Press Releases

WASHINGTON – Continuing President Obama’s commitment to strengthen tribal sovereignty, Interior Deputy Secretary Michael L. Connor announced today that the Department has signed agreements with the Round Valley Indian Tribes of the Round Valley Reservation in California and the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians of North Dakota to implement the Land Buy-Back Program for Tribal Nations.

WASHINGTON – U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell today marked an important milestone to increase transparency and public trust in the governance of natural resource revenues with release of a new interactive data portal and the first annual U.S. Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (USEITI) Report.  

WASHINGTON – U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell today announced that the Department will establish a Natural Resource Investment Center to spur partnerships with the private sector.

WASHINGTON – U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell today released the following statement on the agreement reached at the 21st Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP21) in Paris.

WASHINGTON – U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell today announced that Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Kevin K. Washburn, after more than three years of leadership, will conclude his service to the Department and will return to the faculty of the University of New Mexico School of Law in January. 

WASHINGTON – U.S. Department of the Interior Deputy Secretary Michael L. Connor will host a listening session on March 3, 2016, at the Albuquerque Convention Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico, to hear directly from tribal leaders and individual landowners on the progress of the Land Buy-Back Program for Tribal Nations (Buy-Back Program).

LAS VEGAS – Earlier today, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), in conjunction with the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) Secretary, hosted a roundtable discussion with local Las Vegas leaders on Open Enrollment efforts. 

PARIS, France – U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell met today with French Minister of Justice Christiane Taubira to express the United States' concern about tribal sacred objects and objects of cultural patrimony that are sold at French auction houses.

On December 1, at COP21 in Paris, France, leading companies announced that they intend to prioritize their sourcing of commodities in regions implementing large-scale forest and climate programs.