OPA

WASHINGTON - Interior Assistant Secretary - Indian Affairs Neal A. McCaleb today announced his selection of Jeanette Hanna, currently Director of Planning, Budget and Management Support for the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), as his choice to be the new director of the Bureau's Eastern Oklahoma Regional Office located in Muscogee, Okla. The appointment is effectively immediately.

"I am delighted Ms. Hanna has accepted the directorship of the BIA's Eastern Oklahoma Regional Office," said McCaleb. "With her in-depth knowledge of Bureau operations, experience with tribal governments and unparalleled work ethic, Jeanette is a valuable member of my management team and will be a strong advocate for the eastern Oklahoma tribes."

Hanna, a member of the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma, has almost 20 years of Federal service. Her professional career began in May 1983 when she joined Representative Wes Watkins' Washington, D.C., office as a staff assistant. She eventually became Legislative Director. In December 1990 she left Watkins' office to join the Interior Department's Office of the Budget as a budget analyst, where she served for two years until taking a senior budget analyst position in the BIA's Division of Program Development and Implementation.

In August 1994, Hanna became the Area Budget Officer for the BIA's Phoenix Area Office, as the regional offices were formerly known, where she served 42 Federally recognized tribes in the states of Arizona, Nevada and Utah. As Area Budget Officer, Hanna was responsible for negotiating with tribes on self-governance compacts and funding levels for P.L. 93-638 contracts. In 1997, she served as Acting Area Director until December of that year when she returned to Washington, D.C., to become the BIA's Deputy Budget Director. Hanna was made Budget Director in November 1998.

"As the BIA's budget chief, Jeanette handled her tough job with aplomb," said McCaleb. "Throughout her career, she has worked in areas of the Federal government that typically don't see many professional American Indian women. Her experience has made her well-equipped to meet the challenge of helping shape the BIA into a modern service agency for the tribes and their members."

Hanna has overseen the BIA's $2 billion budget and agency-wide planning efforts to implement mandates of the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA). She also has served as key staff to a number of Federal/Tribal workgroups on reorganizing the BIA, the Tribal Priority Allocation (TPA) process and other issues.

Jeanette Hanna has a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration-Management from East Central State University in Ada, Okla. She received her degree in May 1983.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs announces that it has lifted a moratorium that has been in effect since 1997, on the sale of chat from the Tar Creek Superfund site located in northeastern Oklahoma. The lifting of the moratorium will lead the way to assist with the clean up of the area and provide a financial gain for the Indian landowners. Chat has commercial value, even though it is mine waste. It resembles a fine gravel and can be used for a variety of purposes, including fill material, road bedding, and aggregate in concrete and asphalt. "We welcome the opportunity to clean-up the Tar Creek Superfund site and at the same time provide an economic benefit for individual tribal members," said Acting Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Jim McDivitt, "It seems to be a good situation for all." The price for chat varies with market demand, but the large amount of chat estimated to be on Indian lands could potentially result in a significant financial windfall for the owners. To date, the BIA has identified approximately 110 Indian owners of this chat, primarily from the Quapaw Tribe.

The Tar Creek area is part of the mineral rich Tri-State Mining District, at one time containing some of the richest deposits of lead and zinc ore in the United States. At the present, the richest deposits are gone and large scale mining has ceased, leaving large piles of chat. Widespread lead contamination of the area compelled the U.S. EPA to declare Tar Creek a Superfund site, and to place it on the National Priorities List (NPL).

Because of this fact, a moratorium was imposed on the sale of chat found on Indian lands on October 6, 1997 by the Deputy Commissioner-Indian Affairs. Since then, two positive steps helped to make the decision to lift the moratorium. The U.S. EPA and the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) issued a fact sheet, dated December 9, 1999, which listed chat use guidelines, including acceptable use of Mining Waste. The DEQ then issued Mine Tailings Usage Guidelines for Residential Properties, dated May 11, 2000. These guidelines serve as the basis to reassure the BIA that the sale of chat from the site has the appropriate regulatory oversight so that once sold the chat is used in a safe manner. The BIA will require anyone purchasing the Indian-owned chat to abide by the guidelines established by the US EPA and Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ).

The lifting of the moratorium was signed by Jim McDivitt Acting Assistant-Secretary Indian Affairs on August 20, 2001.

(CHICHILTAH, N.M.) – With the click of a mouse by Interior Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Neal A. McCaleb, the Chichiltah/Jones Ranch Community School, a Bureau of Indian Affairs facility located in Chichiltah, N.M., today officially opened its portal to the Internet. His action also successfully completed the BIA’s four-year effort to bring all of its schools online.

