OPA

Washington, D.C. – Interior Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk will be a speaker at the upcoming 66th Annual National Congress of American Indians Convention and Trade Show being held October 11-16, 2009, at the Palm Springs Convention Center in California. He will address the convention’s second general assembly on Monday, October 12, where he will discuss the Department’s law enforcement, education and economic development initiatives in Indian Country.

Established in 1944, NCAI (www.ncai.org) is the country’s oldest national association of American Indian and Alaska Native tribes, and holds one of the largest annual gatherings of tribal representatives.

WASHINGTON – On Thursday, November 5th, 2009, President Obama will host the White House Tribal Nations Conference. As part of President Obama’s sustained outreach to the American people, this conference will provide leaders from the 564 federally recognized tribes the opportunity to interact directly with the President and representatives from the highest levels of his Administration. Each federally recognized tribe will be invited to send one representative to the conference.

President Obama said, "I look forward to hearing directly from the leaders in Indian Country about what my Administration can do to not only meet their needs, but help improve their lives and the lives of their peoples. This conference will serve as part of the ongoing and important consultation process that I value, and further strengthen the Nation-to-Nation relationship. "

Media credentialing information will be released when it becomes available.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced today that the Bureau of Reclamation has awarded American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding to additional tribes to help improve infrastructure and water supplies while bringing jobs to Indian country.

Today’s announcements apply to five tribes that will receive a total of $47 million—the Three Affiliated Tribes of North Dakota; the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, and the Oglala Sioux Tribe in South Dakota; and the Navajo Nation in New Mexico. Reclamation previously has awarded $97 million and will award a total of $157 million in recovery funding to tribes for their water systems.

“President Obama’s economic recovery plan is meant to quickly aid Americans by providing jobs and improving infrastructure, while paving the way for tomorrow’s success,” Salazar said. “It is particularly important to create economic opportunities and local jobs for tribes that currently obtain water from some of the nation’s most substandard water supply systems. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is bringing these areas both high-quality drinking water and a brighter outlook for the future.”

Funding to tribes announced today includes:

• $6.4 million to the Three Affiliated Tribes of North Dakota. This additional funding will assist the tribes with continued construction of the Fort Berthold Rural Water System.
• $1.9 million to the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe. This additional funding will assist the tribe with continued construction on five rural water system projects in South Dakota.
• $18.9 million to the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe to assist the tribe with continued construction of three projects within the Standing Rock Rural Water Supply System in South Dakota.
• $14.7 million for two Oglala Sioux Tribe rural water projects in South Dakota. The first project involves the Oglala Sioux Rural Water Supply Core System. The second project will include rural water system improvement on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. This improvement will include rehabilitation of water systems at seven Bureau of Indian Affairs schools.
• $5.27 million to the Navajo Nation in New Mexico under modification to an existing contract for purchasing pipeline and related fittings for constructing key portions of the Navajo Nation Municipal Pipeline authorized as part of the Animas-La Plata Project by the Colorado Ute Settlement Act Amendments of 2000.

A total of $215 million in Recovery Act water infrastructure investments through the Bureau of Reclamation will provide a direct or indirect benefit to multiple tribal water users. This investment is in addition to other ARRA funds from Department of the Interior bureaus -- mainly the Bureau of Indian Affairs -- which will provide an additional $500 million to President Obama's economic recovery efforts targeting tribal communities across the nation.

Department of the Interior water infrastructure investments in tribal water systems are part of the $1 billion nationwide effort that Interior’s Bureau of Reclamation will channel under the ARRA to restore aging infrastructure, repair aging dams, provide drought relief and improve conservation of water.

In response to the water crisis, across the West, Reclamation will spend $200 million on construction of rural water projects for tribal and non-tribal rural water system construction with an emphasis on water intakes and water treatment plants. These investments will help address public health needs of rural and Native communities and create significant economic development in these distressed areas. The infusion of ARRA funding will allow projects authorized by Congress to deliver water sooner than would otherwise be the case.

Secretary Salazar has pledged quick and responsible implementation of the $3 billion in recovery funds that will be used by the Department of the Interior and its agencies.

