Six tribes have formed a coalition to protect Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in southern Utah.

As David Condos reports for the Mountain West News Bureau, the group is working to conserve tribal homelands.

President Donald Trump shrunk both Grand Staircase-Escalante and nearby Bears Ears National Monument in 2017 during his first term. And some people worry history could repeat itself.

Hank Stevens is a member of the inter tribal coalition and part of Utah’s Navajo Nation.

“With a new administration coming in, you know, there’s concerns that we’re probably gonna have the two monuments being shrunk again.” 

The administration issued an order last month to review national monuments as part of a push to expand gas production and mining on federal lands.

Stevens is optimistic the federal government will collaborate with the coalition and make sure Native voices are heard.

(Courtesy The Bow & Arrow / Facebook)

When you’ve served 17 years in tribal government, what’s the next step? Well, if you’re Jason Harris, you start a food truck.

NNN’s Brian Bull talked to the former Catawba assistant chief, whose business, “Bow and Arrow”, roams South Carolina.

Harris and his wife Melissa have both worked in tribal government and still consider themselves ambassadors of a sort. Only instead of discussing policy over the table, they share Catawba history and culture over the counter.

“One of the things that we have not been good at, especially as Catawba, is we don’t share our culture as well as we probably should. So that’s kind of given us an opportunity to answer people’s questions about not only the food, that’s just a starting point. But we can actually get into other conversations. It helps bring our communities together even more.”

Many visitors to the Bow and Arrow are non-Natives, so Harris feels this is a great way to connect with others.

The menu has frybread as the basis for its entrees.

“We have ‘The Bow’ which is a ground beef-based Indian taco with the trimmings that go with that, and then we have ‘The Arrow’ which is chicken on frybread. Then we have a bison Indian taco, we haven’t seen a whole lot of that out there in Indian Country. And then we do a strawberry dish that is my wife’s grandmother’s recipe, and it is just out of this world.”

(Courtesy The Bow & Arrow / Facebook)

The Catawba are South Carolina’s only federally-recognized tribe, so Harris says it’s great to represent his culture and share his passion for good food at the same time.

“We get to feed people. (laughs) Everybody’s got to eat! And then we get to share a little bit of our culture too, so it’s been really nice to do that.”

The Harris’ black and turquoise truck roams the areas on and near the Catawba reservation, sharing Native cuisine to pow-wow crowds and passersby alike.

(Courtesy RTÉ)

It’s all aboard the victory train for Indigenous language activists in Ireland.

Seo McPolin reports on signs of hope at the island’s largest integrated transport hub.

It’s been a good year for Ireland’s Indigenous language.

The Irish hip-hop band Kneecap is showcasing the 2,500-year-old language at high-profile festivals this year like Coachella and Glastonbury.

And this week – in Kneecap’s hometown of Belfast – officials in charge of the new Grand Central Station announced plans to install signage with Irish – in addition to the “King’s English”.

Irish language equality has become a political tool in the historically violent showdown between those who favor a united Ireland – and those who wish to keep Northern Ireland as part of the United Kingdom.

That’s why a handful of far-right politicians are trying to suppress the new signs.

More than two million people on the island, or 30% of the population, say they have some ability to speak Irish.

Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our daily newsletter today.