“This is a tremendous moment in the history of the BIA and Chichiltah Community School,” said McCaleb. “Now, Chichiltah’s students and teachers have access to online information resources that have long been available to their peers in schools across America.” Chichiltah/Jones Ranch Community School is a K-8 boarding and day school serving 206 students and is located on the Navajo reservation in northwestern New Mexico.

Assistant Secretary McCaleb was accompanied by William A. Mehojah, Jr., director of the Office of Indian Education Programs, which administers the Bureau’s 185-school system, and school principal Jenny Jimenez. Chichiltah students, parents and teachers were also present to witness the occasion along with community elders and Navajo Nation tribal officials.

Chichiltah/Jones Ranch Community School is the last Bureau school to gain Internet access. It did so through the Access Native America project, a program started by OIEP in 1997 to connect BIA schools to the Internet and provide connectivity for the communities where the schools are located.

“Connectivity gives our children an important learning tool: the Internet,” McCaleb said. “But, through the Access Native America project, a telecommunications infrastructure can begin to be developed in Indian Country. As I see it, connectivity will be vitally important for tribes to deliver government services and build their economies, and in developing the work force to support both, now and in the future.”

The Access Native America project started with the Tiospa Zina Tribal School on the Sisseton-Wahpeton Reservation in South Dakota. Since then, OIEP has cabled classrooms, dormitories, administrative offices and libraries in schools serving 48,693 elementary and secondary American Indian students located on 63 reservations in 23 states, some in the remotest areas of the nation, such as the Havasupai School at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. Sixty-seven schools utilize satellite technology to access the Internet due to the lack of a telecommunications infrastructure on their reservations.

“As a result of these efforts, our students can now experience a learning channel of boundless limits that provide a full connection to the outside world,” said Mehojah. “The beauty of this project is that it can reveal the creative intent and scope which strongly reflects the culture, values and traditions of Indian people progressing in step with the information superhighway.”

The Bureau partnered with the ProjectNeat Foundation and the Microsoft and Intel corporations for hardware and software support to the schools, the Universities of Kansas and Texas for education content and teacher training on integrating technology with curriculum, the U.S. Geological Survey for network-engineering services, and the Laguna Pueblo Tribal Education Department for additional training opportunities.

“By joining forces to foster community solutions,” Mehojah said, “the BIA, academia and private industry organizations have worked together to set the foundation to prepare our schools and students for a 21st century education.”

Chichiltah is also the last of four remaining facilities to be connected. The three immediately prior to Chichiltah are: Baca Community School, Prewitt, N.M.; Jicarilla Dormitory, Dulce, N.M., and Winslow Dormitory, Winslow, Ariz. The Bureau wired and connected approximately 45 schools last year.

The BIA provides services to and carries out the federal government’s trust responsibility for the 558 federally recognized Tribal governments and approximately 1.4 million American Indians and Alaska Natives nationwide.

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(TULSA, Okla.) – Interior Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Neal A. McCaleb was named last night as the 2001 Native American Newsmaker of the Year by the Native American Times, Oklahoma’s largest Indian-owned newspaper. McCaleb received the newsmaker award during the Oklahoma Native American Business Development Center awards banquet at the Gilcrease Museum here. The center holds the annual awards ceremony to recognize individuals and companies from the Oklahoma Indian business community.

McCaleb, a member of the Chickasaw Nation and a native of Oklahoma City who used to own an engineering business, stressed in his remarks that, “strong, healthy tribal economies are a vital part of Oklahoma and the nation. They are the fuel in the economic engine that drives our country towards the future.” The Assistant Secretary also said he, “looked forward to a candid dialogue with you and others on how the BIA can effectively encourage the growth of Indian entrepreneurship and tribal enterprise.”

Speaking to an audience of several hundred state and local Indian business and political leaders, McCaleb said, “I am honored to receive this recognition by the Native American Times.” The weekly newspaper, which covers local and national news and events affecting the Oklahoma Indian community, has a circulation of 12,000 with subscribers in 47 states and three countries (see www.okit.com). “It is important for Indian people, no matter where we live and work, to know what’s going on in our communities and the larger world. Native news outlets such as the Times, who are also Indian businesses, not only meet our need for news and information, but help us maintain our cultural connections.”

