WASHINGTON, April 25, 2013 – USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service announced today additional funding for the second year of the National Water Quality Initiative.
NRCS will make available nearly $35 million in financial assistance to farmers and ranchers in 164 priority watersheds this year to implement suites of conservation practices intended to improve water quality.
“These are voluntary efforts focused in small watersheds where the implementation of conservation systems can yield results for locally important waters,” said NRCS Acting Chief Jason Weller. “When farmers and ranchers work to improve water quality, they also help provide the nation with clean waterways, safe drinking water and healthy habitat for fish and wildlife.”
During the first year of the initiative in 2012, NRCS provided $34 million in financial assistance to farmers and ranchers in 154 small watersheds, ranging from 10,000 to 40,000 acres in size. This initiative builds on efforts that NRCS already has underway in areas such as the Mississippi River Basin, the Gulf of Mexico, the Chesapeake Bay and the Great Lakes.
The agency worked closely with partners, including state water quality agencies, to refine the eligible priority watersheds this year. These partners assisted in selecting one to 12 priority watersheds in every state where on-farm conservation investments will deliver the greatest water quality improvement benefits. These watershed projects will each address one or more of the following water quality concerns: excess nitrogen, phosphorous, sediment or pathogens.
Eligible producers will receive assistance under the Environmental Quality Incentives Program for installing conservation systems that may include practices such as nutrient management, cover crops, conservation cropping systems, filter strips, terraces, and in some cases, edge-of-field water quality monitoring.
Through this water quality initiative, NRCS is also piloting its new Water Quality Index for Agricultural Runoff. The tool will help landowners determine how alternative conservation systems they are considering will impact water quality improvement. Additionally, state water quality agencies and other partners will do in-stream and watershed-level monitoring to track water quality improvements in many of the project watersheds.
“The quality of our nation’s water affects so much. Across the country farmers, ranchers and foresters are actively and voluntarily using conservation systems to improve water quality,” said Weller.
NRCS accepts applications for financial assistance on a continuous basis throughout the year. Check with your local NRCS office to see if you are located in a selected watershed.
USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service helps America’s farmers and ranchers conserve the Nation’s soil, water, air and other natural resources. All programs are voluntary and offer science-based solutions that benefit both the landowner and the environment.
SEATTLE — The federal government has agreed to accept a petition that asked to have captive killer whale Lolita included in the endangered species listing for Puget Sound orcas.
Lolita was captured from that whale population in 1970 and is now at the Miami Seaquarium.
Her fellow orcas spend most of their time in Western Washington and British Columbia waters. Lolita is a member of the L pod, or family.
The National Marine Fisheries Service has listed these southern resident orcas as endangered since 2005. The wild population currently numbers 84.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, which is working with other animal rights groups to have Lolita freed from captivity, filed this petition.
The decision announced Wednesday will add Lolita to a current review of the status of Puget Sound orcas as an endangered species.
Tonight, designer Patricia Michaels of Taos Pueblo will face off against the other two finalists in part two of the season finale of Project Runway. It’s a moment that has many fashion fans and Native style aficionados on the edge of their seats.
Although Michaels may have seemed the exotic outsider in this Project Runway class, those familiar with her work knew she’d be a force to be reckoned with, and can hardly be surprised she’s made it this far. In fact, on one notable occasion, many people who don’t follow fashion got a glimpse of her talent and were bowled over. It happened at Santa Fe Indian Market, 2011: Michaels paraded a group of models through the streets wearing her fashions and toting parasols. Many who witnessed the display considered it the highlight of the week.
As Cynthia Whitney-Ward reported the “Parasols on the Plaza” happening on her blog Chasing Santa Fe, “who would expect white-wigged maidens holding playful parasols — dressed in glorious designer frocks — to sashay out of La Fonda on the Plaza and wend their way through Indian Market? Well, Native American designer PATRICIA MICHAELS of Taos Pueblo, loves to delight and surprise … The Indian Market crowd was enchanted.”
“Access to clean drinking water, clean air, and healthy fish and game are inherent human rights that no lawmaker can give away.”
By Lacey McCormick, National Wildlife Federation
For more than a century, American Indian tribes and Alaska Natives have suffered the impacts of hardrock mining while enjoying few of its benefits.
A new National Wildlife Federation report,Honoring the River: How Hardrock Mining Impacts Tribal Communities tells the story of hardrock mining and tribes, from the checkered history of federal legislation allowing mining companies to lease minerals on tribal lands—often without tribal consent—to the many new mines being proposed near tribal communities.
“Access to clean drinking water, clean air, and healthy fish and game are inherent human rights that no lawmaker can give away,” said Mike Wiggins, chairman of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Tribe of Chippewa Indians, whose land has been threatened by Gogebic Taconite’s proposed open-pit iron mine. “Some of the environmental impacts, like acid mine drainage, will last into perpetuity.”
