Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

Tribal and federal leaders recently gathered at the Interior Department for the White House Tribal Nations Summit.

Discussions included protecting tribal lands from the effects of climate change.

The Mountain West News Bureau’s Kaleb Roedel reports.

The Quinault Indian Nation is located along the Washington coast where the sea level is rising and causing floods. That’s why the tribe’s working to relocate to higher ground.

The Interior Department is giving them $25 million to help. 

Tyson Johnston is the tribe’s director of self-governance.

“Now that these targeted investments are starting to occur, tribes that are smaller, that don’t have access to capital, are finally getting the resources they need to move from the planning phase and into the implementation phases of their work.”

Many tribal communities are affected by wildfires, drought, and extreme heat, which can threaten food, water, and energy supplies. 

Bryan Newland (Bay Mills Indian Community) is the Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs.

“We have to protect the ability of tribes and Native people to live in their homelands – to stay in their homelands.”

Earlier this year, the agency made $120 million available for tribes facing climate impacts.

Native women leaders were prominent at the White House Tribal Nations Summit.

Crystalyne Curley, the speaker of the 25^th Navajo Nation Council, was among attendees.

She made history this year becoming the first Navajo woman to serve as speaker on the tribe’s council.

Curley says women in leadership is becoming normalized today as many tribal leaders come from matrilineal societies.

“Our mothers, our grandmas, are decision makers at home. And when you look at a lot of these issues, especially federally, locally, and even in states, a lot of these issues that are impacting us Indigenous people is home issues. Mental health, behavioral health, down to even water, food security. And I always put that metaphor out there. It’s going to be better coming from a woman. You know, as a motherly figure to fight for these basic needs. I’m very great to see a lot of a woman leadership here today just sharing ideas and see how they’re tackling down a lot of these social economic issues within their own communities, but also within their homes.”

Curley was grateful to take part in the summit.

“Many of our tribal leaders are here and being a part of discussion regarding federal policy and the direction that the Biden-Harris administration wants to take the direction in. And we’re really fortunate to be here to be part of the table. I think in Indian Country we always say that we want to be part of these discussions. We want to be part of the decision-making process. And this is a great time to do it today.”

There were many other Native women leaders at the summit including Lora Ann Chaisson, the first Houma leader of the United Houma Nation to ever attend the summit, and Bishop Paiute Tribal Chair Meryl Picard who introduced Vice President Kamala Harris.

On the federal and congressional level, Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland (Laguna Pueblo) made history as a Native woman in Congress and as cabinet secretary.

She joined virtually after contracting COVID.

U.S. Treasurer Chief Lynn Malerba, the Mohegan Tribe’s first female chief in the tribe’s modern history and first Native American U.S. Treasurer, was in attendance to hear President Joe Biden’s remarks, along with U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids (Ho-Chunk/D-KS), who also made history as a Native women serving in Congress.

Check out complete National Native News coverage of the White House Tribal Nations Summit

A federal court case was recently dropped after the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribal Court reversed its formal banishment of two Dupree School District employees, as C.J. Keene reports.

The school district is not affiliated with the tribe, but sits inside the reservation borders in South Dakota.

Teacher Sarah Shaff and district superintendent Keith Fodness initiated the lawsuit in response to the exclusion.

They were banished from the reservation at the beginning of the school year facing allegations of child abuse and failure to report.

A third employee also faced exclusion but her case was dismissed in September.

 

Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our newsletter today.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

Canada’s Assembly of First Nations has a new leader.

As Dan Karpenchuk reports, Cindy Woodhouse, a regional chief from Manitoba, was elected the new national chief.

The voting took place over two days last week.

Of the six candidates in the race, no one claimed the required 60% of the votes until Woodhouse did on the second day of voting.

The voting at times became heated as Woodhouse and her main opponent traded accusations.

It wasn’t until the seventh round of voting that David Pratt conceded.

Woodhouse says her main priority, now that she’s the national chief, is taking care of First Nations children.

“Now the child welfare system that has been separating our kids for far too long.  We need to push to bring our families home together again.”

 Woodhouse also says there’s a lot of work to do in the days ahead.

“Our people need housing and our people need economic development.  We need policing and justice for our communities so we have safe communities.  Because we’re dealing with a lot of drug epidemic.  And my condolences to so many of you, us to in our community we face that.  And right across this country we hear over and over again about the things that our people face.”

