Tulalip News

The biggest oversight in Obama’s climate plan — and it’s a doozy

By David Roberts, Grist

I’ve mostly been offering modest praise for Obama’s climate plan, but there are some notable oversights. While it addresses U.S. coal-fired plants through EPA regulations, it neglects another, equally large aspect of the coal problem. Specifically, I’m talking about coal mining, leasing, transport, and export in the U.S. Northwest. There’s a bad situation there and it’s getting worse.

The Powder River Basin stretches across southeast Montana and northeast Wyoming. It is rich with high-sulfur (dirty) coal. Most of that coal is on public land, owned by you and me. What you and I are doing at the moment, via the Bureau of Land Management in the Department of the Interior, is leasing the mineral rights on those public lands to coal companies for pennies on the dollar.

Domestic demand for coal is declining (and will decline further once EPA regulations are in place), so what these coal companies want to do is start shipping the coal by rail to the West Coast and from there exporting it to China and other coal-hungry developing countries, where it sells for prices up to seven times higher than in the U.S.

It’s a sweet deal for the coal companies: buy low, sell high. But it’s a raw deal for everyone else and a disaster for the climate.

Joe Smyth has a great post about the rotten coal-leasing program here, and I wrote about the push for coal-export terminals here. There’s lots of background in those posts if you want it. In this post, I’ll mostly focus on the topic at hand, which is what Obama can and should do about it.

First, the coal-leasing program. A recent report from the Inspector General at Interior revealed that the program is (or rather, remains, after decades of corruption [PDF]) terribly run, with spotty enforcement, very little competitive bidding, disregard of rising exports, and prices that fall well below going market rates. Overall, writes The New York Times, the program’s failures “deprived taxpayers of almost $30 billion over the previous 30 years.”

The BLM says it has a “task force” looking into it, for whatever that’s worth. Obama should make it a priority to finally clean up that cesspool.

But he should go farther than that. The problem is not just that the public is leasing coal at below-market rates, it’s that market rates are too low. Coal markets do not currently internalize the costs imposed by carbon pollution (the “social cost of carbon”). Obama should insist that the social cost of carbon be integrated into the leasing program. That would more fairly balance the public’s interest in revenue from leases with its interest in a livable climate. Such a move would substantially reduce the the amount of coal leased on public land — as it should.

Second, coal exports. “Turning Cascadia into a conveyor belt for coal,” as KC Golden puts it, flies in the face of the region’s character as a nature-rich tourist destination and as a high-skill, high-tech hub. Dozens of new coal trains a day would thunder through the region’s small towns (and my beloved Seattle as well), making noise, clogging traffic, and spewing toxic dust. The coal would then be loaded on to giant, polluting ships in giant, polluting ports, turning the bucolic coastal towns where they are located into loud, dirty industrial hubs. All to ship coal the American public got scammed out of to China, where it will be burned and accelerate climate change.

It’s insane. And it’s running into resistance that may prove fatal. Three of the six proposed coal export terminals have been scrapped and the others face serious problems. Delay alone could kill the remaining ports, as there are signs that China’s demand for coal may fall short of expectations. News of slowing Chinese growth is part of what sent coal stocks tumbling the other day.

What’s needed is a comprehensive environmental assessment of the whole network of coal leases, trains, and ports, an assessment that includes the effects on carbon emissions. (Preliminary analysis shows that — shocker — exporting the coal would raise carbon emissions [PDF].) Only the feds can do that kind of analysis. The governors of both Washington and Oregon have asked the feds for one, as have mayors, members of Congress, and activists. But just the other day, the Army Corps of Engineers refused (again). That’s Obama’s corps. He should kick their asses into gear and get a comprehensive assessment underway.

Remember what Obama said about Keystone: “Our national interest will be served only if this project does not significantly exacerbate the problem of carbon pollution.” How does turning over one of the world’s biggest dirty coal fields to private companies for cheap not exacerbate the problem of carbon pollution?

Of course it does. Digging up and burning that Powder River Basin coal will put enough carbon in the atmosphere to undo all of Obama’s other climate work.

If Obama really believes, as he proclaimed on Tuesday, that increasing climate pollution is not in the nation’s interests, then he needs to get serious about stopping coal leasing and coal exports in the Northwest.

