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Rape on the Reservation

By Louise Erdrich

Published: February 26, 2013

As featured in:

MINNEAPOLIS

TWO Republicans running for Congressional seats last year offered opinions on “legitimate rape” or God-approved conceptions during rape, tainting their party with misogyny. Their candidacies tanked. Words matter.

Having lost the votes of many women, Republicans now have the chance to recover some trust. The Senate last week voted resoundingly to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act, the 1994 law that recognized crimes like rape, domestic abuse and stalking as matters of human rights.

But House Republicans, who are scheduled to take up the bill today and vote on it Thursday, have objected to provisions that would enhance protections for American Indians, undocumented immigrants and gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender youth, among other vulnerable populations.

Here in Minneapolis, a growing number of Native American women wear red shawls to powwows to honor survivors of sexual violence. The shawls, a traditional symbol of nurturing, flow toward the earth. The women seem cloaked in blood. People hush. Everyone rises, not only in respect, for we are jolted into personal memories and griefs. Men and children hold hands, acknowledging the outward spiral of the violations women suffer.

The Justice Department reports that one in three Native women is raped over her lifetime, while other sources report that many Native women are too demoralized to report rape. Perhaps this is because federal prosecutors decline to prosecute 67 percent of sexual abuse cases, according to the Government Accountability Office. Further tearing at the social fabric of communities, a Native woman battered by her non-Native husband has no recourse for justice in tribal courts, even if both live on reservation ground. More than 80 percent of sex crimes on reservations are committed by non-Indian men, who are immune from prosecution by tribal courts.

The Minnesota Indian Women’s Resource Center says this gap in the law has attracted non-Indian habitual sexual predators to tribal areas. Alexandra Pierce, author of a 2009 report on sexual violence against Indian women in Minnesota, has found that there rapes on upstate reservations increase during hunting season. A non-Indian can drive up from the cities and be home in five hours. The tribal police can’t arrest him.

To protect Native women, tribal authorities must be able to apprehend, charge and try rapists — regardless of race. Tribal courts had such jurisdiction until 1978, when the Supreme Court ruled that they did not have inherent jurisdiction to try non-Indians without specific authorization from Congress. The Senate bill would restore limited jurisdiction over non-Indians suspected of perpetrating sex crimes, but even this unnerves some officials. “You’ve got to have a jury that is a reflection of society as a whole, and on an Indian reservation, it’s going to be made up of Indians, right?” said Senator Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee. “So the non-Indian doesn’t get a fair trial.”

Leaving aside the fact that most Native defendants tried in the United States face Indian-free juries, and disregarding the fulsome notion that Native people can’t be impartial jurists, Mr. Grassley got his facts wrong. Most reservations have substantial non-Indian populations, and Native families are often mixed. The Senate version guarantees non-Indians the right to effective counsel and trial by an impartial jury.

Tribal judges know they must make impeccable decisions. They know that they are being watched closely and must defend their hard-won jurisdiction. Our courts and lawyers cherish every tool given by Congress. Nobody wants to blow it by convicting a non-Indian without overwhelming, unshakable evidence.

Since 1990, when Joseph R. Biden Jr., then a senator from Delaware, drafted the original legislation, the Violence Against Women Act has been parsed and pored over. During reauthorizations in 2000 and 2005, language on date rape and orders of protection was added. With each iteration, the act has become more effective, inclusive and powerful. Without it, the idea that some rape is “legitimate” could easily have been shrugged off by the electorate.

Some House Republicans maintain that Congress lacks the authority to subject non-Indians to criminal trials in tribal court, even though a Supreme Court opinion from 2004 suggests otherwise. Their version of the bill, as put forward by the majority leader, Eric Cantor of Virginia, would add further twists to the dead-end maze Native American women walk when confronting sexual violence. John Dossett, general counsel for the National Congress of American Indians, said it would create “more off ramps for defendants by adding multiple levels of removal and appeal, including the right to sue tribes.” A compromise backed by two other Republicans, Darrell Issa of California and Tom Cole of Oklahoma, is vastly preferable to the Cantor version. It would offer a non-Indian defendant the right to request removal of his case to a federal court if his rights were violated.

What seems like dry legislation can leave Native women at the mercy of their predators or provide a slim margin of hope for justice. As a Cheyenne proverb goes, a nation is not conquered until the hearts of its women are on the ground.

