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.
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.
From left, the Marysville Strawberry Festival Senior Royalty candidates for 2013 are Madison Doty, Kalyah Bojang, Derek Groves, Victoria Stefoglo, Forrest Brown, Israel Lopez and Franceska ‘Franqui’ Rojas. Photo: Kirk Boxleitner.
By Kirk Boxleitner, Marysville Globe Reporter
MARYSVILLE — The Marysville Strawberry Festival packed the Jennings Park Barn nearly to overflowing on Feb. 12, when it introduced its seven Senior Royalty candidates and eight Junior Royalty candidates for the year.
Kalyah Bojang, a senior at Marysville-Pilchuck High School, opened the evening by praising her large, affectionate family — she’s the second-oldest sibling of seven — and explaining her goals of going into medical science.
Forrest Brown, a senior at the School for the Entrepreneur at Marysville Getchell High School, credited his parents’ divorce with making him interested in how the legal profession can help people. The Naval Junior ROTC cadet told judges that if he could meet one person it would be Andrew Carnegie, whom Brown admired for going “from rags to riches through his drive and determination.”
M-PHS junior Madison Doty, a former Junior Royalty princess, credited her parents and her religious faith with “polishing my charms.” Like her fellow candidates, the Everett Community College “Running Start” student is heavily involved in local volunteer work, much of it through her church.
Marysville Getchell SFE senior Derek Groves is a member of his school’s Future Business Leaders of America, and touted his FBLA’s recent regional conference performance, which dovetails with his goals of going into business administration, accounts, finances or human resources via the University of Washington.
“If I were to witness bullying, I would confront the bully and be there for the victim,” Groves said in response to a judge’s question. “I’d also tell an adult.”
M-PHS senior Israel Lopez cited his own uniquely mixed heritage as “not an excuse to fail, but a chance for greater success, by cultivating two cultures into one.” When asked how he would choose to spend lottery winnings, he advocated investing in organizations that aim to “motivate kids to pursue their dreams, because everyone has potential, but not everyone has drive, so we need to help them become who they could be, instead of making bad choices.”
SFE junior Franceska “Franqui” Rojas was part of the same Junior Royalty court as Doty in 2008, and she echoed Groves’ pride in the accomplishments of the FBLA to which she also belongs. Rojas plans to enter the UW’s Foster School of Business.
Lakewood High School senior Victoria Stefoglo’s sisters have been princesses in the Senior and Junior Royalty courts of previous years’ pageants, and the multilingual aspiring UW medical student would like to see Marysville place a greater emphasis on education.
“There’s always much to learn, no matter what path you take,” Stefoglo said.
The Junior Royalty candidates for this year included sixth-graders Jessica Apgar, Olivia Corona and Erika Krause of Totem Middle School, Ivanna Garza and Cassandra “Cassie” Kunselman of the 10th Street School, Lauren Vital and Criscia Rinaldi of Cedarcrest Middle School, and Leah Taylor of Marysville Middle School.
EVERETT — In honor of National Women and Girls HIV Awareness Day, all women ages 14 years and older who have had any risk for HIV transmission qualify for free, rapid HIV testing on March 12. The test involves a simple pinprick to the finger, resulting in a tiny drop of blood, and only takes 30 minutes, including results.
No appointment is necessary. Just stop by between 9 a.m. and 7 p.m. on Tuesday, March 12, at Snohomish Health District Suite 106, located at 3020 Rucker Ave. in Everett. For more information, call 425-339-5298 or visit www.womenshealth.gov.
A San Diego native, Johnaye Kendrick received a Bachelor of Music from Western Michigan University in 2005. During her time at Western Michigan, she received a Down Beat Student Music Award as an Outstanding Jazz Vocalist, and was featured on an honors recital with pianist Fred Hersch. In the summer of 2005 she was a featured soloist in a piece composed and directed by legendary bassist Rufus Reid for the International Society of Bassists Conference. In the fall of 2007, Ms. Kendrick was accepted to the prestigious Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz, a graduate program which focuses on jazz performance and composition. While attending the Thelonious Monk Institute, Johnaye worked with many jazz legends, including Terence Blanchard, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Danilo Perez, Kurt Rosenwinkel, and Brian Blade. She received a Masters Degree in Jazz Studies from Loyola University, and an Artist’s Diploma form the Thelonious Monk Institute. After graduating from the Institute, Johnaye was immediately hired by trumpeter Nicholas Payton who rave “Johnaye has the potential to be a vocalist of the highest order; the likes of which we have seen seldom since the grande dames of the golden era of jazz roamed about the earth. She’s got IT!” In addition to her many travels with the Nicholas Payton SEXTET, Johnaye was also the featured vocalist with the Ellis Marsalis Quartet and the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra. The Orchestra won a Grammy Award in the 2009 “Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album” category for their latest release, Book 1 on which Ms. Kendrick is featured. Ms. Kendrick resides in Seattle, WA and serves as the Assistant Professor of Jazz Voice at Cornish College of the Arts.