Biomass energy: The bad apple in Obama’s renewable energy barrel

Source: Partnership for Policy Integrity

At last, President Obama has tackled climate change and the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in a major speech. Recognizing that power plants are a huge source of unchecked CO₂, the President is directing EPA to complete CO₂ emission standards for new and existing power plants. Given that reducing emissions will require replacing a significant amount of fossil-fueled power generation with carbon neutral renewable power, clean energy advocates wonder what the Administration’s plans mean for biomass energy, the combustion of biological materials in power plants, instead of fossil fuels.

We already know what EPA is considering as a standard for new fossil fueled power plants – 1,000 pounds of CO₂ per megawatt-hour (MWh), a standard that is difficult if not impossible for a coal plant to meet. What about biomass energy? Start with the simple fact that a biomass power plant emits about 3,000 lb of CO₂ per MWh, far more than even a coal plant. Beyond that, the biomass power plants being built in the US are primarily wood-burners, with a typical 50 MW facility (tiny by coal plant standards) burning the equivalent of millions of trees per year. Cutting forests for fuel degrades forest carbon uptake, and transporting wood fuel takes hundreds of trucks per week, driven thousands of miles, belching more CO₂ and pollution. Claims that stack emissions from burning biomass don’t matter – that the CO₂ is eventually neutralized by forest regrowth, or that “waste” wood burned as fuel would have eventually decomposed and emitted the CO₂ anyway – are nothing more than assumptions, and unrealistic ones at that, considering that last summer the US got a taste of the climate-to-come, experiencing record-breaking temperatures, extreme weather events and massive forest fires.

Even under the best case scenario, where forests are left alone to regrow for decades after being cut for biomass fuel, current modeling and science shows that it takes several decades to neutralize the extra CO₂ emitted a biomass power plant. No serious climate scientist believes we can afford to wait decades to reduce emissions, and no serious policy-maker should promote investing billions of dollars into biomass energy infrastructure, with its deferred and hypothetical benefits of carbon reductions that are decades off, alongside wind and solar, where the reduction in CO₂ emissions occurs right away.

Massachusetts recognized that biomass power plants increase emissions instead of reducing them, and took low-efficiency biomass energy out of the State’s renewable portfolio. The fact that wood-burning power plants are still considered “renewable” energy sources in the rest of the country is a testimony to the biomass industry’s lobbying clout. With CO₂ emissions standards for power plants finally on the Administration’s radar, however, claims that biomass energy benefits the climate may finally bump up against reality.

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PTSD Awareness Day: Resources for Native Vets

Indian Country Today Media Network

In order to bring greater awareness to the issue of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), the United States Senate designated June 27 as National PTSD Awareness Day. In addition, June has been designated as PTSD Awareness Month by the National Center for PTSD.

According to the PTSD Foundation of America, one in three service members returning from deployment will suffer from severe post-traumatic stress. Fewer than forty percent will seek help. The overall lack of understanding, awareness and available treatment options in this country is a national disgrace.

Following trauma, including combat service, most people experience stress reactions but many do not develop PTSD. Mental health experts are not sure why some people develop PTSD and others do not. However, if stress reactions do not improve over time and they disrupt everyday life, help should be sought to determine if PTSD is a factor.

The purpose of PTSD Awareness Day and Month is to encourage everyone to raise public awareness of PTSD and its effective treatments so that everyone can help people affected by PTSD.

National Center for PTSD

All veterans and their family members should visit the National Center’s website, P tsd .va.gov. The abundant resources on the site can tell you about PTSD, where to get help and how to help someone who may suffer from the disorder.

Veterans Health Administration AboutFace

Learn about PTSD from Veterans who live with it every day. Hear their stories. Find out how treatment turned their lives around, go to AboutFace www.ptsd.va.gov/AboutFace. Also see the PTSD video playlist to hear veterans share their stories of recovery and growth and g>et answers from professionals about PTSD treatments that can help. For the YouTube video playlist click here.

Center for Health Reporting

Read the study War leaves PTSD scars on Native American vets

ABC News on Tohono O’odham Nation’s Harrowing Mexican-Border War

Indian Country Today Media Network

As the immigration debate heats up in Congress, the Tohono O’odham Nation in Arizona is caught in the crossfire. The tribe’s reservation borders Mexico but has one of the least-policed barriers on the entire imaginary line that separates Mexico from its northern neighbor.

