Category: News

Tribes keep language alive

Recent conference led by the Kalispels draws hundreds of participants

March 14, 2013 in Washington Voices

By Cindy Hval  of The Spokesman-Review

 

The unmistakable melody of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” filled the packed room at the Pavilion at Northern Quest Resort and Casino. A trio of women took the stage, executing the iconic dance moves as the lead singer, sequined hat, one glove and all, belted out the song.

The tune was familiar but the words were not.

That’s because the song was performed in Salish at the Salish Karaoke Contest on March 6 during the Celebrating Salish Conference.

More than 400 tribal members from across the Northwest registered to attend the three-day conference. They had much to celebrate. Just a few years ago, the Salish language languished in near oblivion.

Read more here

Watch the videos; participants from the conference have uploaded videos of the Salish Karaoke Contest from this year and previous years onto YouTube.

Tribes plan for worst with looming budget cuts

When it comes to the automatic spending cuts that began taking effect this month, federal lawmakers spared programs that serve the nation’s most vulnerable – such as food stamps, Medicare, Medicaid and veterans’ assistance – from hard hits.

By Felicia Fonseca, Seattle Times

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — When it comes to the automatic spending cuts that began taking effect this month, federal lawmakers spared programs that serve the nation’s most vulnerable – such as food stamps, Medicare, Medicaid and veterans’ assistance – from hard hits.

That wasn’t the case with programs for American Indian reservations, where unemployment is far above the national average, women suffer disproportionately from sexual assaults, and school districts largely lack a tax base to make up for the cuts.

The federal Indian Health Service, which serves 2.1 million tribal members, says it would be forced to slash its number of patient visits by more than 800,000 per year. Tribal programs under the U.S. Department of Interior and the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs that fund human services, law enforcement, schools, economic development and natural resources stand to lose almost $130 million under the cuts, according to the National Congress of American Indians.

“We will see significant impacts almost immediately,” Interior Secretary Ken Salazar told The Associated Press, referring to the BIA. “We will have to furlough some employees. It will mean that there’s going to be a slowing down of the processing of applications and so there will be an impact on the work that the BIA does on behalf of Indian Country.”

The timing and magnitude of most of the cuts are uncertain as Congress looks for a way to keep the government operating beyond March 27 with no budget in place. In the meantime, tribes across the country are preparing for the worst.

Some are better-positioned than others.

In northwestern New Mexico’s McKinley County, where about a third of the population lives below the federal poverty level, the Gallup-McKinley County School District is facing a $2 million hit. The cuts could result in job losses and more crowded classrooms. The district that draws mostly Navajo students from reservation land not subject to state property taxes relies heavily on federal funding to pay its teachers and provide textbooks to students.

“To me, it seems very unfair that one of the poorest counties with one of highest Native enrollment in the country has to be impacted the most by sequestration,” said district superintendent Ray Arsenault. “We are very poor, we’re very rural, and it’s going to hurt us much more.”

The district faced enormous public pressure when it wanted to close schools on the Navajo Nation due to budget shortfalls, so it won’t go that route under looming cuts, Arsenault said. Instead, he would look to reduce his 1,800 employees by 200 – mostly teachers – and add a handful of students to each classroom.

The Red Lake Band Of Chippewa Indians in northern Minnesota expects 22 jobs, mostly in law enforcement, will be lost immediately. Tribal Chairman Floyd Jourdain Jr. said police already operate at a level considered unsafe by the BIA. Deeper cuts forecast for later this year will increase job losses to 39, and “public safety operations at Red Lake will collapse,” he said.

On the Rosebud Indian Reservation in south-central South Dakota, a new $25 million, 67,500-square foot jail that was to provide cultural and spiritual wellness programs for tribal members charged with crimes sits empty. The annual operating budget of $5 million would be reduced to around $840,000 because of the automatic budget cuts, said jail administrator Melissa Eagle Bear.

“I don’t think this is intentional, but I do feel like it’s the government’s way of controlling things,” she said. “They definitely have control, and we’re going to keep going. … I know Indian people. We tend to survive off what resources we have.”

The National Indian Education Association said the cuts to federal impact aid will affect the operation of 710 schools that serve about 115,000 American Indian students. Those cuts would be immediate because the money is allocated in the same school year it is spent.

In Oklahoma, the Cherokee Nation said it is well-poised to handle cuts to its diabetes, housing rehabilitation, Head Start and health care programs. The tribe put a freeze on nonessential hires and halted most travel and training for tribal employees. The tribe’s $600 million budget for services and programs comes largely from federal funds, but tribal businesses also post annual revenues in the same amount that have been used to fill in gaps, said Principal Chief Bill John Baker.