Michael Nicolella is recognized as one of America’s most innovative classical guitarists. He has received wide critical acclaim for his performances, recordings and compositions. Classical Guitar magazine has referred to him as “one of the contemporary guitar’s most gifted stars”; while the Washington Post stated “Since the passing of Andres Segovia the guitar world has needed an advocate…perhaps Michael Nicolella is that person.” A uniquely eclectic and versatile artist, Michael blurs the lines between musical styles and disciplines. He is part of a growing trend in classical music to revitalize the role of composer/performer. As a concert artist he frequently programs his own works for guitar in solo, chamber and orchestral settings. His most recent major piece, Flame of the Blue Star of Twilight (for soprano, guitar and orchestra), was premiered by the Northwest Symphony Orchestra and soprano Alexandra Picard in April 2012. Known for his creative programming, he has introduced electric guitar into his “classical” programs and extended the repertoire and audience of his instrument not only with his own compositions and transcriptions, but also by premiering and commisioning works by some of today’s most exciting emerging composers. Michael Nicolella has performed with the Seattle Symphony, Northwest Symphony Orchestra, Merce Cunningham Dance Company, Ensemble Sospeso, odeonquartet, Seattle Choral Company, Seattle Guitar Trio and Charanga Danzon. As a performer and composer, he has received awards from ASCAP, the American Composers Forum, 4Culture, Wisconsin Arts Board, Washington State Arts Commission, Seattle Arts Commission and was first proze winner of both the Portland and Northwest solo classical guitar competitions. Michael is a graduate of Yale University, Berklee College of Music and the Accademia Chigiana in Siena, Italy. He is on the faculty of Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle.
Read more here: http://calendar.thenewstribune.com/seattle_wa/events/show/297920447-cornish-music-series-presents-michael-nicolella-johnaye-kendrick-friends#storylink=cpy
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.
The 43rd Anniversary of the the founding of United Indians of All Tribes Gala Fundraiser Dinner to be held on Friday March 8 2013 at The Daybreak Star Indian Cultural Center.
The Fundraiser will raise funds for UIATF’s Elders Nutrition Program, and the Labateyah Youth Home.Each year we provide thousands of hot nutritious meals for low income Native American Elders and Veterans, and for the past 18 years the Labateyah Youth Home has provided transitional residential services to homeless youth through one of the largest youth homes in the state of Washington.
The Gala Dinner will be a inspired Gourmet tribute to the finest Native American cuisine highlighting its Spiritual and Nutritional components. Traditional Salmon bake, Clams, Shrimp, Crabs, Elk, Wild Rice, Fry Bread and a Vegetarian menu. The evening will include Live Entertainment and a Silent/Live Auction.
The face was a composite of at least three Natives. (AP)
Rick Heredia, Indian Country Today Media Network
November 17, 1915. The mighty bison Black Diamond bravely stood his ground in the Joseph Stern & Co. slaughterhouse on West 40th Street in New York City, staring at the man aiming the .38-caliber revolver at him. When the man pulled the trigger, the weapon kicked in his hand as the bullet hit Black Diamond’s head, but didn’t penetrate his four-inch-thick skull, which was covered with a hide two inches thick. Instead, the bullet dropped to the ground, flattened, amazing onlookers, according to the New York Times account that ran the next day.
Black Diamond, angry and sensing danger, lowered his head to charge his assailant, but a second assassin was waiting, this one holding a sledgehammer. When the bison, nicknamed Toby, lowered his head, that man gave a mighty swing and the sledgehammer made a sickening thud as it crushed Black Diamond’s skull.
“Black Diamond’s…head tossed weakly once or twice, his legs sagged and he went down. Then the knife in his throat completed the slaughter,” said the Times. August Silz, a wholesale meat dealer known as America’s Poultry King and hobnobbed with the rich and famous paid Central Park Zoo officials $325 for Black Diamond, believed to be 19 years old at the time of his slaughter.
