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A stretch of highway that runs through the Blackfeet Nation in northwest Montana is now named after the late Chief Earl Old Person.
Aaron Bolton reports Old Person was a storied cultural and political leader for the Blackfeet Nation.
Old Person, who died in 2021, served as the Blackfeet traditional chief and sat on the nation’s tribal council for decades.
But he also played a major role nationally, serving as the president of the National Congress of American Indians from 1969 to 1971.
He also helped pass federal legislation like the American Indian Religious Freedom Act of 1978, which ensured access to traditional sites and the freedom to worship through ceremonies.
A bill that will memorialize Old Person was signed into law Tuesday.
A stretch of U.S. Highway 89, which runs through the heart of the Blackfeet Reservation, will now be known as Chief Earl Old Person Memorial Highway.
A community corn field at the Jemez Pueblo in north-central New Mexico, seen here on March 17, 2023. The Pueblo, which is largely supported by farming, irrigates its farms with snowmelt from the surrounding mountains. (Photo: Kaleb Roedel / Mountain West News Bureau)
On Tuesday, you heard about Jemez Pueblo’s efforts to secure water rights for the tribe’s health and way of life.
KUNR’s Kaleb Roedel has more on why that work is more urgent than ever.
Traditionally, the Pueblo’s growing season runs from April to October. But it often gets cut short by water shortages – to the point that some don’t even want to plant anymore.
“This climate change has really made us even think harder. What can we do? How can we make these things work?”
That’s Michael Toledo Jr. He’s a three-term governor and a longtime negotiator on the tribal water team. And he’s a farmer who says the lack of water hurt his crops badly last year.
“That’s the way it goes sometimes – and it’s year by year. But it’s our way of life, we’ve got to take care of our own land and take care of what we have.”
The federal government has set aside $2.5 billion to settle disputes over tribal water rights.
So far, a number of tribes have already reached settlements.
That includes the Navajo Nation in New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah; the Nez Perce Tribe in Idaho; and the Southern Ute Tribe in Colorado.
Last fall, several lawmakers from New Mexico introduced bills to approve Pueblo water settlements.
For Jemez, it would create a $290 million trust fund for water-related projects and confirm the tribe’s rights to more than 6,000-acre-feet per year. That equals enough water to cover 6,000 acres of land, one foot deep.
U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-NM) spoke about the proposal before the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs.
“The settlements will provide critically needed funding for water infrastructure to develop and distribute new water to Pueblo homes and businesses.”
But the Jemez Pueblo is still waiting for its water rights to be approved. And Congress has been newly divided after Republicans took control of the House.
Here’s Paul S. Chinana, a five-term pueblo governor and member of the tribal water team.
“I just hope that we get a settlement. It’s always an upstream battle, and we’re not there yet.”
Meanwhile, on the banks of the Jemez River, Peter Madalena is thinking beyond the water the Pueblo needs for its fields this year.
“It’s just part of our lives. And I think it’s very important that we continue that livelihood, not just for us but for our grandkids and their kids way down the line.”
That’s why he’s glad to see the surrounding mountains covered in snow.
He’s praying for plenty of rainfall this spring – and for their water rights to be secured sooner than later.
This story is supported by The Water Desk, an initiative from the University of Colorado Boulder’s Center for Environmental Journalism.
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