Woodhouse also pleaded with Canadians to support First Nations.

She also thanked the outgoing National Chief Roseanne Archibald for smashing the glass ceiling that allowed a woman to be elected into the top job.

Archibald was ousted during the year after a probe into complaints from staff members about her conduct, which included harassment and violating internal policies.

Federal land managers say they will invest nearly $70 million into co-management agreements with tribes.

Montana Public Radio’s Aaron Bolton reports the announcement came out of last week’s White House Tribal Nations Summit.

The U.S. Forest Service says it will invest millions of dollars into land management agreements with tribes.

The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes have already participated in projects to recruit more smokejumpers as well as to restore native plant species in the Bitterroot National Forest.

The Forest Service also announced that it will hire a liaison that will help the CSKT provide input on forest management in northwest Montana.

CSKT are the only tribes in Montana to enter into the new agreements with the federal government.

Other projects across the country include management of national monuments, fish habitat restoration, and using traditional knowledge for vegetation management.

The Indian Health Service is working to provide tens of thousands of children’s books to Native families across the country.

The Mountain West News Bureau’s Kaleb Roedel has more.

The federal agency gave a $200,000 grant to Reach Out and Read, a national nonprofit that integrates reading into pediatric care. 

The group will use the money to buy more than 30,000 children’s books.

They’ll be handed out to Indigenous families during well-child visits at dozens of Indian Health Service clinics. 

That includes 11 in New Mexico, one in Colorado, and one in Wyoming. 

Marty Martinez is Reach Out and Read’s CEO. He says the books feature Indigenous characters and are written in half a dozen different Native languages.

“To give families a book for a two-year-old or a three-year-old that’s related to their culture, that ties in a Native Illustrator or author or a great story – and celebrates that – is so meaningful.”

And helpful to their development.

The group says about one-third of young children – and half of those living in poverty – start kindergarten without the skills they need to do well in school.

 

Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our newsletter today.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

Click here for the Monday, December 11 National Native News

Tribal leaders from across the country say substance use and mental health issues are priorities for the federal government to address with tribes.

The topic was part of the agenda Thursday at the White House Tribal Nations conference at the Interior Department.

During a panel on substance use with tribal leaders, Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta told the audience the Department of Justice (DOJ) is learning from tribes.

She says that’s helping them adjust what they’re doing wrong and will fill gaps that supports tribal solutions.

A concern among leaders is combating the fentanyl crisis, which Gupta says the agency is working hard on.

“The justice department is obviously in the fentanyl crisis, doing everything that we can to cut off the supply chain cartels in Mexico and companies in China etc. But we are also taking what I heard very loudly and clearly the kind of prevention intervention, recovery treatment approach to and we have to support the whole bandwidth and it won’t be done through the justice department alone. It will be done in coordinating with all of the agencies and many more here at the federal government. “

Stephen Roe Lewis, the governor of the Gila River Indian Community in Arizona, says substance use is impacting tribal communities across the country hard, including in his home state.

“In the state of Arizona, the state doesn’t have the resources to address this wide spread issue, it has to do with enforcement. It has to do with also providing the resources, supporting the tribes. Of course, in Arizona there’s 22 tribes. Supporting the tribes with those resources to address the horrible surge of drug and alcohol abuse. And all the social issues, and it’s not just that too. It’s not just those individuals, our loved ones, our relatives. It’s the families as well. And it’s also providing them those wraparound services, and the housing as well. When you have the state, even though it’s a state issue, but it’s using federal funds, Medicaid funds, and Indian health service resources as well. ”

Sharon Hildebrand, Vice President of Tanana Chiefs Conference in Alaska, says one thing that can help is recognizing Indian Country in Alaska.

“We feel it’s really important that the DOJ addresses the issue of recognizing Indian country because in their funding formulas, Alaska is not recognized as Indian Country. So it’s important that we bring that forward in terms of funding, not only for Alaska, but for everyone in terms of equity.”

The two-day summit was an opportunity for tribal leaders to engage directly with federal and White House officials.

Thursday afternoon leaders met with a number of agency officials in private meetings.

Before the summit concluded there were panels on Native families and children, Native languages and cultures, and tribal economic development.