Dressed out, Toby provided 750 pounds of meat. Buffalo meat, rare in New York City, sold for at least copy a pound at the time, about four times the cost of sirloin steak. The hide, which measured 13 feet by 13 feet, was made into a car blanket and a taxidermist took his head. (It was mounted and displayed for years at Silz’s meat company.)
So why all this press for a slaughtered beast? Black Diamond was, at the time of his slaughter, one of the most famous animals in the United States. Just two years earlier, in 1913, his image was stamped onto the reverse side of the Indian head nickel. The nickel—75 percent copper and 25 percent nickel—made its debut on Washington’s birthday, February 22, 1913, 100 years ago. In the decades that followed, it became an Indian country icon.
At least one newspaper, the National Labor Tribune, believed Black Diamond had been dealt a great injustice. “The buffalo which served as a model for the nickel coin has been put to death,” it said. “Republics are notoriously ungrateful.”
Black Diamond’s life wasn’t worth a plugged nickel just a few years after his coin appeared. (AP)
Invading Staten Island
The occasion for the nickel’s debut was the groundbreaking for the National American Indian Memorial, the dream/scheme (and it turns out, pipe dream) of Rodman Wanamaker, scion of the Wanamaker department store chain. Plans called for the memorial to have a colossal bronze statue of an Indian, 60 feet high on a 70-foot base, one arm raised, two fingers forming a V, greeting ships carrying immigrants and others arriving in New York. A museum and a warrior on horseback were also part of the design. The statue and all the rest were to be erected at Fort Wadsworth on New York’s Staten Island, just south of the Statue of Liberty. Staten Island, named for the Dutch parliament, the Staten-General, originally belonged to Lenape Indians, who repulsed the Dutch three times before the invaders were able to establish a settlement there.
Now, in 1913, the island was being invaded again. On a cold, bleak, wet day, just after noon, the fort’s batteries fired a 21-gun salute announcing the arrival of President William Howard Taft. Waiting to greet Taft were members of his cabinet, New York’s governor, New York City’s mayor, naval and military detachments and officers, including Lieutenant General Nelson A. Miles, who had taken part in many of the U.S. Army’s campaigns against Plains Indians, had forced the surrender of Chief Joseph and spent exhausting months in the field chasing Geronimo.
On hand, too, patiently waiting in the mist, were more than 30 Plains Indian leaders and warriors, many of whom who had fought Miles and the U.S. Army. They were dressed in beaded buckskin and wore eagle feather headdresses. They included Plenty Coups, Drags The Wolf, Crane In The Sky, Little Wolf, Black Wolf, Wooden Leg, Red Arrow, Hollow Horn Bear and Two Moons.
Two Moons, Northern Cheyenne, fought in the Battle of Little Big Horn and later, he, too, had been forced to surrender to Miles. Two Moons was one of the three Indians used as a model for the profile on the obverse face of the nickel. (Another was Iron Tail, Oglala Lakota; there is much debate about who the third Indian was.)
At the dedication, Two Moons, along with the other Indians, sang a war song and raised the U.S. flag. They also pledged allegiance to the United States. During the ceremony, George Kuntz, a member of the Memorial
Chief Two Guns White Calf, nickel model (AP)
Association’s executive committee and president of the American Scenic and Historical Preservation Society, produced a bag of Indian Head nickels that had just come from the Philadelphia mint. Taft, who used a sliver tipped shovel to turn the first bit of dirt, got the first nickel. Then he used an ancient axe and the Indians did the same. They, too, got nickels.
When the ceremony was over, the Indians took a day or two to do some sightseeing. They had visited the Statue of Liberty and Madison Square Garden before the dedication, so now they went to the Bronx Zoo and the American Museum of Natural History. Then they headed for Philadelphia where Wanamaker would be their host.
A few months later, in July 1913, Wanamaker sent out the last of three expeditions to Indian reservations promoting citizenship and fealty to the U.S. At the time, many Americans—even those who said they respected Indians, such as Wanamaker—thought American Indians were a vanishing race. Wanamaker believed that assimilation was their best hope for survival. (This, despite the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) findings that the Indian population was increasing. In 1890 the BIA counted 243,000 Indians. In 1900, that figure jumped to 270,000. In 1910, it stood at 305,000.)