“What this really is going to boil down to mean is that there won’t be any new purchases, new equipment, and probably we’ll hold our programs but not be in a position to add new programs,” Baker said. “Luckily, we’re in pretty good shape.”

Baker and other tribal leaders have argued against the cuts, saying the federal government has a responsibility that dates back to the signing of treaties to protect American Indian people, their land and tribal sovereignty.

While food distribution, welfare programs and health care services that serve the needy are exempt from the cuts, similar services on reservations aren’t, said Amber Ebarb, a budget and policy analyst for the National Congress of American Indians.

“Tribes have too little political clout, too small numbers for those same protections to be applied,” she said. “I don’t think it’s the intent of any member of Congress. The ones we hear from, Republicans and Democrats who understand trust and treaty rights, think it’s outrageous that tribes are subject to these across-the-board cuts.”

Democratic Rep. Raul Grijalva of Arizona said he doesn’t believe Congress as a whole understands the potential impact to tribes and the duty that federal agencies have to meaningfully consult with them on major actions. He and Republican Rep. Don Young of Alaska are urging their colleagues to spare those populations from automatic budget cuts, particularly when it comes to health care.

“It’s not about creating a niche for American Indians. It’s about addressing areas in which need is great,” Grijalva said.

Clara Pratte, director of the Navajo Nation’s Washington, D.C., office, said regardless of the outcome of the budget talks, tribal leaders should press Congress to make funding for Indian programs mandatory, not discretionary.

Nearly two-thirds of the Navajo Nation’s $456 million budget comes from federal sources that go to public safety, education, health and human services, roads and infrastructure. The tribe is facing up to $30 million in automatic budget cuts.

“A lot of these programs go to people that cannot lift themselves up by their bootstraps,” Pratte said. “I’m talking about grandmas, grandpas, kids under the age of 10. We can’t very well expect them to go to work.”

Snoqualmie tribe gives casino plan another look

The Snoqualmie Tribal Council is taking a fresh look at the tribe’s possible casino-expansion plan that has been controversial in the town of Snoqualmie.

By Lynda V. Mapes, Seattle Times

Lynda V. Mapes / The Seattle TimesArlene Ventura, a Snoqualmie tribal elder, urges members to make a fresh start by establishing a government and membership that meets constitutional requirements.
Lynda V. Mapes / The Seattle Times
Arlene Ventura, a Snoqualmie tribal elder, urges members to make a fresh start by establishing a government and membership that meets constitutional requirements.

The Snoqualmie Tribal Council is taking a fresh look at the tribe’s possible casino expansion, including the idea of a 20-story hotel next to its casino.

The tribe canceled a meeting of its general membership in February to discuss refinancing its debt for the project, while the council takes a second look at the plan.

The project has been controversial in the town of Snoqualmie, where the hotel would be the tallest building for miles. An original proposal called for a 340-room hotel, conference center, larger casino and theater, and two new parking structures.

One estimate indicates that could pump up total revenue for the tribe’s casino property to nearly $300 million a year, including $230 million in gambling revenue. That would be a big jump from 2012, with $189 million in gambling revenue and $40 million from the casino’s restaurants and other facilities.

The city of Snoqualmie provides sewer, emergency and fire services to the tribe’s casino property, and is in negotiations about what size expansion of the Snoqualmies’ development it would or could service. The Muckleshoot Indian Tribe beat out the Snoqualmies in 2007 to purchase the nearby Salish Lodge.

Consideration of the development comes at a time when the tribe is struggling with other issues.

The tribe’s longtime administrator, Matt Mattson, is on paid administrative leave during separate investigations by the tribal council and tribal gambling commission.

Robert Roy Smith, attorney for the Snoqualmie Tribe, said he could not discuss the details of the investigations.

Tribal members also met last week to try to resolve a long-running enrollment dispute but did not have a quorum to take action.

At issue is the base roll of tribal members. “The base roll is just a mess,” said Milo Gabel, a tribal member who turned out for the meeting at the Preston Community Center on Sunday.

Members at the meeting Sunday signed a statement declaring they are true Snoqualmies, entitled to vote or hold office, because they are at least one-eighth Snoqualmie in their blood line, as the tribe’s constitution requires.

They also agreed to accept an enrollment audit done last year, so far ignored by the tribal council, and to submit it for final review.

“We have to start somewhere. This is a starting point for our tribe,” said elder Arlene Ventura, of Renton, one of 38 tribal members of all ages who gathered at the community center. They needed 40 members to take official action.

Elwha gnaws away at a century of sediment

There’s more sediment and more wood than expected coming out of the Elwha River as the Elwha dams are taken down — causing more than a few surprises.

