied to their lands.”

Federally recognized tribes reserve the right to use their ancestral and reserved treaty lands for their religious and cultural purposes, such as hunting, fishing and gathering activities. Part of the BIA’s trust responsibilities are to protect, restore and reduce the impacts of wildfire on these lands. In conjunction with the White Mountain Apache Tribe, the Yavapai-Apache Nation, the Fort Apache Agency and Coronado National Forest, the BIA's Western Regional Office in Phoenix facilitated the development of a collaborative RTRL project to address shared interests that enhance the health and resiliency of the Oak Savana ecosystem, an area of grass and Emory Oak trees on the White Mountain Apache reservation which is of deep cultural and spiritual significance to the Apache people.

Supporting women for fire leadership training

In another first, the Bureau sponsored three female employees – two federal and one tribal – to attend the Fire Leadership for Women (FLFW) Program at the National Interagency Prescribed Fire Training Center (PFTC) in Tallahassee, Fla.: Yvette Leech with the Warm Springs Confederated Tribes’ forestry department in Warm Springs, Ore.; Ashton Lynch, a firefighter with the Bureau’s Pima Agency in Sacaton, Ariz.; and Cheryl Bright, a field coordinator with the BIA Branch of Wildland Fire Management at the NIFC office in Boise.

“With this training I can share what I learned with my coworkers and use my skills to help manage prescribed burns in the community I serve,” said Lynch. “I am grateful to have been part of the Fire Leadership Module.”

What make this a first is that across federal wildland agencies women hold less than 10 percent of fire positions and only seven percent hold leadership positions. To address this imbalance, the PFTC developed the FLFW program with the specific intent of using prescribed fire as a catalyst for bringing women together to create a support network that will help women advance within wildland fire management. During the 20-day course, trainees safely conducted 11 prescribed burns treating 2,507 acres in northern Florida. They also worked to obtain their certifications in numerous prescribed fire qualifications necessary for their career advancement.

Collaborating to address and reduce on-reservation wildland fires

Florida isn’t the only state treating landscapes to reduce the hazard potential for wildfires. For two of the BIA’s Arizona agencies – Fort Yuma and San Carlos – collaboration has been key to preventing and combatting wildland fires on the reservations they serve:

• Located along the Colorado River, the Cocopah Reservation sits 13 miles south of the city of Yuma and 15 miles north of San Lis, Mexico. Its unique boundaries border two countries – the United States and Mexico – and two states, Arizona and California. Thriving along the river’s banks is an invasive and dangerous plant called salt cedar, with roots that drink deeply thereby helping to lower the water table and adding large deposits of salt to the soil. The plant’s prolific and highly flammable branches threaten the river’s wetland ecosystem and create significant fire hazards to neighboring communities when wildfires occur.

While removing the plant is a common management practice along the river, the U.S. Department of the Interior Office of Wildland Fire’s Southern Border Fuels Management Initiative provided $563,00 in funding for a first-of-its-kind project: a four-year treatment plan that, due to its unique partnerships, is making wildfire management history.

As part of the Bureau’s trust responsibility, the Fort Yuma Agency provides vegetation management and wildfire protection services across the 6,500–acre reservation. Coordinating with the Cocopah Tribe and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Bureau of Customs and Border Patrol, the BIA applied for and received funding to treat nine miles – approximately 36 percent of the reservation’s land mass – along the Colorado River. In total, 1,359 acres of invasive and foreign salt cedar will be treated, which will preserve the tribe’s valuable economic investments and the cultural and traditional native species they rely on. In its first year of the initiative, firefighters treated 150 acres. They will continue making progress each fall and winter for the next three years.

• For the San Carlos Agency this was a fire year that wouldn’t end, and the associated costs of supporting those fighting wildland fires on the San Carlos Reservation meant the BIA had to develop a better way of tracking expenses in order to support its firefighting employees and tribal and interagency partners. The high-fire occurrence resulted in the agency establishing an ad hoc BIA finance team capable of tracking and accounting for costs attributed to all fire personnel. The team consisted of five BIA employees from Billings, Mont., Portland, Ore., Sacramento, Calif., and Boise. They documented and tracked 156 incidents within four complex databases which, when combined, totaled an estimated cost of $4.7 million.

The team’s work, and success, made a significant contribution to the San Carlos Agency this fire season, and led to discussions about the BIA developing its own Type 3 finance section capable of supporting any BIA regional office or agency, or tribal or interagency partner. Going forward, the section anticipates being able to provide training opportunities to improve fire finance capabilities throughout Indian Country.

“The important strides the BIA is taking to improve and protect Indian Country have long-term consequences that will change the landscape of tribal communities for decades. I commend these achievements, and encourage the wildland fire community to continue their improvement efforts in the years ahead,” said BIA Director Darryl LaCounte.

The Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs oversees the BIA, the oldest bureau in the Department of the Interior. The BIA director is responsible for managing the bureau’s day-to-day operations through four offices – Indian Services, Justice Services, Trust Services, and Field Operations. These offices directly administer or fund tribally operated BIA infrastructure, economic development, law enforcement and justice, social services (including child welfare), tribal governance, and trust land and natural and energy resources management programs for the nation’s 573 federally recognized American Indian and Alaska Native tribes through 12 regional offices and 81 agencies. The Wildland Fire and Aviation Management program is located in the Office of Trust Services.

####

WASHINGTON–Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Tara Sweeney today announced final, updated regulations to simplify the process for Tribes to enter into Tribal Energy Resource Agreements (TERAs) with the Department of the Interior (DOI), so tribes can better take control of developing energy resources on their land. While the opportunity to enter into a TERA has been available since 2008, to date, no Tribe has requested a TERA due to overly burdensome requirements.

“The Department of the Interior continues to uphold its trust responsibilities and treaty obligations to tribes,” said U.S. Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt. “This action clears some of the most persistent hurdles that have hindered tribes from exercising their sovereign right to develop energy on their lands.”

Earlier this week, Secretary Bernhardt further supported the updated TERA regulations by signing Secretary’s Order 3377, which provides for policy guidance on the contractibility of federal functions for oil and gas development on Indian lands. Through this Secretary’s Order, the Department will undertake actions that provide clarity on which Federal functions are contractible under an approved TERA for fluid mineral development and a process to which Tribes can access the opportunities available to them.

“I look forward to receiving and approving the very first TERA and seeing Tribes reap the benefits of developing their rich energy resources without having to wait for BIA approval of every single lease, right-of-way, or business agreement,” said Assistant Secretary Sweeney. “I thank Secretary Bernhardt for further supporting tribal self-determination in energy development and further guidance in Secretary’s Order 3377.”

A TERA is an agreement between a Tribe and the Department that, once approved, allows the Tribe to enter into and manage energy-related leases, rights-of-way, and business agreements without obtaining Secretarial approval for each individual lease, right-of-way, or agreement. TERAs enhance self-determination and economic development opportunities for Tribes by promoting Tribal oversight and management of energy resource development on Tribal lands. TERAs also support the national energy policy of increasing utilization of domestic energy resources. The updates also increase the options available by adding Tribal Energy Development Organizations (TEDOs) as an alternative to TERAs.

The final regulations are the result of input received from Tribes during consultation period and comments from members of the public made during the public comment period this past summer. Once the final rule is effective, Tribes may seek pre-application consultation and submit formal applications for a TERA.

The Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs oversees the BIA, which is headed by a director who is responsible for managing day-to-day operations through four offices – Indian Services, Justice Services, Trust Services, and Field Operations. These offices directly administer or fund tribally-based infrastructure, economic development, law enforcement and justice, social services (including child welfare), tribal governance and trust land and natural and energy resources management programs for the nation’s 573 federally recognized American Indian and Alaska Native tribes through 12 regional offices and 81 agencies.

####

CATOOSA, Oklahoma, November 6, 2019 – The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to improve tribes’ and tribal members’ access to farm conservation programs to advance conservation in Indian Country. The MOU was signed in Catoosa, Oklahoma, where USDA Under Secretary for Farm Production and Conservation Bill Northey was joined by BIA Director Darryl LaCounte at the Indian Nations Conservation Alliance - National Tribal Conservation Districts Conference. This MOU signing represents the Trump Administration’s continued commitment to Indian Country.

The MOU enables USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and Farm Service Agency (FSA) to partner with BIA to improve assistance to American Indians and Alaska Natives in identifying and addressing the agricultural, conservation and economic needs of tribal communities on Indian lands. This creates a foundation for improved coordination, training, planning and implementation of USDA programs on tribal lands.

“We believe that providing greater efficiency and access to conservation programs, while limiting redundancies, is crucial to helping tribal communities maximize their agricultural production,” Northey said. “Tribal landowners and land users play an important role in the management of agricultural land, and USDA looks forward to partnering with BIA to support the economic stability of tribal lands.”

“The BIA, NRCS, and FSA have common objectives and trust responsibility to American Indian landowners and Tribes for development, conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. “said LaCounte. “We look forward to continued communication and collaboration to help ensure conservation programs are implemented on Indian lands in an environmentally, culturally, and economically sound manner.”

The five-year agreement will also enhance USDA and BIA’s efforts to promote best management practices for Indian lands, including the development of rural business opportunities, the management of farm and ranching operations, infrastructure development and stewardship of environmental, cultural and natural resources on Indian lands.