Secretary Salazar has pledged unprecedented levels of transparency and accountability in the implementation of the Department of the Interior’s economic recovery projects. The public will be able to follow the progress of each project on www.recovery.gov and on www.interior.gov/recovery. Secretary Salazar has appointed a Senior Advisor for Economic Recovery, Chris Henderson, and an Interior Economic Recovery Task Force. Henderson and the Task Force will work closely with the Department of the Interior’s Inspector General to ensure that the recovery program is meeting the high standards for accountability, responsibility and transparency that President Obama has set.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – There is not enough evidence to meet the legal requirements for federal recognition of the Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians of Montana, Acting Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs George T. Skibine said today. The Department of the Interior, therefore, has issued a final determination not to acknowledge the petitioner group as a federally-recognized Indian tribe.

“Though the Little Shell cannot meet the mandatory criteria for federal acknowledgment through Interior’s administrative process, the U.S. Congress has the authority to recognize the Little Shell under pending legislation,” Skibine said.

The petitioning group, made up of 4,332 members who live in Montana as well as out of the state, claims its ancestors originated as part of the historical Pembina Band of Chippewa Indians in the mid-19th century and then evolved into a separate group of mixed Indian ancestry in Montana by the early 20th century. In its review of all of the evidence in the record, the Department concluded that the Little Shell did not satisfy three of the seven mandatory criteria for acknowledgment, specifically the requirements that a tribe: ▪

• has been identified as an Indian entity on a substantially continuous basis at least since 1900;
• comprise a distinct community since historical times and maintain significant social relationships and interaction as part of a distinct community; and
• maintain political influence over a community of its members or over communities that combined into the petitioner.

Federal acknowledgment of a group as an Indian tribe establishes a government-to-government relationship between the United States and an Indian tribe, making federal protection, services, and benefits available to Indian tribes by virtue of this officially recognized status.

The petitioning process dates back more than a decade. On July 21, 2000, the Assistant Secretary - Indian Affairs issued a proposed finding recommending acknowledgment of the Little Shell as an Indian tribe. In doing so, the Assistant Secretary explicitly acknowledged several contemplated departures from acknowledgment precedent and requested comments on whether the proposed departures were consistent with the regulations. The proposed finding also strongly encouraged the petitioning group to provide additional evidence to support its petition. The Department acknowledged that additional evidence could create a different factual record and provide more factual support to a final decision.

This final determination concludes, however, that the petitioner’s response to the proposed finding does not present sufficient additional evidence or argument that justifies the proposed finding’s contemplated departures from precedent.

The Little Shell met criteria 83.7 (d), (e), (f), and (g) of the acknowledgment regulations by demonstrating that it has a governing document, 89 percent of its members have descent from the historical Pembina Band of Chippewa Indians, its membership is not principally composed of members of an acknowledged Indian tribe, and it is not the subject of congressional legislation forbidding the Federal relationship.

However, under criterion 83.7(a), the available evidence shows external observers identified the petitioner as an Indian entity only since 1935, not 1900, as required by the regulations. For criterion 83.7(b), the available evidence demonstrates the petitioner has not comprised a distinct community since historical times. Nor did the petitioner maintain significant social relationships and interaction as part of a distinct community since their migration to Montana. In the case of criterion 83.7(c), the available evidence did not demonstrate that the petitioner maintained political influence over a community of its members at any time or over communities that combined into the petitioner.

The determination announced today is final and effective 90 days after publication of a notice in the Federal Register, unless the petitioner or any interested party requests reconsideration with the Interior Board of Indian Appeals. See the Department of the Interior website at (http://www.doi.gov) for copies of the final determination.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – On Tuesday, November 3 at 1:00 PM Eastern, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, Interior Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk, White House Senior Policy Advisor for Native American Affairs Kim Teehee, and White House Associate Director for Intergovernmental Affairs Jodi Gillette will hold a conference call with interested reporters to discuss the upcoming White House Tribal Nations Conference.

WHAT: Conference Call to discuss the White House Tribal Nations Conference

WHO: Ken Salazar, US Secretary of the Interior Larry Echo Hawk, Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs, US Department of the Interior Kim Teehee, White House Senior Policy Advisor for Native American Affairs Jodi Gillette, White House Associate Director for Intergovernmental Affairs

WHEN: Tuesday, November 3, 2009 at 1:00 PM Eastern

WHERE: Via Conference call Dial in: (800) 230-1766 Call name: “White House Tribal Nations Conference”

Washington, D.C. – Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk today announced the launch of a new effort by the Indian Affairs Indian Highway Safety Program and the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ Office of Justice Services to help tribes keep drunk drivers off of their roads and highways. The IHSP and BIA-OJS have acquired four BAT (Breath Alcohol Testing) Mobiles for tribal use to effectively enforce traffic laws and ordinances and to reduce injuries and fatalities due to driving under the influence. Purchase of the vehicles was made possible by funding from the U.S. Department of Transportation National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s National Highway Traffic Safety Program (NHTSP).