By Lynda V. Mapes, Seattle Times

Greg Gilbert / The Seattle TimesGlines Canyon Dam is two-thirds down, with the Elwha River pouring through the gap. Elwha Dam, 8.6 miles downstream, is already gone.
Greg Gilbert / The Seattle Times
Glines Canyon Dam is two-thirds down, with the Elwha River pouring through the gap. Elwha Dam, 8.6 miles downstream, is already gone.

A mother lode of mud is making its way down the Elwha River, and with it, an armada of floating and waterlogged debris.

Contractors are taking two dams out of the Elwha River as part of a watershed and fishery recovery project that is the largest of its type ever in the world. The first, Elwha Dam, came out a year ago. Glines Canyon dam is about two-thirds gone.

Scientists recently learned there was about 41 percent more sediment trapped behind the dams than originally thought — and that the river is transporting more mud and wood than they expected.

As the river, dammed for 100 years, comes back to life, the other surprise is a forest of waterlogged wood and other organic debris the Elwha is muscling out of the former lake beds of the reservoirs.

All that wood is interacting with the sediment in the river with unpredictable results, said Andy Ritchie, restoration hydrologist for the National Park Service, which is running the Elwha recovery project. He was surprised this winter to see the river building fences and jams of wood that trapped sediment in places where it wasn’t expected, such as at Elwha Campground, or causing erosion in others, such as at the historic Elwha ranger district.

There have been other surprises.

Dam removal was put on hold last October until contractors make more than $1.4 million in emergency retrofits to the new $71.5 million Elwha Water Facilities plant.

It was built as part of the dam-removal project, to clean sediment from the water supply to an industrial pulp and paper plant, a fish-rearing channel and a hatchery. But the plant failed during the first fall rains last October, when fish screens and pumps became clogged with leaves, twigs, branches and sediment.

What the total cost to the project of the breakdown will be — on a plant that was already the single most expensive piece of the $325 million Elwha restoration — and what caused it to fail are still being sorted out, said Barb Maynes, spokeswoman for the park service.

The agency hopes to get contractors back at work taking down Glines Canyon Dam by mid-April. Meanwhile, taxpayers are paying $245,000 to contractor Barnard Construction for the project delay (on top of the repair costs, paid to contractor Macnac Construction of Lakewood) while the water plant is fixed.

Contractors are taking the rest of Glines Canyon Dam down ten feet at a time, and only three whacks remain. The park service still expects to complete dam removal by September 2014, as originally planned.

But even with dam removal on hold, restoration is not standing still.

After a 100-year hiatus, the Elwha is back at work moving sediment, carrying some of it all the way to the river mouth, where a whole new world is emerging.

Surveys both by airplane and by an underwater video camera show a kelp armageddon is under way. The amount of floating kelp at the river mouth and east to the Ediz Hook has already been reduced by 44 percent in the year since dam removal began, said Helen Berry, marine ecologist at the state Department of Natural Resources.

Underwater video also shows a dramatic shift on the sea floor, with a transition in one year from lush pastures of seafloor plants to a war zone of tattered vegetation and large areas nearly denuded.

The reason is sediment. It is blocking light in the water column, and smothering the rocky seafloor with soft mounds of fine material transported by the Elwha, making it unsuitable for the holdfasts which kelp species need to affix themselves to the seafloor.

But scientists think the kelp’s demise is a gain for other species, in a reset of the nearshore ecology to a more normal state. Old maps show no kelp at the river mouth and east to the Ediz Hook.

The accretion of soft sediment is expected to provide habitat for sea grasses that nurture salmon, said Anne Shaffer of the Coastal Watershed Institute in Port Angeles. Soft, sandy beaches also could provide spawning grounds for a chrome tide of sea smelt and sand lance.

“I see it as a return to how things are supposed to be,” Shaffer said. “And we are only at the beginning of these ecological effects.”

Closest to the river mouth, the resumption of the river’s delivery of sediment is also hoped to slow erosion that has claimed up to 100 feet a year in some parts of the tribe’s reservation, east of the river.

Just how much of a difference will be made long term isn’t known, especially when, in about 10 years, the amount of sediment the Elwha delivers annually resumes to its new normal.

But for now, at the river mouth the results are dramatic as the river plays catch-up, gnawing at 100 years of entrapped sediment, and moving it out to sea.

Jonathan Warrick, a scientist at the U.S. Geological Survey Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center at Santa Cruz, Calif., is helping to map a new sand spit that has formed at the west side of the river mouth. It’s already about one-third of a mile long, and growing.

“I thought it would happen this year,” Warrick said. “But I am a little blown away at how big the bar is.”

Climate change a top concern for Gov. Inslee

Washington governor’s focus on the issue goes beyond ordinary politics. He says finding solutions is both a moral obligation and an economic opportunity.

