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56-716: The Northern Ute tribe, which was moved to the Uintah Ouray Reservation, is composed of a number of bands. The tribes at the reservation include the following groups: Utes have lived in the Great Basin region for over 10,000 years. From 3000 BCE to around 500 BCE, they lived along the Gila River in Arizona . People of the Fremont culture lived to the north in western Colorado, but when drought struck in

112-653: A " culture of fear " and of "ethical failure." Devaney has also said, "Simply stated, short of a crime, anything goes at the highest levels of the Department of Interior." Launched in June of 2021, the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative intended to investigate federal Indian boarding school policies and multi-generational impacts of trauma on American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian children. Released in two volumes,

168-552: A mean flow of about 1,800 cubic feet per second (51 m /s) at the mouth. The river's modern discharge near the mouth is less than 180,000 acre-feet (0.22 km ) per year, with an average flow of just 247 cubic feet per second (7.0 m /s). Overdraft from the Gila River system prompted the construction of the Central Arizona Project , which delivers some 1,500,000 acre-feet (1.9 km ) annually from

224-519: A member of Congress for New Mexico, took the oath of office as secretary, becoming the first American Indian to lead an executive department, and the third woman to lead the department. DOI Convocation Honor Award is the most prestigious recognition that can be granted by the department. The following awards are presented at the Honor Awards Convocation: In 2018, DOI established 12 organizational regions to be used across

280-635: A member of the president's Cabinet . The current secretary is Deb Haaland . As of mid-2004, the department managed 507 million acres (2,050,000 km ) of surface land, or about one-fifth of the land in the United States. It manages 476 dams and 348 reservoirs through the Bureau of Reclamation , 431 national parks , monuments, historical sites, etc. through the National Park Service , and 544 national wildlife refuges through

336-527: A month. Among the last to be captured were three German soldiers who had based their audacious but ill-fated escape plans on a stolen highway map of Arizona, which showed the Gila River leading to the Colorado River, which in turn led to Mexico. Devising a scheme to flee by water, the Germans constructed a collapsible kayak under the noses of their American captors, tested it in a makeshift pool within

392-1050: A portion of its water from the Uinta Basin (part of the Colorado River Basin) to the Great Basin . The diversion would provide water supply for the Bonneville Unit of the Central Utah Project . In exchange, the Bureau of Reclamation agreed to plan and construct the Unitah, Upalco, and Ute Indian Units of the Central Utah Project to provide storage of the Tribe's water. By 1992, the Bureau of Reclamation had made little or no progress on construction of these facilities. To compensate

448-526: A separate domestic department continued to percolate for a half-century and was supported by presidents from James Madison to James Polk . The 1846–48 Mexican–American War gave the proposal new steam as the responsibilities of the federal government grew. Polk's secretary of the treasury , Robert J. Walker , became a vocal champion of creating the new department. In 1849, Walker stated in his annual report that several federal offices were placed in departments with which they had little to do. He noted that

504-618: A statutory prohibition against any such projects on the state's portion of the river. The Gila River between Virden, New Mexico , and Solomon, Arizona , is navigable during spring snowmelt and after summer and autumn storms. The river passes through many scenic canyons and stretches of Class I to III whitewater. Due to its desert surroundings, the river is characterized by erratic flows and flash floods that reach high peaks and drop off just as quickly. The Gila's Salt River tributary has even more difficult whitewater, ranging up to Class IV in places, and often has higher and more dependable flows than

560-503: A way for the United States to control the Uintah people and assert their dominance. This military base ultimately resulted in the size of the Ute's land being decreased significantly. This massive military presence ultimately greatly decreases the size of the reservation. As the United States continues to push westward, they do so at the expense of Native Tribes. The US government tried to force

616-559: Is Bryan Newland, an enrolled member of the Bay Mills Indian Community . The department has been the subject of disputes over proper accounting for American Indian Trusts set up to track the income and distribution of monies that are generated by the trust and specific American Indian lands, which the government leases for fees to companies that extract oil, timber, minerals, and other resources. Several cases have sought an accounting of such funds from departments within