The Wind River Food Sovereignty Project is working to address food insecurity and lack of access to healthy food on the reservation.

It’s now one step closer to that goal.

Wyoming Public Radio’s Hannah Habermann has more.

After five years of connecting people to the land through food, the Wind River Food Sovereignty Project is finally getting some land of its own.

The group helps to increase the supply of healthy and affordable food on the Wind River Reservation by supporting local food production.

The 30-acre property is in Fort Washakie and will be home to a demonstration farm and learning garden.

Kelly Pingree is an enrolled member of the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes and is one of the project’s co-directors.

She says she hopes the land can also be a healing and relaxing space.

“Gardening always made me happy. You know, I don’t know, just planting something just makes you happy. Watching it grow makes you happy.”

The group also hopes to build a walking path around the property and plans to host educational classes about growing and preserving Indigenous foods.

The Wind River Food Sovereignty Project recently acquired a 30-acre plot of land on the Wind River Reservation – and they’re planning to use the space to help support local food production and education.

The space will be home to a learning garden and will host programming focused on growing and preserving Indigenous foods.

There will also be irrigated plots of land available for those who want to produce food for the community.

Livy Lewis is one of the project’s co-directors.

She says they plan to build food storage and a commercial kitchen.

“One of our end hopes is that we can get locally produced food into some of the institutions, like the school districts and casino restaurants, Senior Living.”

Wind River Food Sovereignty Project has also provided grants and training to local cattle ranchers, hunter-gatherers, farmers, and other food producers – and they run farmers markets on the reservation in the summer and winter.

 

Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our newsletter today.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

Interior  Secretary Deb Haaland told tribal leaders Wednesday morning that President Joe Biden and his administration are committed to investing in tribes and strengthening nation-to-nation relationships.

Joining virtually after testing positive for COVID, Sec. Haaland addressed leaders virtually in remarks at the 2023 White House Tribal Nations Summit.

Sec. Haaland says some of their accomplishments are protecting cultural resources, working to address decades of federal underfunding to tribes, water infrastructure investments, and investigating Indian boarding schools.

“This is our third year in office, and now things look very different. Because we’ve taken your words and feedback and put them into action. Throughout this administration, our work is guided by Indian country, for Indian country, Because representation matters.”

Leaders in attendance, like All Pueblo Council of Governors Chairman Mark Mitchell from New Mexico, says tribal leaders are holding the administration accountable.

“Making sure… the federal government by way of the President, we hold him to his words from last year. We want to hear what type of, or how the report is for this year from last year. It’s imperative that the leadership here that we do have that government to government relationship.”

Chairman Mitchell was among a handful of tribal leaders who met with President Biden privately moments before the president delivered his remarks.

President Biden announced and signed an executive order, which he says affirms tribal self-governance and cuts “red tape” when it comes to federal funding.

“It requires federal agencies to streamline grant applications, to co-manage federal programs, to eliminate heavy handed reporter requirements that gives Tribes more autonomy to make your own decisions. Not to mention, it’s more efficient.”

Brandon Yellowbird-Stevens, Vice Chair of the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin, hopes the order will streamline the process.

“Many tribes, doesn’t even matter if you’re small or large and have the infrastructure, it becomes cumbersome. Managing the grants, the strings attached, the reporting – and many times, tribes just don’t have the capacity to seek out the grants. And when they do, they need extensions, they need to forward the funding, and what not. And what this executive order hopefully fulfills is more ability and autonomy for tribes to utilize the funding, take it how we need it, and utilize it at the rate we need to.”

The order also creates a clearing house for tribes to find federal funds.

The White House Tribal Leaders Summit continues Thursday at the Interior Department.

Watch Summit Session One

Watch Summit Session Two

Southeast Alaska is mourning the loss of a Haida elder from Craig, who died at the age of 102.

The Tlingit and Haida Central Council shared the news of Fred Hamilton Sr.’s passing by saying “he has walked out into the forest.”

Hamilton was of the Raven moiety and Owl, Brown Bear, and Flicker crests.

The council says the elder, who was born in 1921 and the middle of nine children, was the oldest known living Haida.

Whether it was serving on school boards or city councils, or as a volunteer fighter and a timekeeper at school basketball games, volunteering was important to Hamilton.

