Acting Assistant Secretary Roberts Announces Launch of BIA's Tribal Leaders Directory as a Searchable Electronic Map

WASHINGTON – Acting Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Lawrence S. Roberts today announced that the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ popular publication, the Tribal Leaders Directory, is now available as an electronic searchable map. The map provides up-to-date contact information for the nation’s 567 federally recognized tribes and all BIA regional offices and agencies. The map can be accessed via the bia.gov and indianaffairs.gov websites using the Tribal Leaders Directory link.

“The BIA’s new Tribal Leaders Directory electronic map offers the ability to more quickly find information to reach tribal governments and our field offices,” Roberts said. “With the map’s launch, we are taking another step forward in transforming the BIA into a 21st century service provider for Indian Country.”

The Directory’s new format is a searchable interactive map where users can click on icons to locate tribal governments and BIA offices across the United States. Some of the features of the new map-based Directory allow users to:

 Have actual locations for all points of contact.

 Conduct quick electronic searches of the entire Directory with just a few key strokes.

 Produce mail merge documents with only the information needed.

 Group data visually by BIA regions for creating maps, reports, dashboards, or web pages.

 Access information that is updated more frequently than in the past.

 Download information in .csv, .xml, .json, and MS Excel formats.

The map is accessible via most modern web browsers – Microsoft Internet Explorer, Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome, Apple Safari, and Mozilla Firefox – on desktop computers, laptops, tablets and smartphones.

The BIA Office of Indian Services’ Division of Tribal Government Services is responsible for producing the Tribal Leaders Directory. It works to ensure the accuracy of official tribe and tribal leader names and contact information, as well as contact information for Indian Affairs and BIA officials and regional offices and agencies.

The Directory was initially developed as a reference document to aid BIA employees in their day-to-day work with the tribes. Over the years it became one of the Bureau’s most requested publications, used by federal, tribal, state and local governments, news media, business, researchers, and the general public to connect with tribal governments and the BIA throughout Indian Country.

The BIA developed the Tribal Leaders Directory map using its data to create overlays of its twelve regions onto a Google map of the U.S. Like the print version, the map provides key contact information for all federally recognized tribal governments, as well as for BIA headquarters and regional and agency officials. The BIA will update the information at least once a month, as opposed to the six-month update period for the print version.

The print version of the Directory will no longer be published after the launch. Persons without internet access, however, may request a copy in Excel format from the Division of Tribal Government Services.

The Directory is not the official listing of federally recognized tribes. It should be used in conjunction with the Federal Register Notice of Indian Entities Recognized and Eligible to Receive Services from the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs, which is the official listing of all federally recognized tribes in the United States.

The Acting Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs oversees the BIA, which is headed by a director who is responsible for managing day-to-day operations through four offices – Indian Services, Justice Services, Trust Services and Field Operations. These offices directly administer or fund tribally based infrastructure, law enforcement, social services, tribal governance, natural and energy resources, and trust management programs for the nation’s federally recognized American Indian and Alaska Native tribes and villages through 12 regional offices and 81 agencies.

The Office of Indian Services Division of Tribal Government Services updates and publishes the Tribal Leaders Directory and the Federal Register notice of federally recognized tribes. For more information about the Tribal Leaders Directory map, or to request a copy in Excel format, contact the Division at 202-513-7641. For general information about the Division of Tribal Government Services, or to access the map or the most recent Federal Register notice, visit http://www.indianaffairs.gov/WhoWeAre/BIA/OIS/TribalGovernmentServices/index.htm.