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Anchor: Antonia Gonzales
Hurricane Ian made landfall Wednesday causing catastrophic flooding over east-central Florida.
Ian has weakened to a tropical storm.
The National Hurricane Center forecasts life-threatening flooding, storm surge, and gusty winds across potions of Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas on Thursday.
The Seminole and Miccosukee Tribes are working on emergency response with tribal partners, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency and other federal departments.
The Seminole Tribe’s Hard Rock Tampa casino closed Wednesday to all non-registered guests in preparation of the storm and will reopen when conditions allow.
FEMA has set up supplies and personnel ready in different locations in Florida to get help to people where it’s needed as soon as possible, including water, meals, and cots.
On Thursday, President Joe Biden declared a disaster for Florida, which opens federal aid to supplement state, tribal, and local recovery efforts from Ian.
Indigenous people in Canada and the U.S. are recognizing September 30 as “Orange Shirt Day,” or “Every Child Matters Day.”
The day is to raise awareness and educate about the harms of Indian residential schools in Canada and Indian boarding schools in the U.S.
The Saint Regis Mohawk Tribal Council in New York this week signed a resolution declaring September 30 of each year as “Every Child Matters Day” to bring attention to the ongoing dark legacy of Indian boarding schools.
Federally funded, church-run schools removed Indigenous children from their families and communities in attempts to assimilate them into western society.
Students were stripped of their cultural identity and faced abuse.
Trauma inflicted upon children at Indian boarding schools continues to have generational impacts.
The “Every Child Matters Day” in the community will be a day used for remembrance, reflection, and reconciliation.
The tribe will recount the history, stories of survivors and families, and remember those that didn’t make it home, as well as those who did and were never whole again.
Participants in a conference at Eastern Washington University this week heard about efforts to restore salmon runs in their region that were cut off when dams were built on the Columbia River and its tributaries.
Spokane Public Radio’s Steve Jackson reports.
Since 2014, the Upper Columbia United tribes have been working on a multi-tiered approach to reintroducing salmon into waters of the upper Columbia – including placing juvenile and adult Chinook salmon into rivers near Spokane.
Habitat restoration biologist Tom Biladeau of the Coeur d-Alene Tribe says that initial step is an experiment to see how the fish do in water that has not seen salmon since the early 20th century, as well as to reconnect tribal members to the fish that was such an important part of their culture.
“Some are just getting the kids out in the water, getting them familiar with salmon once again. Getting the whole community actually involved in getting the fish in the water and holding these events, and getting that connection to salon that was lost so long ago.”
So far, the experimental releases have seen some success. Tiny smolts managed to grow into juvenile fish on the Sanpoil River and Chamokane Creek. On Hangman Creek, 15-hundred fish released at the Idaho border made a successful journey down the Columbia to the ocean.
“We received numerous reports of those juveniles as they made it out of the blocked area, through the anadromous zone of the Columbia River, and then two years later the adults began to show up. We saw two different adults come up and got detected on every single dam going upstream and rather rapidly.”
Biladeau says these experiments will continue and it is hoped the salmon can continue to thrive in the upper Columbia region.
The 2022 National Tribal Leaders Climate Change Summit is taking place November 28-30 at the Northern Quest Resort in Washington.
Native leaders are gathering to advance tribal climate change policy and action.
Young people are also examining the cultural, economic, and social challenges of climate change.
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