The report was endorsed by the following tribes and tribal organizations impacted by hardrock mining: Alaska Inter-Tribal Council, Bad River Band of Lake Superior Tribe of Chippewa Indians, Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians, Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, and the Sokaogon Chippewa Community.
Two loopholes in the regulations implementing the Clean Water Act have allowed mines to treat rivers, lakes and wetlands as waste dumps for toxic, acid-producing tailings. According to the report, the metals mining industry has already contaminated an estimated 40 percent of the headwaters in western watersheds.
That figure doesn’t surprise Rich Janssen, head of the Department of Natural Resources at the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes in northern Montana. These tribes have been working to help threatened bull trout recover from 100-year old mining and smelting operations. The tribes now find themselves fighting two proposed silver mines adjacent to the Cabinet Mountains Wilderness.
“Our tribes do not oppose all mining but we do take our stewardship commitment seriously,” said Janssen. “Nobody should be permitted to store untreated mining waste in rivers or streams. We strongly support closing the mining loopholes in the Clean Water Act.”
“The indigenous view on water is that it is a sacred and spiritual entity,” said Jessica Koski, mining technical assistant of the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, which has been affected by Rio Tinto’s Eagle Mine operation. “Our communities have a historically intimate connection to water and we are especially sensitive to the impacts of mining on our sacred places and the waters that feed Lake Superior.”
Honoring the River discusses one of the nation’s worst mining disasters, the Zortman-Landusky gold mine near the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation in north-central Montana. The mine is infamous for its cyanide spills and acid mine drainage—and the responsible company ultimately filed for bankruptcy, leaving the Fort Belknap tribes and taxpayers to pay millions in clean-up costs.
“A lot of people made money from the Zortman-Landusky mine, but we were not among them,” said Tracy King, president of the Fort Belknap Indian Community. “We were left with degraded cultural sites, smaller fish and wildlife populations, and a huge price tag for reclamation and water treatment. Tribal communities should be wary of the economic promises made by mining companies.”
The report also focuses on the controversial Pebble copper and gold mine in Bristol Bay, Alaska. The Pebble mine would be the largest open pit mine in North America and would be in the headwaters of the greatest remaining wild sockeye salmon fishery on earth. The Bristol Bay watershed sustains more than two dozen Alaska Native communities that have practiced a salmon-based culture for millennia.
“Tribes have been disproportionately harmed by hardrock mining and the pollution caused by mining waste,” said Tony Turrini, senior attorney for National Wildlife Federation and one of the report’s authors. “We’re calling on the Obama Administration to close Clean Water Act loopholes that allow mines to store untreated waste in natural waters. Closing these loopholes won’t stop hardrock mining, but it would help protect tribal communities from the chemicals, heavy metals, and acid drainage produced by modern mines.”
“National Wildlife Federation has worked with tribes for more than 20 years to protect wildlife,” explains Garrit Voggesser, national director of Tribal Partnerships for NWF. “Our current efforts to minimize the threats of hardrock mining exemplify how tribes and NWF can make a difference in our shared values for the protection of environmental and cultural resources.”
LONGMONT, Colo., April 17, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — It’s called “Minor’s Trust,” “Big Money” or “18 Money,” and for a number of Native American youth, it represents a blessing and a curse. However, a new interactive web tool can help Native youth do big things with their minor’s trust.
A small number of tribes pay out dividends from tribal businesses, or per capita payments, to their members. Payments for tribal members who are age 17 or younger are usually held in a financial trust until the youth turns 18. At age 18 (although sometimes later) youth receive a substantial payment and are faced with the responsibility of managing their “Big Money” at a young age.
With funding from the FINRA Investor Education Foundation, First Nations Development Institute (First Nations) is launching the My Green campaign this month to help Native youth learn to manage their money. The main feature of the campaign is the My Green website at www.mybigmoney.org. It features four spokespeople — Native youth ages 17-23 — who present their stories about how they managed their Big Money. They share their lessons learned in several videos, and serve as guides throughout the different components of the website. The site contains several money tools that Native youth can use to learn how to better manage their payments, including a Big Money simulation game that mirrors real-life spending decisions one must make.
First Nations created the campaign and website in response to the growing demand to provide financial education to Native youth who are receiving a large lump sum of money. Studies have shown that Native youth have very low rates of financial literacy and are more likely to be “underbanked,” and Native youth who receive a large Minor’s Trust payment (sometimes $50,000 or more) are especially vulnerable to making poor financial decisions.
“Receiving a large minor’s trust payment at age 18 can be exciting but also very stressful for Native youth,” said Shawn Spruce, program consultant at First Nations. “We are confident the My Green website will offer these kids valuable tools to explore how to invest in their future.”