At his 100th birthday celebration, he gave this advice: “Be friendly, help others and to not dwell on bad things that may happen in life.”

 

Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our newsletter today.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland hosted a press call Tuesday in advance of the 2023 White House Tribal Nations Summit.

According to the Biden Administration, the summit is an opportunity to strengthen the nation-to-nation relationship with tribes.

Sec. Haaland says a historic $45 billion annual budget has been invested in Indian county.

“These investments are transformative and are addressing issues that for too long have been ignored an which are now having direct and immediate impacts on people’s lives. The announcements we make this week are part of the lasting impact we are building in Indigenous communities.”

Sec. Haaland planned to chair the summit, but instead she will join virtually after testing positive for COVID-19 Monday.

The National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) held a tribal leader planning session Tuesday.

Attorney Robert Odawi Porter is a former president of the Seneca Nation and now represents tribal clients.

He was at the NCAI tribal briefing.

Porter says justice issues are among tribal priorities.

“One of the things that was really coming out today was how do we target the problem in Indian Country dealing with the fentanyl addiction. Our leaders are working collectively to try to expand tribal criminal jurisdiction over non-Indian drug offenders. This is trying to fix a 50-year problem of the supreme court saying tribes don’t have jurisdiction over non-Indians and what we see now with fentanyl and opioids is an unbelievable epidemic in part made worse by the lack of jurisdiction.”

The summit is taking place at the Interior Department Wednesday and Thursday and will be live streamed on Facebook and YouTube.

Frybread Face and Me is a new feature film out now on Netflix with an all-Native American cast.

Clark Adomaitis has more.

Frybread Face and Me is written and directed by Billy Luther, a Navajo, Hopi, and Laguna Pueblo man in his mid-40s.

Luther also narrated parts of the film.

“My grandmother always spoke to me as if I understood her. English was something she refused to learn. I’m sure She thought one day I would answer her back in Navajo.”

It’s a coming-of-age story set in the year 1990.

An adolescent Navajo boy growing up in San Diego spends a summer with his grandmother on the Navajo Nation.

“We didn’t have to try to get it right. We got it right, because we live this and this was our world.”

Director Billy Luther says the cast was all Navajo, save one member, who is an Alaska Native. He also hired Navajo crew members.

“I just wanted to cast people who understand this world, this Navajo world. And I wanted most of these people have to speak Navajo. I just don’t see it being any other way. I think if I was working with a non-Native crew, I would have had to kind of tell them how to do it.”

The film is semi-autobiographical.

The protagonist is based largely on Luther’s own life growing up as a Native American child in Southern California.

The film explores the different sides of his life and identity.

“I just tell the story that is true to me. growing up off the reservation, an urban Indian. also being three tribes. Navajo, Hopi, and Laguna Pueblo are very different from each other. So my perspective, my outlook and also just my way of life is unique. But I think that’s true for you know, majority of Native storytellers, filmmakers, writers, is just diving into that truth it’s going to be authentic.”

Billy Luther lives in Los Angeles and he’s part of a growing community of Native American filmmakers there.

 

Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our newsletter today.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

Ahead of next week’s White House Tribal Nations Summit, we’re taking a look at some of the priorities of U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland (Laguna Pueblo), who will chair the summit in Washington, D.C.

One initiative is her investigation into the troubling legacy of U.S. Indian boarding schools.

Earlier this month, Sec, Haaland completed the 12th and final stop on “The Road to Healing” tour.

The year-long tour across the country provided the opportunity for survivors of federal Indian boarding schools to share their stories with Haaland and other federal leaders.

The tour also connected communities with trauma-informed support, and gathered permanent oral histories.

Just two days after the final stop, Sec. Haaland reflected on the healing tour during an interview with New Mexico PBS.

“In so many instances, folks have told us that they were reluctant to share a thing with their families, but felt it was time to finally say something about the experiences that they have had. We feel that is, you know, that’s healing for people. And that was the purpose of our road to healing was to really start healing for the country. This is a history that all Americans share, not just Native Americans. And so ensuring that we are open and honest about the past history of this country has been really important to us. And I think overall, it’s been a really good experience for everyone who has participated.”

Sec. Haaland says further healing efforts will include Native language preservation and an oral history project.

