Bureau
of Indian Affairs
FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Nedra
Darling
January
28, 2002
202-219-4152
MEDIA
ADVISORY
Seventh
Consultation Meeting On
Improving
Indian Trust Asset Management
Set For
February 1 In Arlington, Virginia
(WASHINGTON,
D.C.) - Interior Assistant Secretary - Indian Affairs Neal A. McCaleb will meet
with tribal leaders on Friday, February 1, 2002 in Arlington, Va., at the
seventh in a series of consultation meetings on the Department's plan to
improve the management of Indian trust assets.
He will be joined by Wayne R. Smith, Deputy Assistant Secretary - Indian
Affairs and Ross O. Swimmer, Director, Office of Indian Trust Transition. The meeting will be held at the Hyatt
Regency Crystal City Hotel (2799 Jefferson Davis Highway) starting at 9:00 a.m.
EST.
On
November 15, 2001, the Department announced plans to transfer and consolidate
Indian trust asset management functions currently administered by the Bureau of
Indian Affairs and other Interior agencies within a new Bureau of Indian Trust
Assets Management. The Department also
announced the establishment of an Assistant Secretary for Indian Trust Assets
Management to oversee BITAM and a new Office of Indian Trust Transition to
implement the transfer and consolidation plans.
Consultation
meetings have taken place in Albuquerque, N.M.; Minneapolis, Minn.; Oklahoma
City, Okla.; Rapid City, S.D.; San Diego, Calif.; and Anchorage, Alaska. A notice with meeting dates and locations
was published in the December 11 Federal Register.
WHO: Neal A. McCaleb, Assistant Secretary - Indian
Affairs; Wayne R. Smith,
Deputy Assistant Secretary - Indian
Affairs and Ross O. Swimmer, Director,
Office of Indian Trust Transition.
WHEN: 9:00 a.m. EST, Friday, February 1, 2002.
WHAT: Interior Department tribal consultation
meeting on improving the management of
Indian trust assets.
WHERE: Hyatt Regency Crystal City Hotel, 2799
Jefferson Davis Highway, Arlington, Va.
Phone: 703-418-1234. Fax: 703-418-1289.
-BIA-