By Andrew Garber, Seattle Times Olympia Bureau

OLYMPIA — There was a telling moment just before Gov. Jay Inslee raised his right hand and took the oath of office.

He was introduced as a politician who sees climate change as “an existential threat that transcends politics.”

“More than any other president or governor before him, Jay has an electoral mandate on this issue,” Denis Hayes, organizer of the first Earth Day in 1970, told a packed audience in the rotunda two months ago.

If lawmakers did not grasp the significance of those remarks then, they do now.

Inslee talks about climate change all the time. He discussed it in his inaugural address, during most of his news conferences, when introducing a bill on the issue in the state House and Senate, even in announcing his choice for transportation secretary.

“This is about pollution with a capital P,” he said, testifying before the House Environment Committee this month on climate-change legislation. “It’s about reducing a pollutant, namely carbon dioxide, which has very, very significant impacts on Washington state, on our health, on our well-being and on our economy.”

Hayes, who is president of the Bullitt Foundation, said no one should be surprised by all this.

Inslee established himself as an authority on climate change and renewable energy in Congress. He co-authored a book, “Apollo’s Fire,” touting the potential benefits of a clean-energy economy. And when running for office, “it was the core of his campaign,” Hayes said. “He constantly referenced his … book. People knew what they were getting.”

Still, not everyone was expecting so much, so soon.

“I think there are greater, more pressing priorities at the moment,” said Senate Deputy Republican Leader Don Benton, R-Vancouver. “I think we need to look long term, and do little things that add up over time that will benefit and help the climate-change situation and the environment. But they are long-term strategies.”

Inslee, in an interview, said there’s no time to waste.

“If you have a huge problem that becomes worse over time, it doesn’t mean you should start later, it means you should start earlier,” he said. “This is not something that we just have to worry with our grandchildren. It’s happening today.”

No shortage of issues

To be sure, climate change isn’t the only thing on Inslee’s plate.

The governor is working on a budget. He’s pressuring the federal government to clean up radioactive waste at Hanford. He’s lobbied lawmakers to approve universal background checks for gun purchases. He’s looking for ways to implement the voter-approved legalization of recreational marijuana use.

Inslee is also pushing the Legislature to come up with more money for the state’s transportation system and K-12 education.

Yet there’s little doubt Inslee spends far more time talking about climate change than his predecessors, former Govs. Gary Locke and Chris Gregoire.

“I’ve had more time with him in the last three months on these issues than I had with Locke and Gregoire combined over the past 16 years,” said Rep. Jeff Morris, D-Mount Vernon, chairman of the House Technology & Economic Development Committee.

Inslee introduced a climate-change bill in the House and Senate aimed at developing ways to reduce state greenhouse-gas emissions and meet targets set by the Legislature in 2008. The measure creates a work group that’s supposed to come up with recommendations by the end of the year.

He also brought up the issue in relation to another bill he introduced dealing with long-term plans to improve water supplies in Central Washington, saying warming will reduce snowpacks, making it “absolutely necessary that we increase the water storage and water efficiency … in the Yakima River Basin because of climate change.”

(Watch Inslee speak about improving water supplies in Central Washington.)

And when he hired a new secretary of transportation, Lynn Peterson, he noted that motor vehicles are the state’s largest producer of greenhouse gases. “Lynn is very committed as I am in finding better options for people to get to and from work and reduce carbon pollution,” he said.

The governor’s staff says this is just the start of a deeper conversation on climate change.

Cliff Traisman, state lobbyist for Washington Conservation Voters and the Washington Environmental Council, said Inslee “is clearly not taking a play out of any political consultant’s playbook. That is for sure. And yes, people are surprised because he’s running against the grain. He is tackling the issue because he feels it’s a moral obligation to do so and an opportunity.”

It’s worth paying attention to that phrasing — a “moral obligation” and an “opportunity.”

That is the core of Inslee’s argument around climate change.

Moral principle

The governor uses homilies to get his points across. During testimony on his climate-change bill, House Bill 1915, he talked about watching his 4-year-old grandson play on the beach and “just seeing his face light up when he sees a crab or critter” coming up from underneath a rock.

“I can tell you with a high degree of assurance that unless you and I and other people in our state embrace a commitment that we’re going to see to it that our grandkids have that experience, they’re not going to have it. And the simple reason is the water will be too acidic to support those life-forms,” he said.

(Watch part of Inslee’s testimony on his climate-change bill.)

Richard Feely, a scientist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Seattle and an acidification expert, said the governor was probably accurate when it comes to the Pacific oyster, but the science isn’t clear yet on other species such as crabs.

When GOP Rep. Shelly Short, of Addy, Stevens County, noted any reduction in Washington state carbon emissions would be minuscule compared to what China pumps out, Inslee responded it doesn’t change the state’s moral obligation.