If our hearts are on the ground, our country has failed us all. If we are safe, our country is safer. When the women in red shawls dance, they move with slow dignity, swaying gently, all ages, faces soft and eyes determined. Others join them, shaking hands to honor what they know, sharing it. We dance behind them and with them in the circle, often in tears, because at every gathering the red shawls increase, and the violence cuts deep.

Louise Erdrich is the author, most recently, of “The Round House.”

Divided Senate confirms Hagel for defense secretary

By Donna Cassata, Associated Press

WASHINGTON — A deeply divided Senate voted on Tuesday to confirm Republican Chuck Hagel to be the nation’s next defense secretary, handing President Barack Obama’s pick the top Pentagon job just days before billions of dollars in automatic, across-the-board budget cuts hit the military.

The vote was 58-41, with four Republicans joining the Democrats in backing the contentious choice. Hagel’s only GOP support came from former colleagues Thad Cochran of Mississippi and Dick Shelby of Alabama as well as Mike Johanns of Nebraska and Rand Paul of Kentucky.

The vote came just hours after Republicans dropped their delay of the nomination and allowed it to move forward on a 71-27 vote.

Hagel, 66, a former two-term Nebraska senator and twice-wounded Vietnam combat veteran, succeeds Defense Secretary Leon Panetta. Hagel is expected to be sworn in at the Pentagon on Wednesday.

Republicans had opposed their onetime colleague, casting him as unqualified for the job, hostile toward Israel and soft on Iran.

Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona said several GOP lawmakers had “a lot of ill will” toward the moderate Republican for his criticism of President George W. Bush over the Iraq war and his backing for Democratic candidates. McCain voted against his onetime friend and fellow Vietnam veteran.

Obama portrayed the war-tested Hagel as a man who understands that conflict is not an abstraction and called him the “leader that our troops deserve.”

Hagel joins Obama’s retooled second-term, national security team of Secretary of State John Kerry and CIA Director-designate John Brennan at a time of uncertainty for a military emerging from two wars and fighting worldwide terrorism with smaller, deficit-driven budgets.

Among his daunting challenges are deciding on troop levels in Afghanistan as the United States winds down its combat presence and dealing with $46 billion in budget cuts set to kick in on Friday. He also will have to work with lawmakers who spent weeks vilifying him.

Republicans insisted that Hagel was battered and bloodied after their repeated attacks.

“He will take office with the weakest support of any defense secretary in modern history, which will make him less effective on his job,” said Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, the Senate GOP’s No. 2 Republican.

Not so, said Democratic Sen. Jack Reed, who pointed out that Hagel now has the title and the fight is history.

“All have to work together for the interest of the country,” said Reed, D-R.I.

The vote ended one of the most bitter fights over a Cabinet choice and former senator since 1989 when the Democratic-led Senate defeated newly elected President George H.W. Bush’s nomination of Republican John Tower to be defense secretary.

In the course of the rancorous, seven-week nomination fight, Republicans, led by freshman Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and Sen. Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma, insinuated that Hagel has a cozy relationship with Iran and received payments for speeches from extreme or radical groups. Those comments drew a rebuke from Democrats and some Republicans.

Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., the chairman of the Armed Services Committee, dismissed the “unfair innuendoes” against Hagel and called him an “outstanding American patriot” whose background as an enlisted soldier would send a positive message to the nation’s servicemen and women.

Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., questioned how the confirmation process devolved into a character assassination in which Hagel was accused of “having secret ties with our enemies.”

“I sincerely hope that the practice of challenging nominations with innuendo and inference, rather than facts and figures, was an aberration and not a roadmap,” she said in a statement after the vote.

Obama got no points with the GOP for tapping the former two-term Republican senator. Republican lawmakers excoriated Hagel and cast him as a radical far out of the mainstream.

McCain clashed with his onetime friend over his opposition to Bush’s decision to send an extra 30,000 troops to Iraq in 2007 at a point when the war seemed in danger of being lost. Hagel, who voted to authorize military force in Iraq, later opposed the conflict, comparing it to Vietnam and arguing that it shifted the focus from Afghanistan.

Republicans also challenged Hagel about a May 2012 study that he co-authored for the advocacy group Global Zero, which called for an 80 percent reduction of U.S. nuclear weapons and the eventual elimination of all the world’s nuclear arms.