“I am extremely proud and pleased that our Indian Highway Safety Program and Office of Justice Services have undertaken this important effort to help tribes protect Indian Country’s residents and visitors,” Echo Hawk said. “I am very grateful to the Department of Transportation and the National Highway Traffic Safety Program for their support of our efforts to reduce injuries and save lives, especially during the upcoming holiday season.”

Two of the four new BAT mobiles were delivered to the OJS District 5 in Billings, Mont., on November 4 and one was delivered to the OJS District 4 in Albuquerque, N.M., on November 9. The last BAT mobile was delivered to the OJS District 2 in Muscogee, Okla., on November 17. The districts will use the vehicles to serve 77 federally recognized tribes, with a combined population of 581,756, in seven states.

The 40-foot long mobile units, which cost approximately $300,000 apiece, use state-of-the art lighting, camera and communications systems. Each has an Intoxilyzer 8000 to precisely measure breath alcohol levels, a containment cell to transport suspects and an interior camera to produce court-quality videos of the testing process. Each unit also is decorated on the outside with colors and design elements that reflect American Indian culture, with police identification on the back and sides, and has space on the back for a user-tribe’s seal. The units were manufactured by Farber Specialty Vehicles of Ohio.

According to the NHTSA’s National Center for Statistics and Analysis, in the five-year period from 2002 to 2006, 3,262 Native Americans lost their lives in motor vehicle traffic crashes. Of those, 1,864 (or 57 percent) involved an alcohol-impaired driver or motorcycle operator who was at or above the legal limit of .08.

However, impaired driving is one of the deadliest problems not just in Indian Country, but in America. The NHTSA estimates that in 2007 there were approximately 13,000 total fatalities in crashes involving a driver or motorcycle rider with a blood alcohol content (BAC) of .08 or higher. And the Federal Bureau of Investigation estimates that there were about 1.5 million DWI (driving while impaired) arrests in 2007 – an average of 167 arrests per hour.

The BAT mobiles also will be used by tribal law enforcement during the upcoming Don’t Shatter the Dream impaired-driving mobilization effort, which will run throughout Indian Country from December 21, 2009, through January 3, 2010.

The BIA Office of Justice Services is responsible for managing the Bureau’s law enforcement, detention facilities and tribal courts programs, either directly in tribal communities or by funding tribally administered programs through contract and grants.

The Indian Highway Safety Program, a part of the Indian Affairs Office of Facilities, Environmental and Cultural Resources Division of Safety and Risk Management, is charged with meeting the traffic safety needs of the 564 federally recognized tribes. One of its goals is to decrease alcohol-related motor vehicle crash injuries and fatalities in Indian Country.

NHTSA’s mission is to save lives, prevent injuries and reduce economic costs due to road traffic crashes, through education, research, safety standards and enforcement activity. For more information, visit www.nhtsa.gov.

Washington, D.C. – The Department of the Interior today launched a new effort to develop a Department-wide policy on tribal consultation, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk announced today. The new consultation policy will be developed with input from the nation’s 564 federally recognized tribes.

“President Obama respects the inherent sovereignty of Indian nations and believes that the federal government must honor its commitments to American Indian and Alaska Native communities,” said Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar. “The President's Executive Order on consultation recognizes that the federal government has a responsibility to uphold not just a government-to-government relationship with tribes, but a nation-to-nation relationship. That is why we are working to implement a consistent and comprehensive Department-wide tribal consultation policy and process upon which tribes can rely.”

The effort announced today is consistent with the requirements of an executive memorandum issued by President Obama on November 5 that directs all Federal departments and agencies to develop a “plan of actions” to implement the policies and directives of Executive Order 13175, Consultation and Coordination with Indian Tribal Governments, issued by President Clinton on November 6, 2000. President Obama signed the memorandum at the White House Tribal Nations Conference held at the Interior Department’s headquarters in D.C.