“I know you’re not going to roll down the window and throw anything out the window tonight worried that somebody in another district won’t follow your ethical behavior,” Inslee said. “I think that is the best answer to this issue.”

(Watch Inslee’s exchange with Rep. Shelly Short.)

Climate-change jobs

The carrot the governor uses when discussing climate change is the prospect of jobs.

When he rolled out a jobs package last month, Inslee talked about how the state can be “an example to the world of how a clean-energy, climate-change-reduction strategy is a winning proposition economically. The reason we believe this, is this is something perfectly built for the skill set of the state of Washington.”

“We will not be passive while our state is ravaged by forest fires, by the loss of our shellfish industry due to ocean acidification, by the loss of irrigation water due to the loss of snowpack,” he said. “We are better than that, and we will not accept defeat.”

Inslee has talked about spurring the development of biofuels at a commercial scale, using biofuel blends at major state ferry and vehicle-fueling centers, helping business develop technologies to produce and consume “clean energy,” and creating a Clean Energy Fund to leverage investments in clean-energy technologies, among other things.

There are few specific proposals at this point. One example he’s discussed is using the Clean Energy Fund to provide funds to utilities to develop ways to store electricity from wind farms when the power is not needed.

Inslee’s office said more ideas will be fleshed out when the governor presents a budget proposal later this month.

One purpose of Inslee’s climate-change bill is to identify job opportunities that go along with helping the state reduce carbon emissions.

“This is an economic race and an economic imperative as much as it is an environmental one,” Inslee said in an interview. “We are competing with other countries for the first launch of these new technologies. … We don’t want to finish second or third.”

Skeptics in Legislature

It’s not clear how the governor’s proposals will fare this session.

Republicans, who control the Senate, say the state’s focus should be on jobs, education and the economy. Some even question that carbon emissions are causing climate change.

“Whenever you speak in absolutes about the science being concluded, history is replete with people being proven wrong,” said Sen. Doug Ericksen, R-Ferndale, chairman of the Senate Energy, Environment & Telecommunications Committee.

The Senate last week did pass Inslee’s climate-change bill, but Ericksen’s committee removed language talking about problems associated with global warming.

That was a major bone of contention in the Senate — how definitive the state should be in saying there is a climate-change problem, said Ted Sturdevant, the governor’s legislative-affairs director.

Specifically at issue is whether the Legislature should say that “Washington state is facing negative impacts from climate change,” Sturdevant said. “That’s where there is a divide here in terms of their comfort level in saying that, and the governor’s desire to say that.”

The distinction is important, he said, because Inslee feels “that responding to climate change here is both seizing an opportunity and responding to a problem. The governor wants to make sure this conversation acknowledges both of those things.”

In the end, the governor’s office agreed to take the language out. It has not yet decided whether to ask House Democrats to put it back in.

The American Indian Warrior Way in Words: Code Talker Chester Nez’s New Memoir, Plus: ‘Warriors in Uniform’ and ‘America’s First Warriors’

www.facebook.com/pages/Code-Talker-Memoir-of-WWII-Navajo-Marine-Chester-Nez/130983513645672Chester Nez, the last surviving Original 29 Navajo Code Talker
www.facebook.com/pages/Code-Talker-Memoir-of-WWII-Navajo-Marine-Chester-Nez/130983513645672
Chester Nez, the last surviving Original 29 Navajo Code Talker

Source: Indian Country Today Media Network

One way to honor the service and sacrifice of our American Indian Warriors is to carry forth their stories.  Introduced here are three tremendous recent books presenting these stories, including those of Original 29 Navajo Code Talker Chester Nez.

THE LIFE AND TIMES OF THE CODE TALKER

By Chester Nez, with Judith Schiess Avila

Penguin, 2012

After the publication of his acclaimed book, Code Talker, Navajo Code Talker Chester Nez reflects on the path that took him to where he is today—from growing up on the New Mexico reservation steeped in the traditions of his Native American ancestors, to his days fighting alongside other Code Talkers, to his hardships and triumphs after the war. Here are stories of his family, then and now, tales of his close relationship to nature and her creatures, accounts of how his life and legacy have changed since publishing his memoir, and a tribute to his fallen friends.

For further information, clickhere.

To purchase, clickhere.

 

AMERICA’S FIRST WARRIORS: NATIVE AMERICANS AND IRAQ

By Steven Clevenger

Museum of New Mexico Press, 2010

A timely and moving book that beautifully documents the service of Native Americans in the armed forces. Interviews with Pueblo, Apache, Navajo, Osage, and other Native American service men and women give insight into the warrior spirit. Striking images capture stirring moments of war, grief, community, family bonds, and homecoming.