The group argued that with the Cold War over, the United States could reduce its total nuclear arsenal to 900 without sacrificing security. Currently, the U.S. and Russia have about 5,000 warheads each, either deployed or in reserve. Both countries are on track to reduce their deployed strategic warheads to 1,550 by 2018, the number set in the New START treaty that the Senate ratified in December 2010.

In an echo of the 2012 presidential campaign, Hagel faced an onslaught of criticism by well-funded, Republican-leaning outside groups that labeled the former senator “anti-Israel” and pressured senators to oppose the nomination. The groups ran television and print ads criticizing Hagel.

Opponents were particularly incensed by Hagel’s use of the term “Jewish lobby” to refer to pro-Israel groups. He apologized, saying he should have used another term and should not have said those groups have intimidated members of the Senate into favoring actions contrary to U.S. interests.

The nominee spent weeks reaching out to members of the Senate, meeting individually with lawmakers to address their concerns and seeking to reassure them about his policies.

Hagel’s inconsistent performance during some eight hours of testimony during his confirmation hearing last month undercut his cause.

On Feb. 12, the Armed Services Committee approved the nomination on a party-line vote of 14-11. Two days later, a Democratic move to vote on the nomination fell a few votes short as Republicans insisted they needed more time to consider the pick.

Hagel’s nomination also became entangled in Republican demands for more information about the deadly assault on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, last September. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans were killed in that attack.

40 Years Later, Wounded Knee is Still Fresh in Our Minds

Laura Waterman Wittstock, Indian Country Today Media Network

Hundreds of travelers left their home areas from points all over the United States and Canada last weekend to meet in the tiny village of Wounded Knee, South Dakota. There, they will observe the 40^th anniversary of one of the most unusual military undertakings the United States has ever engaged in—or we could say entangled in—during the 20^th century. Wounded Knee is located in the southwestern corner of the 11,000 square mile Pine Ridge reservation.

According to then Senator James Abourezk, when the American Indian Movement arrived in Wounded Knee on February 27, 1973, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and federal marshals were already there on alert for armed activity on the Pine Ridge Reservation. The marshals were there in the event of a civil disturbance that might occur during a possible attempt to impeach the tribal chairman.

There were many issues on the table but two that emerged at the top of the list were the torture death of Raymond Yellow Thunder, which took place in Gordon, Nebraska. Yellow Thunder was from Kyle on the reservation. AIM leaders were incensed at the brutal death and what appeared to be a lack of concern for the victim. The other issue was Pine Ridge tribal chairman Richard (Dick) Wilson’s presumed disrespect of traditional Lakota culture. So strong was the sentiment that Gladys Bissonette and others formed the new organization OSCRO: the Oglala Sioux Civil Rights Organization.

According to AIM’s national chairman Clyde H. Bellecourt, it seemed that as soon as a meeting with OSCRO and traditional leaders got underway, word of the movement of FBI and federal marshals toward Wounded Knee was taking place and a defense perimeter was needed. By the next morning, an armed standoff began to take shape. There were three governmental groups lined up: Dick Wilson’s GOONS, the federal marshals, and the FBI. The federal group brushed aside Wilson’s government and took over the tribal offices with its only telephone, which made reporters on the scene wait in line for their turn to call in stories.

Newspapers across the country blared headlines about the “occupation of Wounded Knee.” At that time the name “Wounded Knee” was also part of the name of an American best seller by librarian Dee Brown, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee. The book title was taken from the poem, “American Names” by Stephen Vincent Benet, and a strong sense of American romanticism attached itself to what was happening at Wounded Knee. Of course distance added much to the élan presumed to be part of the takeover, but a close up showed unarmed women and little children becoming increasingly pinned down with little prospect for food and the daily necessities of life. February was cold and March was no warmer. Blanketed Indians were photographed moving around the compound and it could be seen in Kevin McKiernan’s photographs that nearby cattle were being sacrificed for food.

With little time to plan, all action was about response and reaction. Help poured in as Indians from all over the U.S. came to help, as did Vietnam Vets and the traditional government of the Haudenosaunee of the Six Nations in Iroquoia.

Negotiations began to end the standoff and secure direct communication between the traditional chiefs and the U.S. government. Representatives of the Richard M. Nixon administration, primarily Assistant U.S. Attorneys General Kent Frizzell, were sent to secure a peace. Presumably, an internal fight over how much violence to use against the occupiers was underway, but the president did not want dead unarmed civilians to be among the casualties.

