News Archives - Page 176 of 447

Agency Reconsidering Water For Klamath Salmon

By: Associated Press

The federal agency that oversees water in Northern California’s Klamath Basin is taking another look at releasing some to prevent the spread of disease among salmon returning to spawn in drought conditions.

A U.S. Bureau of Reclamation spokeswoman said Friday a decision is likely next week.

The bureau had earlier denied a request from the Hoopa Valley Tribe to release some water from Lewiston Dam on the Trinity River to prevent the spread of a parasite that attacks salmon in stagnant waters, though it would release some once significant numbers of fish started dying.

Tribal scientists said by then it would be too late.

The tribe took their case to Interior Secretary Sally Jewell when she was in Redding, California, this week, and she agreed to review the situation.

Notes From A Single Mom: Texting Is the New Parenting

Lynn Armitage, Indian Country Today

I’m exhausted. I just had a lengthy and very heated discussion with both my daughters—at the same time, mind you. My eldest daughter and I went back and forth about nursing school and all the expenses associated with that. And the youngest wants my permission (and signature) to get her driver’s license, even though she is nowhere near ready to do so.

Yep, I’m tired from all this bickering. But mostly, my cramped fingers need a rest.

See, I don’t have actual, face-to-face conversations with my daughters anymore. Oh, no—those days are long gone, Grandma! Nowadays, I parent by way of text messaging.

It’s a sad, sad state of affairs, this new

age of “Parenting by Texting.”

Trust me. I resisted texting as long as I could. When I first heard about this texting business, I couldn’t believe that people never really talked on the phone anymore, and I refused to give in to this ridiculous fad.

I mean, what could possibly replace hearing another person’s voice on the other end of the phone? You know, REAL human interaction?

I even asked my daughter—who developed an entire romantic relationship with a boy long-distance by texting with him every day—why teenagers don’t like to talk to their friends on the phone, and she said, “There are just so many awkward silences. And you don’t get that with texting.”

Awkward silences? That’s what real conversations are about, for goodness sakes! Two people dancing together, and around each other, through words, nuances and timbre. Laughter, sarcasm, fear, anger, doubt, admiration, love, desire … all these beautiful emotions you can hear in someone’s voice vanish with a typed message. There’s just no soul behind it.

So I tried to stand defiantly and heroically in front of this oncoming texting train. (Any parents with me on this?) Problem was, the only way I could actually communicate with my children was through the damn text messages. Whenever I tried to call them, the call immediately went to voicemail. But when I sent a text—voila!—like magic, I would get an instant response.

“Oh, look! My teenagers are actually talking to me!” I would be giddy with disbelief. Getting a response, any response, from them sure felt good. And soon, like Pavlov’s dog, I was conditioned into becoming a full-time texting mama.

I’ll admit, it is a rather convenient medium. Type a few words, boom, communication accomplished. But I feel so compromised—especially as a writer and an editor. I have spent the majority of my professional life self-righteously cleaning up other people’s writing, punctuation and grammar. Now, like every other texting literate, I just try to find shortcuts and the quickest way to respond. “You” has become “U;” “To” and “for” have morphed into numbers. And “See you later” has been replaced by “C Ya!”

And while it is sometimes easier and less confrontational to flex your parenting muscle through your fingertips, text messages from our children have left many of us parents bewildered and confused. With face-to-face interactions, you know when your kids are being disrespectful to you because you can hear it in their voices. With texting, you don’t know what’s punishable or not.

“Did she accidentally send that text to me in all uppercase letters, or is she sassing back?”

This new age of text-messaging has weakened our authority as parents. The stern warning of a parent’s booming voice, “Don’t you talk to me in that tone, young lady!” has now been replaced with the texting version: “DON’T YOU GET ALL UPPERCASE-Y WITH ME!” Somehow, it just doesn’t pack the same punch.

It took me a while to wise up, but I am happy to report that I’ve solved the texting/communication problem with my daughters. I’ve regained some dignity, respect and parental control. How? Well, whenever I’ve had enough of all the back-and-forth texting nonsense, I simply type back two words: “Call me.”

If my phone doesn’t ring within the time that it takes to text a response (well, I do allow a few extra seconds for the old-fashioned switchboard operator to connect the line), I let my daughters have it!

With a text message, of course—IN ALL UPPERCASE LETTERS!

Lynn Armitage is an enrolled member of the Oneida Tribe of Indians of Wisconsin, who has developed a nasty case of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome in her right forefinger.

