In late July, President Obama, an adopted member of the Crow Tribe of southern Montana, signed the Tribal Law and Order Act. The measure, introduced by Senator Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) in 2008, aims to smooth out the “jurisdictional maze” of law enforcement on reservations in order to empower tribal communities to better confront crime. Many […]
Tribes
Posted inFebruary 1, 2010: 'The environment ... is where we live'
How the West was really won
Savages & Scoundrels: The Untold Story of America’s Road to Empire through Indian TerritoryPaul VanDevelder 352 pages, hardcover: $26.Yale University Press, 2009. Paul VanDevelder, author of Coyote Warrior, digs deeper into the rotten core of the American experience in his new book, Savages & Scoundrels: The Untold Story of America’s Road to Empire through Indian […]
Posted inArticles
Court decision leaves tribes dangling
Critics say the Supreme Court continues to give justification to gut treaties and rob tribes of their land.
Posted inJuly 20, 2009: Thinking Outside the Timber Box
Cultural blight
Plant disease threatens traditions of California tribes.
Posted inGoat
Going it alone
It’s fairly common knowledge that the poor, though they’ve released far less than their share of the world’s greenhouse gasses, will feel the nastiest effects of climate change. Usually, we take “the poor,” in this case, to mean residents of Tuvalu, Bangladesh, Papua New Guinea or other developing states whose governments lack the resources or […]
Posted inGoat
The cost of progress
The Environmental Working Group just released a two-year study focusing on the toxins found in five minority women at the forefront of environmental justice battles. Within each community, these women work tirelessly to protect citizens from various forms of pollution. And within each of these women, scientists found significantly higher amounts of toxins than other […]
Posted inMarch 2, 2009: How low will it go?
Security vs. sovereignty
Border requirements trample on the rights of Indian nations.
Posted inGoat
A midnight lease on the mesa
High Country News has reported on the Bush administration’s “midnight deregulations,” the host of hurried laws issued in the waning days of the administration, which – whether aimed at fisheries, air pollution, or oil shale – generally promise to benefit big business while undercutting environmental protections. But now that Obama’s in the oval office, some […]
Posted inJanuary 19, 2009: Blood Quantum
Blood Quantum
A complicated system that determines tribal membership threatens the future of American Indians
Posted inSeptember 9, 2008: Reclaiming the low country
Cheewa James: Chronicler of the ‘Tribe That Wouldn’t Die’
Modoc: The Tribe That Wouldn’t DieCheewa James352 pages, softcover: $19.95.Naturegraph, 2008. With song and prayer, soil and prairie grass, Native American author Cheewa James recently honored the memory of her long-lost great-great uncle. Frank Modoc left his Oklahoma reservation for a Quaker seminary over 120 years ago, fell victim to tuberculosis and never returned. While […]
Posted inMay 26, 2008: On Cancer’s Trail
On Cancer’s Trail
The women in Stefanie Raymond-Whish’s family have a history of breast cancer. Now the young Navajo biologist is asking why.
Posted inArticles
Sovereign immunity on trial
Tribal governments may no longer be exempt from being sued by tribal members. Since the early 1800s, the U.S. government has acknowledged that Indian nations have full legal rights to manage their own affairs. This doctrine of tribal “sovereign immunity” has prevented legal attacks on tribal governments and shielded them from lawsuits brought by states, […]
Posted inArticles
The Longest Walk 2
On a chilly day in March, two dozen weary walkers are resting at the Ute Indian Museum in Montrose. In the shadow of western Colorado’s Shining Mountains, surrounded by relics of the tribe who once inhabited the area, the group is taking a two-day break on its five-month journey from California’s Alcatraz Island to the […]
Posted inArticles
Tribe takes on toxic waste
On the Navajo Reservation, abandoned uranium mines and other toxic waste sites now stand a much better chance of remediation: The Navajo Nation Council just passed one of the most comprehensive toxic waste laws in Indian country. The Navajo Nation Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act became law in March. This sweeping legislation gives […]
Posted inWotr
President Bush would jettison Indian health for ideology
Is President Bush willing to sacrifice the health and welfare of Native Americans in order to pursue one of his administration’s pet peeves? It sounds as if he is. The White House recently warned that the president may veto long-overdue legislation to improve health care for Native Americans if the bill includes a provision calling […]
Posted inMay 28, 2007: Problems In Paradise
Problems in Paradise
A murder near the famed waterfalls of Havasu Canyon reveals the social ills of a tribe that needs help
Posted inMarch 7, 2005: Anarchy in the Gas Fields
Tribe close to sharing federal bison refuge
Unless Congress derails a deal that took years to negotiate, on March 15, the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes will take over 10 of the 19 jobs at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s National Bison Range Complex. And the tribes will begin sharing management of 26,000 federal acres north of Missoula, where hundreds of […]
Posted inMarch 15, 2004: The New Water Czars
The New Water Czars
A historic water deal could give an impoverished Indian community a path back to its roots — and turn it into one of the West’s next big power brokers
Posted inJuly 2, 2001: Can Nevada bury Yucca Mountain?
Tribes fight to clear the roads for salmon
Washington fears lawsuit could give tribes sweeping control of salmon habitat