First Nations will continue to unveil and promote the website at several conferences including the Native American Finance Officers Association conference held April 18-19, the Gathering of Nations Pow Wow in Albuquerque April 26-27, and The National Indian Education Association conference Oct. 29 — Nov. 3.
To learn more, visit www.mybigmoney.org, “like” the campaign on Facebook at MyGreenFNDI, or follow the effort on Twitter @mygreenfndi.
Contacts: Sarah Dewees (540) 907-6247 or sdewees@firstnations.org and/or Randy Blauvelt (303) 774-7836 or rblauvelt@firstnations.org
By Kevin Taylor, Indian Country Today Media Network
He had a name, not that we will ever know it.
He also had wounds—a spear point embedded deep in his hip that suggests battle; a half-dozen broken ribs, several dents in his head and a chipped-off piece of bone in his right shoulder socket that indicated he had been battered in a rough world.
But he was tough. Strong.
The shoulder injury alone is considered a career-ender when it happens today to fireballing relief pitchers, but the ancient hunter probably didn’t have retirement as an option. Then there’s the knapped-rock spear point, which, had it pierced his body an inch higher, would have killed him.
“He was a very robust and very large man. Well-muscled, especially in his right arm and left leg—he was a javelin thrower, more than likely an atlatl user. He was absolutely a hunter and he was tough as nails in his world. He had to keep moving to eat.”
This portrayal of a sturdy spear-hunter from around 9,500 years ago comes from Doug Owsley, an esteemed forensic anthropologist from the Smithsonian Institution. Owsley was sharing these observations in a richly detailed three-hour presentation, delivered without notes, in central Washington state last fall. There was a spillover crowd drawn to the tiny, Columbia River village of Wanapum—people hungry for the first real news in nearly a decade about the controversial skeleton known as Kennewick Man, or the Ancient One.
Owsley believes Kennewick Man was a visitor to these lands, not a resident. (AP)
There is still an open sore with Kennewick Man. It’s the chafe between science and spirituality, between people who say the remains have so much to tell us about the ancient human past that they should remain available for research, versus people who feel a kinship with the ancient bones and say they should be reburied to show proper reverence for the dead.
It has been almost 17 years since two young men trying to sneak into the annual hydroplane races in Kennewick, Washington, stumbled (literally) across a skeleton in the shallows of the Columbia River; the Ancient One has been caught in limbo ever since. He is in the custody of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which controls the waterways behind a series of federal dams on the Snake and Columbia rivers. The Ancient One is stored in a secured vault at the University of Washington’s Burke Museum in Seattle.
Owsley and seven other scientists sued the corps to keep the bones from being turned over to a coalition of area tribes for reburial, and the court battle has gone as high as the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, but is not yet settled. The Ninth Circuit, in February 2004, upheld a ruling that there’s no evidence Kennewick Man is related to any of the present-day Plateau Tribes.
It’s a common interpretation that the federal courts are saying Kennewick Man is not an Indian. Not so. The ruling is both more nuanced and less. More, because it says that a single skeleton as ancient as this one, found outside any context of community—village or ancient burial ground—doesn’t provide enough evidence to connect it, culturally or genetically, to a present-day Native group. Less, because the ruling came during an administrative hearing in which local Plateau tribes were not allowed to introduce evidence—oral tradition, ancient settlements—that could have connected the Ancient One to where he was found.
The real outcome, however, is that the Ancient One is likely to remain in his unmarked vault at the Burke for a long time.
What further chafes the Five Claimant Tribes, as they are known in court documents, is that human remains roughly as ancient as, or even older than, those of the Ancient One have been repatriated without any controversy via the federal Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA). I had the rare privilege of witnessing one such repatriation.
Going Home for Some
Not far from where Kennewick Man was found, there is a butte turned sepia with late autumn—dried weeds and tanned grasses and the brown of exposed basalt—a high, lonely overlook above the joining of the Palouse and Snake rivers. Two weeks after Owsley’s talk, Rex Buck Jr., a spiritual leader of the Wanapum, stands alongside a square, open grave. He removes a brass hand-bell from a pouch on his belt and raises it to a sky threatening rain.
The stillness here, the sense of remoteness is astonishing. It’s remarkable that this is now such an empty quadrant of Washington—somnolent Starbuck [population 129] and the Lyons Ferry Marina, with its pizza oven and fragrant coffee pot are the scant evidence of settlement on the far side of the Snake. The 15 of us atop the butte are seemingly the only humans around for miles.
It wasn’t always so. At the confluence below is the site of the ancient village of Palus, sunken now under the reservoir formed by Lower Monumental Dam. More than two centuries ago, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, the explorer David Thompson and assorted other roamers and traders—Indian and white alike—stopped off at Palus and noted its importance as a well-established crossroads for commerce and travel from the coast to the plains.