Washington Wildfires Displace Deer

By Courtney Flatt, OPB

Wildfires have ravaged more than a million acres across the Northwest. In central Washington, the burned landscape will leave one of the state’s largest deer herds without a place to go this winter, when deer like to eat bitterbrush and chokecherry.

Those shrubs will be hard for deer to find this year – with 25,000 acres of habitat scorched by fire, including parts of five wildlife areas.

State wildlife biologist Scott Fitkin said the so-called Carlton Complex Fire will affect feeding habitat for up to 10,000 deer.

“We’ve dealt with winter range burns before, but we’ve never had to do it on this scale,” Fitkin said.

That means many fawns and some adult deer could starve this winter. Wildlife managers are going to issue more antlerless hunting permits, possibly for up to 20 percent of adult does.

Wildlife managers will also temporarily supplement some feeding areas. They hope this will help draw deer away from crops and orchards.

Fitkin said feeding is a short-term solution.

“We really don’t like to feed to try to prop up animal populations for any length of time,” he said. “We’d rather see the landscape recover and have the animals in tune with whatever the existing capacity for the landscape is.”

Concentrating a large number of deer can cause more diseases to pop up. It also makes deer more vulnerable to predation and poachers.

Fitkin said deer could face a lack of winter range for several years, as shrubs slowly grow back.

Wild turkeys and western gray squirrels have also lost a significant amount of habitat.

Oregon wildlife managers say fires there have not caused major habitat problems, although the South Fork Complex Fire is burning parts of the Phillip W. Schneider Wildlife Area in northeast Oregon.

That wildlife area is also a winter range for mule deer. Officials say deer there have more places to go this winter because the fire is not as large as those in Washington.

Buzzworthy Breeding To Bring Back Bumble Bees

Preparing to inseminate a queen bee.Megan Asche — Preparing to inseminate a queen bee.
Megan Asche

By: Tom Banse, NW News Network

Some scientists are going to great lengths to help the agreeable Western bumble bee make a comeback.

You might not have noticed, but this important pollinator of both flowers and greenhouse crops has nearly disappeared from the landscape. An introduced fungal disease is suspected of decimating populations of the fat and furry Western bumble bee (Bombus occidentalis).

Researchers with the U.S. Agriculture Department have identified some surviving colonies that show disease tolerance. Now a federal bee lab in Utah is collaborating with experts at Washington State University to reestablish the native pollinator. USDA entomologist Jamie Strange is leading a captive breeding project to improve stock fitness. That even includes artificial insemination of the small insects.

“We have this instrumental insemination that we’re working on developing at this point,” explained Strange. “It is still in its infancy, but we hope that we can actually remove sperm from the males and then inject it into the females like they do with certain honey bee breeding programs.”

Strange says commercial pollination companies that truck bee colonies from farm to farm are eager for him to succeed. “As honey bees become more limited and more expensive, they’re looking for alternatives. We’re here to help them,” said Strange. “Growers are interested in using bumble bees to supplement pollination in berry crops, orchards and other places.”

“When you have both honey bees and wild bees present, you have improved yields from both working together,” observes collaborating entomologist Steve Sheppard at WSU. “There are certain crops where bumble bees are much better” pollinators, he said during a telephone interview.

Sheppard noted that British Columbia’s large industry of hot house tomato growers relies on non-native bumble bees for pollination. He said honey bees typically fly to the ceiling if released in a glass house.

In any event, sooner or later either species tends to get out. “If Jamie can develop a regionally more appropriate species… there could be a lot of interest to use it in Western states,” said Sheppard. Non-native imports “could displace or harm native bumble bees. That’s the logic to not take a species that does not occur in West and put in glass houses.”

Some states, including Oregon, do not even allow the import of non-native bumble bees to minimize the risk of unleashing disease or unwanted competition with native species.

Bumble bees and honey bees can be fairly easily distinguished. Bumble bees are fat and furry. The smaller and slimmer honey bee more closely resembles a wasp. Honey bees live in large hives, while bumble bees tend to cluster in smaller nests which do not produce surplus honey.

Traveling Grocery: On the Road Again

Intertribal Agriculture CouncilThe Mobile Farmers Market on the 101 Pacific Coast Highway — Intertribal Agriculture Council
The Mobile Farmers Market on the 101 Pacific Coast Highway

Lee Allen, Indian Country Today

If you listen closely, you can hear Dan Cornelius singing his favorite Willie Nelson theme song—“I’m on the road again…”—as his Mobile Farmers Market vehicle heads down the highway.