“We want to make sure that that information is open to our larger countries so that people can learn. And it’ll take a lot to heal, but certainly ensuring that we can help with things that Indian communities have lost during these assimilation policies, and namely, I should say, Native languages. That was a topic. that was so often reiterated around the country. And so we know that President Biden has been incredibly supportive of Native language preservation and we’ll continue with that as well.”

Sec. Haaland will join White House officials in chairing the 2023 White House Tribal Nations Summit, which provides an opportunity for tribal leaders from the 574 federally recognized tribes across the country to engage with the Biden Administration.

The fourth season of the show Native Shorts, presented by the Sundance Institute’s Indigenous Program, premieres Thursday night on FNX Television.

Jill Fratis from our flagship station KNBA spoke with one of the show’s hosts about the new season.

The show focuses on short Indigenous films from around the world.

Host Ariel Tweto is Inupiaq.

She connects with the everyday viewer asking questions that the audience might have about the film.

Tweto says they have a lengthy process to choose which episodes air on the show.

“I mean we wanted an array of films or genres, and so they’ll find a horror, a romance, comedy, something very abstract and so we want to get films from all over the place.”

From New Zealand to Australia to the Aleutian chains of Alaska, Indigenous filmmakers share stories of their cultures and ways of life.

Tweto says she notices a lot of differences from one continent to the next.

“Just to see how other people live is I think really special. I’ve learned a lot just about different cultures from around the world. I think that’s really cool. Different ways of storytelling, how someone in New Zealand tells a story a lot different than someone say from Finland, and it’s cool to see the diversity.”

Tweto says Native Shorts is a great platform to showcase short films, when in the past, it was only shown at film festivals.

“It’s so cool that we get to showcase the short films because there’s not really a platform for short films after festivals. Usually if it’s not in a festival, it’s just, I don’t even know where it goes, so this is just a really cool opportunity for us to showcase all these amazing Indigenous filmmakers and actors and actresses.”

 

Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our newsletter today.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

Plans are underway for a huge winter construction season at the Willow oil project on the North Slope of Alaska.

This comes as a federal judge last week rejected calls from environmental and grassroots Native groups to block the development.

Rhonda McBride from our flagship station KNBA reports.

Earth Justice and other organizations vow to appeal the decision to the 9th Circuit Court. They’ve dubbed the project a “carbon bomb,” which would escalate climate change.

Although the Biden administration reduced the scale of the project earlier this year, environmental groups say the president broke a campaign promise to put an end to new oil and gas development on public lands and waters.

Willow is on federal land in Alaska’s National Petroleum Reserve, an area ConocoPhillips has been exploring for years. The company estimates the project holds up to 600 million barrels of oil.

It says it plans to spend $900 million this winter and put about 18-hundred people to work. A large coalition of Iñupiat communities and organizations on the North Slope welcome the economic benefits of the project.

Others like Nuiqsut, which is closest to the development, are divided about the impacts.

Disclosure: ConocoPhillips has been an underwriter of KNBA.

The White House announced Monday that President Joe Biden will host the third annual White House Tribal Nations Summit of his administration on December 6-7.

The summit is part of a campaign promise to tribes for the U.S. to honor the nation-to-nation relationship.

The event is chaired by U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland (Laguna Pueblo) and other administration officials.

Tribal leaders from each of the 574 federally recognized tribes are invited to attend.

They’ll engage with administration officials about top issues facing their communities.

The administration says some of the President’s work in Indian Country since taking office includes infrastructure investments, the securing of advance appropriations for the Indian Health Service, and the creation of national monuments in Nevada and Arizona.

The White House Tribal Nations Summit was held annually for eight years during the Obama administration.

Meanwhile, tribal leaders from across the country are gathering in New Orleans this week for the National Congress of American Indians annual convention.

They’ll discuss top issues facing their communities.

One issue of debate is a proposal to limit NCAI’s eligibility criteria, which includes restricting the voting membership to federally recognized tribes and individual membership eligibility to only citizens of federally recognized tribes.

The proposal also seeks that board members and regional vice presidents be citizens of federally recognized tribes.

This year is also an election year of the organization’s executive committee, including the end of four-years of leadership by NCAI President Fawn Sharp.

The convention will feature an exhibit commemorating 80 years and tracing NCAI’s history.