For an NPR interview with the author, clickhere. For a slide show of photos by the author from the book, clickhere.

To purchase, clickhere.

 

WARRIORS IN UNIFORM

By Herman J. Viola

National Geographic, 2008

Native Americans have served in the U.S. military during each of this country’s wars, and their stories encompass heroism, tragedy, humor, stoicism, loyalty and conflict. This illustrated history tells the exploits of the last Confederate general—a Cherokee—to lay down his arms, the code talkers who used tribal languages to thwart the enemy in World War II, the first Native American woman to give her life as a soldier, and those serving in Iraq today. Spiritual, poignant, gripping, even shocking (warriors still took scalps in Vietnam), it reveals how ancient traditions of war persevere and how the warrior designation is a great honor to the Native American community. Packed with first person accounts and sharing little-known insights into a culture that is still misunderstood, this page-turning epic includes a stunning gallery of never-before-seen artifacts from personal collections.

For more info, clickhere.

To purchase, clickhere.

 

Read more athttp://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2013/03/18/american-indian-warrior-way-words-code-talker-chester-nezs-new-memoir-plus-warriors

U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa, New Ranking Member of Indian Subcommittee, Talks Indian Idealism, Gaming Threats, and Cranky Congressmen

Courtesy Rep. Colleen Hanabusa’s office
Courtesy Rep. Colleen Hanabusa’s office

By Rob Capriccioso, Indian Country Today Media Network

U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa (D-Hawaii), elected to the House in 2010, has quickly found herself appointed the new ranking member of the House Subcommittee on Indian and Alaska Native Affairs, and she’s set to become a strong force on American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian issues in the months to come. In an interview with Indian Country Today Media Network, she shared her thoughts on being idealistic on a clean Carcieri fix, dealing with the tough Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska), and overseeing the Department of the Interior, which she says has “blown it” on some tribal issues.

What excites you about your new leadership position on the House Subcommittee on Indian and Alaska Native Affairs?

As you know, we’ve recently lost our two senators from Hawaii [Sen. Daniel Akaka retired in January and Sen. Daniel Inouye passed away in December], and they were big advocates for Indian country and Alaska Natives and Native Hawaiians. It is so thrilling to continue in their footsteps. There is also a very humbling part to all this. How it works in the House, for someone like myself, basically just in my second term—there are many others with seniority. I came in during the 112thCongress, so I was 13thin terms of seniority on the committees. Some of my colleagues stepped aside so that I could be ranking member of this subcommittee. They felt that these issues were so important to me that they stepped aside. That is an amazing and humbling experience.

Was this a role you planned on having so soon?

The only way I got an idea that this could happen was when Congressmen Lujan and Boren came up to me one day and said to me that they felt I should go for this position. I was stunned, because I don’t really have the seniority in the committee to be able to say it’s mine. They said they would help in any way, and they did. In addition, I had the support of Chairman Don Young (R-Alaska), who has also been very supportive of me during my time in Congress.

Rep. Young has a reputation of sometimes being quite tough, especially toward Democrats—it sounds like you have a strong relationship?

You know, I believe it is [a strong relationship]. I believe that when you look at not only Congressman Young, but at the history of Alaska and Hawaii, there’s always been a special bond there. I don’t know whether it’s because we’re the two non-contiguous states, or whether it’s the timing of when we both became states, or if there is some unwritten rule that we would work together, but it has not been a challenge, as others have had, to work with Congressman Young. Even as a new kid on the block, he always welcomed me. He’s been supportive.

Do you see Indian issues as being able to continue to be bipartisan in this politicized Congress?

I would like to think that, but the issue gets a bit cloudy when there’s the interjection of gaming into the equation. Whenever a tribe has issues with land exchanges and issues of tribal recognition – and of course we still haven’t cured theCarcieriissue – I always see somewhere lurking, a township, a county, or someone else objecting. The reason for their objection has tended to be on the gaming rights issue. When you see theCarcieri[2009 U.S. Supreme Court] decision, and the lacking ability the Department of the Interior now has to take land into trust for tribes, I feel like gaming is one of the issues that breaks it away from bipartisan consideration.

Since the 1988 Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, tribal gaming has been the law of the land, but some politicians on both sides of the aisle want to tinker with that law. How do you personally feel about Indian gaming?

I feel that Indian gaming is part of the rights, which are inherent to the tribes and the recognition of them. I do not feel that we, Congress, should in any way step in or limit or redefine those rights.

You mentionedCarcieriand the gaming-related component there, but the case actually involves the Narragansett Tribe’s ability to get lands placed into trust for non-gaming related housing development. You recently sponsored a bill for aCarcierifix—what makes you confident that your legislation will overcome the gaming-related hurdles?