With newer measures to keep out undocumented immigrants being augmented along other parts of the border, the attention of drug smugglers, human traffickers and would-be immigrants themselves is becoming more focused on this relatively unprotected stretch. ABC’s Nightline edition at 12:35 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time on Friday June 28 profiles the border that “has made life a daily hell for a tribe of Native Americans,” as ABC News reports. The

“While border-crossing apprehensions in Arizona are down 43 percent from two years ago, it is a different, more complicated story on the Tohono O’odham Nation,” ABC News says. “Drug seizures on the reservation are steadily climbing—nearly 500,000 pounds of marijuana was seized last year, a number that has nearly doubled since 2010. Recently, Tohono O’odham police seized copy million worth of marijuana in just one week.”

Watch the full report on ABC, or catch it online.

Read In Efforts to Secure US-Mexico Border, Ariz. Native Americans Feel Caught in the Middle at ABC News.com.

Two American Indians Named to US Census National Advisory Committee

Native News Network Staff

WASHINGTON – The US Census Bureau Wednesday announced 10 new members of its National Advisory Committee on Racial, Ethnic and Other Populations. Among the ten were two American Indians who were named to the Committee. They are Desi Small Rodriguez, a member of the Northern Cheyenne Tribe, and Timothy Harjo from the Fort Sill-Chiricahua Apache Tribe.

Desi Small Rodriguez – Northern Cheyenne Tribe

Small-Rodriguez was raised on the reservation in Lame Deer, Mont. Her Cheyenne name is Muksheha, Bear-Mint-Woman. She holds bachelor’s and master’s degree from Stanford University and has extensive local, regional and international experience with demography and economic policy in indigenous and rural contexts. Before returning home to serve her tribe, Small-Rodriguez served as a tribal researcher for the Waikato-Tainui Maori Tribe and as a senior policy analyst at the Ministry of Maori Development on developing tribal census and stewarding population measurement projects. Small-Rodriguez is committed to using data to strengthen tribal sovereignty and empower indigenous communities. She serves as a consultant to indigenous tribes in the United States and internationally on tribal data and policy development. Additionally, she has developed work for the National Congress of American Indians Policy Research Center related to research regulation in tribal contexts that informed the creation of a document titled, -Developing a Community-Based Research Orientation in Tribal Contexts.-

Over the last 10 years, Harjo has worked for many tribal governments, law firms, courts, nonprofits and businesses on behalf of American Indian clients and or policy matters. During the 2010 Census, he served as a partnership team leader in the Los Angeles Regional Office, where he developed and supervised large American Indian outreach initiatives. His work required great knowledge of tribal government interests and required a good working relationship with local tribal offices.

The National Advisory Committee advises the Census Bureau on a wide range of variables that affect the cost, accuracy and implementation of the Census Bureau’s programs and surveys, including the once a decade census. The committee, which is comprised of 32 members from multiple disciplines, advises the Census Bureau on topics such as housing, children, youth, poverty, privacy, race, ethnicity and sexual orientation issues.

“The committee has helped us meet emerging challenges the Census Bureau faces in producing high quality statistics about our diverse nation,”

said Thomas Mesenbourg, the Census Bureau’s acting director.

“By helping us better understand a variety of issues that affect statistical measurement, this committee ensures that the Census Bureau continues to provide relevant and timely statistics used by federal, state and local governments as well as business and industry in an increasingly technologically oriented society.”

The National Advisory Committee members, who serve at the discretion of the Census Bureau director, are chosen to serve based on their expertise and knowledge of the cultural patterns, issues and/or statistical needs of “hard to count” populations. The new members will be seated on August 1.

posted June 27, 2013 9:50 am edt

Eric Eugene Lindhorst

Eric Eugene Lindhorst was born on November 21, 1969 in Santa Barbara, California and went home to be with his Lord on June 22, 2013. Eric was a loving and caring man remembered for his quick wit and sense of humor. He was most always found with a fishing pole in his hand or on the back of a dirt bike.
Eric leaves behind his mother and father, Carrol and Wayne Lindhorst; his daughter, Makena “Alexxus” Compoc; his sons, Andrew, Eric and Christian Lindhorst and Anthony Fryberg. He leaves behind his sister, Niki Lindhorst; and brothers, Tony Perry (Lori) and Shawn (Noelle) and Britt (Jeannie) Lindhorst. He also leaves behind to mourn his passing, Leonie Lindhorst, Karri Curtis and numerous aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces, nephews, and friends.
He was preceded in death by his grandparents, Ross and Margaret Lindhorst and Clarence and Evelyn Moser.
Services were held at Tulalip Church of God (Little Red Church) on Wednesday, June 26, 2013 at 10 a.m.
Services entrusted by Schaefer-Shipman Funeral Home.
In lieu of flowers, donations to the Tulalip Cedar Taskforce in memory of Erik Lindhorst, 6406 Marine Dr., Tulalip, WA 98271.

