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Echo Hawk concludes tenure at Interior, moves on to LDS church position
Salazar commends
Echo Hawk for his
leadership, service
WASHINGTON - Secretary of the
Interior Ken Salazar announced on April
9 that Assistant Secretary for Indian
Affairs Larry Echo Hawk will be leaving
the Department of the Interior after nearly
three years of leadership.
Echo Hawk, an enrolled member of
the Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma, resigned
his position effective April 27 to assume a
leadership position in the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints.
“Larry has done an extraordinary
job at Interior, opening a new chapter
in our nation-to-nation relationship with
American Indian and Alaska Native Tribal
governments and carrying out President
Obama’s vision for empowering Indian
nations,” said Salazar. “During his tenure,
the department accelerated the restoration
of Tribal homelands, improved public
safety in Tribal communities, resolved
century-old water disputes, made critical
investments in education and reached
many more milestones that are helping
Indian nations pursue the future of their
choosing. We thank Larry for his exem
plary leadership and wish him all the best
as he begins a new chapter in his life.”
“The opportunity to participate in
remedying the negative perceptions of the
federal government in Indian Country was
a formidable challenge at first, but 1 am
proud to say that I have served my coun
try as an agent for change here in Indian
Affairs,” said Echo Hawk. “I believe at
the end of this administration, the work
we accomplished will leave a lasting
legacy for American Indian and Alaska
Natives. 1 want to thank President Obama,
Secretary Salazar, the American Indian
and Alaska Native Tribal nations and the
many devoted employees at Interior who
supported my leadership and allowed me
the opportunity to serve Indian Country.”
Donald “Del" Laverdure, principal
deputy assistant secretary of the Interior
for Indian Affairs, will serve as acting
assistant secretary until Obama nominates
a new assistant secretary to be confirmed
by the U.S. Senate. Laverdure is a member
of the Crow Nation and has served in a
leadership role at Interior since 2009.
“Del has played a key role in many
of Interior’s meaningful accomplish
ments over the past three years and I
am confident that he is the right person
to lead Indian Affairs as we continue to
fulfill President Obama’s vision for rec
onciliation and empowerment for Indian
nations,” added Salazar.
Under Echo Hawk’s leadership, Inte
rior has re-energized its commitment to
fulfilling this nation's trust responsibilities
to American Indians. The department has
broken the logjam on trust land applica
tions and streamlined the process as part
of the most substantial overhaul of the
department’s leasing process in 50 years.
Since 2009, the department has acquired
more than 158,000 acres of land in trust
on behalf of Tribal nations.
Interior also is working to implement
the landmark Claims Resolution Act of
2010 that included the Cobell settlement,
a $3.4 billion settlement that responsibly
addresses long-standing injustices.
Echo Hawk has worked to meet the
critical water needs of American Indian
communities, helping to reach historic
water rights settlements that offer a fair
resolution to decades of conflict and
litigation. For communities like the Taos
Pueblo and Aamodt case pueblos in New
Mexico, the Crow Tribe of Montana and
the White Mountain Apache Tribe in
Arizona, the permanent water supply will
vastly improve the quality of life and offer
greater economic security.
During his tenure, Echo Hawk worked
across the federal government, including
the Department of Justice, to help build
safer communities and implement the
Tribal Law and Order Act that President
Obama signed into law in 2010.
Echo Hawk strengthened law enforce
ment and launched an intense community
policing pilot program on four reserva
tions experiencing high crime rates. The
Safe Indian Communities initiative, a
two-year program, so far has achieved
a 35 percent overall decrease in violent
crime across the four communities.
Echo Hawk also has led the way in
drafting a comprehensive and transparent
consultation policy for the department that
will provide a strong, meaningful role for
Tribal governments at all stages of federal
decision-making on Indian policy.
Obama nominated Echo Hawk on
April 20, 2009, and the Senate confirmed
him as the assistant secretary-Indian
Affairs on May 19, 2009. He was sworn
into office by Salazar on May 22, 2009.
Echo Hawk was elected attorney gen
eral of Idaho in 1990, the first American
Indian in U.S. history to achieve that dis
tinction. He also served two consecutive
terms in the Idaho House of Representa
tives from 1982 to 1986.
A former U.S. Marine, Echo Hawk
began his law career as a legal services
attorney working for impoverished Indian
people in California, then opened a pri
vate law office in Salt Lake City. He also
served as the chief general legal counsel
for the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes of the
Fort Hall Indian Reservation in Idaho
from 1977-1986.
Echo Hawk received his juris doctor
degree from the University of Utah in
1973 and attended the Stanford Gradu
ate School of Business MBA program in
1974-1975.
Echo Hawk, 63. and his wife, Terry,
have six children and 24 grandchildren.
May 2012
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Siletz News
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