Speaking at a press conference held when the citizenship expedition returned to New York in December 1913, Henry Roe Cloud, Winnebago, a Yale graduate known for his speaking skills, asked the question that must have been on the minds of many Indian leaders of the day. “Today, the American Indian finds himself in the midst of a great, complex civilization, and it is a national question whether this complex civilization will bear him down or be the means of his salvation,” Roe Cloud said, as quoted in The New York Times.
An Abomination?
Once the nickel went into circulation, it was hammered. Critics complained that it lacked the grace and beauty of previous coins, including its predecessor, the Liberty nickel. But after 25 years, that coin had run its course, and treasury officials wanted to change the design. The New York Times said the new nickel was a “striking example of what a coin intended for wide circulation…should not be.” It said the coin was not pleasing to look at when shiny and new and “will be an abomination when it is old and dull.” One Times reader, H.P. Nitsua, said, “The new nickel is certainly a travesty on artistic effect,” and called the Indian’s feathers “barbaric headgear.”
Iron Tail demanded that part of his pay for working a Wild West show come in nickels. (AP)
The New York Sun called it an ugly coin.
“The new nickel suggests a button for a corduroy coat,” said The Charlotte Observer. “The buffalo and the Indian adorning it are sculptural crudities.… ”
That was not the way George Roberts, the Bureau of the Mint’s director, saw things. He considered the Indian head, as displayed on the coin, “an impression emblematic of liberty.” That might have come as a surprise to the many American Indians forced by the barrel of an Army rifle onto reservations.
And there was a bitter irony on the other side of the coin as well. “From the beginning, there had been complaints about using a Native American and a bison on the coin,” said one of the American Numismatic Association’s Money Talks informational exhibits. One collectors’ magazine questioned whether either was a good symbol, considering that many Indians had been forced onto reservations and the American bison had been slaughtered to the brink of extinction.”
James Earle Fraser, the New York City artist who created the images on the coin, explained that he wanted to design a coin that was uniquely American. And, he reasoned, the American Indian on one side and a bison on the other would fit the bill. No other country in the world could make a similar claim about its currency, he said. “The great herds of bison that roamed the Western Plains played an important role in the great American epic, the winning of the West,” he said.
History suggests that at least one Indian liked the new nickel. When Iron Tail became a performer for the Miller Brothers 101 Ranch Wild West Show, he insisted that part of his weekly pay be in the nickels. To advertise their show, the Miller Brothers put him on a colorful poster, on horseback, wearing a headdress and carrying an eagle staff, riding the grassy plains. He is sandwiched between large, front and back images of the nickel. iron tail, reads the poster. america’s representative indian chief. Under the coin’s Indian head image the poster describes him as the indian chief that made the nickel famous.
Reproductions of the poster are sold on eBay and other sites.
What a Nickel Is Worth
The coin had a run of 25 years, from 1913 to 1938, when it was replaced by the Jefferson nickel. More than 1.2 billion Indian head nickels were minted; their total currency value was more than $60.5 million.
The National Indian Memorial never did get built at Fort Wadsworth. Wanamaker couldn’t come up with the money and soon enough, World War I grabbed the headlines. But the Indian head—or buffalo—nickel, outlived its critics to become one of the most admired coins the U.S. ever produced. Many have called it beautiful, and it has become iconic. In the early 1970s, an image of the nickel, Indian head showing, appeared on a protest poster that read the only indian america ever cared about.
It has been incorporated into many types of jewelry, from earrings to belts. It adorns T-shirts, jackets and other clothing and is the logo for coin shops and other businesses. It has been made into guitar picks and used to decorate the bolt-action rifles and rifle slings. The image has been tattooed onto backs and shoulders. One artist, Peter Rocha, created a striking four-foot-by-four-foot image of the nickel in Fairfield, California using more than 9,500 jellybeans provided by Jelly Belly (see Rocha’s work at JellyBelly.com).
Many of the nickels are sold on eBay. The American Numismatic Association displayed Black Diamond’s mounted head at its 1985 convention, writes author David Lange in his book, The Complete Guide to Buffalo Nickels. The ANA, headquartered in Colorado Springs, will celebrate 100th anniversary of the nickel during National Coin Week, April 21 to 27. Its theme will be Buffalo Nickel Centennial: Black Diamond Shines Again.