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672-657: Is a Proto- Numic language within the Uto-Aztecan language family. The language is still widely spoken. In 1984, the tribe declared the Ute language to be the official language of their reservation, and the Ute Language, Culture and Traditions Committee provides language education materials. There are two annual dances that are performed by the Uintah Ute. The summer Sun Dance and the spring Bear Dance were particularly meaningful to their tribe. Their attitude towards

728-733: Is administered by the United States Department of the Interior . The Tribal Business Committee is the governing council of the Tribe and is located in Fort Duchesne, Utah . The Uinta and Ouray Indian Reservation is the second-largest Indian Reservation in the US – covering over 4,500,000 acres (18,000 km) of land. Tribal owned lands only cover approximately 1.2 million acres (4,855 km) of surface land and 40,000 acres (160 km) of mineral-owned land within

784-619: Is in Arizona. A band of Pima (autonym "Akimel O'odham", river people), the Keli Akimel O'odham (Gila River People), have lived on the banks of the Gila River since before the arrival of Spanish explorers. Popular theory says that the word "Gila" was derived from a Spanish contraction of Hah-quah-sa-eel, a Yuma word meaning "running water which is salty". Their traditional way of life ( himdagĭ , sometimes rendered in English as Him-dak)

840-735: Is intermittent at that point. The majority of the water is diverted at the Ashurst-Hayden Diversion Dam near Florence, Arizona . A number of minor diversion dams have been built on the river between the Painted Rock Dam and the Coolidge Dam, including the Gillespie Dam , which was breached during a flood in 1993. Many dams have been built on tributaries to the Gila River, including Theodore Roosevelt Dam , Horse Mesa Dam , and Mormon Flat Dam on

896-833: Is joined by the San Carlos River from the north in San Carlos Lake. At Winkelman, Arizona , it picks up the San Pedro River and then is joined by the Santa Cruz River south of Casa Grande . The Salt River , its main tributary, joins in the Phoenix metropolitan area, and further west the Gila receives its last two major tributaries, the Agua Fria and Hassayampa Rivers, from the north. Although

952-591: Is managed by the department, with most of the remainder managed by the Department of Agriculture 's Forest Service . The department was created on March 3, 1849. It is headquartered at the Main Interior Building , located at 1849 C Street NW in Washington, D.C. The department is headed by the secretary of the interior , who reports directly to the president of the United States and is

1008-465: The Colorado River flowing through New Mexico and Arizona in the United States. The river drains an arid watershed of nearly 60,000 square miles (160,000 km ) that lies mostly within the U.S., but also extends into northern Sonora , Mexico. Indigenous peoples have lived along the river for at least 2,000 years, establishing complex agricultural societies before European exploration of

1064-414: The Department of Homeland Security primarily and the Department of Justice secondarily. The Department of the Interior has often been humorously called "the Department of Everything Else" because of its broad range of responsibilities. A department for domestic concern was first considered by the 1st United States Congress in 1789, but those duties were placed in the Department of State . The idea of

1120-497: The Fish and Wildlife Service . The largest land management agency is the Bureau of Land Management , managing about one-eighth of the land in the United States. Despite its name, the Department of the Interior has a different role from that of the interior ministries of other nations, which are usually responsible for police matters and internal security. In the United States, national security and immigration functions are performed by

1176-864: The Gila Mountains to the south and the Languna and Muggins ranges to the north in Yuma County , and finally it empties into the Colorado at Yuma, Arizona . The Gila is joined by many tributaries, beginning with the East and West Forks of the river, which combine to form the main stem near Gila Hot Springs in New Mexico. Above Safford, it is joined by the San Francisco River and the intermittent San Simon River. Further downstream, it

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1232-633: The Salt River , New Waddell Dam on the Agua Fria River , and Bartlett Dam on the Verde River . Many major dams in the Gila River system were built and operated by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation , which also constructed most of the large dams throughout the Colorado River basin. Others, such as Coolidge Dam, are owned by local water supply agencies, irrigation districts, or Native American tribes. The Gila River and its main tributary,

1288-585: The Senate . The department was established on March 3, 1849 (9  Stat.   395 ), the eve of President Zachary Taylor 's inauguration, when the Senate voted 31 to 25 to create the department. Its passage was delayed by Democrats in Congress who were reluctant to create more patronage posts for the incoming Whig administration to fill. The first secretary of the interior was Thomas Ewing . Several of

