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The federal government is spending another $327 million to help fulfill water rights settlements with tribes across the West.
The Mountain West News Bureau’s Kaleb Roedel reports.
The money will be used on projects to create reliable water supplies for tribes.
Nearly $70 million is going to the Pueblos of Nambe, Pojoaque, San Ildefonso, and Tesuque in New Mexico.
More than $6 million is going to the Nez Perce Tribe in Idaho. Roughly half of that will go to the Southern Ute Tribe in Colorado.
More than $160 million will fund a pipeline project that would deliver water to dozens of Navajo chapters as well as the Teepee Junction area of the Jicarilla Apache Nation and the city of Gallup, N.M.
Here’s Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren speaking before the Senate Indian Affairs Committee earlier this year.
“About 30% of the Navajo households continue to lack running water. They rely on hauling water to meet their daily needs. This region has long suffered from limited access to clean and reliable water.”
He says the completion of the pipeline would provide just that to 250,000 people.
Courtesy Cost Savers / Facebook
In Alaska, Kodiak’s wholesale store Cost Savers is now under tribal ownership.
People should expect business as usual, but as KMXT’s Brian Venua reports, it’s the latest move in improving food security on the island.
The deal was in the works for about two months before it was announced.
The Native Village of Afognak is the new majority owner of the store, which will still be called Cost Savers with 55%.
They’ve partnered with the Sun’aq Tribe of Kodiak for the purchase who owns the other 45%.
JJ Marsh is the Tribal Administrator for the Sun’aq Tribe.
“I just think it’s a great partnership – it’s time for our tribes to collaborate and work together.”
Candice Branson is the Tribal Administrator for the Native Village of Afognak.
Courtesy Cost Savers / Facebook
She says they initially wanted to buy just an empty lot near the store to expand the village’s farm programs, but ended up buying the store as well.
“After some contemplation and looking at the financials and thinking about the impact that it would have to run our own grocery operation like that, and the impact on food security, that it could have, and on our bottom line.”
Branson says, for now, staff are looking at filling open positions and overall, maintaining the status quo.
“We are looking at just stabilization for the next year and a half – two years and then we’ll start on the development. But we’ve got some time to build a good plan and make sure that we have everything in order before we start.”
Marsh says this is the Sun’aq Tribe’s latest step in diversifying its investment portfolio.
“We are trying to find ways to sustain our tribes in the future, especially with food security and putting our people to work also. So we discussed it and met and decided. Our Tribal Council and the Native Village of Afognak’s Tribal Council thought that it would be a good partnership.”
But buying Cost Savers isn’t the only part of a new joint business venture.
The Native Village of Afognak co-operates Mal’uk Farms with the Tangirnaq Native Village, which is one of six tribally-owned farms on the island.
Branson says they hope to have locally grown produce on shelves in the next few years.
“We’re going to keep using the system we’re using for now and as we develop comfort in managing the store and are able to expand out to include our farms.”
The Sun’aq Tribe also owns Kodiak Island Wildsource, a seafood processing business.
Marsh says it’s still too early in the process to sell its products in the store, but patrons could see local seafood in freezers there in the next six months.
The American Bar Association is recognizing Native American Heritage month with a presentation Thursday from Native women trailblazers.
Rhonda McBride from our flagship station KNBA reports.
The speakers include U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, as well as Valerie Davidson, former Alaska Lieutenant Governor and currently head of the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium.
The other panelists include Abby Abinanti, Kim Teehee, and Stacy Leeds.
Abinanti is a Yurok tribal judge and the first California tribal woman to be admitted to the California State Bar.
Teehee is director of government relations for the Cherokee Nation and served as the first senior policy advisor for Native American Affairs in the White House.
Leeds is an Indigenous law and policy scholar and the first Indigenous woman to serve as a law school dean.
The panel will be moderated by Makalika Naholowa’a, executive director at the Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation.
It will be followed by the discussion of a new study called “Excluded and Alone”, which examines the experiences of Native American women in law and the path towards equity.
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