McCaleb also had the honor of seeing two people he had mentored receive awards at the ceremony. “I’ve been privileged to watch these young men grow and achieve economic success,” he said. Frank Narcomey, a member of the Seminole Nation and President of Southwind Construction Co., Inc., of Edmond, Okla., received the ONABDC’s Native American Firm of the Year award and the Oklahoma American Indian Chamber of Commerce’s Business Award of the Year. Mark Farris, a member of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation and President of Red Plains Professional, Inc., also of Edmond, received the Oklahoma Department of Transportation’s Native American Business of the Year Award. McCaleb proudly acknowledged these winners in his remarks saying, “it makes my soul sing and my heart soar like an eagle to see these two young Indian businessmen achieve success and recognition.”

Also among the evening’s honorees were Oklahoma State Senator Kelley Haney as the U.S. Department of Commerce Minority Business Development Agency’s Regional Leader of the Year, the Iowa Tribe’s BKJ Solutions as ONABDC Tribal Business of the Year, and other Chamber of Commerce and ODOT award winners. The evening’s keynote speaker was Menominee Tribal Chairman Apesanahkwat. McCaleb oversees the BIA, a 176-year-old federal agency with almost 10,000 employees nationwide that provides services to, carries out its federal trust responsibilities for, and promotes the self-determination of the 558 federally recognized Tribal governments and approximately 1.4 million American Indians and Alaska Natives. Under his purview are a 185-school system, one of only two federally administered school systems in the country; 29 tribally controlled colleges; law enforcement and detention programs and facilities; social service, firefighting, tribal economic development and Indian child welfare programs; trust resource management programs, including management of tribal and individual Indian trust assets; and the federal acknowledgement process.

Prior to his selection by President Bush as Assistant Secretary, McCaleb served as Secretary of Transportation as well as Director of the Oklahoma Transportation Authority and the Department of Transportation under Governor Frank Keating. He is the eighth Assistant Secretary - Indian Affairs to be sworn in since Congress established the position in 1977. His appointment followed a professional life in Oklahoma where he enjoyed several careers including civil engineering, business, state government, politics and as a proponent of tribal self-determination through sustained, successful economic development.

In the 2000 Census, Oklahoma, which is home to 39 federally recognized tribes, ranked second behind California in total American Indian population. According to a 1997 Census report, the last year such data was available, the state ranked third behind California and Texas as having the largest number of American Indian- and Alaska Native-owned businesses.

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(WASHINGTON, D.C.) The Bureau of Indian Affairs is a major sponsor of the American Indian/Alaska Native Tourism Association’s 2001 American Indian Tourism Conference, which will take place Sept. 9-12 in Bismarck, N.D. Over 700 people representing the 558 federally recognized tribes in the United States as well as tribes from Canada are expected to attend the conference, which is the largest of its kind in the country. The theme for this year’s event is “Preserving our past, sharing our future.”

“We are proud to sponsor such an important conference,” said Interior Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Neal A. McCaleb. “We recognize that tourism can play a significant role in the local economies of tribes here in the U.S., and the Bureau of Indian Affairs wants to take a proactive approach in helping to develop it.” Tourism also provides an opportunity to educate people about the many cultures represented by Indian nations, McCaleb noted.

Workshops and sessions will address cultural sensitivity, infrastructure development, state and federal participation, international marketing and other topics. The conference will emphasize developing the capacities of the federally recognized tribes to increase their share of the $541 billion U.S. tourism business, which, with a workforce of 18 million, is the country’s leading service industry, according to the Travel Industry Association of America. Bismarck was selected as the host city because of its importance to the Lewis and Clark expedition, whose bicentennial will be celebrated next year.

“Co-sponsoring the tourism conference and working closely with the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial activities are part of the BIA’s efforts to promote tourism as a viable component of a tribe’s economic development plan,” said Ed Hall, a Transportation Specialist who heads the Bureau’s tourism program. “The conference is also an international event giving tribal representatives from the U.S. and Canada an opportunity to share ideas and information.”

For many of the tribes in the U.S. one of the most critical barriers to tourism development is the lack of infrastructure, such as roads and utilities, on their reservations. “The Bureau will have a significant role to play in helping tribes develop the physical infrastructure they will need to accommodate tourists who come to their lands,” McCaleb said. He added that many of the tourism-driven improvements also would improve the basic quality of life for tribal communities.