Cornelius, of Wisconsin’s Oneida Nation, is general manager of a three-month-long, 10,000-mile foodie road show designed to showcase Native American foods in conjunction with a reconnection of tribal trade routes. “A lot of native communities are remote, literally food deserts, and don’t have good access to healthy traditional fresh foods. Part of our mission is to access food resources, take those great products and distribute them as part of a tribal trade reintroduction,” he says.

“There’s a lot of product that is traditionally grown, harvested and processed—lots of time and labor that goes into that—but the traditional foods aren’t made available to the general public as a sustainable economic resource.”

The interest is there, but the connection still needs to be made. “It’s about health issues, maintaining our traditions, and turning the effort into a form of economic development by selling excess product for profit.”

The “Reconnecting the Tribal Trade Routes Roadtrip” is an effort to bring attention to the unique Native food products and artwork from across the country. The Mobile Farmers Market van started the roadtrip in mid-December when it picked up wild rice, maple syrup, and other products in northern Minnesota. The roadtrip officially kicked off in early January, making the drive from Wisconsin to Louisiana before heading to Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arizona, and the West Coast. The trip then visited Montana and the Dakotas en route to concluding during March back in Minnesota. (Intertribal Agriculture Council)

The Mobile Farmers Market traveled across the country earlier this year as part of the Intertribal Agriculture Council‘s efforts to improve Indian agriculture by promoting Indian use of Indian resources. “Prior to our founding in 1987, American Indian agriculture was basically unheard of outside reservation boundaries,” notes the group’s web page.

”The Mobile Farmers Market utilized a large capacity fuel-efficient cargo van to transport a number of products across a region, all the while providing support to start farmers markets in interested tribal communities,” says Market Manager Bruce Savage. The vans’ insulated interior lining ensured correct temperature control, and a chest freezer allowed for transport of frozen goods.

“For a variety of reasons, traditional native products are frequently difficult to obtain, and the Mobile Farmers Market hoped to change that by making things more accessible to tribal communities,” says Cornelius. In the Pacific Northwest, canned and smoked salmon were frequently obtainable items while the Southwest offered up cactus buds and syrup. The Great Plains provided a prairie-grown protein-packed wild turnip. In the Great Lakes region it was sumac berries. “Soak them in water, add honey or syrup, and you get a tea-like lemonade that you won’t find commercially,” Cornelius says.

Coyote Valley Tribe’s community and Head Start garden and greenhouse (Intertribal Agriculture Council)

Success of the project was contingent on cultivating supportive relationships with local partners and that part of the plan came together nicely, very reminiscent of the early trade and barter days.

“Trade routes once connected regional tribes across the continent where different local areas produced unique resources,” says Cornelius. “As an example, the Objiwe exchanged meat and fish for corn from the Huadenosaunee in the Northeast. And, of course, the Three Sisters combination of corn/beans/squash gradually moved from South and Central America throughout all of the North American Continent. “

The Reconnecting the Tribal Trade Routes Roadtrip got underway in December 2013 by first picking up wild rice, maple syrup, and other products in Minnesota before heading off to Wisconsin, Louisiana, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arizona, and the West Coast and finally heading home to Minnesota earlier this year via Montana and the Dakotas.

The Mobile Farmers Market’s main focus is food, but it also supports Native artisan by carrying a small selection of jewelry, crafts, and artwork. Pictured here: inlaid earrings from Santa Domingo Pueblo. (nativefoodnetwork.com)

As Cornelius and crew bought and sold the wares of North America’s indigenous communities, the grocery list grew to include tepary beans from the Tohono O’odham people to chocolate produced by the Chickasaw Nation.

The mobile van discovered a gold mine at Ramona Farms in Sacaton, Arizona, on the Gila River Indian Reservation. Ramona and Terry Button have been growing crops for small ethnic grocers on the reservation for over 40 years and still have plenty to share with the outside world, everything from Southwestern staples like garbanzo and Anasazi beans to white Sonoran and Pima club wheat as well as alfalfa and cotton.

“Part of our mission was to build an awareness and an excitement of all the things available ‘out there’ and we succeeded,” Cornelius says. “One of the great things about our initial effort (discussions are currently underway to find funding for more vans and an increased regional visability) was the ground level opportunity to talk with community growers face-to-face discussing products, challenges, and opportunities to introduce traditional items to a larger world.”