Perhaps the greatest testament to the nickel’s popularity and endurance has come from the U.S. Mint, which resurrected the nickel in the form of the $50 American Buffalo gold bullion coin. When it was first sold in 20
American Indian dancers perform during dinner in the longhouse at Tillicum
Lynn Armitage, Indian Country Today Media Network
When you think of Seattle, the first things that come to mind are probably the Space Needle, Puget Sound, the birthplace of Jimi Hendrix or maybe professional sports franchises like the Mariners or the Seahawks. Somehow forgotten among all the contemporary lore of this beautiful seaport is the knowledge that it teemed with Native Americans for at least 4,000 years before white settlers arrived.
In fact, Seattle, the largest city in the Pacific Northwest, is named after a leader of the Suquamish and Duwamish tribes, Chief Si’ahl. Other tribes in the area include the Muckleshoot and Snoqualmie. Today, many of them continue their long-held artistic traditions, including basket-weaving.
If you’re planning a trip to this vibrant city, you should by all means take in its traditional tourist attractions. But to really rock your visit with some Native American culture, we recommend these five destinations, all off the beaten path:
Daybreak Star Indian Cultural Center
Located on 20 acres in Discovery Park, Seattle’s largest city park, with views of Puget Sound and the Olympic Mountains, the Daybreak Star Indian Cultural Center is a central hub showcasing all the Native tribes in the area. Daybreak Star serves many purposes, says its parent organization, the United Indians of All Tribes Foundation—a conference center, a pow wow venue, a gathering place for after-school programs and an art gallery that features a large body of work by Native artists.
For a real taste of Native culture—literally—go on a four-hour escape to Tillicum Village on Blake Island, just eight miles west of Seattle, in Puget Sound. Guests are treated to steamed clams upon arrival and can watch a traditional Northwest Coast salmon bake in the longhouse. After the feast, enjoy a Native music and dance show that tells the colorful story of the Coast Salish Tribes, also called the Puget Salish or Lushootseed peoples. Daily tours run from May through September.
If you’re up for a beautiful drive to observe the region’s abundant wildlife, Juanita Bay Park is a quick 15 miles east of Seattle, on the other side of adjoining Lake Washington. It’s a 110-acre marshy wetland that is home to all kinds of wildlife, including songbirds, shorebirds, turtles and beavers. Guided tours are available, or walk along the paved trails and boardwalks solo. Either way, you will learn a lot about this natural habitat through interpretive signs that are positioned throughout the park. Don’t forget to bring your binoculars!
Located at the University of Washington, the Burke is the state’s oldest museum. It is dedicated to honoring, researching and sharing the heritage of diverse peoples from all over the world, including the many Native tribes in the state and beyond. Here you will find thousands of Coast Salish artifacts and artworks, as well as a number of exhibits that feature artwork from other tribes, such as the Tlingit and Haida of British Columbia and southeast Alaska.
For more details, go to BurkeMuseum.org. (On this site, you will also find an extensive list of Native American cultural centers and museums. Just type “Native Americans” into the search box.)
The Center for Wooden Boats
A must-see for aquatic enthusiasts is the Center for Wooden Boats, a fun place for the family to learn about boats—on and off the water. The center refers to itself as a “living museum,” since visitors can take their historic wooden boats out for a quick sail. Free public boat rides are offered on Sundays. Tourists can also learn how to carve northern-style canoes from a Haida carver named Saaduuts, the artist in residence, who holds classes periodically just across the way in Lake Union Park as part of the Canoe Project, a partnership of the center, United Indians of All Tribes Foundation and Antioch University Seattle.
Come sail away at the Center for Wooden Boats (Center for Wooden Boats)
By Rob Capriccioso, Indian Country Today Media Network
Two members of Congress, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska) are questioning a policy the U.S. Department of Interior has proceeded with in recent weeks involving its tribal land acquisition policies.
For years, Interior has operated under a “self-stay policy,” which prevented the Department from putting land into trust for tribes while another party was suing over that decision. The idea behind the policy was that if the land was already taken into trust, any court case against the decision would be mooted, and therefore a litigant would be denied his or her day in court.
But the game changed in 2012, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Salazar v. Patchak that a litigant could sue for up to six years after Interior takes lands into trust for tribes. In response, Interior officials decided this year that they would end their “self-stay policy” and put lands into trust, regardless of litigation, since litigation can happen for up to six years anyway.