The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s new entertainment complex at its Prairie Knights Casino and Lodge will be the site of the conference’s opening night reception. Other event activities include an Indian Market and Trade Show showcasing over 100 exhibitors and a Sacajawea/Lewis and Clark historical tour along the Missouri River. McCaleb oversees the BIA, a 176-year-old federal agency with almost 10,000 employees nationwide that provides services to, carries out its federal trust responsibilities for, and promotes the self-determination of the 558 federally recognized Tribal governments and approximately 1.4 million American Indians and Alaska Natives. The American Indian/Alaska Native Tourism Association is a national organization whose mission is to “facilitate a network of American Indian tourism interest to cooperatively identify cultural benefits, markets and tourism opportunities that will enhance Tribal business and economic development strategies.” The BIA is a member of AI/ANTA. For more information on the American Indian Tourism Conference, call 2001 Host Tourism Co-Chair Sandra Ann Poitra at 701-477-5495 or National Indian Tourism Co-Chair Gloria Cobb at 715-588-3324, or visit the conference web site at http://www.indiantourism.org

(WASHINGTON) – Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Neal A. McCaleb today praised Indian Country’s outstanding generosity as our nation rebounds from this week’s tragic terrorist attack.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with the friends and families of innocent people lost or injured by this act of enormous horror,” McCaleb said. “An attack on America is an attack on Indian Country. I am gratified, but hardly surprised, that so many tribes have quickly offered support to the victims and their loved ones.

” Many tribes have donated time, personnel and monetary help to the recovery effort. For example, the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation in Mayetta, Kan., the Morongo Band of Mission Indians and the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians, both of California, donated funds to the rescue endeavor.

Also, the Mashantucket Pequots of Conn. turned two high-speed ferries into recovery vessels that rescued panicked people who leaped from a Manhattan pier to escape incoming rubble and ferried firefighters, police officers and doctors from Long Island to Manhattan’s tragic scene. In another example, the Tunica-Biloxi Tribe of La. organized a community-wide blood drive.

Also, when the attacks took place, the Bureau of Indian Affairs immediately reassigned 25 criminal investigators and chiefs of police who were attending training classes at the Marine Corps base in Quantico, Va. The officers are providing security assistance at the Interior Department headquarters and federal locations outside the city. They will continue to provide essential security support for Interior employees and the public for the foreseeable future.

“I am deeply proud of all of our employees who conducted themselves in a calm and professional manner under extremely stressful circumstances, and I am grateful for their courage and dedication to duty in the face of danger,” McCaleb said.

The BIA’s central office in Washington, D.C., reopened for business Wednesday after being temporarily evacuated. The BIA, an agency with almost 10,000 employees nationwide, provides services to, carries out its federal trust responsibilities for, and promotes the self-determination of the 558 federally recognized Tribal governments and approximately 1.4 million American Indians and Alaska Natives.

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(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Neal A. McCaleb will be a guest speaker today on Native America Calling, the national public affairs and news radio program on the American Indian Radio on Satellite (AIROS) and National Public Radio networks. He will address Indian Country’s response to calls for rescue and recovery support following last Tuesday’s terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

Financial contributions from American Indian tribes nationwide currently total about $1.6 million in addition to humanitarian aid such as blood drives and rescue efforts. For example, the Prairie Band of Potawatomi Nation of Kansas, the Mohegan Tribe of Connecticut, the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians of California and the Tulalip Tribes of Washington State are among the tribes who have donated funds to the rescue efforts.

Also, the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation of Connecticut turned two high-speed ferry boats it owns into recovery vessels that rescued people fleeing from the World Trade Center who leaped from a Manhattan pier to escape the destruction, and ferried firefighters, police officers and medical personnel from Long Island to the tragic scene.

For more information, contact NAC at 505-277-7999 or visit NAC’s web site www.nativeamericacalling.com.

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(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Neal A. McCaleb today announced the appointment of Robert D. Ecoffey, a member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe of South Dakota, as its lead law enforcement officer. As director of the Bureau’s Office of Law Enforcement Services, Ecoffey will oversee a 750-person department that provides uniformed police services, detention operations and criminal investigations of alleged or suspected violations of major federal criminal laws in Indian Country.

“BIA law enforcement is in very capable hands,” said McCaleb “Robert Ecoffey has the knowledge and expertise in federal law enforcement required for working with tribes across the United States.”

Ecoffey will be responsible for all headquarter and field activities associated with the direction, coordination, support and operation of BIA law enforcement programs. “I am honored to have been selected,” said Ecoffey. “I look forward to the challenge of making our Indian reservations a safer place to live. It is important that we work hand-in-hand with tribal communities to achieve this goal, and I will work with them every step of the way.”