The Mobile Farmers Market in Southern Oregon (Intertribal Agriculture Council)

Grand Ronde Tribe to Host 2014 Contest Powwow; $35,000 up for Grabs

Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde Tribal member Marcus Gibbons dances in the Grand Entry of the 2010 Grand Ronde Contest Powwow at the Uyxat Powwow Grounds in Grand Ronde, Oregon.

Indian Country Today, 8/14/14

More than $35,000 in prize money will be on the line during the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde’s annual Contest Powwow set for Friday, August 15, through Sunday, August 17, at Uyxat Powwow Grounds, in Grande Ronde, Oregon.

The annual powwow – one of the largest in the Pacific Northwest – drew more than 250 Native dancers in 2013. This year, dancers will compete for prize money in 20 categories.

Registration begins at 5 p.m. Friday, August 15; followed by the first Grand Entry at 7 p.m. Grand Ronde Royalty coronation also will be held Friday evening.

On Saturday, August 16, a parade between the pow wow grounds and Fort Yamhill State Park will be held at 10 a.m. and include cash prizes. Grand entries will be held at 1p.m. and 7 p.m.; the deadline for dancer registration is set for 2 p.m.

On Sunday, August 17, the lone Grand Entry will occur at 1 p.m.

Scheduled host drums will be Young Bear and Young Spirit, with The Woodsmen as the honorary host drum. The women’s Traditional, and men’s Round Bustle are this year’s dance specials, which include an $800 first-place award and four consolation prizes for each dancer. Day pay is guaranteed for the first 20 visiting drums.

The Master of ceremonies is Edmund Nevaquaya. Charlie Tail Feathers will act as head judge, and Fred Ike Jr. will be the arena director.

Camping at Uyxat Powwow Grounds is available for $5, which includes a parking pass. Parking is copy a day or a donation of canned food. Weekend passes are available for $3.

A shuttle also will transport pow wow enthusiasts from Spirit Mountain Casino to the pow wow grounds.

No pets are permitted around the powwow arena and the powwow is a drug- and alcohol-free event.

For more information, call 503-879-2037; or go to, GrandRonde.org.

Native Americans key to border security success

By Chuck Brooks, Contributor, The Hill

According to the most recent stats from the Pew Research Center, 11.7 million illegal aliens resided in the United States as of March 2012. To put that into perspective, there are 46 states that have a population less than 11.7 million. Fox News reported that from October 2013 to the end of May 2014, 162,000 people from countries other than Mexico have entered the U.S. across the southern border and 52,000 were unaccompanied children. This is approximately a 100 percent increase from the previous year and it is estimated that 150,000 minors might attempt to cross the border next year.

For this reason, illegal immigration, which has ties to drug smuggling and human trafficking, is continuing to get a lot of attention. In fact, according to Gallup, Americans recently cited immigration as the No. 1 issue in the U.S.; ahead of dissatisfaction with government, the general economy, unemployment/jobs and healthcare.

The cost of ignoring the problem and leaving our borders vulnerable is one that we cannot risk. The White House is unable to handle the growing issue and asked for $3.7 billion in emergency funding. Furthermore, thousands of troopers are being deployed to help protect our borders.While I believe that additional security funding is necessary, I also think there is a group that can help immensely and they should not be ignored: Native Americans.Gary Edwards, CEO of the National Native American Law Enforcement Association, states that there are 25 tribal reservations located on and/or across the U.S. borders with Canada and Mexico and 41 tribal reservations are within 100 miles of those international U.S. borders. Since Native Americans are around a large part of our borders, they are, and should continue to be, a part of our border security initiatives.

Cooperation between the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Native Americans has already played a significant role in our boarder security, especially in remote areas where drug smugglers and citizens try to enter the U.S. illegally. Today, more than 22,000 Native Americans serve in the Armed Forces and have the highest per capita serving in the military of any ethnic group protecting the homeland.

Additionally, the “Shadow Wolves” are Native American trackers who are part of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Since 1972, the Shadow Wolves have been tracking aliens and drug smugglers attempting to cross the border by looking for footprints, tire tracks, items snagged on branches, bent or broken twigs or even a single fiber of cloth. Their patrol area covers 2.8 million acres and officers estimate that recently they have seized an average of 60,000 pounds of illegal drugs a year.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the DHS need to remember the dedication, skill set and strategic geographical intelligence that Native Americans bring to the mix. In order to create a lasting relationship that utilizes their knowledge and aptitude, tribes must have complete access to intelligence and information pertinent to border security. This is something that the government needs to ensure because uninformed tribes will not be useful when protecting the homeland.