1344-788: The United States General Land Office had little to do with the Treasury and also highlighted the Indian Affairs office , part of the Department of War , and the Patent Office , part of the Department of State . Walker argued that these and other bureaus should be brought together in a new Department of the Interior. A bill authorizing its creation of the department passed the House of Representatives on February 15, 1849, and spent just over two weeks in

1400-523: The 13th century, they joined the Utes in San Luis Valley , Colorado . Utes were one of the first tribes to obtain horses from escaped Spanish stock. Spanish explorers traveled through Ute land in 1776. They were followed by an ever-increasing number of non-Natives. The Colorado Gold Rush of the 1850s flooded Ute lands with prospectors. Mormons fought the Utes from the 1840s to 1870s. In the 1860s

1456-621: The 4 million acres (16,185 km) reservation area. Founded in 1861, it is located in Carbon , Duchesne , Grand , Uintah , Utah , and Wasatch Counties in Utah. Raising stock and oil and gas leases are important revenue streams for the reservation. The Tribe is a member of the Council of Energy Resource Tribes . The Tribe holds a 5% stake in the proposed Uinta Basin Rail . The Ute language

1512-469: The Bear Dance involves emphasis rather than innovations. The ceremonial aspect has gone, but the social aspects still remains. It offers a way for natives to grow closer to one another. Gila River The Gila River ( / ˈ h iː l ə / ; O'odham [Pima] : Keli Akimel or simply Akimel , Quechan : Haa Siʼil , Maricopa language : Xiil ) is a 649-mile-long (1,044 km) tributary of

1568-553: The Colorado River to supplement water supplies in the basin. The upper Gila River, including its entire length within New Mexico, is a free-flowing one. Recent efforts to allow for damming or otherwise diverting this stretch have met with stiff political resistance, having been named as one of the nation's most endangered rivers due to proposed dam projects such as Hooker Dam . During his time in office, former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson had promised to block any such attempt during his term, and he had even considered pushing for

1624-454: The Colorado River, the Gila is usually either a trickle or completely dry, as is also the lower Salt from Granite Reef Diversion Dam downstream to the Gila, but both rivers can carry large volumes of water following rainfall. The historic width of the Gila River varied from 150 to 1,200 feet (46 to 366 m) with a depth of 2 to 40 feet (0.61 to 12.19 m). Its natural discharge was roughly 1,300,000 acre-feet (1.6 km ) per year, with

1680-595: The Colorado and Gila Rivers; maps drawn by his expedition show the river as the Miraflores or Brazos de la Miraflores . During the Mexican–American War , General Stephen Watts Kearny marched 100 cavalrymen from the 1st U.S. Dragoons along the Gila River in November 1846. This detachment was guided by Kit Carson . The Mormon Battalion followed Kearny's troops, building a wagon trail roughly following

1736-556: The Gila River flows entirely within the United States, the headwaters of two tributaries – the San Pedro and Santa Cruz Rivers – extend into Mexico. About 1,630 sq mi (4,200 km ), or 2.8% of the Gila's 58,200-square-mile (151,000 km ) watershed, is in Mexico. A further 3,300 sq mi (8,500 km ) or 5.7% lies within New Mexico, while the remaining majority, 53,270 sq mi (138,000 km ) or 91.5%,

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1792-545: The Gila River valley around modern Phoenix, using the Gila, Salt, and San Pedro Rivers for irrigation and establishing at least six major settlements. In 1944, 25 German prisoners of war pulled off the largest and most spectacular escape from an American compound during the war, digging a 178-foot (54 m) tunnel out of the Navy’s Papago Park Prisoner of War Camp in Arizona. All of the men were eventually captured, though some remained at large for more than

1848-523: The Gila. Boating and fishing are popular on San Carlos Lake and other basin reservoirs, including Lake Pleasant and Theodore Roosevelt Lake . The river system has 36 fish species, including largemouth bass , sunfish , channel catfish , flathead catfish , and Gila trout (Oncorhynchus gilae gilae) . The Gila River has also been known as: Department of the Interior The United States Department of

