Join tribal leaders to learn about policy changes and other strategies that support the People and Land
Participants from the 2012 Our Food is Our Medicine Conference hold up vegetables cooked in a traditional pit oven. Photo courtesy of NWIC
Source: Ryan Key-Wynne, NWIC
Studies show that returning to a more traditional diet can help Native Americans improve health and reduce problems such as diabetes. People from throughout Indian Country have put those findings to work and are contributing to policy changes and strategies that promote access to traditional foods.
Many of these champions for traditional diets will gather at the second annual Our Food is Our Medicine conference, hosted by Northwest Indian College’s Institute of Indigenous Foods & Traditions. The conference brings together tribal leaders and allies, giving them opportunities to teach and learn from each other while initiating ongoing relationships that will benefit all.
“We are very excited to host this gathering, which brings people together to discuss successful models for activating policy change in tribal communities,” said Meghan McCormick, coordinator of the Institute of Indigenous Foods & Traditions, which is a program of NWIC’s Cooperative Extension Department. “While many tribal agencies throughout the United States engage in work related to wellness through traditional plants and foods, there is often little collaboration between these organizations. Most are burdened by incredibly heavy workloads. This gathering will be a platform for people to connect, share ideas, and inspire one another.”
One speaker who is sure to inspire at the conference is Micah McCarty (Makah), the former chairman of the Makah Nation and current chair of the First Stewards Board (among many other leadership roles). McCarty is one of the keynote speakers lined up for the conference. His work in Neah Bay, Washington led to significant headway in strengthening the response to oil spills in coastal waters, helped to protect tribal whaling rights, and fostered strong connections between tribal and non-tribal governments.
In addition to invigorating keynote speakers, the conference will include interactive workshops, plant walks, traditional food sharing, storytelling and cooking demonstrations.
“This year we are focusing on policy in support of the People and the Land,” McCormick. “We will be discussing strategies that will bring traditional foods in tribal programming and how to build partnerships with land holders to sustainably harvest and protect resources”
Some workshops will include:
Tribal Food Sovereignty Projects
Policy in Government Programs
Tribal Food Policy Council
Policy to Improve Access & Protection of Gathering Sites
GMOs
Seed Saving
Composting
Climate Change & Policy
Seaweed Demonstration
Activating your Story
The conference will take place Sept. 11-13 and will be held at Bastyr University, an innovative university focused on natural health education near Seattle, Wash. The registration cost for the conference is $200, day passes are $100.
For more information, contact Meghan McCormick, Institute of Indigenous Foods & Traditions coordinator, at (360) 594-4099 or mmccormick@nwic.edu. To register, visit bit.ly/ofom2013.
Anti-Keystone XL protesters stage a sit-in in front of the White House in Washington, D.C. on February 13, 2013. Thousands have pledged to engage in civil disobedience along the pipeline’s proposed route. (Photo/chesapeakeclimate via Flickr)
More than 69,000 Americans are pledging to risk arrest to halt the construction of the 1,700-mile Keystone XL pipeline. In a stand of solidarity with those living along the pipeline’s path, residents from across the U.S. are vowing to take part in historic acts of civil disobedience aimed directly at shutting down Keystone.
The actions are expected to come in many forms, including mass sit-ins at strategic locations along the route and other large-scale actions in major U.S. cities. The protests are expected to be unleashed when — and if — the State Department gives a nod of approval for the pipeline’s construction.
If the State Department recommends approval of the TransCanda pipeline, President Barack Obama will have two weeks before a decision will be made.
During that time, those living along the pipeline route — and their supporters throughout the country — are going to let Obama know they’re not going to grin and bear it. It’s not the first time anti-Keystone advocates have taken their demonstrations to the next level. In February, roughly 50 demonstrators were arrested outside the White House during a sit-in against Keystone.
Standing up against the giant
“Most events will be outside Washington D.C., because this decision will affect all of us, where we live,” a post by Credo Action regarding the pledge states. “So we want to see the beautiful sight of actions across the nation — including a wide variety of symbolic targets like State Department offices, TransCanada corporate lobbies, Obama Organizing for Action meetings, banks that are financing tar sands oil development, areas ravaged by Superstorm Sandy, and along the pipeline route.”
In March, the State Department released a report indicating approval of the Keystone pipeline would not contribute to global climate change, using the rationale that the extraction of Alberta tar sands — the source of carbon emissions — will continue with or without America’s involvement with Keystone XL.
In June, President Barack Obama delivered a nationwide climate change address, stating that the pipeline could be approved only if it did not result in a net increase in carbon emissions. This wasn’t taken as a good sign for anti-Keystone advocates — but for those fighting for their land, the fight isn’t over until it’s over.
“I am a firm believer in President Obama and his words to the people that we need to stand up and we need to show how a democracy works, and when you don’t agree about something and feel strongly about something, you need to stand up and speak out,” Abbi Harrington-Kleinschmidt, a Nebraska farmer whose land sits along the proposed Keystone route, told Mint Press News. “I feel it’s what President Obama is asking us to do.”