Brooks serves as vice president/client executive for DHS at Xerox. He served in government at the DHS as the first director of legislative affairs for the science & technology directorate. He also spent six years on Capitol Hill as a senior adviser to the late Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) and was adjunct faculty member at Johns Hopkins University where he taught homeland security and Congress. Brooks has an M.A. in international relations from the University of Chicago and a B.A. in political science from DePauw University. He is widely published on the subjects of innovation, public/private partnerships, emerging technologies and issues of cybersecurity. He can be followed on Twitter @ChuckDBrooks.

Native Hawaiians insulted by proposed recognition

More than 100 years after illegally overthrowing the Hawaiian Monarchy, DOI seeks to restore government-to-government relations with the Kingdom of Hawaii

By Andrew Gobin, Tulalip News

On Friday, August 1, the United States Department of the Interior held a consultation at the Tulalip Resort Casino to discuss whether or not they should restore government-to-government relations with the Kingdom of Hawaii, and what that might look like. The meeting is one of five consultations with tribal leaders, following 15 public meetings in Hawaii. Approximately 30 people attended the meeting, and of the Native Hawaiians in attendance, none of them support the proposed recognition of the Kingdom of Hawaii.

“Recognition is a slap in the face to Hawaiian people. I say no to recognition,” said Gabriel Makanani Reyes-Gomez, a Lahaina native now living in Seattle.

That sentiment seems to be the popular opinion of Native Hawaiians. The meetings in Hawaii were all ill received as well, rejecting what the DOI is proposing.

The suggested method of restoration of the government-to-government relations would follow the model most tribes operate under, which is a recognized sovereignty that allows for tribes to deal with the federal government on a nation to nation basis, holding them to their treaty obligations. For tribes who entered into treaties with the United States, that works. But for the Kingdom of Hawaii, there never was a treaty.

In 1898 the Hawaiian Islands were unlawfully annexed by the United States. Through a serious of more than 150 congressional acts and executive orders between then and the time Hawaii was granted statehood in 1959, the United States began asserting authority in the territory. Those acts also assumed a trust relationship with the Native Hawaiians. Unlike tribes, there is no treaty with the Hawaiians in which the federal government is obliged to trust responsibility. Some Native Hawaiians are upset that the tribes are even being consulted in this matter.

Hawaiian elder Herb Kai said, “It is our issue. With respect to the 200 plus U.S. tribes, it is not your issue, it is ours.”

The trust obligation to Hawaiians only exists in the way the United States has defined it.

“When I met with members of the Native Hawaiian community last year during my visit to the state, I learned first-hand about Hawaii’s unique history and the importance of the special trust relationship that exists between the Federal government and the Native Hawaiian community,” said Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell. “Through this step, the Department is responding to requests from not only the Native Hawaiian community but also state and local leaders and interested parties who recognize that we need to begin a conversation of diverse voices to help determine the best path forward for honoring the trust relationship that Congress has created specifically to benefit Native Hawaiians.”

The issue, as viewed by the Native Hawaiian community, is not about a trust relationship, it is about reconciling the unlawful annexation of their country. Is recognition the way to do that? In 1993, Public Law 103-150, which is the formal apology for the act of war 100 years prior, acknowledged the coup as an interruption of Hawaiian self-determination. Based on the trust relationship built since that time, the apology also called for action by the United States in restoring Hawaiian self-determination. The proposed answer is recognition, though the tribal model shows that the United States maintains too much control. With no treaty, they then have the power to reinterpret that relationship at will.

Native Hawaiian Brad Slavey said, “I do not want the United States to dictate our self-determination. I do not want their assistance in defining how we govern ourselves.”

In 1893, the provisional government of Hawaii, backed by the United States military, overthrew the monarchy of the Kingdom of Hawaii. Up to that time, the Kingdom of Hawaii was an independent nation state with several constitution drafts. At the time of the last accepted draft in 1864, the Kingdom of Hawaii had longstanding international trade relations with England and the United States, mainly, as well as others. Under duress of gunpoint, the last queen, Liliuokolani, surrendered her authority to the provisional government. This illegal action was acknowledge by President Cleveland as an atrocity.

“The military occupation of Honolulu by the United States on the day mentioned was wholly without justification, either as an occupation by consent or as an occupation necessitated by dangers threatening American life and property,” reads Cleveland’s official report to the Committee of Foreign Relations. “It must be accounted for in some other way and on some other ground, and its real motive and purpose are neither obscure nor far to seek.”