I don’t know if confident is the exact word. It’s the same basic bill that Sen. Akaka offered when he chaired the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, and I am hoping it will carry. The concern I have is that we have seen otherCarcieribills offered from the other side of the aisle, and they also haven’t been able to be successful. I am confident that my bill is the right version of the bill. Other versions have had elements of Native Alaskans also in there, and I think that that muddies the situation. There is still discussion on whether that would be the appropriate way to assist the Native Alaskans. I think what we need to do is join hands both on the Democratic and Republican sides, and move it out of committee—that will rely on Congressmen Markey, Young, and Doc Hastings. I think a cleanCarcierifix is the version that everyone can get behind and move forward.

Clarify for me, if you will, the Alaska Native provisions of your bill—what does it do there?

It doesn’t mention them. You have seen versions in the 112ththat said aCarcierifix would not apply to Alaska Natives. When I say my bill is a cleanCarcierifix, it just addresses the 1934 [Indian Reorganization Act] issue and what the Secretary of Interior has done subsequent to that.

There have been some folks who say if this is going to move, it might have to be compromised—maybe gaming will need to be limited for tribes in a particular region to appease certain politicians or other big-gaming tribes, or maybe off-reservation gaming will need to be limited. How do you feel about going down the compromise route?

I’m of the opinion that it should be clean and not compromised. I don’t believe it’s Congress’ place to impose that on any Indian tribe. The [Indian Reorganization Act] was never intended to be limited to applying to tribes only recognized after 1934. I don’t believe Congress should be able to dictate how tribes are going to be able to have their lands.

So if someone said Rep. Hanabusa is being too idealistic, that the perfect might be the enemy of the good here for many tribes, what would you respond?

I would say that if the tribes come forward and say they want their rights limited, then Congress would have the obligation to look at that. But that’s different than if we in Congress oppose it, trying to impose our will on the tribes.

In your role, you will be overseeing the Department of the Interior and what they do on Indian affairs—are there concerns on your radar that you want the Department to address?

I’ve always been someone who believes that Departments require strong oversight. This Department has a trust relationship with tribes, so Congress must work to ensure that it is carrying out its fiduciary duties properly. I have been concerned – even on the issues involving theCobellsettlement – you wonder, how did this come to be? And is this being executed properly? Because of the unique obligation the government has to Indian country, we have the obligation to ensure that the Department is acting in the right manner. If they hadn’t blown it in the past, we wouldn’t be in this position. They have brought the scrutiny upon themselves.

Do you think Democrats should be critical of the Obama administration, pushing for improvements for Indian country, such as increased economic development tribal initiatives?

I believe Democrats should be. I don’t think this needs to be a partisan issue. I’d like to think if the administration is incorrect on an issue, we should be there asking for accountability and transparency.

Sens. Akaka and Inouye spent much of their time in Congress working to achieve Native Hawaiian recognition, but they did not succeed. Are you going to be successful in that area?

We are going to have to hope that they have laid a sufficient groundwork to build on. A political relationship between Native Hawaiians and the United States is necessary in order for various entitlements and trusts, such as in education, at home to survive. I hope that the other Native peoples in the United States will assist us in moving it forward. I think we should ask for the recognition, and ask for the right of self-determination. We’ve had insertions in the legislation to prohibit gaming because that was necessary to get some support. We are different than Native Americans because we do not have the same historical treaty relationships with the federal government. So we do not have the same gaming rights, like those we discussed earlier. But we are a Native people, and we are entitled to the recognition.

 

Read more athttp://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2013/03/18/us-rep-colleen-hanabusa-new-ranking-member-indian-subcommittee-talks-indian-idealism

Dry spring and summer forecast for Western states

Source: USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service

WASHINGTON, March 15, 2013 – March streamflow forecasts show a decline in nearly every Western state and basin, according to water and climate experts.

USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service National Water and Climate Center hydrologists predict dry conditions to continue from the less-than-average precipitation during February, which indicates reduced spring and summer water supply for much of the West.

“With only one month remaining in the snow season, it’s highly unlikely the snowpack will recover to normal levels over the Four Corner States,” hydrologist Tom Perkins said.

Although other parts of the country got more snow, it didn’t have impact in the western mountains, he said.

“What fell in the West didn’t really amount to much,” Perkins said. “New Mexico, Utah and Colorado are especially vulnerable, because their reservoirs are at low levels due to sustained drought conditions.”

At this point, it looks like water supply conditions will end up below average for most of the West’s rivers. Water resource managers will need to make some difficult decisions in the coming months due to this shortage, Perkins said.

There are a few exceptions to the dry forecasts. Spring and summer streamflow forecasts as of March 1, are calling for near normal levels across Oregon, Washington, Idaho and western Montana. Below normal flows are predicted over the rest of the Western U.S.