The united front against the Keystone pipeline is layered in emotion. The concerns among activists are vast, ranging from issues of climate change to problems that could arise from pipeline spills. There’s also the issue of whether a foreign corporation should have eminent domain authority to take Americans’ land.
For those living in the midst of the battle, the pledge to keep Keystone out of America is rooted in all these concerns, but protection of their own land takes the struggle to a personal level.
Standing in solidarity with American farmers
Harrington-Kleinschmidt’s farmland in Nebraska’s York County dates back five generations. After her father passed away, more than 2,000 acres of farmland was passed down to her and her three sisters, who now manage the farm.
Like other Nebraska farmers, Harrington-Kleinschmidt learned about Keystone XL when TransCanada submitted its first pipeline route proposal. During that time, the map didn’t impact her area — but it did impact her brother-in-law’s land, located roughly 20 miles north of her property.
“He was wrestling with TransCanada for two or three years,” she told Mint Press News. “I was aware that he was having these issues, but I felt like, well, it doesn’t affect me, so I didn’t learn any more about it at the time.”
That all changed when TransCanada changed its proposal, settling on a route that went directly through her farmland. Unlike other farmers in Nebraska, Harrington-Kleinschmidt has refused to sign any agreements with TransCanada. Instead, she’s relied on the legal counsel of the Nebraska Easement Action Team, which provides free assistance to farmers battling TransCanada and their lengthy, complicated easement proposals.
From her work with the team, Harrington-Klein learned a thing or two about the easements presented by TransCanada and discovered it wasn’t in the best interest of her or her family to sign.
“It’s a very dangerous thing,” she told Mint Press News. “It’s a perpetual easement. TransCanada would own that easement forever. They offer a one-time payment to the landowner to put that dirty thing in the ground, and it’s not like they’re going to pay you every year.”
Harrington-Klein’s land hosts corn and soybean crops, which she rotates every year to keep the soil healthy. In her eyes, it’s the most valuable farmland in the nation, if not the world, as it’s flat, sits in the midst of an area known for its fertile soil, and is near the Ogallala Aquifer, which the Sierra Club considers one of the world’s largest supplies of groundwater.
She’s concerned about the impact Alberta tar sand extraction has on global climate change, and she doesn’t like the idea of more than 800,000 barrels of thick tar sand oil running under her property every single day — not only because of what it represents, but because of the threat it poses to her land.
For Harrington-Klein and her neighbors, it’s a not a matter of if a spill will occur, but when. Aside from contaminating farmland and fertile soil, there’s concern over contamination of the Ogallala, which provides water to eight states for drinking, irrigation and livestock watering purposes, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, as noted in the Journal Star.
“It just goes right to my core, probably because of the legacy that ties to my family for five generations,” she said, “and knowing that my ancestors who worked so hard — and my sisters and I, who have shed a lot of blood, sweat and tears on that farm too. What’s so upsetting is that a foreign corporation can threaten to come and take your land from you with such a dangerous pipeline.”
Will America pull through with pledge?
The organizations that have paired with Credo Action to initiate the pledge are now attempting to draw the faint of heart into the nationwide campaign of peaceful civil disobedience.
“You shouldn’t make this pledge lighty,” the Credo post states. “We certainly don’t ask lightly. We ask in the belief that there are tens of thousands of people out there who feel as strongly about this as we do; who believe that these circumstances call for extraordinary action, and want to be part of that action in their community.”
Credo is joined by Bold Nebraska, the Rainforest Action Network and 350.org, among other environmental advocacy organizations. To prepare residents throughout the country for what’s expected to be a two-week campaign, Credo is partnering with Rainforest Action Network and The Other 98% to host local activist training sessions, where those taking part in the pledge will learn how to lead and organize local civil disobedience actions.
As of July 12, more than 750 people throughout the U.S. had signed up to lead local actions and take part in trainings, according to a press release issued by Credo. The trainings aren’t geared toward longtime environmental activists. Rather, the people who have taken interest in the pipeline debate are those who have sympathized with their friends, family members and fellow Americans who live along the route.
Harrington-Klein has a second cousin who lives in New York City. While far from the pipeline, the stories of Nebraska’s fight remain heightened in her cousin’s heart. More than 1,300 miles from York County, a sign opposing the Keystone pipeline sits in her yard.
“After all, we are the conservatives, standing up for a safe and secure future for our families. It is those we protest, those who profit from radically altering the chemical composition of our atmosphere — and the prospects for survival of humanity — they are the radicals,” the Credo pledge states.
Jack McNeel, Indian Country Today Media Network, July 22, 2013
The salmon once swam freely throughout the upper Columbia River, and plucking them from the waters represented an opportunity to benefit all the Colville Tribes by sharing the bounty.
“What a beautiful experience it was,” said Mel Taulou, an elder of the Colville Confederated Tribes, at a recent ceremony celebrating the first fish to be taken from the Chief Joseph Hatchery. He and others spoke of the sharing associated with fishing, of the exchange of fishing gear if someone was lacking something, and of sharing their catch with elders, friends and family.