Some help was less evident, such as that of screen star Marlon Brando, who helped the negotiations through support of the work of Hank Adams. These were pre mobile phone and pre Internet days. Official government papers had to be typed out and signed. At one point, between May 3 and 5, Adams was in the process of delivering a letter with terms to the chiefs and it had been decided that the letter would be delivered at the reservation border. The chiefs, headmen and their interpreters numbering 100 feared breaking the government seal until they could carry the letter into Wounded Knee, Adams writes in the Hank Adams Reader.

The invisible hand and pocketbook of Brando helped bring the negotiations to a successful conclusion on the weekend of May 5-6, 1973, and arms were laid down. The Sioux National Anthem filled the air with a heart-filling swell of notes at sunrise on May 8 and around 125 Wounded Knee defenders surrendered to federal authorities in three predetermined groups. Federal authorities then overran the village, searching for arms and explosives. Returning residents were searched. No arms or explosives were found and the marshals went to their cars and drove out of Pine Ridge.

Laura Waterman Wittstock’s book with Dick Bancroft’s photographs, We Are Still Here: A Photographic History of the American Indian Movement, will be released in May, 2013.

Blackface-Wearing New York Politician Says he Won’t Dress as an Indian

Indian Country Today Media Network Staff

There’s a consensus in the United States of America that the wearing of blackface is a racist act. It’s something you just don’t do, and if you do it you can expect to be rightly pilloried. For American Indians, it’s often frustrating that racism toward Native Americans that feels very overt is somehow harder for the mainstream to detect.

With some ill-advised costume choices, and a thoroughly unapologetic apology, a New York State Assemblyman is doing his part to connect the dots.

Dov Hikind of Brooklyn is being rightly pilloried for hosting a Purim party wearing blackface. Costume parties are a tradition of the Jewish celebration of Purim, and Hikind had decided to host his in the costume of “basketball player,” which necessitated an orange jersey-ish garment, an afro wig and dark makeup.

Hikind’s getup earned him plenty of press. His initial response was a shrug of acknowledgement in a post to his blog entitled “It’s Purim. People Dress Up.” “I am intrigued that anyone who understands Purim—or for that matter understands me—would have a problem with this,” he wrote. “This is political correctness to the absurd.” Hikind was fixated on the idea that the costume only seemed racist because people didn’t understand Purim. Also on Monday he held a news conference to address the criticism — but didn’t. He explained again that costumes are part of the Purim celebration. (The “it’s not racist, it’s a costume” argument is one Natives hear every Halloween.) In addition to explaining what a costume is, he offered a classic first-draft non-apology: “Anyone who was offended — I’m sorry that they were offended, that was not the intention.”

Hikind posted a more genuine apology to his blog on Tuesday. Unfortuately for him, the New Yorker and the Daily Show were still reacting to Monday’s news.

African Americans have plenty of cause to be incensed by Hikind’s ignorance — but so too do American Indians. On Monday, when Hikind was still trying to defend himself with the “political correctness to the absurd” argument, he told a New York Times reporter that the outcry was making him rethink his plans for next year’s Purim.

“Next year I was thinking I’d be an Indian,” he said. “But you know, I’ve changed my mind about that. I don’t think that’s a good idea. Somebody will be offended.”

Of course, it’s hard to know whether (or to what extent) he was joking about dressing as an Indian. (It is also hard to know exactly which kind of Indian he had in mind, but that’s beside the point.) If he didn’t know blackface was a no-no, there is really no telling how unenlightened his thinking may be when it comes to Native stereotypes. Many have seen a unique irony that it is Hikind who would be in this position — Hikind is well known as a zealous, perhaps overzealous, defender of the Jewish community against anti-Semitism or perceived anti-Semitism.

“Dov Hikind is the first person who will holler about something when he thinks or hears a whisper that it might be anti-Semitic,” said Assembly member Annette Robinson, according to the Wall Street Journal, “but does not recognize something is disrespectful to another community.”

Help is always needed at Tulalip Church of God food bank

By Monica Brown, Tulalip News Writer

TULALIP, Wash.-

The many food donations recenlty recieved being boxed ready to go. — The many food donations recently received being boxed ready to go.