It was also the main settlement of the Palus Indians, who lived in villages strung along the lower Snake River.
Palouse Falls (Flickr/Craig Goodwin)
The undulating top of the butte tells an even longer story. Over there, beyond Rex Buck’s left shoulder, a wide, dark bracket in the basalt rock face marks the opening to a cave. It’s Marmes, the Marmes Rockshelter—a potential world-class archaeological site that shows evidence of an estimated 14,000 years of continuous human occupation. It must be described as a “potential” world-class site because Marmes, just as it was beginning to be excavated, was flooded by the construction of Lower Monumental Dam, which is one of four federal dams built in the 1960s and 1970s to make the Snake River navigable to Lewiston, Idaho, some 465 miles from the sea. This was when the movement of wheat via barge was deemed more important than the migration of once-robust wild salmon that sustained Native cultures for thousands of years.
The remains being re-interred on this Tuesday morning are the third and perhaps final group of people who had once lived at Marmes that were located and repatriated under NAGPRA, and they are estimated to be in the range of 10,000 years old. People were roaming this area well before Kennewick Man. These ancient remains were among those rescued from the encroaching floodwaters of the Lower Monumental reservoir in the mid-to-late 1960s and stored at Washington State University for the past half-century.
So how is it these paleo remains are being repatriated under NAGPRA and Kennewick Man is not? Partly, it has to do with the “accidental” discovery of Kennewick Man’s remains and partly to caution over not igniting another fight with tribes.
Mary Collins, associate director of the Museum of Anthropology at Washington State University, says, “Because of the [controversy over the] Kennewick decision, it took awhile to build an argument for reburying the older ones.… In a nutshell, the difference between Kennewick and the Marmes was in fact that Kennewick was an inadvertent discovery.”
The important difference, Collins notes, is that Kennewick Man was found alone, while the remains of Marmes inhabitants were found in an organized dig that also revealed evidence of community and continuous human occupation at the site for millennia. “And that was the basis for arguing that they were appropriately repatriated as American Indians,” Collins says.
Jennifer Richman, senior assistant district counsel for the Corps of Engineers, Portland District, clarifies that the decision does not say the Marmes people are Palus people. “By just saying it’s more likely than not [the remains are] culturally affiliated with the tribes, we’re not then definitively saying that yes the Marmes remains are Palus, just that there’s a preponderance of evidence to show a connection there and a cultural affiliation,” Richman adds.
To some tribal people, the difference between the way NAGPRA treats Kennewick Man and the Marmes people is just semantics, or at best a bureaucratic distinction. Among Owsley’s findings since 2005 is evidence that confirms earlier reports from scientists working for the Corps of Engineers that the Ancient One was deliberately buried. Tribal people say this shows Kennewick Man was not a loner wandering in an empty world, but was loved enough by others to be buried after his death.
And after thousands of years in the earth, his erosion-caused reappearance must be corrected by reburial, they say. “He died in our land, and we have taken care of him for 10,000 years. Is he a man of this area? I believe so,” says Jackie Cook, repatriation specialist of the Colville Confederated Tribes.
The Wandering One
Owsley disagrees with that assertion. He says analysis of radioactive isotopes in the bones indicate Kennewick Man drank glacier-fed water, not necessarily Columbia River water, and that he ate a heavy marine diet, more likely to include seals rather than just salmon. Kennewick Man, Owsley concludes, was a coastal resident who traveled inland.
The reburial party contingent at the Marmes Rockshelter site (Kevin Taylor)
Members of the Five Claimant Tribes disagree, citing for instance that sea lions still chase migrating salmon as far upriver as the Bonneville Dam, some 146 miles from the ocean, and that there is archaeological evidence that shows sea lions came much farther inland before dams were built.
But this only shows there is need for more study, Owsley contends. “There are, to my mind, some collections that I think are so fundamental that they should be preserved for another generation of scientists with different questions—totally different questions—and better methods,” he says by telephone from his office at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. “I mean, you look at my 35-plus years of doing this and the way I analyze a skeleton today is totally different from what I did back then. What we can learn today are things I wasn’t even thinking about. And I have to feel Kennewick Man absolutely falls in that category.”
At Wanapum last fall, Owsley ended his presentation by describing two more tests he would like to conduct on Kennewick Man—one that examines dental enamel to ascertain Kennewick Man’s childhood diet, which could be a telling clue as to where he grew up; the other to use advancements in scanning technology to re-examine the spear point, which could determine precisely where it was quarried.
Owsley says he has made these proposals to the Army corps but has received no permissions. Richman, the corps’ lawyer dealing with Kennewick Man, says the agency has denied earlier proposals from Owsley that were deemed too destructive to the bones, and has not yet received formal proposals from Owsley on less-invasive procedures. Still, one asks, will Owsley do the two more tests and then return the Ancient One to the tribes for reburial?