“You gave freely. Everybody did. That’s the way it was,” said tribal member and longtime fisherman Lionel Orr, who sang in honor of the first fish as it was lifted from the river in the First Salmon ceremony. “That’s the way I was taught by the older fishermen.”
The salmon was then filleted, smoked, and later everyone present at the pre-opening ceremony was offered a taste of the first salmon.
About 800 people gathered near Chief Joseph Dam for the grand opening of the brand new Chief Joseph Hatchery on a rainy, overcast June 20. The water did not dampen their enthusiasm. Rather, since rain fills the rivers for salmon and is the lifeblood of the region, it was welcomed on this day in particular.
Although the day included a ribbon cutting and other opening celebrations, it was also an opportunity to honor the fishermen and their contributions to keeping this part of tribal custom alive and in passing their knowledge on to younger tribal members. The crowd gathered around tables under a huge tent to listen as representatives from tribal, state and federal agencies spoke about the history leading to this moment and what the hatchery would mean for the future.
The celebration concluded with tours of the hatchery, a full lunch featuring salmon, and the traditional ribbon cutting signifying the opening of the hatchery and completion of a promise made seven decades earlier.
Colville Tribal Chairman John Sirois, center, cuts the ribbon for the long-awaited Chief Joseph Hatchery on the Colville Reservation, June 20, 2013. He is flanked by representatives of partner groups from the federal and tribal governments. (Photo: Jack McNeel)
The salmon’s freedom was first cut off by a series of dams that impeded their return to the spawning grounds. In the 1930s a number of dams throughout the Columbia basin were being planned, and tribes in the region were bracing themselves for the disastrous effect these constructs would have on fish runs and thus on tribal members’ lives. Four hatcheries were promised to help mitigate those effects on the Entiat, Wenatchee, Methow and Okanogan watersheds.
“Three of the four hatcheries were constructed between 1939 and 1942,” said Jim Brown, with the Washington Department of Fisheries and Game. Then came World War II. The hatchery plans were put on hold. Chief Joseph Hatchery, the fourth, had to wait. The wait is now over.
“Today’s event gives us the chance to celebrate the fulfillment of the 70-year old commitment,” Brown said at the opening. “Chief Joseph Hatchery is a tremendous accomplishment.”
The hatchery sits on 15 acres of U.S. Army Corps of Engineers property within the Colville Indian Reservation. It will be managed by the Colville Tribes under guidelines recommended by scientists as requested by Congress. It includes 40 raceways, each measuring 10 feet by 40 feet, plus three rearing ponds and three acclimation ponds, some onsite and some offsite.
“This is a modern hatchery built to the highest modern standards of science,” said Lorri Bodi of the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA). “It represents 30 years or more of progress in trying to meet the commitments by the federal government to tribes and the region. It represents a major step in our efforts to get fish back into the rivers of the Northwest.”
It was a collaborative effort involving the Colville Tribe, BPA, US Army Corps of Engineers, several Public Utility Districts and the NW Power & ‘Conservation Council. Funding came from the BPA and area public utility districts, Bodi said.
The $50 million hatchery will annually release up to 2.9 million chinook salmon.
“We’re going to see natural spawning of fall and summer chinook in the Okanogan River and we’re going to see spring chinook in the Okanogan basin for the first time in many, many years,” said Tom Karier from the Northwest Power & Conservation Council.
“It’s been a historic day,” said Tribal Chairman John Sirois, who was the day’s emcee. “It really touched my heart hearing stories from our elders about our history. We are salmon people. The salmon sacrifice for us in a sacred way. We also make that sacred commitment to them, to provide their water. I am so grateful, thankful and humbled by all the work that went into making this hatchery possible.”
Mark Mulligan / The Herald Sandy Swanson, a licensed practical nurse at the Tulalip Health Clinic, waters plants in the new garden outside of the clinic on June 16. Swanson works in the elder care program, and when she gets a chance will duck outside to work in the garden. “It makes me smile to come out here and care for these plants,” said Swanson.
By Bill Sheets, The Herald
TULALIP — When a doctor at the Tulalip tribal health clinic advises a patient to eat healthier food, it doesn’t have to be only words that are heard or written down on paper.
The doctor can take the patient right outside the building and show them that they can grow that food for themselves.
A small, rudimentary vegetable garden at the Tulalip Karen I. Fryberg Health Clinic was greatly expanded this year with several new raised wooden beds. Leeks, kale, squash, cucumbers, peas, tomatoes and more are thriving in their southwestern exposure to the summer sun over Tulalip Bay.
Culinary and medicinal herbs and plants are being grown as well — parsley, tarragon, basil, lavender and rose hips, to name a few.
“It’s about engaging with our patients,” said Bryan Cooper, clinical lead at the health center. “Instead of telling them what to do, it’s ‘Let’s work together.'”
The incidence of diabetes on the reservation is high, and the garden is especially geared toward helping diabetics manage their condition through their diet.
Doctors and staff members from the lab and pharmacy have been accompanying patients to the garden to discuss the possibilities, said Roni Leahy, diabetes coordinator at the clinic.
Planting soil, tubs, gardening materials and advice have been dispensed on special-event days at the clinic, such as a recent “Diabetes Day.”