The convention kicked off over the weekend and will wrap up on Friday.

More than two thousand people are expected to attend.

Otoe-Missouria Chairman John Shotton is raising concerns about tribal vehicle tags after a recent incident in Oklahoma.

According to the tribe, one of its enrolled tribal members was issued a $249 traffic ticket for failure to pay state taxes on their motor vehicle.

Chairman Shotton in a statement said, after more than 20 years of cooperation between the state and tribes regarding vehicle tag registration, it appears the state has altered its position of understanding concerning tribal tags.

He goes on to say this change was made without notice or consultation with tribes that operate vehicle tag registration.

The chairman says they’re concerned and are reviewing legal options.

According to the tribe, the justification for the citation was that the tribal member did not have a right to a tribal tag because the tribal member lives outside of tribal jurisdiction.

Other tribal leaders in the state are also voicing concerns.

The Shinnecock Indian Nation in New York is hosting a grand opening and ribbon cutting ceremony for Little Beach Harvest Dispensary.

It’s the first tribally-owned and licensed, tax-free cannabis dispensary on Long Island.

The tribe’s hosting the celebration and giving a first look at the dispensary on Wednesday.

 

Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our newsletter today.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

New leaders of the Navajo Nation took office Tuesday.

A ceremony was held in Fort Defiance, AZ, where President Dr. Buu Nygren, Vice President Richelle Montoya, tribal council delegates, and other elected officials were sworn in.

Nygren, age 36, is the youngest person ever to take the presidency.

During his campaign, he focused on being a voice of the people to address many longstanding issues facing the Navajo Nation.

In his inauguration speech, Nygren expressed unity to work with the tribal council and reiterated many of his campaign promises.

“Let’s get basic services to the Navajo people. We need water, we need roads, we need broadband, we need better public safety. So, as your next Navajo Nation president, I will not hesitate. I will do whatever it takes to make sure our people have a chance, our people have an opportunity to make something of themselves.”

Nygren, who was raised by a single mother and his grandmother, says he appreciates strong women, including seeing a need for female leadership in the Navajo Nation’s top office.

Richelle Montoya made history Tuesday, becoming the first woman ever as vice president of the tribe. In her inauguration speech, Montoya thanked women of the Navajo Nation past, present, and future.

“We are here today, standing on the shoulders of our ancestors. Gentlemen, give me a few moments to take this moment in with my matriarchs. The women of the Navajo Nation, the grandmothers, the grandchildren, the mothers, the aunts.”

Montoya, who’s known for her work as a community leader and advocate for education, encouraged people to continue to speak the Navajo language.

She also expressed unity between the executive and legislative branches. Seventeen of the 24 Navajo delegates are new to the tribal council. Nine of the delegates are women.

The Navajo Nation is one of the largest tribes in the United States with the largest reservation located in the Four Corners region.

The Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska officially signed a deed to put its first parcel of land into trust.

The deed was signed this week by Tlingit and Haida President Richard Chalyee Éesh Peterson at the Bureau of Indian Affairs office in Anchorage.

Last month, Peterson talked to National Native News about the achievement in the tribe’s land-back initiative after receiving the announcement in November, and then being able to thank President Joe Biden in person and top administration officials for the approval in Washington, D.C., at the White House Tribal Nations Summit.

“We got the announcement of getting our Fee to Trust and that was pretty historical for Tlingit and Haida. It’s only the second land in trust (in Alaska) since the Obama administration, and the first under Biden and it’s pretty historical and we are appreciative of that.”

The land is located in Juneau. Among things, it will help with federal services, programs, and foster economic development.

The parcel will be officially transferred over to the federal government to hold for the benefit of the tribe and its citizens once the deed is recorded.

On Tuesday, U.S. Rep. Tom Cole (Chickasaw/R-OK) was appointed chair of the House Rules Committee by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

Rep. Cole has served a number of times on the committee, including as a Ranking Member and serving as vice chair.

He is the first Oklahoman and first Native American to chair the committee.

Every major piece of legislation must be passed through the committee before consideration on the House floor.

 

Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our newsletter today.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

The Trust for Public Land (TPL) has announced a pilot program to bring green community schoolyards to tribal communities nationwide.