Volunteers at the Tulalip Church of God food bank are happy to say that they help feed families of Snohomish County. Food bank volunteer Tamara Morden says, “We help feed about 150 -200 families every two weeks, so about 400 a month”. The food bank receives regular donations from people in the community and local businesses such as Safeway, Winco, and Northwest Harvest. While they did very well with donations this last, they received extra donations from First Nation Ministry of Portland of 2,000 lbs. of potatoes and two palettes of juice. And they are always in need of more donations of non-perishable foods.

The food bank has been in operation for seventeen years and was started by Marge Williams in order to serve the community west of Interstate 5. Once the food bank began receiving donations from Northwest Harvest they became available to all residents of Snohomish County.

Tamara has lived on the Tulalip Reservation since she was born. She began attending the Church of God in her youth and eventually began volunteering her time at the food bank. With the help of volunteers Tamara manages to keep the food bank going and while working a full-time job.

Food Bank volunteers; Delores Williams, Frances Morden, W. Jake Price and Tamara Morden on the far right.

“Louie Pablo picks up supplies and I’m very, very grateful for him doing that,” Tamara says. W. Jake Price is her biggest help; Jake has been helping at the Food Bank since Marge ran it, “He’s always here every day of donations,” explains Tamara.

The food bank hands out donations on the second and fourth Tuesday of every month from 10:30am -4:00pm and receives the donations the day before they hand out the donations, the second and fourth Monday of every month. Volunteers are always welcome, currently more help is needed to pick up donations from local businesses for the food bank.

If you would like to help, stop by the Tulalip Church of God (the red church) on the second or fourth Mondays and Tuesdays of each month to volunteer.

Tulalip Church of God

1330 Marine Dr NE

Tulalip, WA 98271

(360) 653-7876

U.S. Exposure to Horse Meat: Answers to Common Questions

By Stephanie Strom, The New York Times

The alarm in Europe over the discovery of horse meat in beef products escalated again Monday, when the Swedish furniture giant Ikea withdrew an estimated 1,670 pounds of meatballs from sale in 14 European countries.

Ikea acted after authorities in the Czech Republic detected horse meat in its meatballs. The company said it had made the decision even though its tests two weeks ago did not detect horse DNA.

Horse meat mixed with beef was first found last month in Ireland, then Britain, and has now expanded steadily across the Continent. The situation in Europe has created unease among American consumers over whether horse meat might also find its way into the food supply in the United States. Here are answers to commonly asked questions on the subject.

Has horse meat been found in any meatballs sold in Ikea stores in the United States?

Ikea says there is no horse meat in the meatballs it sells in the United States. The company issued a statement on Monday saying meatballs sold in its 38 stores in the United States were bought from an American supplier and contained beef and pork from animals raised in the United States and Canada.

“We do not tolerate any other ingredients than the ones stipulated in our recipes or specifications, secured through set standards, certifications and product analysis by accredited laboratories,” Ikea said in its statement.

Mona Liss, a spokeswoman for Ikea, said by e-mail that all of the businesses that supply meat to its meatball maker issue letters guaranteeing that they will not misbrand or adulterate their products. “Additionally, as an abundance of caution, we are in the process of DNA-testing our meatballs,” Ms. Liss wrote. “Results should be concluded in 30 days.”

Does the United States import any beef from countries where horse meat has been found?

No. According to the Department of Agriculture, the United States imports no beef from any of the European countries involved in the scandal. Brian K. Mabry, a spokesman for the department’s Food Safety and Inspection Service, said: “Following a decision by Congress in November 2011 to lift the ban on horse slaughter, two establishments, one located in New Mexico and one in Missouri, have applied for a grant of inspection exclusively for equine slaughter. The Food Safety and Inspection Service (F.S.I.S.) is currently reviewing those applications.”

Has horse meat been found in ground meat products sold in the United States?

No. Meat products sold in the United States must pass Department of Agriculture inspections, whether produced domestically or imported. No government financing has been available for inspection of horse meat for human consumption in the United States since 2005, when the Humane Society of the United States got a rider forbidding financing for inspection of horse meat inserted in the annual appropriations bill for the Agriculture Department. Without inspection, such plants may not operate legally.

The rider was attached to every subsequent agriculture appropriations bill until 2011, when it was left out of an omnibus spending bill signed by President Obama on Nov. 18. The U.S.D.A. has not committed any money for the inspection of horse meat.