1904-429: The Interior ( DOI ) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the management and conservation of most federal lands and natural resources . It also administers programs relating to Native Americans , Alaska Natives , Native Hawaiians , territorial affairs, and insular areas of the United States, as well as programs related to historic preservation. About 75% of federal public land

1960-721: The Interior and Treasury (such as the Minerals Management Service), in what has been a 15-year-old lawsuit. Some American Indian nations have also sued the government over water-rights issues and their treaties with the US. In 2010 Congress passed the Claims Settlement Act of 2010 (Public Law 111-291), which provided $ 3.4 billion for the settlement of the Cobell v. Salazar class-action trust case and four American Indian water rights cases. On March 16, 2021, Deb Haaland , serving at that time as

2016-617: The Interior, at Fall's behest. Secretary of the Interior James G. Watt faced criticism for his alleged hostility to environmentalism, for his support of the development and use of federal lands by foresting, ranching, and other commercial interests, and for banning the Beach Boys from playing a 1983 Independence Day concert on the National Mall out of concerns of attracting "an undesirable element". His 1983 resignation

2072-536: The Salt River, were both perennial streams carrying large volumes of water – the Gila was once navigable by large riverboats from its mouth to near Phoenix, and by smaller craft from Phoenix nearly to the Arizona-New Mexico border – until irrigation and municipal water diversions turned both into usually dry rivers which carry water only after local downpours create flooding. Below Phoenix to

2128-695: The Tribe for the Bureau of Reclamation's failure to meet its 1965 construction obligations, Title V of the Central Utah Project Completion Act ( P.L. 102-575 ), enacted in 1992, contains the Ute Indian Rights Settlement. Under the settlement, the Northern Tribe received $ 49.0 million for agricultural development, $ 29.5 million for recreation and fish and wildlife enhancement, and $ 125 million for economic development. The Ute Indian Rights Settlement

2184-706: The US federal government created the Uintah Reservation. Specifically, an Act before the 38th Congress in May 1864 was passed to vacate and sell the Indian reservations in Utah and to settle the Indians of Utah in the Unita valley. The vacated land was sold in parcels “not exceeding 80 acres each” and the sale of the land was advertised in newspapers throughout the territories of Utah and Washington. The Act also authorized

2240-535: The United States began to expand, they created treaties, tract descriptions, and executive orders to outline the terms of Native land and mitigate tensions. The Uintah Ute Executive Order was a key document in outlining agreements for the Ouray Reservation. Robert MacFeely wrote this executive order requesting President Grover Cleveland to establish an American military base on a Native American Reservation. This military base would ultimately end up becoming Fort Duchesne. Robert MacFeely uses specific language in his appeal to

2296-503: The United States to lead the president to believe that this would be a mutually beneficial agreement. Throughout his account, he repeatedly uses the expression, "mutual agreement." However, the Uintah Tribe has no incentive to want American military presence. This presence would reduce their autonomy and subjugate them to American rule. The United States' military presence makes it easy for them to kill or threaten any Natives, who oppose their rule. The presence of this military base would act as

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2352-423: The Utes to farm, despite the lack of water and unfavorable growing conditions on their reservation. Irrigation projects of the early 20th century put water in non-tribal hands. Ute children were forced to attend Indian boarding schools in the 1880s and half of the Ute children at the Albuquerque Indian School died. In 1965, the Northern Ute Tribe agreed to allow the United States Bureau of Reclamation to divert

2408-515: The domestic concerns the department originally dealt with were gradually transferred to other departments. For example, the Department of Interior was responsible for water pollution control prior to the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency . Other agencies became separate departments, such as the Bureau of Agriculture , which later became the Department of Agriculture . However, land and natural resource management, American Indian affairs, wildlife conservation, and territorial affairs remain

2464-404: The mountains into the valley southeast of Phoenix, Arizona, where it crosses the Gila River Indian Reservation as an intermittent stream due to large irrigation diversions, primarily at the Hayden Ashurst Diversion Dam. Well west of Phoenix, the river bends sharply southward along the Gila Bend Mountains, then it swings westward again near the town of Gila Bend . It flows southwestward between