Director of Ecology talks water quality, toxic cleanups

Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission

Maia Bellon, director of the Washington State Department of Ecology, addresses the Tribal Habitat Conference in Port Angeles, discussing the state’s role in toxic cleanups, water quality and human health indicators among other issues.

Maia Bellon addresses Tribal Habitat Conference from NW Indian Fisheries Commission on Vimeo.

Fish consumption rate: Why 20 years of studies is enough

Source: Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission

Over at Keep Our Seafood Clean, we’ve taken a look at the current debate in the state legislature over funding a new study on fish consumption rates in Washington. This isn’t a new debate, but after twenty years of study, some are still calling for “more study.”

Catherine O’Neill’s broad piece on the fish consumption rate has a great explanation on all of the attacks on previous fish consumption studies and why decades of work is enough.

Throughout the process of updating the FCR in Washington, there have been broadsides on the science that supports increased rates.

…

Although the relevant surveys of tribal fish consumption were carefully conducted to ensure their scientific defensibility, and have consistently been found to meet EPA’s (and sister states’) standards in this regard, their validity has nonetheless continued to be challenged by industry and individuals.

Ecology’s initial (Fish Consumption Rate Technical Support Document) FCR TSD considered three studies of tribal fish consumption and one study of Asian and Pacific Islanders in King County, finding each of these four studies to be scientifically defensible. In its FCR TSD, Ecology developed a set of criteria to determine the technical defensibility of fish consumption survey data, to be used in assessing the data’s relevance and appropriateness to the regulatory context in Washington, i.e., for use in standards for water quality, surface water cleanup, and sediment cleanup. …

As documented at length in the FCR TSD, each of the tribal studies considered… was found to have “satisfied” Ecology’s measures of technical defensibility.

The support for the previous studies has been deep and wide:

Moreover, the scientific defensibility of each of the tribal studies had previously been considered and affirmed in various assessments by EPA and by sister states. After an evaluation of the surveys according to five criteria, including the study’s “soundness,” “applicability and utility,” “clarity and completeness,” its handling of “uncertainty and variability,” and whether the study’s methods and information were “independently verified, validated, and peer reviewed,” EPA selected each of the tribal studies for inclusion in its general guidance document for conducting exposure assessments, the Exposure Factors Handbook. EPA Region X, moreover, recommends the Tulalip/Squaxin Island and Suquamish studies in its guidance for cleanups in Puget Sound, giving “highest preference” to these “well-designed consumption surveys.” Oregon’s independent Human Health Focus Group conducted an extensive year-long review and found each of these studies to be scientifically defensible, deeming them both “reliable” and “relevant.”

But, yet:

Still, the scientific defensibility of the tribal studies has been questioned, repeatedly, by individuals and industry as part of the Washington process. Some commenters asked that the tribal survey data be “verified” or sought additional “peer-reviewed studies generated through traditional means.”

Some people have asked that all the year’s of previous study be treated differently that other studies:

Some commenters called for the raw data (as opposed to the studies summarizing the survey results) to be “turned over” for “independent review” – a highly unusual request in general, given the ethical protocols that govern studies with human subjects, and a request in this context that is at the very least insensitive, given tribal populations’ understandable mistrust of handing over their raw “data” to outsiders.

To the credit of the state, the pushback against questioning these studies has been consistent. For example, in terms of turning over the “raw data”:

Ecology also called upon experts at the University of Washington School of Public Health to explain the standard practice in the field with respect to custody of survey data – an explanation that confirmed the inappropriateness of requests that the raw data be turned over to the public.

Even as late as last fall, Ted Sturdevant, then director of the Washington Department of Ecology told a house committee: “I’m confident that the studies that we’re relying on were done with all appropriate scientific rigor.”

So, why the need for even more study?

Lummi Nation harvests hatchery fish, releases natural origin chinook

Lummi Natural Resources staffers Tony George, left, and Ralph Phair collect a hatchery chinook salmon from a tangle net in the Nooksack River.

Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission

The Lummi Nation Natural Resources Department is conducting a pilot tangle net fishery for hatchery chinook salmon that allows natural origin fish to be released without harm.

Nooksack River early chinook are part of a major population group that must be recovering before the Puget Sound chinook listed as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) can be delisted.