Schools in Idaho, Arizona, Wisconsin, Montana, and New Mexico are taking part, as well as three South Dakota communities.

South Dakota Public Broadcasting’s C.J. Keene has more.

The program is a joint effort between the TPL and Bureau of Indian Education.

It was announced at the recent White House Tribal Nations Summit.

Danielle Denk is TPL’s community schoolyards initiative director. She says these spaces are valuable for many reasons.

“It just really makes a three-dimensional learning environment for students, and a wonderful place for teachers and school staff to go outside and decompress a bit. And for the community these are open more than not to the community after hours, which means they provide all the benefits that a park would provide.”

Denk says TPL will take a backseat in the design process.

“Our role is to bring our process but not to be the lead locally. We really are looking to work with tribal and indigenous designers, organizers, folks who would be in line with this kind of process to be the local lead.”

One South Dakota school involved in the program is the Crazy Horse School in Wanblee.

Superintendent Margo Heinert says experiential education is important.

“Educationally I really support anytime we can do some hands-on learning activities. I think our kids learn a lot better that way. We are working on an elementary playground, but we wanted something more education-oriented for older kids. So, when that phone call was made, I got in on a conference call with them, it just fit our schedule perfectly.”

Other South Dakota Schools involved in the program are the Pine Ridge School and Rock Creek Grant School in Bullhead.

A Bozeman-based nonprofit announced Wednesday that it has transferred dozens of bison to tribal herds in Montana and Washington state.

Montana Public Radio’s Aaron Bolton has more.

In recent weeks American Prairie transferred 45 bison to the Rocky Boy reservation and to the Kalispel Tribe in Cusick, WA.

The Rocky Boy herd was first established last year with help from both the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes and American Prairie.

The Rocky Boy herd received ten bison this year to strengthen the herd.

The tribe plans to use the bison for “food, shelter, clothing, and cultural education.

American Prairie provides bison to tribal herds every year and has sent 350 animals to tribes since 2005.

The organization says all animals were tested for disease and received a clean bill of health.

American Prairie has been working to build a 3.2 million acre reserve for bison and other wildlife  in north-central Montana. Some ranchers and state Republican politicians have pushed back against the nonprofits’ efforts, in part due to their concerns about bison spreading disease to cattle.

This week, the U.S. Interior Department’s Advisory Committee on Reconciliation in Place Names is meeting for the first time. By Hannah Bissett, KNBA News

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland says the committee will accelerate an important process to reconcile derogatory place names.

This fall, the department announced the removal of the S-Q word, a derogatory term against Indigenous women from about 650 geographic features.

Members of the committee are discussing several topics, identifying derogatory names and developing recommendations.

The meeting continues Thursday and the public can attend virtually.

More information can be found on the National Park Service’s website.

 

Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our newsletter today.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

One year ago, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland issued a declaration to remove the S-Q word, a slur against Indigenous women, from place names on federal lands.

Nearly 650 new names were finalized this fall — including in Dillingham.

As KDLG’s Izzy Ross reports, three elementary students had pushed to change the name long before the federal government started its process.

Alora Wassily, Trista Wassily, and Harmony Larson have worked to change the creek’s name since 2021. That finally happened in September.

In an interview shortly after the announcement, Alora said they had put a lot of effort into reaching that goal.

“It feels good because we worked on it for so long and it finally got changed and we just feel relieved. We felt accomplished.”

They began advocating for the change when they were in fifth grade, after they heard a local story about seven sisters who had lived along the creek, and how both the creek and a road of the same name were marked with the derogatory word.

“Then we thought about it and then we decided to change it and then we talked to our teacher, Ms. Jensen, when we were in fifth grade. And then we talked with Courtenay Carty and Robyn [Chaney] and then we just started researching about other places and then we started working on a presentation.”

Now they’re in seventh grade.

The students have presented their research many times. They started with the Dillingham Parent Advisory Committee and the school board.

“We were all really nervous our first time. And after a while we got used to it and we just got normal about it.”

Since then, they have brought their research to the Curyung Tribal Council, the First Alaskans Institute Elders and Youth Conference, and the Bristol Bay Native Corporation.

Robyn Chaney helped the students prepare. She’s the Federal Programs Coordinator for Dillingham city schools and has been an adult advisor for the students.