“We’re real close to getting some processing plants up and running, but there are no inspectors because the U.S.D.A. is working on protocols,” said Dave Duquette, a horse trader in Oregon and president of United Horsemen, a small group that works to retrain and rehabilitate unwanted horses and advocates the slaughter of horses for meat. “We believe very strongly that the U.S.D.A. is going to bring inspectors online directly.”

Are horses slaughtered for meat for human consumption in the United States?

Not currently, although live horses from the United States are exported to slaughterhouses in Canada and Mexico. The lack of inspection effectively ended the slaughter of horse meat for human consumption in the United States; 2007 was the last year horses were slaughtered in the United States. At the time financing of inspections was banned, a Belgian company operated three horse meat processing plants — in Fort Worth and Kaufman, Tex., and DeKalb, Ill. — but exported the meat it produced in them.

Since 2011, efforts have been made to re-establish the processing of horse meat for human consumption in the United States. A small plant in Roswell, N.M., which used to process beef cattle into meat has been retooled to slaughter 20 to 25 horses a day. But legal challenges have prevented it from opening, Mr. Duquette said. Gov. Susana Martinez of New Mexico opposes opening the plant and has asked the U.S.D.A. to block it.

Last month, the two houses of the Oklahoma Legislature passed separate bills to override a law against the slaughter of horses for meat but kept the law’s ban on consumption of such meat by state residents. California, Illinois, New Jersey, Tennessee and Texas prohibit horse slaughter for human consumption.

Is there a market for horse meat in the United States?

Mr. Duquette said horse meat was popular among several growing demographic groups in the United States, including Tongans, Mongolians and various Hispanic populations. He said he knew of at least 10 restaurants that wanted to buy horse meat. “People are very polarized on this issue,” he said. Wayne Pacelle, chief executive of the Humane Society of the United States, disagreed, saying demand in the United States was limited. Italy is the largest consumer of horse meat, he said, followed by France and Belgium.

Is horse meat safe to eat?

That is a matter of much debate between proponents and opponents of horse meat consumption. Mr. Duquette said that horse meat, some derived from American animals processed abroad, was eaten widely around the world without health problems. “It’s high in protein, low in fat and has a whole lot of omega 3s,” he said.

The Humane Society says that because horse meat is not consumed in the United States, the animals’ flesh is likely to contain residues of many drugs that are unsafe for humans to eat. The organization’s list of drugs given to horses runs to 29 pages.

“We’ve been warning the Europeans about this for years,” Mr. Pacelle said. “You have all these food safety standards in Europe — they do not import chicken carcasses from the U.S. because they are bathed in chlorine, and won’t take pork because of the use of ractopamine in our industry — but you’ve thrown out the book when it comes to importing horse meat from North America.”

The society has filed petitions with the Department of Agriculture and Food and Drug Administration, arguing that they should test horse meat before allowing it to be marketed in the United States for humans to eat.

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: February 25, 2013

An earlier version of this article misstated how many pounds of meatballs Ikea was withdrawing from sale in 14 European countries. It is 1,670 pounds, not 1.67 billion pounds.

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: February 25, 2013

An earlier version of this article misstated the last year that horses were slaughtered in the United States. It is 2007, not 2006.

Reduced Spending Would Limit Park Services and Revenue, Interior Secretary Says

By John M. Broder, New York Times

WASHINGTON — Mandatory federal spending cuts scheduled to begin Friday are already affecting operations at many of the nation’s national parks and wildlife refuges, officials said Monday.

Contracts for plowing Tioga and Glacier Point roads in Yosemite National Park and Going-to-the-Sun Road in Glacier National Park have been delayed, pushing back the opening of large parts of those popular parks. Hiring of seasonal workers — including firefighters, law enforcement officers, search-and-rescue teams, and maintenance staff members — has been frozen. Rangers are preparing to close or cut back hours at campgrounds, trails and visitor centers at parks from Cape Cod in Massachusetts to Denali in Alaska in anticipation of the across-the-board budget cuts.

Ken Salazar, the interior secretary, did not announce the closing of any parks, monuments or refuges, but said that hours for visitors centers, tours and interpretive programs, like those at the Gettysburg battlefield, would be curtailed. He also said that access to some backcountry trails and campgrounds could be limited if firefighting and rescue teams are cut back.