“Interior is in effect saying that because there can be a suit anyway at any point, even after land is conveyed, then why not convey it right away,” said Michael Anderson, owner of Anderson Indian Law. “It makes a lot of sense for the Department and for tribes.”
And there are more possible changes to come. Kevin Washburn, assistant secretary for Indian Affairs at Interior, suggested another proposed policy modification at a January gathering of the National Congress of American Indians, saying that the Department was considering ending a 30-day period meant to notify the general public of land-into-trust decisions. Post Patchak, some Interior officials no longer believe the announcement period is necessary.
These policy shifts are an attempt by Interior to put a Band-Aid on the controversial U.S. Supreme Court Carcieri decision of 2009 and its piggybacking Patchak decision of 2012. Carcieri limited Interior’s ability to take land into trust for tribes not “under federal jurisdiction” in 1934; Patchak allowed a lawsuit to go forward challenging a tribal casino in Michigan from opening based on the Carcieri decision. The Patchak lawsuit – filed three years after Interior took land into trust, which the Supreme court affirmed was okay – argued in part that the tribe in that case, the Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatomi Indians, was federally recognized after 1934, so the same Carcieri rule should apply to it.
Interior has not officially announced any of the Patchak-centric changes, but their existence came to be known during recent proceedings involving the North Fork Rancheria of Mono Indians, a California tribe that has long been proposing an off-reservation casino. Interior officials told the North Fork Rancheria in January that the Department did not plan to wait for a lawsuit to play out before taking the land into trust for the tribe. As a result, U.S. District Judge Beryl A. Howell recently denied a challenge by the Picayune Rancheria of the Chukchansi Indians’ to stop the land from going into trust. He noted in his ruling that if the North Fork Rancheria ends up losing the suit to the other tribe, “the government may have to contend with legal claims against it.”
“Interior has defended the policy’s application to the North Fork Rancheria on the grounds that the tribe knows what it is doing, so there is little federal liability,” Anderson said, further estimating that “dozens and dozens” of tribes could find the change beneficial, since it is not solely intended for gaming land acquisitions, but all Indian trust lands, such as ones that have come under litigation for housing, health, cultural, and other non-gaming developments.
For a true Patchak fix to occur, and not just a patch, Anderson said that Congress would need to pass a law that would limit all post-land acquisition lawsuits.
Greg Smith, a lawyer focused on Indian affairs with Hobbs, Straus, Dean, & Walker, said that Interior’s decision to proceed with taking land into trust, even in the middle of lawsuit challenging that decision, has sound legal underpinnings, as the Department had voluntarily imposed upon itself the restriction to not take land into trust during litigation in the first place.
“They weren’t prohibited from taking the land into trust by the law, so they are free to change their ‘self-stay policy’ and now start taking that land into trust during litigation,” Smith said.
Still, Feinstein has many concerns. In a letter sent to Interior on January 31, she asked outgoing Interior Secretary Ken Salazar “to clarify several points of concern and allow stakeholders an opportunity for comment before this policy change is implemented.” She called it an “abrupt change in policy has caught many who follow this issue, including many within the Native American community, by surprise.” And she raised several questions, asking if there is a potential for federal liability, if the Department is ready to protect federal liability, if the Department has a procedure for removing lands from trust, and whether the change is necessary at all.
“Have you consulted with tribes and other stakeholders to determine if it is feasible to maintain your voluntary stay policy, with additional conditions?” Feinstein asked in the letter. “Given the significant unanswered questions and the lack of consultation as recommended by Executive Order 13175 which calls for ‘meaningful consultation and collaboration with tribal officials in the development of Federal policies that have tribal implications,’ I urge you to open a formal rulemaking process to resolve these outstanding issues prior to implementing this new policy.”
Brian Weiss, a spokesman for Feinstein, said his boss has yet to receive the answers she is looking for. “The policy change is significant and was done without consultation,” he said. “The purpose of the letter was to ask some questions.”
Feinstein’s letter came at an interesting time, being sent very soon after Interior announced its decisions to take land into trust for the North Fork Rancheria of Mono Indians, as well as the Enterprise Rancheria of Maidu Indians—both California tribes that she has been scrutinizing. The senator is well known for opposing Indian gaming interests in her state, and she has received criticism for offering legislation in 2011 that would amend Section 20 of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA) to make it very difficult for some tribes to open casinos. She has also been called out for attempting to secure a compromised Carcieri fix to a controversial 2009 Supreme Court ruling that called into question Interior’s ability to take land into trust for tribes recognized by the federal government after 1934.