“I don’t think that’s going to be my decision,” he says, noting that the corps still holds the remains. “My goal here is to really set a standard to explain what we know right now and also point to what we don’t know. Some of that can be answered with this man and some of that will, hopefully, be answered with other discoveries but I can tell you they are few and far between, they are exceedingly rare.”
Even some tribal members, such as Jackie Cook of the Colville, appreciate the glimpse science offers into the distant past, because that story is her story. But the scientists never seem to acknowledge that they are asking a lot of Native people whose “shared history” comes from having skeletons of their relatives and ancestors kidnapped from graves and kept in boxes or on shelves in museums and universities or private living rooms.
This is driven home by Armand Minthorn, a spiritual and political leader of the Umatilla and the first Indian to demand the return of Kennewick Man, just days after the bones were found. “When you suggest you can get so much information from these remains, that may be the case, however they’re ours. And they are sacred. Period. End of discussion,” Minthorn says.
Collins, of Washington State University, sees one good change that’s come from the bitter fight over Kennewick Man. “As a teacher looking at the next generation of scientists, their understanding of the need to address multiple interests and multiple perspectives is day-and-night difference than a generation ago…they are much more sensitive to the context of addressing other peoples’ concerns and not assuming that your concerns have greater value than theirs.”
‘He Wants to Go Home’
Cook is one of four tribal women who prepared the Marmes remains for reburial—with smudging, prayer, song and muslin. She would love to experience a similar moment with Kennewick Man. “It’s on my bucket list.”
She then tells the following story: “Several years ago we [several Plateau tribes] were doing a joint claim with the Burke Museum and it was very convoluted. We spent a full week there.”
Throughout the week, Cook and others could only move around with an escort from museum repatriation officers. “And we would say, ‘Is that the door? Is that one the door?’ He had his own vault and at that time they were keeping his location secret. And the repatriation officer would just smile and wouldn’t answer us.
“And so the week went on and we were all working together and at one point I said, ‘Well I don’t care. I am just old enough not to care if they put me in jail. If I could get him out I would take him with us and we would rebury him.’ It was very light-hearted and jovial but on the last day we were loading up and the alarms went off and everybody turned around and asked, ‘Where’s Jackie?’ I was in the back of the room and we were laughing and I said, ‘See? See? Listen to your heart, he wants to come.’”
Some months later, Cook was meeting with Burke staffers, when they told her the alarm that day was from the Ancient One’s vault. “He has his own alarm and it was his alarm,” she says.
The museum staff didn’t know what set it off that day, Cook says. Burke collections manager Laura Phillips confirms the anecdote, and adds that she doesn’t know what set off Kennewick Man’s alarm.
Cook has a good guess: “He wants to go home.”
Birdsong and Pizza
Back atop the butte, Cook and other women stand in a line at the foot of the open grave, men stand to one side. The women wrap themselves in shawls. Buck, who is latest in a long line of Wanapum spiritual leaders, slices the hand-bell down from overhead and rings out a rhythm. He begins to sing in the old language—sonorous and pure. All the Indians join, the men’s voices deep, the women lilting. It was a gray day, high cloudy, but as younger men carried the boxes of remains from an SUV—bones wrapped in muslin and prayer, remains separated by sex, bones placed in the ground on fresh-woven tule mats—as these bones were going in the ground and people were singing, the sun broke out, and over the singing there was heard birdsong.
It seems there is often such a moment as this, when good words are said aloud and good songs are sung in the old language and it seems as if the world responds. After, we all went for pizza at the Lyons Ferry marina across the Snake. “You can tell people you were at a traditional Indian feast. We like pizza!”
There were jokes and good humor up and down the long table. After all, people were in a fine mood after returning the remains of the Marmes people to some very ground that, quite likely, they had stood upon. As the pizzas arrived, there was also serious discussion of how much work is left. As universities and museums become aware of NAGPRA and comply with the law this is the easy part. What’s tougher will be tracking down remains taken by artifact traders and private collectors—grave robbers to some.
When we’re leaving, I mention the sun break to the Umatilla guy with the long, thin braids ending at his breastbone, and he smiles. Coincidence or Creator it don’t matter, Tuesday morning people came home. From 10,000 years ago they came home. And the Earth smiled to see them again, the birds sang.
It would be wonderful to offer this grace to Kennewick Man as well. Because it’s possible the Earth has heard his name and remembers it, even if we do not.
Indian Affairs Hearing Examines Obama FY2014 Budget’s Impact on Indian Country
Source: United States Senate Committee on Indian Affairs
WASHINGTON D.C. – Today, U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs Chairwoman Maria Cantwell (D-WA) encouraged the Administration to continue to invest in key programs for Indian Country, during a Committee oversight hearing on the President’s Fiscal Year 2014 budget proposal.