“We’re trying to conserve all the natural origin fish by using a smaller mesh net,” said Alan Chapman, ESA coordinator for the tribe. “The fish tangle by the snout, rather than the gills or body, so they can be safely released.”

Fish from the state Department of Fish and Wildlife’s North Fork Nooksack early chinook hatchery program are marked with a clipped adipose fin and/or coded-wire tag. When a tangle net is used, tribal fishermen can harvest those fish, while releasing the wild ones.

The Lummi Nation contracted with tribal fishermen Rab Washington and Johnny Olsen to fish the small mesh net, with the assistance of natural resources staff who sort the fish, take tissue and scale samples from natural origin fish before releasing them, and take scale samples and coded-wire tag information from the retained hatchery salmon.

“We hope this pilot program will lead to a closely supervised tribal fishery so we can get back to the days our elder fishers reminisce about,” said Merle Jefferson, director of Lummi Natural Resources. “Eventually, we could use the tangle net to harvest pink salmon that haven’t been available to tribal fishermen because of chinook bycatch concerns. This will also increase fishing opportunities during the spring and summer months, and help protect the fall chinook fishery from bycatch concerns.”

The decline in salmon runs has come at a great cost to Lummi fishermen, who make up one of the largest tribal fishing fleets in the country. Increasing fishing opportunities is crucial to supporting their Schelangen, or way of life, and retaining their tribal identity.

“We need to get our kids out fishing so they can understand the way it used to be and why we do what we do,” said Randy Kinley, fisherman and Lummi policy representative. “Future leaders need to remember where we came from, as it was taught to us.”

The tangle net fishery helped the tribe get one step closer to that goal by providing all of the salmon served at the Lummi Nation’s First Salmon Ceremony in May.

“Everyone in our community had an opportunity to feast on the salmon and celebrate our culture and connection to our fishing heritage at our First Salmon Ceremony,” Jefferson said.

The Healing Trees: Planting Takes Off in Lame Deer, Pine Ridge, Fort Thompson and Beyond

Nonee White, 10, shows off the treehouse behind her family’s home on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation, in Montana. (Stephanie Woodard)

Stephanie Woodard, Indian Country Today Media Network

“Trees offer food, shelter, shade and privacy; they control erosion and air pollution, and they’re beautiful,” said Ryhal Rowland, extension agent for the Northern Cheyenne Extension Service, in Lame Deer, Montana. The service was finishing up its annual spring tree and shrub extravaganza, during which it sold 2,700 plants for copy each.

“Most people bought 10 to 20 seedlings, and we provided them with planting and care instructions—siting, spacing, soil preparation, watering and so on,” said the service’s administrative assistant Pamela Dahl. Lilacs have always been a favorite with the older generation, Dahl said. “They’re still top sellers, along with crabapple trees and chokecherry and juneberry bushes.”

Hunkpati gardens coordinator Billy Joe Sazue and director Corrie Ann Campbell in Crow Creek Sioux Tribe’s new orchard, planted this past April on land in Fort Thompson, South Dakota, provided by Christ Episcopal Church, seen at rear. (Stephanie Woodard)

After years of intensive planting of flowering and fruiting plants, the Northern Cheyenne homeland is covered in spring and summer with clouds of fragrant lavender, purple, pink and white blossoms. Several miles from Lame Deer, an ornamental cherry tree presided over Patricia and Richard Rowland’s yard, which was bounded by hedges of mature lilacs and a grove of crabapple trees. Similar uplifting sights abounded— lyrical embellishments of the dramatic landscape of craggy mountains and broad green valleys.

As warm weather arrives across the country, extension services, tribal forestry departments and funders such as First Nations Development Institute and the Fruit Tree Planting Foundation are helping tribal members put in trees of all types. According to First Nations senior program officer Raymond Foxworth, the group has assisted new or established orchards for the Oneidas of Wisconsin, the Hopi and Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwa Community College. “Our grantees distribute fruit and information about healthy eating within their communities, as well as bring produce to market,” Foxworth said.

Through its Trees for Tribes program, the Fruit Tree Planting Foundation has installed orchards on dozens of tribal homelands and even used helicopters to airlift plants into the Havasupai Tribe’s remote village at the base of the Grand Canyon. The foundation collaborates with local groups and individuals, according to director Cem Akin. “That way, advocates for the orchards remain as the trees mature,” said Akin.