In one program there, young people have been taught traditional ways of harvesting and processing native medicinal plants. In another, titled “Gardening Together as Families,” a popular community vegetable garden was established.
At the clinic, the idea was to build on the success of the Hibulb programs and create a direct link between the medical facility and healthy diets, staff members said.
The late Hank Gobin, the tribes’ cultural director who helped establish the Hibulb programs, was motivated to improve tribal members’ diets in part because he himself was a diabetic. He passed away in April at age 71.
“It’s always about people and their health and well-being,” Leahy said. “That’s how we keep his memory alive.”
The clinic garden has been maintained by staff members and volunteers. At the end of the season, the food will be used at tribal events, Leahy said.
Sandra Swanson, 73, a career nurse, works full time in the clinic’s elder care program.
“Then I come out here and play,” she said, as she dug in one of the planters.
The plan is to expand the garden next year to a nearby slope facing the bay, with terraces and a trail, Cooper said.
More volunteers are needed, staff members said.
“We want to start these (gardens) and get them to a place where the community takes over,” Cooper said.
Bill Sheets: 425-339-3439; sheets@heraldnet.com.
Health fair
A health fair and blood drive is scheduled for 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday at the Tulalip Karen I. Fryberg Health Clinic, 7520 Totem Beach Road.
The Obama Administration has proposed new regulations for hydraulic fracturing on 756 million acres of public and tribal lands. The rules were written by the drilling industry and will be streamlined into effect by a new intergovernmental taskforce, established by the president, to promote fracking — a practice that has been linked to water poisoning, air pollution, methane emissions and, most recently, earthquakes. Environmentalists, many of whom are highly skeptical that fracking can even be regulated, hope to use a brief window for citizen participation in the rule approval process to leverage the growing anti-fracking movement.
The Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) — the government agency that manages the public lands in question — follows a dual and often conflicting mandate. Although it is charged with conserving lands for recreation and biological diversity, it must also ensure the commercial development of natural resources. The bureau tends to focus heavily on the latter part of its mission, and it has auctioned off public land for resource extraction, including oil and gas development, while following drilling regulations that were last updated in 1988, before fracking became a common practice.
“Under the old regulations, an operator would have to disclose non-routine techniques,” said BLM spokesperson Beverly Winston. “Now, hydraulic fracturing is routine, so nobody discloses it. It’s my understanding that probably 90 percent of wells on public lands use hydraulic fracturing.”
The newly proposed regulations will provide superficial environmental safeguards against industry excesses while shielding drillers and the government from the legal challenges that have begun cropping up. In April, for instance, a California judge ruled in a lawsuit brought by the Sierra Club and the Center for Biological Diversity that the BLM had failed to take a “hard look” at the impact of fracking on federal land in the state and halted the issuance of fracking leases for the Monterey shale region until an assessment of its environmental impact is completed. The proposed laws, however, will give the BLM legal cover to keep the frack leases flowing.
Former Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, who helped draft the laws, resigned from his post in January to take a job with WilmerHale. The corporate law firm’s website boasts “our lawyers strive to reduce liability and transform environmental compliance obligations into opportunities.”
Those wondering what opportunity looks like to drillers in regions originally set aside for conservation need only visit the Allegheny National Forest in Western Pennsylvania, a state that has opened its arms to drillers in recent years. Nearly 4,000 oil and gas wells were drilled in the Allegheny between 2005 and 2011.
“Where there were once remote areas of the forest there is now oil and gas infrastructure,” said Ryan Talbott of the Allegheny Defense Project. “If you are a recreationist going to go out and go hiking, camping, fishing, what might have been your favorite area before is now a sea of roads and pipelines and well sites.”
In 2009, under pressure from Allegheny Defense and other environmental groups, the Forest Service sought to monitor the drilling, implement environmental safeguards and provide a measure of planning to the spaghetti network of drill sites. But 93 percent of the mineral rights in the state are privately held and the Forest Service, in a case currently under review by the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals, was sued by the gas companies who claim their property rights were violated.
Although not yet to the extent witnessed in Allegheny, fracking has commenced in other parts of the country where the BLM holds mineral rights, particularly out West. “We’re drilling all over the place,” President Obama told an audience in New Mexico last year, announcing plans to open millions more acres to the oil and gas industry. In the way of protection, however, Obama’s new rules follow the Pennsylvania model, barely scratching the surface when it comes to monitoring what occurs below.
White House visitor logs show the president’s top adviser on energy and climate, Heather Zichal, met with the American Petroleum Institute, the Independent Petroleum Association of America and other industry groups 20 times last year in the run up to the rules proposal. They were further honed to industry specifications in a series of meetings between the oil and gas lobby and the White House Office of Budget Management, and are based on a piece of model legislation authored by Exxon for the American Legislative Exchange Council.
Under the rules, drillers will report chemicals used in fracking to an industry run site, FracFocus.org, already used in Pennsylvania and other states. The disclosures won’t need to be made until after a well is fracked. Nor will they be vetted for accuracy. Certain chemicals won’t even be disclosed at all, since they constitute alleged trade secrets. Furthermore, the rules would sanction drilling in close proximity to homes and schools, as well as allow wastewater — the toxic byproduct the of fracking — to be stored in open, outdoor pits.