During today’s hearing, Cantwell applauded the Administration’s support for Indian health programs, energy development and public safety programs for Tribal governments. Cantwell also expressed concerns about proposed budget cuts to Tribal economic development programs. Eight of the ten poorest counties in the United States can be found in Indian Country and unemployment rates can be as high as 80 percent. Cantwell also expressed concern about the Administration’s budget proposal to zero out investments for new school construction in Indian Country, even though half of the schools in the Bureau of Indian Education system are considered to be in poor or fair condition.
“For Tribal communities to thrive now and into the future there must be economic development opportunities and workforce opportunities,” said Cantwell at today’s hearing. “This year’s budget request contains a decrease in economic development funding for Indian Country, despite a moderate increase in overall education funding, and it contains no funding for school construction.”
The Committee heard testimony from U.S. Department of the Interior and Department of Health and Human Services officials, president of the National Congress of American Indians, chair of the National Indian Health Board, and a representative of the National Tribal Contract Support Cost Coalition. Click here for a full list of witnesses.
Today’s witnesses also described the severe impact sequestration is having on their Tribal communities. Sequestration, which took effect on March 1, 2013, required across-the-board cuts at federal agencies. Tribal programs are being reduced at the Department of the Interior by $120 million and at the Indian Health Service by $220 million. These cuts will lead to decreased staff at Tribal schools, reduced health care at Indian Health facilities, and cuts to the general assistance program which provides food rent and clothing to those most in need.
Witnesses at the hearing also emphasized the need for the federal government to honor the unique legal obligations the federal government has towards Indian Tribes. The government-to-government relationship is grounded in the United States Constitution, treaties, federal statutes and Supreme Court decisions.
The Committee also heard from John Sirois, Chairman of the Business Council of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation of Nespelem, Washington: “In the current budget climate, we believe that existing resources for economic development can be leveraged and maximized with more formal coordination between federal agencies,” Sirois said. “Businesses are often hesitant to locate their operations on Indian lands because of the administrative burdens, both real and perceived, that accompany federal approval requirements applicable to many activities on Indian land.”
MAYETTA, Kan., April 23, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The Department of Justice will honor the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation’s Tribal Victim Services program for creating a healing arts program for sexual assault victims. Attorney General Eric Holder will present the program with an award during the National Crime Victims’ Rights Week awards ceremony on Wednesday, April 24, 2013 in Washington, D.C.
“These committed individuals are being honored for their dedication to assisting and supporting victims of crime all across the country,” said Attorney General Eric Holder . “Their actions inspire all Americans, to do what we can, each in our own way, to help lessen the physical, emotional and financial impacts of crime on people in our communities.”
The Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation’s Tribal Victim Services (TVS) program will receive the Professional Innovation in Victim Services Award, recognizing a program, organization or individual who helped to expand the reach of victims’ rights and services.
TVS developed a program to encourage cultural healing through art to assist tribal crime victims in sharing their experiences, thoughts and fears. They created an artistic “tree” for healing called the Community Story Tree Project, which consists of 72 canvas panels representing the community’s hopes and dreams for tribal families, survivors, children, service providers, professional elders and tribal leaders.
In addition to the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation, Attorney General Holder will recognize 12 other individuals and organizations for their outstanding efforts on behalf of crime victims. Descriptions and videos of the honorees are available at the Office for Victims of Crime’s Gallery: https://ovcncvrw.ncjrs.gov/Awards/AwardGallery/gallerysearch.html.
President Reagan proclaimed the first Victims’ Rights Week in 1981, calling for renewed emphasis on, and sensitivity to, the rights of victims. National Crime Victims’ Rights Week will be observed this year from April 21-27.
The Office of Justice Programs (OJP), headed by Acting Assistant Attorney General Mary Lou Leary , provides federal leadership in developing the nation’s capacity to prevent and control crime, administer justice, and assist victims. OJP has six components: the Bureau of Justice Assistance; the Bureau of Justice Statistics; the National Institute of Justice; the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention; the Office for Victims of Crime; and the Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering, and Tracking. For more information about OJP, please visit: www.ojp.gov.
By Richard Walker, Indian Country Today Media Network
Quinault Lake has been a place of nurture since glaciers carved the lake and river valley in their retreat some 15,000 years ago.
But these thousands of years of pristine tranquility have come undone. The Quinault Tribe has closed the lake to non-tribal fishing until further notice, concerned about pollution and low salmon return numbers.
The Quinault people have always found physical and spiritual sustenance in the majestic landscape and wealth of resources in the Quinault Lake area. The sockeye salmon, too, consider Quinault Lake to be a place of nurture; sockeye returning from their ocean odyssey spend three to 10 months in Quinault Lake prior to moving on to spawn in the Upper Quinault River. While in the lake, bluebacks subsist on their fat reserves.