Although some are at normal levels now, March 1 snowmelt runoff forecasts trends indicated worsening conditions as compared to the Feb. 1 report. Forecasts decreased 5 to 10 percent in Washington and Oregon; 10 to 20 percent in Montana, Idaho and Utah; 10 to 15 percent in Colorado. Forecasts increased 5 to 10 percent in north-central New Mexico, but this was not enough to make up the shortfall.

“Although NRCS’ streamflow forecasts do not directly predict drought, they provide valuable information about future water supply in states where snowmelt accounts for as much as 50 to 80 percent of seasonal runoff,” according to Perkins.

In addition to precipitation, streamflow in the West consists largely of accumulated mountain snow that melts and flows into streams as temperatures warm into spring and summer.

The March forecast is the third of six monthly forecasts issued each year between January and June by the national center. The forecast compares the current level of water content in snowpack in the 12 Western states with historical data to help the region’s farmers, ranchers, water managers, communities and other stakeholders make informed decisions about water use and future availability.

The snowfall, air temperature and numerous other factors taken from remote climate sites ultimately contribute to water supply. Typically, decision-makers and water managers wait until April for a more complete picture that accounts for these variables before making final management decisions

NRCS will continue to monitor levels across the Western states to provide the most up-to-date water supply information each month.

“USDA streamflow forecasts play a vital role in the livelihood of many Americans,” said Jason Weller, NRCS acting chief. “With much of this region greatly affected by drought, our experts will continue to monitor snowpack data and ensure that NRCS is ready to help landowners plan and prepare for water supply conditions.”

Since 1935, NRCS has conducted snow surveys and issued regular water supply forecasts. NRCS installs, operates and maintains an extensive, automated system called Snow Telemetry, or SNOTEL, designed to collect snowpack and related climatic data in the Western United States and Alaska.

View March’s Snow Survey Water Supply Forecast map or view information by state.

Other resources on drought include the U.S. Drought Monitor and U.S. Seasonal Drought Outlook map, which forecast drought conditions through March 31. For information on USDA’s drought efforts, visit www.usda.gov/drought. And to learn more about how NRCS is helping private landowners deal with drought, visit the NRCS site.

 

SnoCo teens drinking less; thinking more about suicide

The 2012 Healthy Youth Survey reflects ups and downs among local older kids

Source: Snohomish County Health District
SNOHOMISH COUNTY, Wash. – The state’s recently released 2012 Healthy Youth Survey (HYS) shows that Snohomish County’s youth are having their ups and downs when it comes to healthy choices and experiences. The biennial report issued by the Washington State Department of Health offers health-risk information reported anonymously by students statewide in grades 6, 8, 10, and 12.
 
Issues of concern among Snohomish County teens include an increase in planning and seriously considering suicide, and worrisome reports of physical abuse by adults. The good news is that the teens who are depressed or considering suicide are more likely to seek help.
 
Use of cigarettes in the last 30 days was the lowest since 2002 in all grades, dropping to 15% for 12th graders. Use of hookah tobacco, however, hit 19% in that age group, and more than 25% reported marijuana use.
 
Alcohol use was lower in Snohomish County than in Washington State across the board among all grades, decreasing 4-5% at each grade level. Most kids still are not getting enough exercise, with about 20-27% reporting that they are physically active for 60 minutes per day.
 
“When we focus on the kids in our community, we actually are focusing on the adult population of the immediate future,” said Dr. Gary Goldbaum, Health Officer and Director of the Snohomish Health District. “This is important information we use in planning as we attempt to meet the public health needs of the whole community.”
 
Data from select topics of concern in the 2012 survey are highlighted in new fact sheets on the Health District website at www.snohd.org. Health District staff has just begun analyzing this new data to identify trends and recommendations. The Snohomish Health District used data from the last Healthy Youth Survey in a community health assessment report that will be released in late April.
 
Find the state’s complete survey and fact sheets online at http://www.askhys.net/.
 
The 2012 HYS is the thirteenth survey since 1988 to sample Washington’s students about health risk behaviors that contribute to their illness, death, and social problems.
 
Students in each grade answered about 100 questions in six broad topics: demographics; alcohol, tobacco and other drug use; school climate; quality of life; risk and protective factors; and healthy weight, eating and physical activity.
 
The survey is a joint effort of the Department of Health, Department of Social and Health Services, Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, Liquor Control Board, the Family Policy Council, and the Department of Commerce. Results are used to plan, implement, and evaluate state youth programs.
 
Established in 1959, the Snohomish Health District works for a safer and healthier community through disease prevention, health promotion, and protection from environmental threats. Find more information about the Health District at www.snohd.org.