Meanwhile, the rules weaken a requirement meant to ensure the structural integrity of drilling wells, which can leak methane and other chemical contaminants if cracked. Instead of having to submit documentation for each well, companies will only need report one of all their wells within a geological area.
“Using a single well as representative of all wells completely ignores the likelihood that one in 12 wells have some sort of well casing failure,” said Hugh MacMillan, a senior researcher with Food and Water Watch. “Six to eight percent of well casings fail within the first year, with higher percentages over time.”
MacMillan also expressed fears that the proposed regulations won’t cover a newer technique, known as acidizing, which involves pumping acid into the ground to dissolve rock formations and create pathways in shale for oil to flow out.
Underlying all these concerns is the fear held by many environmentalists that, no matter how heavily the industry is regulated, fracking is inherently toxic. “Trying to regulate fracking is like trying to build a safe cigarette,” said scientist and activist Sandra Steingraber. “You can put filters on cigarettes. You can have low tar cigarettes. But the answer to avoiding cancer from smoking is not to smoke.”
The issue of whether to push for more stringent laws that will mitigate against the impact of drilling or to advocate for the abolition of the practice has caused some considerable fissures in the environmental movement. The Natural Resources Defense Council worked with the drilling industry to write legislation governing fracking that was approved by lawmakers in Illinois last month, while those pushing for an outright ban in the state launched a three day sit-in in the governor’s office against the measure.
Steingraber favors a ban and was ejected from the Illinois statehouse for disrupting legislators following the approval of the fracking bill. Nevertheless, she’s spearheading an initiative to increase the already unprecedented number of comments the BLM has received during the public input period on the Obama-Exxon fracking rules. When the BLM first opened up the proposed laws for public review this spring they were inundated with 177,000 submissions, prompting the bureau to extend the submission deadline to August 23. Steingraber is working to ensure that public comments keep flowing and that this window of public participation furthers the overall anti-fracking movement.
In New York last winter, as the state’s moratorium on fracking expired and its Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) began preparing to file rules that would allow for drilling, she jumpstarted a similar effort. Through a website she established, ThirtyDaysOfFrackingRegs.com, Steingraber — a molecular biologist with a background in public health — broke down piece-by-piece the proposed laws, explaining their environmental consequences and providing a template for critics to submit their own comments. Ultimately, Steingraber said the site was responsible for 25,000 submissions to the DEC — more than 10 percent of the 200,000-plus mostly-critical comments the department received. These objections ended up being an important compliment to the hundreds of protests that took place against fracking statewide. The DEC eventually let the deadline to file rules lapse, which has delayed the prospect of fracking in New York for at least a year.
It was a victory even fracking’s most committed opponents thought slim at the time. The gas industry had spent millions of dollars around the state to ensure it could make good on drilling leases it had already purchased. A Freedom of Information Act request by the Environmental Working Group revealed that, in the run-up to the deadline, New York’s DEC deputy commissioner Steven Russo had already sent potential regulations to drilling lobbyists for their approval.
Despite their success in New York, Steingraber and other anti-fracking activists are fighting an uphill battle at the federal level. In a speech at Georgetown University last month, the president touted “clean burning natural gas” as part of an “all-of-the-above” energy strategy and vowed to increase drilling in order to tackle the climate crisis and foster energy independence.
“The administration has a stated goal to increase American energy production,” said BLM spokesperson Beverly Winston. “A lot of that’s going to come from public land, whether that’s renewable energy or oil and gas.”
With the public comment period serving essentially as window dressing for an otherwise backdoor process, Steingraber said she isn’t looking at the submission of comments to the BLM as an end in and of itself but rather as a “gauntlet” thrown down. She also called them “a meter of citizen opposition” that activists can point to as they build on-the-ground mobilizations.
The struggle will likely come to a head on August 22, the eve of the comment deadline, when environmental groups in the coalition Americans Against Fracking will stream into Washington, D.C., to deliver written comments to the BLM. What happens next will be as much a test of the democratic process as the strength of this growing movement.
“The very bedrock of this nation,” says Steingraber “is not for fracturing.”
The Nation has the option of asking for a rehearing or filing a petition with the United States Supreme Court to review the appeals court ruling but no such decision has yet been made. “’We just received the decision today and continue to review it,” William L. Satti, the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation’s (MPTN) Director of Public Affairs, said on July 16. “We are disappointed that the Court of Appeals reversed the District Court’s decision, which ruled in favor of the tribe.”
The town of Ledyard called the ruling “a precedent-setting decision in favor of state and local governments,” according to The Day. “With this decision, the town of Ledyard will be able to collect taxes that are critically important to providing government services, including those that result from being a host community for the Foxwoods casino,” said Ledyard Mayor John Rodolico. “This case was just the tip of the iceberg, and our tax revenues would have taken a huge hit if we had not persevered throughout this eight-year legal battle to achieve this victory,” he said.