On the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, Akin’s foundation recently established five orchards. Under the direction of arborist Rico Montenegro, tribal members planted phalanxes of young trees at schools and community organizations. The lead local partner was Earth Tipi—a sustainable-living nonprofit in Manderson and the site of the fruit-tree foundation’s first Pine Ridge project, in 2011.

Ryhal Rowland, director of the Northern Cheyenne Extension Service, lends a hand, as Rhonda Sankey plants blue spruce near her home on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation, in Montana. (Stephanie Woodard)

Robert Brave Heart, an official at Red Cloud Indian School, one of the five new sites, called Pine Ridge a “food desert” and said the trees would become a critical community resource. “None of us will sell the fruit,” explained Earth Tipi director Shannon Freed, but rather will manage pick-your-own operations, a requirement of the foundation.

In Lame Deer, Rowland, who is Northern Cheyenne, checked in with Rhonda Sankey, as she mixed peat moss and soil and got ready to plant 10 newly purchased blue spruces. Sankey eyed a row of holes in her lawn: “My kids helped dig the row. I guess it’s straight!”

While individuals like Sankey were enhancing their homesites, the tribal forestry department was replanting ponderosa pines on the thousands of reservation acres burnt by last year’s forest fires, said Rowland. “The fires were horrendous, terrifying, the worst in living memory. It’ll take years to replant.” At 30 cents per tree, the springtime reforestation job is a good gig for tribal members, who can typically plant 1,000 trees a day, earning $300, she said: “For some, it’s the only income they’ll have all year.”

Looking at the hills surrounding her yard, Sankey, who is Blackfeet, recalled the damage. “The fire came just to the top of them. This side looks normal, but the other side is completely charred.”

A 20-year-old crabapple grove graces a yard on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation, in southeastern Montana. (Stephanie Woodard)

Sankey lifted the bare-root spruces from a basket of peat moss, tucked them into their new homes and surrounded each with a wire cage to protect it from marauding animals. She and Rowland shared gardeners’ war stories of cats and dogs gnawing on small trees, goats making a meal of them and horses simply yanking them out of the ground. “My goats ate the lilacs I put in last year,” Sankey recalled ruefully.

The spruces will do well, not least because the area’s soil is so good. “A river once ran through here, so the soil is very rich,” explained Sankey. “These seedlings will grow nearly a foot a year and within five years will screen the house from the road.”

It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s a fruit tree! Fruit Tree Planting Foundation used a helicopter to airlift trees to the Havasupai tribe, at the bottom of the Grand Canyon, in Arizona. (Courtesy Fruit Tree Planting Foundation)

On the Crow Creek Indian Reservation, in South Dakota, a brand-new orchard is taking root with support from First Nations Development Initiative. In April, a hardy group gathered in Fort Thompson just after the season’s last big snowstorm to plant 200 trees and 70-plus shrubs, including traditional favorites such as wild plums, chokecherries and buffalo berries. They went in on land provided by nearby Christ Episcopal Church.

The tree enthusiasts donned parkas and boots to dig and plant, with tribal chairman Brandon Sazue leading the way. “Putting in the first tree was an honor for me,” said Sazue. “It was a cold, foggy day, but everyone was out there. It showed lots of dedication, and I thanked them for the job they were doing.”

That spring day may have been surprisingly chilly and wet, but the snowfall got the reservation out of drought status—just barely, but a welcome change from the past several parched years, said Billy Joe Sazue, coordinator of the gardens program, part of local community development group Hunkpati Investments. According to Sazue, the trees will bear fruit in three to five years, with the berry bushes probably producing sooner than that. “It’s all about healthy food and eating,” he said.

Ryhal Rowland, director of the Northern Cheyenne Extension Service, checks lilac blooms in her grandparents’ yard for frost damage. (Stephanie Woodard)

Much planning—from researching suitable plant varieties to designing the irrigation system—preceded planting day, said Hunkpati’s new director, Corrie Ann Campbell. Joining Hunkpati and First Nations in the preparations were tribal members, the tribal council, Diamond Willow Ministries, additional churches, Boys and Girls Club of Three Districts, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Indian Health Service and nearby Lower Brule Sioux Tribe’s wildlife department. “We were blessed to have so many great partners,” said Krystal Langholz, former director of Hunkpati, on whose watch the orchard was conceived and planted.

Said Campbell: “The orchard is one of many positive changes in the way people at Crow Creek view nutrition, exercise and health.”

Trees provide everything from fruit to an opportunity to mobilize a community, according to Akin: “Their energy is healing. Trees do it all.”