“Culturally, this salmon run links Quinault people to their rich heritage as nothing else does,” according to Quinault Nation fisheries biologists, who documented salmon significance to the tribe in 1990. “The salmon was always the very lifeblood of Quinault society, and the blueback was the most sacred of the various fish runs.”
But in the years since the first non-Native residents arrived in the 1880s, this sacred lake has been troubled. Early residents described the Upper Quinault River as a large stream that flowed between two narrow, heavily wooded banks. But logging in the ensuing years has widened the river valley, and the stream now meanders erratically. Moreover, storm runoff has led to prolonged periods of lake turbidity.
Leachate from septic systems serving waterfront homes is believed to be the cause of degraded water quality. Bulkheads and docks have been built without permits, altering the shoreline habitat for salmon and other fish.
“We’re not willing to let our lake die,” Quinault Nation Treasurer Lawrence Ralston said.
The Quinault Indian Nation, which has jurisdiction over the lake, has closed it to all non-tribal fishing because of water quality and low sockeye salmon returns. This is in effect until further notice, Quinault Nation President Fawn Sharp said on April 16, adding that the decision had been unanimous.
“This action has been taken to protect the lake and is an emergency measure to protect the health and safety of all our communities,” Sharp said. “We are very concerned about water quality in the lake. We are concerned that non-tribal septic systems from the surrounding homes and businesses may have resulted in a severe problem with untreated sewage and caused serious health concerns.”
During the closure, the tribe will study the water quality and see if it complies with tribal regulations, Sharp said. Already, she said, the tribe has found “hot spots of pollution” and will need to monitor any fish taken by tribal members during the closure.
“We will not reopen the lake to non-Indian fishermen until we consider it safe and appropriate to do so,” Sharp said.
In addition the Nation has documented new, unpermitted docks and bulkheads on the lake’s north shore. Other illegal activities, including fish poaching and boats speeding on the lake, have also been documented, Sharp said.
“The Nation’s intention is to work closely with landowners on the lake to address these concerns,” Sharp said. “The goal is to [ensure] that any permitted structures on the lake are ‘fish friendly’ and will not contribute to degradation of habitat.”
Quinault Nation officials will also meet with the Grays Harbor Board of County Commissioners to request county inspection of septic systems along the north shore. The tribal officials want to determine whether corrective measures are needed to prevent the fouling of lake waters, particularly during storms. While Quinault has jurisdiction over the lake, Grays Harbor County has jurisdiction over non-Native residents and private homes.
The Lake Quinault Lodge, which is owned by the National Park Service, and the local homeowners association newsletter acknowledge that the lake is within the reservation and thus falls under the jurisdiction of the Quinault Indian Nation. But that authority and jurisdiction are apparently not always understood—let alone acknowledged and respected—by non-Native residents.
“The Nation must remind residents that use of the lake is a privilege and not a right,” the Quinault Nation said in its statement announcing the closure.
“When we choose to lease our lands to proprietors, or to allow non-Tribal members to share our resources, we do so with the expectation that they will abide by Quinault law, practice good stewardship and treat this beautiful lake with the respect it deserves,” Sharp added.
Closure of the lake to non-tribal fishing is the latest of many attempts to restore the body of water’s health as well as its salmon population. According to the National Marine Fisheries Service, the number of returning bluebacks dropped from as many as 500,000 in the early 1900s to about 39,000 in the 1990s. Since 2000, the Quinault Nation has invested more than $5 million in blueback habitat restoration, including restoration on the Upper Quinault River, and monitoring.
Quinault officials have requested $5.7 million from Congress for continued blueback restoration work, and the Washington State Senate is budgeting $2.8 million for restoration work on the Upper Quinault River. The federal money will help fund the building of up to 140 engineered logjams and 537 acres of forest restoration planting. The state funding will help pay for the installation of 14 logjams.
“It is our responsibility to manage this unique resource as part of our heritage, in a way that will benefit our people—today and in the future,” Sharp said. “We are working very hard to protect, preserve and restore this region, including the Upper Quinault and Lake Quinault, in a way that is true to our heritage and that will benefit the entire area.”
Quinault is also researching how low-oxygen events may be affecting Dungeness crab populations off the tribe’s ocean shores. Crab fishermen would use special instruments that measure dissolved oxygen from inside crab pots.
“Right now, all we know is that dead fish and crab have washed up on our shores in varying degrees in the summer for the past few years,” Quinault Nation marine scientist Joe Schumacker told the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission. “We have no idea how far the low oxygen zones extend or how long they last. We see a result and we need to define the problem.”
