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Two Colorado senators introduced a bill recently that would significantly expand federal public land protections in the Gunnison River Basin.
The legislation was developed in collaboration with one of the state’s tribes.
KUNC’s Lucas Brady Woods reports for the Mountain West News Bureau.
The Gunnison Outdoor Resources Protection (GORP) Act would expand protections for more than 730,000 acres.
Part of the legislation would transfer a massive ranch owned by the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe from private land into a reservation trust.
Chairman Manuel Heart says that will give tribal members more access to part of their ancestral land.
“We as Ute people are the original stewards of these mountains, which we call the Rocky Mountains, especially in the area that this bill is pertaining to.”
Local counties, municipalities, and organizations also collaborated on the bill.
It proposes a number of new special management areas for forest and wildlife conservation and restoration in the Gunnison Basin.
Gov. Tim Walz campaigning in Reno, Nev. Tuesday night. (Courtesy Tim Walz / Facebook)
Wednesday is the first day of early voting in Arizona and both vice presidential candidates will be making their cases to voters.
Alex Gonzalez has more.
Democratic Vice Presidential candidate, Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN), will attend events in the Phoenix area today, including a meeting with tribal leaders of the Gila River Indian Community before making his way to Tucson.
Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan (White Earth Nation/D-MN) says the Harris-Walz campaign knows the importance of Arizona’s 11 electoral votes, but also how decisive the Native vote can be.
“In 2020, we watched it come down to Arizona, and I know how powerful the Native vote was in that election. And I anticipate that the Native vote will turn up and turn out yet again.”
Indigenous people account for about 6% of Arizona’s population.
And while Native voters have typically leaned Democratic, Republicans are also aiming to engage them. Vice Presidential nominee, U.S. Sen. JD Vance (R-OH), holds a rally in Tucson today.
And early voters will begin casting their ballots in what’s sizing up to be an extremely tight race.
Voters in precincts on the Navajo and Hopi reservations in northeastern Arizona cast about 60,000 ballots in 2020, compared to about 45,000 in 2016, according to the Associated Press.
Lt. Gov. Flanagan calls it “significant” – and says she’s encouraging all Arizonans to vote early.
“And it’s really powerful – turn up, you vote early and then, you can spend the rest of your time knocking on doors, calling people and having conversations with your friends and relatives about the power of their vote – especially in Arizona.”
Vice President Kamala Harris is set to return to Arizona for the second time in two weeks to speak at a campaign rally in Phoenix, Ariz. Thursday evening.
Former President Donald Trump will also make his way back to the Grand Canyon State on Sunday for a rally in Prescott, Ariz.
This story is supported by the Carnegie Corporation of New York.
Julie Kitka (Chugach) became the third Alaska Native leader to be inducted into the National Native American Hall of Fame at a recent ceremony in Oklahoma City.
KNBA’s Rhonda McBride reports.
Kitka recently stepped down as the longtime president of the Alaska Federation of Natives and will deliver the keynote speech at the AFN convention in Anchorage next week.
Kitka spent more than three decades working for AFN and was known to have the ear of national policy makers.
From Congressional leaders, to military generals, to White House cabinet members and staffers, she developed a wide range of connections to promote Alaska Native causes.
AFN’s first president, Emil Notti, was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2021.
The late civil rights leader Elizabeth Peratrovich was also honored in 2019.
Five other Native Americans were inducted to the Hall of Fame this year.
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