The ruling notes that the town expends $652,158 annually on services to the Nation offset by around $415,900 in federal aid, leaving the town with $236,258 in non-reimbursed costs. It also notes the MPTN employs 10,000 people and has reimbursed the state more than $56 million for law enforcement services since it opened in 1992. The Nation has contributed almost $3.3 billion from slot revenues to the state and around $85 million in donations to local organizations.
Michael Willis, an attorney with the firm Hobbs, Strauss, Dean & Walker who specializes in Indian tax issues, called the 2nd Circuit ruling “very controversial” because it concerns Indian gaming activities. “I think the shocking part of the 2nd Circuit Decision is there are specific provisions in IGRA that indicate that states are not allowed to tax Indian gaming activities and in order to get around that the 2nd Circuit says owning a slot machine is not in itself a gaming activity,” Willis told Indian Country Today Media Network. “But the reality is if slot machines were not engaged in Class III gaming activity on behalf of the tribe, they’d be illegal in the State of Connecticut so, really, it’s hard to fathom how the 2nd Circuit comes up with the view that slot machines are not engaged in gaming activity. It’s absurd. It overturns what was a fairly reasoned opinion in the lower court.”
In March 2012, a federal court granted the Nation’s motion for summary judgment in complaints it had filed against the town in August 2006 and September 2008 on behalf of two vendors – New Jersey-based Atlantic City Coin & Slot Co. and WMS Gaming – who lease slot machines to the tribe for use at Foxwoods Resort Casino. The Nation had argued that imposition of the tax by the town was preempted by the federal Indian Trader Statutes and the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA) and cited White Mountain Apache Tribe v. Bracker, which balances federal, state and tribal interests, federal district court Judge Warren W. Eginton upheld the Nation’s position and wrote in his ruling, “Indian tribes are distinct sovereign entities that are ‘distinct, independent political communities retaining their original natural rights.’” Worcester is one of the Marshall Trilogy cases from 1823 to 1832 that set the foundation for Indian law. The trilogy paradoxically asserts the sovereignty of Indian nations while denying them land rights other than occupancy. “States do not have authority to regulate Indian tribes where a state law is preempted by federal law or infringes upon the ‘right of reservation Indians to make their own laws and be ruled by them,’” Eginton said.
But the appeals court said the federal court had erred and none of MPTN’s arguments bars the town from taxing a non-tribal entity. The panel called it a “close case” but ultimately ruled in favor of the state and town of Ledyard. “[T]he tribe’s generalized interests in sovereignty and economic development are not significantly impeded by the state’s generally-applicable tax; neither are the federal interests protected in IGRA,” the ruling says. “The town has moderate economic and administrative interests at stake, and the affront to the state’s sovereignty on one hand approximates the affront to the tribe’s sovereignty on the other. The balance of equities here favors the town and state.
The town spent more than $900,000 on legal fees in the case, according to The Day. The 2nd Circuit ruling notes that the slot machines leased by the two companies combined generate $20,000 in annual property taxes.
Over the past year, a joint venture has been brewing between the Navajo Nation Zoo and Kachina Tea & Coffee Company. On July 9, the parties unveiled four unique coffee blends they will sell, each hand-packaged in seven-ounce bags featuring one of four Navajo Zoo animals selected to represent the character of the coffee.
The companies signed a Memorandum of Agreement, billed in a press release as a “culturally lateral collaboration,” which was approved February 23 by the Navajo Nation Council and the Tribal offices of the president and vice-president.
Keith Duquitto, owner of Kachina Tea & Coffee, shares his passion for helping the Navajo Nation Zoo and using the best ingredients at his store. (Geri Hongeva, Division of Natural Resources)
Under the terms, net proceeds will be divided equally between the Navajo Nation Zoo and Kachina Tea & Coffee Company. The Navajo Zoo will invest the money in caring for the animals and the future development of the Zoo. Kachina Tea & Coffee Company will direct its profits toward a proposed facility for the roasting and production of the coffee in or near Window Rock—along with a number of complimentary, healthy culinary items. Details of the planned headquarters are included in the Memorandum, which identifies the project as not only “community supportive” but as “community inclusive.”
The Navajo Nation Zoo—home to injured and orphaned animals—is the only Native-owned and -operated zoo in the country. Formed in July 4, 1977, in Window Rock, Arizona, the Zoo cares for animals unable to live in the wild, describing itself as “A Sanctuary for Nature and the Spirit.” Most of the creatures housed at the Navajo Nation Zoo are native to the Four Corners region and significant to the traditions, legends and stories of the Dine People.
Kachina Tea & Coffee Company was conceived in Malibu Canyon, California in the early 2000s. The company’s original concept was to create a line of natural botanical tea blends in an effort to lend nutritional and psychosocial support to friends and family experiencing certain types of functional inconveniences or those simply pursuing a healthy lifestyle from the inside out. Founder Keith Duquitto has garnered more than 25 years of clinical practice as a respiratory therapist and has cultivated a diverse collection of healthcare professionals as colleagues.