BIA will provide resource inventory, planning and management, and development assistance to Indian tribes, Indian landowners and land users.

FSA will work with BIA to provide outreach that builds awareness of FSA programs to support economic stability and increase the availability of farm loans to tribal communities. NRCS and BIA will work to provide conservation planning and technical and financial assistance to farmers, ranchers and forest managers to maintain, conserve and improve natural resources on private, Indian and other non-federal lands.

# # # #

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Tara Sweeney announced the appointment of two leadership posts within the Bureau of Indian Affairs: Johnna Blackhair, a member of the Chippewa Cree Tribe in Montana, will serve as Deputy Bureau Director for Trust Services at the Bureau of Indian Affairs’s headquarters in Washington, D.C., and Patricia Mattingly, of Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo in New Mexico and the Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation in North Dakota, will serve as Regional Director of the Bureau’s Southwest Regional Office in Albuquerque, N.M. The appointments were effective September 15 and 30, 2019, respectively.

“I am very excited to announce the appointment of two experienced managers to my senior BIA leadership team: Johnna Blackhair as Deputy Bureau Director of Trust Services, and Patricia Mattingly as Regional Director of the BIA’s Southwest Regional Office,” said Assistant Secretary Sweeney. “They bring deep experience to these high-level management posts, and will provide valuable assistance to me as we increase flexibility in the BIA’s operations and regulations to support tribal self-determination and economic self-sufficiency.”

The Department of Interior is committed to providing consistent and focused leadership in all of Indian Affairs, as well as to actively collaborate with the Department’s senior managers. Among the top priorities is to fill leadership positions with highly qualified managers who will provide continuity and expertise in trust management in accordance with its mission.

“I am extremely pleased that Johnna Blackhair and Patricia Mattingly have joined the BIA’s central office and field leadership corps,” said BIA Director Darryl LaCounte. “Their combined years of experience from working at the agency and regional office levels will prove invaluable as we work to make the BIA more responsive to Indian Country’s needs and priorities.”

Ms. Blackhair has 28 years of federal service starting in September 1991 with the BIA’s Uintah and Ouray Agency in Fort Duchene, UT. From April 2010, she gained extensive experience in the management of land titles and records, real estate services, probate, agriculture, and cadastral surveys, coordinating with the Bureau of Land Management as the Regional Realty Officer in the Southwest Regional Office. She has held a number of BIA field leadership positions including Mescalero Agency Superintendent (2011-2012); Uintah and Ouray Agency Superintendent (2012-2013); Eastern Regional Office Deputy Regional Director (2013-2014); and Eastern Regional Office Regional Director (2014-2015). Prior to her recent appointment, Ms. Blackhair had served as BIA Trust Services’s acting Associate Deputy Bureau Director since January 2018, and as acting Deputy Bureau Director since April 2018.

“I deeply appreciate the confidence placed in me to lead BIA Trust Services, whose mission is a basic component of the Federal trust responsibility to the tribes and allottees with trust lands and resources,” Deputy Bureau Director for Trust Services Johnna Blackhair said. “I am very grateful to the Assistant Secretary and Director LaCounte for this new opportunity to serve Indian Country. I will do my utmost to see that we in OTS carry out our mission to the best of our ability.”

The BIA Office of Trust Services is primarily located in Washington, D.C. and Albuquerque, N.M., and assists tribal governments and allottees in managing, protecting and developing their trust lands and natural resources, which total 56 million surface acres and 60 million acres of subsurface mineral estates. Trust Services programs aid landowners in the stewardship of their resources not only to protect their cultural, spiritual and traditional uses, but in optimizing those which tribal governments depend on through the revenues and jobs they generate.

Patricia Mattingly began her federal career with the Department in 2003 in Albuquerque, N.M., as an Attorney Advisor in the Solicitor’s Office. She joined the BIA’s Southwest Regional Office as Regional Legal Administrative Specialist, then later moved to the BIA’s Western Regional Office in Phoenix, A.Z., as Associate Director of the Division of Probate and Estate Services. She eventually returned to the Southwest Regional Office as a Tribal Government Officer, and where she was later promoted to the post of Deputy Regional Director for Indian Services. Ms. Mattingly holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of New Mexico, and a Juris Doctorate from the UNM School of Law.

“I thank the Assistant Secretary and Director LaCounte for this opportunity to lead the Southwest Regional Office,” Regional Director Patricia Mattingly said. “I am committed to improving the level of regional office responsiveness to the needs of the tribal nations we serve, while also supporting their self-determination and economic development goals.”

The BIA Southwest Regional Office is located in Albuquerque, N.M., and oversees nine agencies serving the 25 federally recognized tribes in Colorado and New Mexico and the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo in El Paso, Texas.