Young, chairman of the House Subcommittee on Indian and Alaska Native Affairs, is also requesting clarity on the policy change. In response to an inquiry from Indian Country Today Media Network about Feinstein’s letter, Young’s office said that he is concerned that Interior has not shared the change with him or his office. His spokesman said that Interior has not consulted with, nor informed, the congressman of the changes, and that Young would like to see a response from Washburn on this matter.
Nedra Darling, a spokeswoman for Interior, said that she could not comment on the letter: “We are reviewing the letter, but the Department does not comment on matters of litigation.”
Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., chair of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, has yet to respond with her thoughts on her Democratic colleague’s concerns; her staff has been studying the letter for many days without comment.
Several Indian affairs lobbyists and lawyers in Washington believe the shift in Interior’s policy is good for Indian country as a whole, and they fear that Feinstein, at least, is attempting to once again negatively tie Indian gaming to Interior’s ability to take land into trust for tribes.
“Interior is being fairly proactive about allowing land to be conveyed, and Sen. Feinstein has been on the record – probably at the behest of D.C. lobbyists and those who have opposed the North Fork and Enterprise projects – against Indian gaming interests,” said Anderson. “She’s opposed to gaming, period.”
Anderson said the issue goes far beyond gaming, however, adding, “There are tribal advantages to having land into trust immediately, including tax advantages, grant opportunities, and all the other opportunities of having a land base. It would be nice to see the senator support these outcomes.”
Joe Valandra, a tribal consultant, said he finds the substance of Feinstein’s letter to be “at best disingenuous” with an underlying motive of “dividing and conquering” Indian country on Patchak and other trust and gaming issues.
“This letter continues the point of view that land should almost never be taken into trust and when it is, it should be subject to every political whim and pressure available,” Valandra said, adding that Feinstein implies that the change in policy is a negative for tribes, but what he thinks she really means is that it is negative for some gaming tribes that wish to limit competition from other tribes on this front.
Valandra said that if she had real concerns in this area for all tribes, “she would be advocating for legislative fixes to remedy the effects of the Carcieri and Patchak decisions. She would also be supportive of the change in policy at BIA that is attempting to bring certainty to land in to trust decisions at an earlier time.”
Valandra said that Feinstein’s federal liability concerns are “spectacularly disingenuous,” adding, “the cost to tribes because of uncertainty about future landholdings and the ability to engage in economic development is the real cost.”
Other lobbyists, including those from firms representing some wealthy California tribes, are less alarmed by Feinstein’s letter because they see her as a person who needs to be worked with if important Indian country legislation is to pass the Senate, and they view her as a friend on issues they are passionate about.
Belonging to that camp is Larry Rosenthal, owner of the Ietan tribal lobbying firm, who said his firm consulted with Feinstein before her letter was sent. “She tends to see these issues through the prism of gaming because she has had a lot of issues with gaming in her state over the years,” Rosenthal said. “She has never liked gaming, and she has always been anti-gaming.
“At the same time, she is not anti-Indian. We have worked well with her on a variety of issues, like the tribal components of [the Violence Against Women Act] and Internet poker.”
To those who think he is befriending an enemy of Indian country, Rosenthal said, “It’s important to note the distinction between being a realist versus being a defender. I am not defending Sen. Feinstein; I’m just being a realist about who you have to work with to get things done.”
But Valandra cautioned that those who help Feinstein in her efforts are not looking out for the good of Indian country as a whole. “I am not inclined to pigeon hole, but the tribes that generally would benefit from the fruits of this letter are those that have a perceived economic interest to protect,” Valandra said.
“They are doing their job,” Anderson said of lobbyists who have supported Feinstein’s Carcieri and Patchak tinkering. “They are trying to achieve an ends for their clients, which is to stop competitive projects. Their goals are narrow.”
Valandra added that tribal policy at the federal level is based on consultation and consensus, but he believes that this idealistic ideology is hampered when it involves the divergent interests of the 566 federally recognized tribes today.
“Not all tribes agree, and most will never,” Valandra said. “This not for lack of incentive or trying, rather it is the same reason not all states and cities agree—diversity of ideas, geography, history and economic conditions. The policy dilemma is that when Feinstein (and others) use the divide and conquer strategy, it works. When consensus is not achievable, policy making/implementation almost always grinds to a halt, or is left to the loudest or most politically persuasive voice.”