In the surrender of her authority, Queen Liliuokalani wrote, “Now to avoid any collision of armed forces, and perhaps the loss of life, I do this under protest and impelled by said force yield my authority until such time as the Government of the United States shall, upon facts being presented to it, undo the action of its representatives and reinstate me in the authority which I claim as the Constitutional Sovereign of the Hawaiian Islands.”

Cleveland responded in kind, “Believing, therefore, that the United States could not, under the circumstances disclosed, annex the islands without justly incurring the imputation of acquiring them by unjustifiable methods, I shall not again submit the treaty of annexation to the Senate for its consideration.”

After Cleveland’s departure from office, the annexation was passed through Congress under the McKinley administration.

What then is the solution? Ideally, resolution would mean that the United States would have to relinquish its claim to the State of Hawaii, and restore the monarchy, which is unlikely. The United States offers recognition of Hawaiian sovereignty to strengthen the promises that they have made through numerous congressional acts. There is still a movement in Hawaii, however, that holds to the belief that as a sovereign, the Kingdom of Hawaii has the right to seek aid from other sovereigns, or the United Nations.

“There does need to be a dialogue,” added Slavey, “but are we in a dialogue with the right people?”

The taking of Hawaii for the United States was unjust, essentially an act of war on another nation. Now, more than 100 years, deciding how to undo that damage to Native Hawaiians will require concessions on both sides which no one wants to make.

“I do want the Kingdom of Hawaii acknowledged, but at what cost,” added Slavey.

Andrew Gobin is a staff reporter with the Tulalip News See-Yaht-Sub, a publication of the Tulalip Tribes Communications Department.
Email: agobin@tulalipnews.com
Phone: (360) 716.4188

Police to crack down on DUI of alcohol, pot, other drugs

Source: Marysville Globe

With marijuana now legal in the state, police are prepared to crack down on users who drive under the influence.

“Specifically, we want people to know that marijuana doubles the risk of a fatal crash,” said Darrin Grondel, Traffic Safety Commission director.

“With new retail marijuana stores in the mix, we want to remind the public that prescription and over-the-counter drugs, as well as illegal and recreational drugs, can impair driving ability,” Grondel said.

Between Aug. 15 and Sept. 1 extra officers will be on the roads looking for drivers under the influence of alcohol, marijuana, or other drugs during the annual Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over campaign.

Drivers are encouraged to find alternative transportation or ride with a sober designated driver.

“More people may be using marijuana recreationally, but that should never be mixed with driving,” said Lt. Rob Sharpe, commander of the Washington State Patrol Impaired Driving Section.

Additionally, law enforcement reminds young drivers that impairment laws are much stricter for anyone under the age of 21. A young driver who has any marijuana in their system or a blood alcohol concentration of .02 or higher is considered to be driving under the influence and is at risk for arrest.

During 2013 in Snohomish County, 3,121 people were charged with DUI. Arlington and Marysville police, along with the county and many other jurisdictions, are participating in the campaign.

Number of Native American Students in U.S. Public Schools to Drop; Population Rises

Simon Moya-Smith, Indian Country Today, 8/12/14

Although minority students this year will outnumber white students for the first time in American history, Native American students will continue to remain the minority among minorities through 2019, according to federal government projections.

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) reports the percentage of Native American students within the U.S. Public School System for the 2014-15 school year is 1.1-percent, compared with white students who make up an estimated 49.8-percent, black students at 15.4-percent, Hispanic students at 25.8-percent, Asian/Pacific Islander students at 5.2-percent and bi-racial students at an estimated 2.8 percent.

According to federal projections, the number of Native American students in the U.S. Public School System will gradually decrease throughout the next five years. Beginning in 2015, the number of Native American students will drop from 1.1-percent to a mere 1-percent.

While NCES projects a drop in the student demographic, the U.S. Census expects the overall Native American population to grow rapidly throughout the next 40 to 50 years.

Currently, there is an estimated 5.2 million Native Americans in the continental U.S. On July 1, 2060, the population of Native Americans in the U.S. is projected to be 11.2 million, or 2.7-percent of the overall population.

Critics of the U.S. Census regarding demographics concerning Native Americans argue persons of non-federally recognized tribes are not always identified as Native Americans by the census, and non-Native Americans are routinely changing their race to indigenous cultures between censuses, according to Census Bureau investigators.

To read the entire NCES enrollment and percentage distribution report, go here.