David Mikesic, zoologist at the Navajo Zoo, introduces each coffee blend as he describes the character of each animal at the tribally sanctioned zoo. (Geri Hongeva, Division of Natural Resources)
For the Navajo Zoo and Kachina Tea & Coffee Company, choosing the coffee blends was a meticulous and creative process, and they then astutely matched each blend with a package design featuring one of four representative animals from the Navajo Zoo.
The coffee blends and animal pairings include:
1) Espresso Italiano—a medium-strong espresso roast featuring the orphaned Kay-bah, the Navajo Zoo’s rugged lioness (cougar);
2) An Elegant Kona Blend—a simple and elegant roast blended with Hawaiian Kona beans with notes of tropical flowers and ripe persimmon featuring the orphaned Naabahi—one of the Navajo Zoo’s endearing male bobcats;
3) Chuska Chai’s Hazelnut—a fruity, smooth coffee with a hint of natural flavoring from Oregon-grown hazelnuts featuring the Navajo Zoo’s native tassel-eared squirrel; and
4) A Regal Decaf—a rich, deeply dimensioned and sweet decaffeinated blend aptly represented by the Navajo Zoo’s male Ringtail.
Presently, a Northern California-based seasoned coffee importer and roaster packages the beans, which are then shipped to a Las Vegas-based young master coffee roaster and good friend of the Navajo Zoo, who is artfully blending the coffees.
Each coffee blend will be offered in seven-ounce quantities—intended as an ideal sample size for discovering one’s favorite coffee, or as a Zoo supportive gift for family and friends.
Coffees will be available for sale at the Kachina Tea Company store in Las Vegas, and on the company’s website in the near future. In Window Rock, the coffee will be sold at the Navajo Nation Zoo, The Navajo Nation Museum, and other locations in the near future.
SANTA FE – The Southwestern Association for Indian Arts and the Institute of American Indian Arts have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to continue to improve and increase educational and professional opportunities available to American Indian artists at the Santa Fe Indian Market and IAIA. The partnership provides a formal framework for program collaboration and mutual services.
SWAIA COO Dr. John Nez and IAIA President Dr. Robert Martin
“It’s a no brainer. SWAIA and IAIA have long had aligned interests, and together, we will produce a positive environment for all Native artists,”
says Dr. John Torres Nez, Chief Operating Officer of SWAIA.
“It’s a way of highlighting the positive impact that IAIA has had on SWAIA in terms of the number of alumni participating in Indian Market,”
IAIA President Dr. Robert Martin says.
“It also highlights the importance of SWAIA in terms of providing a venue for our alums, faculty and staff to showcase and market their talents.”
Although IAIA focuses on contemporary art and media, while SWAIA promotes both traditional and novel art forms, both organizations seek to preserve Native American arts and culture and provide a supportive platform to their respective artists.
These changes will happen in the coming months: SWAIA and IAIA will co-host the State of Native Arts Symposium on Friday, August 16, and the Membership Breakfast in the Park on Saturday, August 17. Both events are part of Indian Market Week. SWAIA and IAIA are excited to present these programs, and eager to strengthen and increase collaboration in the future.
SWAIA is an advocate for Native American arts and cultures and creates economic and cultural opportunities for Native American artists by producing and promoting Santa Fe Indian Market Week, the finest American Indian art and cultural event in the world; cultivating excellence and innovation across traditional and non-traditional art forms; and developing programs and events that support, promote, and honor Native artists year round.
SWAIA is a non-profit organization, and keeps no portion of the sales made by artists during Santa Fe Indian Market Week.
For 50 years, the Institute of American Indian Arts has played a leading role in the direction and shape of Native expression. As it has grown and evolved into an internationally acclaimed college, museum and community and tribal support resource through the Center for Lifelong Education, IAIA’s dedication to the study and advancement of Native arts and cultures is matched only by its commitment to student achievement and the preservation and progress of the communities they represent.
(Courtesy photo) Jared Yazzie hand paints a T-shirt in his studio as he prepares for a fashion show.
By Shondiin Silversmith, Navajo Times
Jared Yazzie started out his college career with the intent of becoming an engineer. In fact, he received several scholarships to help him along the way at the University of Arizona. After two-and-a-half years of working toward his degree, Yazzie, 24, made a drastic change: he switched his major to graphic design.
In the fall of 2009 Yazzie started designing his own T-shirts.
“I was just doing my own design work,” Yazzie said.
That is when he developed the brand OxDx for his designs. It stands for “Overdose.” He said the name came from how he sees the world because everyone is overdosing themselves with unnecessary things.
“I always thought of a T-shirt as billboarding,” Yazzie said. “I just want a way to interact with people, and I think T-shirts are the most interactive tool. I call it a walking billboard.”
Yazzie was doing a lot of design work but he didn’t get the idea of selling his T-shirts until his friends started offering him money for them.
“They paid me 25 bucks,” he said, “and I designed a shirt.”
He sold his first shirt design to 25 people, whom he calls his “dream team.” The design on his first shirt was of a Navajo child’s head with a distorted dream bubble floating above him and a bandana that says “dreamer.”
“After that I had enough money to come up with my next design,” Yazzie said.
He left UA and moved to Phoenix in 2010 where he continued to design his shirts.