“Them standing behind their information was really powerful. They were part of educating people here, including myself. They received mostly positive feedback and support. And really their confidence grew because their facts are accurate and it was an issue that obviously became really important, not just to us, but on a federal level that Secretary Haaland would take that up.”

When Sec. Haaland announced last year that the word would be removed from geographic features across the country, the students’ work got more attention. And they had to shift their approach, taking their grassroots advocacy and fitting it into a political process.

“Our process went from slow and steady to very, very rapid,” Chaney said. “It shifted from us educating and garnering local support for change to a government-to-government relationship, following a tribal process and doing tribal consultation between our local Curyung Tribe and the federal government.”

The students recommended renaming the creek Al’a Creek, and they received broad support from the community during a listening session last spring. But at the last minute, a Curyung Tribal Council member suggested a different name: Amau Creek.

Chaney says that was difficult.

“It was just a hard pill to swallow because that name hadn’t gone through the public process. It was in their regular meeting, but it wasn’t a name that had been carried forward in the public process that they set forth. It was surprising and upsetting,” Chaney said. “But they still achieved the goal, which was to remove a derogatory place name and replace it with a traditional name, a Yugtun name that has positive connotations for a woman. And that happened.”

The students are the latest in a long legacy of work to re-center Native place names in Bristol Bay. Francisca Demoski is the land manager for the Bristol Bay Native Corporation.

Yup’ik introduction: “Cama’i….Hi my name is Francisca Demoski. I am from Togiak but live here in Anchorage.”

She oversees the land department’s cultural heritage efforts, including the Bristol Bay Native Place Names project. She says it’s one of the ways the corporation celebrates and preserves that heritage.

“Amau Creek translates to ‘great-grandparent’ and is a Yugtun word. And in this case it references a group of sisters, or great-grandmothers, who, according to traditional stories, traveled to the area and settled near the creek. So the community recognized the role of the great-grandmothers in their families and chose the name to honor their ancestors.”

Demoski said the Native corporation supports the federal efforts to change the derogatory names of places across the country, including in Dillingham.

“BBNC is pleased with the outcome and I applaud the young students for taking leadership in making this change happen for their community.”

Demoski helped start the corporation’s project almost 20 years ago, in 2003. It now has over 1,400 place names on the website. Many are from the areas around Togiak, Manokotak, Dillingham and along the

Nushagak River. There are also many Dena’ina and Yup’ik contributions from around Iliamna Lake.

“I am working with the Bristol Bay Native Education Foundation to gather place names along the Alaska Peninsula, including the Naknek area. So that’s where we’re focusing right now, because there’s very limited data in that area.”

Demoski hopes this year’s push to change derogatory names around the country inspires communities to consider Native place names for themselves. She says it’s been done before; she points to the example of Utqiaġvik, which used to be named Barrow.

“And ensuring the survival of our people’s cultural history is of the utmost importance to us, and place names is one way that we ensure that our history is being preserved for a future generation.”

The students’ work isn’t over. They are now focused on the next steps to change the community’s signs and replace them with the new name: Amau Creek.

President Joe Biden plans to designate the nation’s newest national monument in southern Nevada.

As Arizona Public Radio’s Ryan Heinsius reports, the 450,000-acre expanse is sacred to at least a dozen tribes.

The Avi Kwa Ame National Monument would include Spirit Mountain and the surrounding Mohave Desert landscape 80 miles south of Las Vegas.

It’s considered the origin point for the Hualapai, Havasupai, Maricopa, and several other tribes, and is also a sacred site for the Hopi.

The 5,600-foot peak itself was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1999 for its tribal significance.

Indigenous leaders and environmental groups say the designation will connect several other biologically diverse protected areas and provide vital habitat and migration corridors for bighorn sheep, desert tortoise, and other species.

The new monument would span an area in the southern tip of Nevada between Arizona and the Colorado River to the California Mohave National Preserve.

President Biden made the announcement at the recent White House Tribal Nations Summit.

The designation hasn’t been made final, but tribes, conservationists, and others applauded the announcement.

The Antiquities Act gives presidents the power to enact broad protections on public lands.

President Biden last year restored the boundaries of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments in southern Utah after they were slashed by the Trump administration in 2017.

There are currently 130 national monuments throughout the U.S.

Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our newsletter today.