As the oldest bureau in the U.S. Department of the Interior, established in 1824, the BIA is within the Office of the Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs, along with the Bureau of Indian Education. The BIA provides services (directly or through contracts, grants, or compacts) to approximately 1.9 million American Indians and Alaska Natives. With just under 5,000 employees, the BIA carries out its core mission for 573 federally recognized American Indian tribes and Alaska Natives in the U.S. through four offices:

• Office of Indian Services: operates BIA's general assistance, disaster relief, Indian child welfare, tribal government, Indian Self-Determination, and reservation roads programs;
• Office of Justice Services: operates or funds law enforcement, tribal courts, and detention facilities on Federal Indian lands;
• Office of Trust Services: works directly with tribes and individual American Indians and Alaska Natives in the management of their trust lands, assets, and resources;and Office of Field Operations: oversees 12 regional offices and 83 agencies which carry out the BIA mission at the tribal level.

Visit BIA.gov for more information.

WASHINGTON, DC – Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Tara Sweeney announced the appointment of Timothy LaPointe as the Great Plains Regional Director. The appointment is effective June 23, 2019.

“I am confident in Timothy LaPointe’s commitment to Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Great Plains Region. He has expertise in managing staff, programs, and services, which has the potential to return the highest yield to the tribal communities that we serve,” said Assistant Secretary Sweeney. “I am proud to name LaPointe as the director of the Great Plains Regional Office.”

“Cultivating a qualified pool of executives with managerial expertise to serve in a variety of leadership roles when needed is crucial to the future of the Bureau of Indian Affairs,” said BIA Director Darryl LaCounte. “Among our top priorities is to fill BIA’s leadership positions with highly qualified managers who will provide continuity and expertise in trust management in accordance with the BIA mission.”

“I am committed to carrying out the mission and trust responsibility of the Bureau of Indian Affairs for the 16 tribes in the BIA Great Plains Region,” said Regional Director LaPointe. “I am proud to return as the leader for a great office and a great team.”

LaPointe returns to the Great Plains Regional Office after serving as the Midwest Regional Director since February 2018. From February 2011 to November 2014, LaPointe had served as the Deputy Regional Director – Trust Services for the Great Plains Region and as Regional Director. He was as one of the first Fiduciary Trust Officers (FTO) for the Office of the Special Trustee for American Indians, where he oversaw trust financial programs for the Eastern Region, Eastern Oklahoma Region, and the Southern Plains Region. He also served as the FTO for the BIA Great Lakes Agency.

LaPointe, a member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, holds a juris doctorate from the University of Arkansas and a bachelor’s degree from the University of the Ozarks, where he majored in public administration with a minor in accounting.

The BIA Great Plains Region provides funding and support to 16 federally recognized Indian tribes located in the states of North Dakota, South Dakota and Nebraska. Tribes in this region encompass over 6 million acres.

####

WASHINGTON, DC – Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Tara Sweeney announced the appointment of Tammie Poitra to the position of the Midwest BIA Regional Director. The appointment is effective June 23, 2019.

“It is with great pride that I name Tammie Poitra as the Midwest BIA Regional Director,” said Assistant Secretary Sweeney. “I have the upmost confidence in her leadership capabilities to work with the 36 Tribes and the staff that comprises the regional office and the four BIA agencies. Congratulations, Ms. Poitra.”

“Cultivating a qualified pool of executives with managerial expertise to serve in a variety of leadership roles when needed is crucial to the future of the Bureau of Indian Affairs,” said BIA Director Darryl LaCounte. “Among our top priorities is to fill BIA’s leadership positions with highly qualified managers who will provide continuity and expertise in trust management in accordance with the BIA mission.”

“It is a great honor to become the Midwest BIA Regional Director,” said Regional Director Poitra. “I have a great commitment to the Bureau’s mission and I look forward to carrying out our trust responsibilities for the tribes in our region.”

Until today’s announcement, Poitra served as the Deputy Regional Director for Trust Services in the Midwest Region since July 2010. She has over 33 years of combined federal service. In 2018, she served as the acting Northwest Regional Director. She previously served as the Superintendent of the BIA Winnebago Agency. From 1995 to 2000, she was the Fiduciary Trust Officer and Trust Accountant for the Northwest Region with the Office of the Special Trustee for American Indians. Poitra worked as the Midwest Regional Budget Officer from 2000 to 2004.

Poitra is an enrolled member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians and holds an associate’s degree in computer programming from the North Dakota State School and Science, and a bachelor’s degree in business administration and accounting. She attended a University of Phoenix master’s degree program.

The BIA Midwest Region provides funding and support to 36 federally recognized Tribes located in the states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan and Iowa. Tribes in the Midwest Region encompass approximately 62 million acres, including treaty-ceded territories, representing millions of acres of forests, lakes, streams and wetlands.

####