“Everything is either hand-drawn by me or graphically altered by me. I do all the graphics for my stuff,” Yazzie said. Each of his T-shirts is either screen-printed or hand-painted.
Yazzie learned the screen-printing process in his brother’s garage from a friend in 2011. When he first started, his designs would be sent out to screen shops and professionally printed, but does the printing himself today.
He would sell his shirts at flea markets, youth conferences, art shows and fairs. He continued marketing his product in this manner until he turned OxDx into a real business in 2012 and developed his OxDx online clothing line.
“Everything before that I was just selling on the rez,” he said. “It’s something I care about and it was just growing.”
Yazzie said he has over 20 T-shirt designs “out there that are just floating around.” Each of his shirts is a limited edition.
“Everything I do has a message and I want people to think. I have some pretty strong messages,” Yazzie said, noting his shirts have been known to start conversations. “It’s a way for Natives to be fashionable and make a statement while doing it.”
Yazzie said the designs he produces are some really fun stuff, but he also likes to touch on Native American issues.
“It’s nice to have a design that meshes well with what everyone is wearing, but it’s a Navajo design,” Yazzie said as he described one of his shirts called the “Music Tee.”
This design depicts a traditional Navajo woman in full attire with a pair of headphones on. Within the headphones is the Navajo wedding basket design.
“I try to do my best to get everything accurate,” he said, “which is really hard.”
Another design by Yazzie is called “Not A Trend.” He said he produced this design in reaction to media representations of Native Americans.
He said it seems that it’s becoming more and more common for people to dress up like Indians for fun, using as an example the headdress-wearing model from a recent Victoria’s Secret fashion show.
“It’s just kind of crazy,” Yazzie said. “It’s like racism that’s going on today and it shouldn’t be. Nobody understands it from a Native perspective and I was trying to bring that to light.”
As a way to do that he developed the hashtag “Not A Trend” so people can use it on Twitter and Instagram when they want to make a statement.
Yazzie said now that his clothing line is developed and his designs are becoming more popular his shirts have taken on fashion appeal.
“I’ve never seen a T-shirt brand do that. I love that I’m getting respect on a fashion level,” Yazzie said.
He’s even being invited to fashion shows – most recently at Arizona State University, and next in South Dakota at the end of the month.
Yazzie said his shirt “Native Americans Discovered Columbus” has shown up on the CNN and Rolling Stone magazine Web sites. On CNN his shirt was worn by a model for a story about the “Beyond Buckskin” fashion blog, and Rolling Stone showed his shirt on artist Nahko from Medicine for the People during a performance in Seattle, Wash.
Alongside his online clothing line Yazzie works for Express Screen Printing in Phoenix. He is also a student at Mesa Community College where he hopes to complete his degree in graphic design. He is originally from Holbrook, Ariz. and his parents are Kee and Shirley Yazzie. He is Ashiihi born for Todich’ii’nii.
For more information visit: www.oxdx.storenvy.com.
A Pacific Northwest summer tradition – Rock Out Under the Stars at Tulalip Amphitheatre
Tulalip, Washington — Tulalip Resort Casino is known for celebrating tradition, and one of the Pacific Northwest’s warm weather rituals is enjoying entertainment under the stars at the Four-Diamond resort’s outdoor Amphitheatre. Featuring 7 summer concerts at the intimate 3,000 seat venue with an incredible sightline, the concert stage is set for a variety of arts and entertainment options to intrigue every kind of musical enthusiast. The summer of 2013’s line-up is a memorable one – it includes Grammy and Academy Award winners, artists and music icons who have continually topped the charts.Sunday, July 21: Gretchen Wilson & Clay Walker
Gretchen Wilson has had 13 hit singles on the Billboard country charts, 5 reaching the Top 10.
With 31 titles on Billboard, Clay Walker boasts 4 platinum and 2 gold albums.
Sunday, July 28: Peter Frampton & Kenny Wayne Shepherd
Frampton is one of the most celebrated guitarists in rock history; Shepherd is a young blues guitarist who has sold millions of albums.
Thursday, August 15: Sammy Hagar
The “Red Rocker”, an American music icon, has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Van Halen.
Sunday, August 18: Melissa Etheridge
Rock singer, songwriter, guitarist, winner of an Academy Award for Best Original Song, and Double Grammy Winner.
Sunday, August 25: Foreigner
This British-American band is one of the world’s best-selling bands of all time. Mick Jones and Lou Gramm were just inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
Saturday, September 7: Doobie Brothers & America
The Doobie Brothers have been inducted into the Vocal Hall of Fame with hits like “Listen to the Music”; Grammy winners America has charted No. 1 hits like “A Horse with No Name” and “Sister Golden Hair”.
Tulalip Resort Casino also offers guest room/up close ticket packages. Both reserved seating and general admission concert tickets are available and can be purchased in person at the Tulalip Resort Casino Rewards Club box office located on the casino floor, or online at www.ticketmaster.com. Unless otherwise noted, the doors open at 5pm and concerts start at 7pm for all shows. All concert dates and times are subject to change. Guests must be 21 and over to attend.