2520-408: The prison compound, then sneaked it out through the tunnel. Their plan was perfect – except for the map. The Gila, shown as a healthy blue waterway, turned out to be little more than a dry rut. The only major dam on the Gila River is Coolidge Dam, 31 miles (50 km) southeast of Globe, Arizona , which forms San Carlos Lake. The Painted Rock Dam crosses the Gila near Gila Bend, although the river

2576-446: The region began in the 16th century. European Americans did not permanently settle the Gila River watershed until the mid-19th century. During the 20th century, development in the Gila River watershed prompted the construction of large diversion and flood control structures on the river and its tributaries, and consequently the Gila contributes only a small fraction of its historic flow to the Colorado. The historic natural discharge of

2632-404: The responsibilities of the Department of the Interior. Secretary of the Interior Albert B. Fall was implicated in the Teapot Dome scandal of 1921. He was convicted of bribery in 1929, and served one year in prison, for his part in the controversy. A major factor in the scandal was a transfer of certain oil leases from the jurisdiction of the Department of the Navy to that of the Department of

2688-445: The river from December 1846 to January 1847. After the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo in 1848, the Gila River served as a part of the border between the United States and Mexico until the 1853 Gadsden Purchase extended American territory well south of the Gila. The confluence of the Gila with the Colorado River was also used as a reference point for the southern border of California. Beginning in 1871, mainly Mormon settlers populated

2744-456: The river was around 1,900 cubic feet per second (54 m /s), but has declined to only 247 cubic feet per second (7.0 m /s). The engineering projects transformed much of the river valley and its surroundings from arid desert into irrigated land, and supply water to more than five million people in the Phoenix and Tucson metropolitan areas who live in the watershed. The Gila River has its source in western New Mexico, in Sierra County on

2800-466: The schools and calls for accountability and measures to address the ongoing impact on Native American families and communities to include working closely with tribal nations on the identification and repatriation of the remains. Within the Interior Department, the Bureau of Indian Affairs handles some federal relations with American Indians, while others are handled by the Office of Special Trustee. The current acting assistant secretary for Indian affairs

2856-415: The superintendent of Indian Affairs to “collect and settle all or so many of the Indians of said territory as may be found practical in Unita Valley”. The Act also appropriated 30,000 dollars for the comfort of the Indians who inhabited Uinta Valley. Utah Utes , including the Timpanogos or Timpanog tribe from Central Utah, settled there in 1864, and were joined in 1882 by eight bands of Northern Utes. As

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2912-407: The three year investigation produced the first report in May 2022 and the second and final volume in June 2024. The final report details the severe trauma and cultural disruption inflicted on Native American communities through these schools, which operated from the late 19th century to the mid-20th century. It highlights the systemic abuse and neglect endured by students, finding 973 children died at

2968-456: The western slopes of the Continental Divide in the Black Range . It flows southwest through the Gila National Forest , the Gila Wilderness, and Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument , then westward into Arizona, past the town of Safford . After flowing along the southern slope of the Gila Mountains in Graham County through a series of canyons, the Gila is impounded by Coolidge Dam in San Carlos Lake south of Peridot . It emerges from

3024-519: Was and is centered at the river, which is considered holy. Traditionally, sand from the banks of the river is used as an exfoliant when bathing (often in rainstorms, especially during the monsoon). Indigenous peoples such as the Hohokam were responsible for creating large, complex civilizations along the Middle Gila River and Salt River between 600 and 1450 AD. These native civilizations depended largely on irrigated agriculture, for which they constructed over 200 miles (320 km) of canals. The upper Gila

3080-447: Was inhabited by the Mogollon culture over most of the same time period, in settlements like those at Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument in the later period. The first European to see the Gila River was possibly Spanish explorer and missionary Juan de la Asunción . Asunción reached the Gila in 1538 after traveling northwards along one of its tributaries, either the San Pedro or Santa Cruz. In 1540, Hernando de Alarcón sailed up

3136-448: Was prompted by a speech in which he said about his staff: "I have a black, a woman, two Jews and a cripple. And we have talent." Under the Administration of President George W. Bush , the Interior Department's maintenance backlog climbed from $ 5 billion to $ 8.7 billion, despite Bush's campaign pledges to eliminate it completely. Of the agency under Bush's leadership, Interior Department Inspector General Earl Devaney has cited

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