Ecoffey comes to the position with over 25 years of experience in the federal government, 18 of which spent in law enforcement. In 1983, he became the first American Indian to serve as a U.S. Marshall in the 204-year history of the Service. Ecoffey’s priorities for his tenure are curbing drug abuse, developing greater cooperation between tribal and Bureau law enforcement agencies, involving Indian communities at the initial stages of policy development, and increasing the number of tribal and BIA law enforcement officers to meet growing public safety needs in Indian Country. To facilitate the latter, he feels that the success of future recruitment efforts to bring more young Indian men and women into the Bureau’s law enforcement ranks will depend on partnerships between the tribes, K-12 schools and tribal colleges to generate interest in choosing law enforcement as a career. In addition, he is also looking at providing educational grants to Indian students in exchange for years of service in law enforcement and the creation of an Indian Youth Police Academy for 16-19 year-olds, which is already taking shape with two sessions scheduled for the summer of 2002. Prior to his appointment as director of OLES, Ecoffey served as superintendent of the Bureau’s Pine Ridge Agency on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota for the past five years. During his time there, Ecoffey working closely with the Oglala Sioux Tribe in a successful effort to have the reservation designated as an empowerment zone under the U.S. Department of Agriculture. He is particularly proud that he was instrumental in helping the Sueann Big Crow Boys and Girls Club, an affiliate of the National Boys and Girls Club of America, plan and build a new $6 million facility on the Pine Ridge reservation, which is slated for completion in June 2002.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs, an agency with almost 10,000 employees nationwide, provides services to, carries out its federal trust responsibilities for, and promotes the self-determination of the 558 federally recognized Tribal governments and approximately 1.4 million American Indians and Alaska Natives. Through the Office of Law Enforcement Services, the Bureau directly operates 49 and funds 160 tribally operated law enforcement programs across the country which combined provide Indian Country with nearly 2,100 law enforcement personnel including law enforcement and detention officers. OLES personnel work cooperatively with other federal law enforcement agencies to provide protection to persons and property and to enforce federal laws on federal Indian reservations.

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(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Neal A. McCaleb today announced he has issued a Notice of Proposed Finding whereby he proposes to decline to acknowledge that the Webster/Dudley Band of Chaubunagungamaug Nipmuck Indians of Dudley, Mass., (petition #68B) exists as an Indian tribe within the meaning of Federal law. The proposed finding is based on a determination that the petitioner does not satisfy three of seven mandatory criteria for Federal acknowledgment under 25 CFR Part 83, the Federal acknowledgment regulations, and therefore does not meet the requirements for a government-to-government relationship with the United States.

The petitioner did not satisfy criteria 83.7(a), 83.7(b) and 83.7(c) of the regulations. Criterion 83.7(a) requires the petitioner to have been identified on a substantially continuous basis as an American Indian entity. Criterion 83.7(b) requires the petitioner to have maintained a continuous community from historical times until the present. Criterion 83.7(c) requires the petitioner to have maintained political authority or influence on a substantially continuous basis from historical times until the present.

Having completed his review, the Assistant Secretary will publish the Notice of the Proposed Finding on the Webster/Dudley Band of Chaubunagungamaug Nipmuck Indians in the Federal Register. As provided by 25 CFR 83.10(i), the petitioner or any individual or organization wishing to challenge or support the proposed finding shall have 180 days after the notice’s publication date to submit arguments and evidence to rebut or support the proposed finding.

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(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Neal A. McCaleb today announced he has issued a Notice of Proposed Finding whereby he proposes to decline to acknowledge that the Nipmuc Nation headquartered in Sutton, Mass., (petition #69A) exists as an Indian tribe within the meaning of Federal law. The proposed finding is based on a determination that the petitioner does not satisfy four of seven mandatory criteria for Federal acknowledgment under 25 CFR Part 83, the Federal acknowledgment regulations, and therefore does not meet the requirements for a government-to-government relationship with the United States.

The petitioner did not satisfy criteria 83.7(a), 83.7(b), 83.7(c) and 83.7(e) of the regulations. Criterion 83.7(a) requires the petitioner to have been identified on a substantially continuous basis as an American Indian entity. Criterion 83.7(b) requires the petitioner to have maintained a continuous community from historical times until the present. Criterion 83.7(c) requires the petitioner to have maintained political authority or influence on a substantially continuous basis from historical times until the present. Criterion 83.7(e) requires the petitioner’s current members to have descended from an historical Indian tribe or tribes which combined and functioned as a single autonomous political entity.

Having completed his review, the Assistant Secretary will publish the Notice of the Proposed Finding on the Nipmuc Nation in the Federal Register. As provided by 25 CFR 83.10(i), the petitioner or any individual or organization wishing to challenge or support the proposed finding shall have 180 days after the notice’s publication date to submit arguments and evidence to rebut or support the proposed finding.

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