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Photo: The Snake River near Twin Falls, Idaho. (Staplegunther / Wikimedia)
With a second Trump term near, Native American tribes are concerned for environmental restoration efforts.
In his first term, President Donald Trump opened up lands considered sacred to Native people for development, as well as rolling back dozens of environmental protections.
In a press call with tribal officials last month, Gov. Tina Kotek (D-OR) said she’ll stand with Oregon values as the White House changes hands again.
“My hope is that we’ll see respect and cooperation from the federal administration to work with our tribes.”
Gov. Kotek said she’s focused on the Columbia Basin Initiative, which has worked with President Joe Biden to restore fish runs.
William Ray Junior, chair of the Klamath Tribes, then spoke about protecting salmon and two species of sucker fish.
“Our biggest concerns about the incoming administration is how it’s gonna affect our endangered species of C’waam and koptu mullet species. If all the water delivery agreements are fulfilled at 100%, extinction becomes real viable.”
Trump has discussed diverting water from the Columbia River to California and has also questioned the need for protecting the endangered Delta smelt there.
President Biden has created more national monuments in a single term than any president since President Jimmy Carter left office in 1981.
Tribes and environmental advocates are pressing him to do even more.
The Mountain West News Bureau’s Rachel Cohen reports.
After President Donald Trump shrunk the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase Escalante monuments in Utah, Biden’s first step was restoring them.
“And because of that, he really started thinking about monuments right from the get go. So you see much more activity than you usually see during the first term.”
Justin Pidot is a professor at the University of Arizona law school, who worked in the Biden and Obama administrations.
He says Biden has had a particular focus on monuments proposed by tribes. That includes Avi Kwa Ame established last year in Nevada. It’s a site sacred to the Fort Mojave Indian Tribe, among others.
Before leaving the White House, Biden could designate more national monuments.
Local campaigns are advocating for protection of the Owyhee Canyonlands on the border of Oregon and Idaho and the Dolores Canyons in southwest Colorado.
A new report reveals Indigenous-owned businesses contribute more than $46 billion to the U.S. economy each year. And a lot of that activity is happening in the West.
The Mountain West News Bureau’s Kaleb Roedel has more.
Research firm B2B Reviews analyzed the percentage of Indigenous-owned businesses within each state and how many people they employ, among other factors.
Researchers found that Oregon is the best state in the country for Indigenous entrepreneurs.
Nevada, Idaho, Washington, and New Mexico also cracked the top ten.
Arizona and California made the top 20, Colorado and Montana landed in the middle of the rankings, and Wyoming and Utah were near the bottom.
Zac Carman is a member of the Kaw Tribe, and CEO of ConsumerAffairs, a national user-review website.
He says Indigenous business owners face many challenges that politicians should address.
“Oftentimes state and federal are just completely disconnected from the realities of Indigenous peoples. I think you would need to start by listening and building resources and programs that fit their reality.”
He says that could help Indigenous entrepreneurs gain more access to funding, business education, and mentorship.
And 35 years ago, President George H.W. Bush proclaimed the week of December 3-9 as National American Indian Heritage Week, as Presidents Ronald Reagan and Gerald Ford had done in their terms.
But the following year, President Bush would approve a Joint Resolution making November 1990 the first National American Indian Heritage Month.
It kept the name until 2009, when President Barack Obama issued a proclamation making November Native American Heritage Month.
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