“These are real impacts we’re looking at,” Mr. Salazar said in a call with reporters on Monday. “The sequester was not supposed to happen and now we have to implement these reduced numbers in the remaining seven months of the year.”

Mr. Salazar’s comments and his dire predictions for impacts on the millions of visitors to the nation’s 398 national parks and 561 wildlife refuges are part of a concerted administration campaign to pressure Congress to cancel the automatic spending cuts known as sequestration and to accept President Obama’s demand for balanced deficit reduction including some tax increases.

Mr. Salazar and Jonathan B. Jarvis, director of the National Park Service, used the call to highlight the economic impact of the 280 million annual visits to federally managed lands and the businesses that depend on them. They said the national parks generate $30 billion in economic activity and support 252,000 jobs and that some portion of those businesses and those jobs will suffer under the looming cuts.

Under the mandatory spending cuts, each park must absorb a 5 percent decrease in its annual budget. But since the sequester begins in the middle of the fiscal year, the immediate impact is in effect doubled.

Mr. Salazar has announced that he intends to leave office in March to return to his family in Colorado. President Obama has nominated Sally Jewell, currently the chief executive of the outdoor outfitter REI, to take over the department.

Mr. Salazar said that if the cuts take effect as scheduled, the agency will have to temporarily furlough thousands of employees, some for as long as 22 days. He said that federal personnel law requires 30 days’ notice of involuntary furloughs, so none will take effect before April 1. He said that he and other officials are now planning such actions.

The Interior Department has already warned that the budget cuts will reduce federal revenue by slowing development of oil, gas and coal on federal lands and waters. Mr. Salazar, in a letter earlier this month to Senator Barbara Mikulski, the Maryland Democrat and chairwoman of the Appropriations Committee, said that the required cuts will have serious effects on the nation’s prized natural, scientific and tribal resources.

Mr. Salazar said that the spending slowdown would delay review of an expected 550 drilling plans for the Gulf of Mexico and permits for seismic testing and air quality in Alaska. He also said that the agency would issue about 300 fewer drilling permits than anticipated this year for oil and gas wells in Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming.

In addition, delays in coal leasing because of the sequester will cost the federal government $50 million to $60 million for each delayed lease sale, Mr. Salazar said.

Mr. Salazar also warned that federal mineral revenue sharing payments to state and local governments will decline by more than $200 million and that programs for Native American tribes would be trimmed by nearly $130 million.

Joan Anzelmo, the former superintendent of the Colorado National Monument and spokeswoman for the Coalition of National Park Service Retirees, said that Mr. Salazar and Mr. Jarvis are highlighting the cuts that will be most immediately felt by the public to bring pressure on Congress to call off the sequester.

She said that the park service budget has been stagnant for four years while operating costs are rising. Something has to give, she said.

“Instead of being focused on getting their jobs done, park managers are all focused on how they’re going to implement these cuts,” she said in a telephone interview from her home in Wyoming. “It’s hurting people, it’s hurting communities around the parks, and employees are at a point where they’re hitting a wall. This is no way for our government to work.”

Gathering of Nations Celebrating 30th Anniversary

By Monica Brown, Tulalip News Writer

Information Source: Gathering of Nations

The world’s largest gathering of Native American and indigenous people, the Gathering of Nations will be celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. The Gathering of Nations is a 3 day event, starting Thursday evening on April 25th, 2013 is the Miss Indian World Talent Presentations held at a the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino -Albuquerque Showroom. The Gathering of Nations PowWow is an 2 Day and Night event (April 26th and 27th, 2013) and the powwow is held at the UNM A (University of New Mexico Arena)”The Pit” in Albuquerque, NM.

The Gathering of Nations is an experience for all people (Indian and Non-Indian) to see the colorful powwow dancing and to hear the songs and become enlightened with emotional happiness!Over 3,000 indigenous / Native American / Indian dancers and Singers representing more than 500 tribes from Canada and the United States come to Gathering of Nations PowWow annually to participate socially and competitively.

Included with the Gathering of Nations PowWow Admission are admittance into the Indian Traders Market and Stage 49. The Indian Traders Market offers a special shopping experience, which includes intercultural traditions and exhibition of Native American Arts and crafts with over 800 artists, crafters, and traders will place their wares on display and for sale.Stage 49 will highlight contemporary and traditional Native American music performances and entertainment. Native musicians will perform in all Genres of music (comedy, country, reggae, blues, metal and traditional).

