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The Bureau of Indian Affairs is often thought about as an extension of the federal government in tribal nations. The BIA builds roads and bridges, funds law enforcement and the agency supports tribes as governments, carrying out the trust responsibility.
These days one can add to that list: climate change.
ICT’s Editor-at-Large Mark Trahant visited recently with the Interior Department’s Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Bryan Newland about the climate – and some other topics – and the government’s initiatives working with tribes. The Biden Administration’s proposed budget for next year is packed with funding for climate resilience and climate adaptation projects.
The following interview has been lightly edited for clarity. READ MORE — Mark Trahant, ICT
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ANCHORAGE, Alaska — American Rivers has named the remote Alaska Kobuk River the eighth most endangered river in North America. The announcement comes at the same time the New York Times reports that the Biden Administration is planning to reject permits for what American Rivers calls the main threat to the river, the proposed Ambler Road.
The 211-mile Ambler road would begin at the Dalton Highway, the one road extending north to Prudhoe Bay, and head westward to cross the Kobuk River. The state of Alaska has said $7.5 billion is at issue in access to “a large prospective copper and zinc mineral belt with extensive deposits of critical minerals and other elements essential for a green economy and military effectiveness.”
Critics of the proposed road oppose providing access for the development of dozens of open pit mines in “a wilderness area that provides spiritual, cultural, and nutritional sustenance to the Iñupiat communities.”
The Times reported on April 16 that the Biden administration was set to announce there should be “no action” on the federal land where the road would be built. READ MORE — Joaqlin Estus, ICT
Legal advocates for tribes remain optimistic as a U.S. appeals court deliberates over North Dakota’s challenge to recent Native voting rights victories.
A lower court has ordered the state to adopt redistricting maps proposed by the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewas and the Spirit Lake Nation. The ruling would enforce parity for the reservations’ electorate in the upcoming 2024 races. Rather than comply, Secretary of State Michael Howe appealed the case to the 8th Circuit Court. The tribes responding by filing a motion March 14 to quash the North Dakota appeal.
“We hope and expect this challenge to North Dakota’s Native voters, and voting rights generally, to be rejected in line with decades of precedent,” said Mark Gaber, senior director of redistricting at the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center.
Gaber contributed to a March 18 brief reiterating that the state’s 2021 redistricting map violates the federal Voting Rights Act and raises concerns over threats to dilute the Native vote. The Native American Rights Fund released the brief. READ MORE — Buffalo’s Fire
Around the World: First Nation celebrates landmark court win, Australian Indigenous workers win settlement, and Indigenous environmentalist joins Brazilian literary society
CANADA: First Nation celebrates court win
The Na-Cho Nyak Dun First Nation in the Yukon Territory is celebrating a recent court decision regarding proposed mining exploration activities on its land, APTN News reported on April 13.
“We are very pleased by the Court of Appeal’s decision,” said Chief Dawn Hope, according to APTN News.
The Tse Tage stands as an untouched wilderness within the territory of the First Nation. In 2021, the territorial government greenlit a mineral exploration project proposed by Metallic Minerals, advancing it to the next stage of approval. However, this decision didn’t sit well with the First Nation, particularly because of the absence of a land use plan. Consequently, they took the government to court over the lack of consultation, ultimately winning the case in January 2023. READ MORE — Deusdedit Ruhangariyo, Special to ICT
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Officials from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration say we are in the middle of a worldwide coral bleaching event. This marks the fourth-ever on record and the second in the last decade, according to scientists. It happens when coral turn completely white due to stressful conditions like high temperatures.
Indigenous leaders are fresh off an Arctic symposium to make their message known in Alaska. Six Iñupiaq, Tlingit and Athabascan leaders joined others from an estimated 30 countries to kick off Arctic Encounter 2024.
An Indigenous basketball player has been drafted to the WNBA. Alissa Pilli was drafted in the first round to the Minnesota Lynx as the eighth overall pick. The Samoan and Inupiaq star became the seventh player to be selected from the University of Utah, and just the third overall to be selected in the first round.
WATCH
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A federal judge on Tuesday rejected a request by Native American tribes and environmentalists to stop work on a $10 billion transmission line being built through a remote southeastern Arizona valley that will carry wind-generated electricity from New Mexico to customers as far away as California.
The project — approved in 2015 following a lengthy review — has been touted as the biggest U.S. electricity infrastructure undertaking since the Hoover Dam was built in the 1930s.
Two tribes joined with archaeologists and environmentalists in filing a lawsuit in January, accusing the U.S. Interior Department and Bureau of Land Management of refusing for nearly 15 years to recognize “overwhelming evidence of the cultural significance” of the remote San Pedro Valley to tribes including the Tohono O’odham, Hopi, Zuni and San Carlos Apache Tribe.
The suit was filed after Pattern Energy received approval to transmit electricity generated by its SunZia wind farm in central New Mexico through the San Pedro Valley, east of Tucson. READ MORE — Associated Press
- Sovereignty through farming: Buffalo dances and traditional meals return as Osage Nation reclaims food sovereignty
- Fourth tribe bans Gov. Kristi Noem: South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem was banned by a fourth tribal nation on April 11
- Red Lake Nation College opens new $16 million urban site: Revamped building to serve eager students living in Minneapolis
- Connie Walker: The 100 Most Influential People of 2024
- Supreme Court questions obstruction charges brought against Jan. 6 rioters and Trump
- A Conservative Republican’s Rise Is The Latest Sign Of Indigenous Political Power
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