The die-off could be unprecedented: There is no oral history among Quinault people for consecutive seasons of this sort of die-off, according to the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission.
POP QUIZ: Think of a list of 5 people whom you do not like or who irritate you. Ethnically, are most of those people on that list 1) Native American, 2) White, 3) Black, 4) Hispanic or 5) Asian?
ANSWER: Most the people on your list are Native, huh?
It’s not your fault—we’re conditioned. See, let me explain. But first, let me clarify a few things.
Who made this map?
“Tribe” is a new, anthropological word to describe groups of Native people. It’s not Indigenous to most of our languages; neither is “Nation.” Those words and concepts are not ours. Typically, because Native groups were smaller villages—small settlements—the literal translation of the group name was “band” or camp.”
Still, despite the historical inaccuracies, both ideas have some value to Native people. Both terms imply a group of people, in a discreet area, who have common interests and take care of each other. It implies an extended family that historically stayed together for survival reasons. Those extended families created hunting societies and medicine societies and warrior societies—basically agencies of the Tribe in modern day white-speak—that had no choice but to work together for the survival of the group.
We were hunter/gatherers; if we did not work together for even one season, the group would likely die. Serious consequences.
Observing many modern-day Tribal organizations, I think this quick history lesson begs a question: What happens when the people of a particular Tribe or Nation cease to live in a discreet area (a topic for another day), or more importantly, stop having common interests and taking care of each other? What do you call a group of Native people who no longer associate with each other and whose only common interest is in the success of the gaming enterprise or other economic development interest? Is that still a “Tribe” or “Nation?”
When groups of Native people—legally bound together as tribes, but with no other meaningful connection—ostensibly hate each other, do they really deserve to be called a “tribe” or “nation?”
Maybe. But maybe not. Still, at least in theory tribes and nations are supposed to be about the collective good.
Opportunity missed.
In recent times, there have been very public stories about factions of a particular tribe essentially going to war with other factions within that same tribe. I’ve anecdotally noticed that the vitriol in tribal campaigns has gotten more personal and nastier progressively every campaign season—yet, those same politicians play nice when in front of non-Native cameras or non-Native elected officials. We’re all profoundly aware of real or imagined examples of retaliation and retribution within tribal organizations that carries on inter-family feuds that go back generations. As discussed last week, we see examples of amazing Native projects—like the Shoni Schimmel documentary—that do not happen because of lack of support from Native organizations until after they hit it big. Yet, those same Native organizations will pay for washed-up athletes and politicians who are not even supportive of the Tribe. Also recently, we see examples of Tribes deciding that tribal members are no longer qualified to be tribal members and thus essentially fire them from being tribal members.
With friends (and family) like these, who needs enemies…?
How, exactly, are we supposed to teach our observant Native children to love Native people (and therefore love themselves) when they constantly see Native people attacking Native people (and broadcasting those attacks in newspapers and websites)? How are those same beautiful Native children supposed to learn to carry on a sense of community when people within our communities seem much more likely to treasure outsiders’ opinions than those from within our own communities? Why does it seem so much easier to tear down, destroy and dislike someone who looks like us than someone who is of a different ethnicity?
They see their leaders constantly putting blankets around white peoples’ shoulders and honoring them when they visit our homelands yet, after those white people leave, blasting the Native people who live here every day. No wonder Native people commit violence against other Native people in disgustingly high numbers—we teach our children, from a young age, to love every other race except our own. No wonder Native women are victims of domestic violence—very often from Native men—at a disgustingly disproportionate rate. No wonder our youth commit suicide at grossly disproportionate rates—they learn the following lessons everyday: 1) “It’s ok to hurt Native people.” 2) “Native people are not as valuable as non-Natives.”
Confusing.
We’ve gotta change that. We gotta work on that conditioning, learn AND teach to love Native people unabashedly.
Go after this guy.
FYI, loving Native people does not mean that we agree with other Native people all the time. Nor does it mean that we pretend to agree with other Native people all the time. We should disagree with each other—debate is good. But loving Native people does mean that we treat our people, Native (and also non-Native, but especially Native) with a level of respect that indicates that “I love you because you are me, and we need to survive together.” That is, if we take Native tribalism and/or nationhood seriously, we will treat our people like, well, our people. If not, we’re not just playing Indian for personal gain and are not truly committed to tribalism and/or nationhood. It’s about the collective good, not the individual—that’s what tribes are.
Loving Native people better simply means that we don’t look for reasons to tear other Native people down. Tear someone else down—go after Karl Rove or JR Ewing or Bane or someone truly bad, not just some Native schmuck that you don’t agree with.
We need to love our own people better. We can disagree with each other without assassinating each other’s characters. If we don’t learn this soon, our beautiful children will replicate the dysfunctional ways that they observe and our own people will (continue to be) our worst enemies.