“On November 5, President Obama issued his executive memorandum supporting tribal consultation as ‘a critical ingredient of a sound and productive Federal-tribal relationship’,” Echo Hawk said. “The effort we are undertaking today to develop Interior’s plan as called for by the President will begin a new and positive chapter in the history of Federal-tribal relations.”

President Obama has directed each agency head to submit to the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) within 90 days of the date of his memorandum a detailed plan of actions the agency will take to implement the policies and directive of Executive Order 13175. The Department is seeking tribal comments via email, regular mail and in real-time meetings by January 15, 2010, on questions asking what the parameters of a comprehensive Interior Department-wide consultation policy should entail.

Also announced today is the preliminary schedule of Departmental tribal consultation meetings:

To view “Tribal Consultation, Memorandum for the Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies” and “Executive Order 13175 – Consultation and Coordination With Indian Tribal Governments”, visit http://www.indianaffairs.gov/WhoWeAre/AS-IA/Consultation/index.htm and scroll down to the section “Presidential and BIA Tribal Consultation Documents”

Washington, D.C. – The Department of the Interior today launched a new effort to develop a Department-wide policy on tribal consultation, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk announced today. The new consultation policy will be developed with input from the nation’s 564 federally recognized tribes.

“President Obama respects the inherent sovereignty of Indian nations and believes that the federal government must honor its commitments to American Indian and Alaska Native communities,” said Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar. “The President's Executive Order on consultation recognizes that the federal government has a responsibility to uphold not just a government-to-government relationship with tribes, but a nation-to-nation relationship. That is why we are working to implement a consistent and comprehensive Department-wide tribal consultation policy and process upon which tribes can rely.”

The effort announced today is consistent with the requirements of an executive memorandum issued by President Obama on November 5 that directs all Federal departments and agencies to develop a “plan of actions” to implement the policies and directives of Executive Order 13175, Consultation and Coordination with Indian Tribal Governments, issued by President Clinton on November 6, 2000. President Obama signed the memorandum at the White House Tribal Nations Conference held at the Interior Department’s headquarters in D.C.

“On November 5, President Obama issued his executive memorandum supporting tribal consultation as ‘a critical ingredient of a sound and productive Federal-tribal relationship’,” Echo Hawk said. “The effort we are undertaking today to develop Interior’s plan as called for by the President will begin a new and positive chapter in the history of Federal-tribal relations.”

President Obama has directed each agency head to submit to the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) within 90 days of the date of his memorandum a detailed plan of actions the agency will take to implement the policies and directive of Executive Order 13175. The Department is seeking tribal comments via email, regular mail and in real-time meetings by January 15, 2010, on questions asking what the parameters of a comprehensive Interior Department-wide consultation policy should entail.

Also announced today is the preliminary schedule of Departmental tribal consultation meetings:

To view “Tribal Consultation, Memorandum for the Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies” and “Executive Order 13175 – Consultation and Coordination With Indian Tribal Governments”, visit http://www.indianaffairs.gov/WhoWeAre/AS-IA/Consultation/index.htm and scroll down to the section “Presidential and BIA Tribal Consultation Documents”.

Washington, D.C.—Today is Native American Heritage Day, thanks to legislation signed by President Obama that permanently designates the Friday after Thanksgiving Day each year as a day of honoring American Indian and Alaska Native cultural heritage and tribal sovereignty.

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk thanked President Obama and the Congress for the designation.

“It is fitting that Native American Heritage Day follows Thanksgiving because the holiday is rooted in the tradition of the first meal between European settlers and the Native Americans who taught them how to survive in their new home,’” Secretary Salazar said.

“Native Americans have much to appreciate this year,” said Assistant Secretary Echo Hawk, noting that in addition to signing House Joint Resolution 40, the “Native American Heritage Day Act of 2009,” the President recently issued an Executive Memorandum to the heads of executive departments and agencies that strengthens federal-tribal relationships. He signed the memo at the White House Tribal Nations Conference held at the Department of the Interior on November 5.

Native American Heritage Day can be observed through appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities. It is an opportunity for all Americans to learn about the historical status of Native American tribal governments; the present day conditions of Native American people; their traditions and languages; and their rich cultural legacy.