After the Saturday evening Grand Entry on April 27th, 2013, a young Native American Woman will be crowned the 2013-2014 Miss Indian World at the UNM A “The Pit”. Miss Indian World will represent all of Native America and Indigenous people as a cultural goodwill ambassador.

With the celebration of its 30th anniversary the Gathering of Nations is releasing of book, “30 Years of Gathering: Gathering of Nations Powwow,” and launching the Gathering of Nations Internet Radio on the iHeartRadio network.

Powwow tickets cost $17 per day, $34 for a two day pass, or $50 for a two day pass with VIP seating. For more information, visit http://www.gatheringofnations.com/powwow/index.htm

Senate schedules confirmation hearing on Sally Jewell’s nomination as Interior Secretary

WASHINGTON — The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will hold a confirmation hearing March 7 to consider REI Chief Executive Sally Jewell’s nomination to become the next Interior Secretary.

President Obama nominated Jewell earlier this month to succeed Ken Salazar, who said he will leave the administration at the end of March and return to Colorado.

The hearing will be led by committee Chairman Sen. Ron Wyden, a Democrat of Oregon.

Jewell, an avid mountain climber and skier who worked as a banker and a petroleum engineer, would be taking on a department with a dual mission of protecting public lands while tapping timber, coal, gas and other wealth from them.

Already, Jewell’s nomination has drawn attention from interest groups, ranging from mountain bikers who want to lift the ban from their pursuits in national parks to east coast governors who want drilling permitted off the Atlantic Coast.

Visit Seattle: Coast Salish Artwork

Source: Visit Seattle

The ubiquitous totem pole, the most visible example of Native artwork in Seattle, actually comes from Southeast Alaska and British Columbia.

Since the Klondike Gold Rush of 1897, Seattle has had close ties to the Northwest Coast, and many monumental works of art from Haida, Tsimshian and Tlingit carvers can be seen in Seattle.

Totem poles were traditionally carved from cedar trees to serve as memorial posts displaying inherited crests, or as house posts providing support for large cedar long houses.

These monumental sculptures feature stylized animals and animal-spirits such as Bear, Beaver, Raven, Frog, Killer Whale, and many others which play important roles in traditional stories and have been associated with family clans reaching back many generations.

Traditional totem poles are on display at the Burke Museum, Victor Steinbrueck Park, Pioneer Square, and other parks and viewpoints around the city. Contemporary artists throughout the Pacific Northwest have adopted this form, and examples of their work can be seen in many museums and galleries.

Coast Salish artwork, the traditional style of the Puget Sound area, features more subtle and personal designs. Local traditions included carved objects such as house posts, which were both decorative and functional. House posts were typically found inside of large plank houses as part of the framing structure, rather than outside on public display.

Small items such as spindle whorls and canoe paddles were both utilitarian objects and ornately carved artworks. Twined baskets, as well as hats and clothing were made from cedar, and elegant blankets and robes were woven on large looms using yarns spun from the hair of mountain goats and woolly dogs.

Local design traditions have been overshadowed for generations by more dramatic artistic styles from farther north, but Coast Salish aesthetics are being revived by contemporary artists such as Susan Point, Roger Fernandes, Andrea Wilbur-Sigo and Shaun Peterson.

These and other Native artists drawn on traditional styles, and incorporate new materials such as glass and metal, to create work that is increasingly visible in Seattle’s galleries, museums, and public artworks.

Did You Know?

Large terra cotta cartouches featuring a stylized portrait of an Indian elder are found in several locations throughout Seattle. Oddly, the figure’s traditional feathered head dress is associated with tribes from the Great Plains region, rather than the Pacific Northwest, and was perhaps inspired by photographer Edward Curtis to symbolize the grandeur of the West, rather than to depict local historical reality.

These architectural ornaments were part of the 1909 White Henry Stuart Building, which once stood at Fourth Avenue and University Street. When that building was demolished, the terra cotta artifacts were salvaged and are now on display at the Convention Center, the Museum of History and Industry, Daybreak Star Indian Cultural Center and other locations.

For more Native American culture and other cultures found around Seattle, check out Visit Seattle.

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