National Native News

The Miccosukee Tribe is embarking on a campaign to buy and protect lands in the Florida Everglades.

The Guardian reports that it is in a partnership with the Florida Wildlife Corridor Foundation.

The goal is to create a safe habitat for threatened species including black bears, panthers, and Key deer.

The initiative was spurred by the Trump administration’s slashing of federal funds for conservation projects.

Talbert Cypress, chair of the Miccosukee, said the tribe has a constitutional duty to conserve their traditional homelands, the lands, and waters which have protected and fed the tribe “since time immemorial”.

The agreement was announced at a summit of corridor stakeholders in Orlando recently, after a study by the Native American Fish and Wildlife Society found that 60% of federally recognized tribes have lost grants or other federal funds exceeding $56 million since President Donald Trump began his second term in January.

The Hopi Nineteen were sent to Alcatraz Island for seditious conduct on Jan. 3, 1895. (Courtesy Mennonite Library and Archives / Bethel College)

Alcatraz Island has been glamorized for decades on Hollywood’s silver screen, most notably by the 1979 blockbuster “Escape from Alcatraz” starring Clint Eastwood.

The film depicts an iconic real-life prison break by inmates Frank Morris and brothers Clarence and John Anglin a year before it closed in 1963.

But as KJZZ’s Gabriel Pietrorazio reports in the conclusion of his two-part series about the Hopi Nineteen and The Rock, the real-life history also features a number of dramatic stories.

Wendy Holliday is a former archivist for the Hopi Cultural Preservation Office.

“I think a lot of people know Alcatraz. They kind of know the stories from the movies when it was a federal prison and then don’t really know it’s related to Indigenous people. When I was doing the research and I lived on the reservation and I was a tribal employee, 100 years after those men were imprisoned at Alcatraz, this story was still so resonant as though it had just happened yesterday.”

Built in 1854, Alcatraz Island became home to the first lighthouse on the West Coast. (Courtesy National Archives and Records Administration)

As much as Alcatraz is about uncommon criminals, it’s also associated with boarding schools.

“Some of the stories that people would tell me that they had heard kinda passed down, was just about the trauma for them and for their family members that were left behind, wondering what happened.”

And once she started, Holliday couldn’t stop telling that side of the story.

“It’s not just that they were imprisoned, but they were taken from their ancestral land that was absolutely vital to their spiritual practice and wellbeing. It was a story, still very much alive and I still think today.”

Amber-Rose Howard is with Californians United for a Responsible Budget (CURB), a coalition of more than 80 groups organizing against prisons across the Golden State.

“Of course, Alcatraz is just a non-starter. There’s no drinking water, no utilities, no infrastructure. It’s hard to tell what’s a real threat and what’s just fear mongering, but at this time, I think that we should be taking everything he’s saying seriously.”

If not Alcatraz, Howard says undocumented people are likely next to be sent somewhere else – empty prisons that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has been eyeing – even in Blythe, Calif. along the Arizona border.

“But I don’t think it stops there. It starts with folks who are undocumented, and then it will continue to spill over into disappearing people from underserved, marginalized communities, who are Black, who are Brown, who are Indigenous, who don’t fit the agenda.”

Listen to Part One of the Series

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The Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho tribes recently received grants from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

But as Wyoming Public Radio’s Hannah Habermann reports, other housing-related funding for the tribes is a little less certain.

Tribes around the country receive federal support through the annual Indian Housing Block Grant.

This year, the Eastern Shoshone Tribe got about $2.3 million and the Northern Arapaho Tribe received about $3.6 million.

Emery’l LeBeau is the director of the Northern Arapaho Housing Authority.

“We get this Block grant based on a formula, right? And so it’s based off the units and our need.”

The money keeps housing authorities operating and helps maintain their current housing.

President Donald Trump’s proposed budget would decrease that funding by about 20%.

An earlier draft also called for eliminating a competitive community development grant.

Gilbert Riche is with the Eastern Shoshone Housing Authority and says losing that would have a direct impact on future projects.

“ That’s the primary funding source for us to spearhead new housing development.”

Congress is still in the process of reviewing the budget.

The Hopi Nineteen – all hailing from the pueblo village of Oraibi in northern Arizona – were arrested by the U.S. Army in 1894. (Courtesy Mennonite Library and Archives / Bethel College)

Last month, President Trump announced plans to reopen and rebuild Alcatraz, one of America’s most infamous prisons that was shut down six decades ago.

For now, it’s a federal historic landmark managed by the National Park Service.

Several top leaders from the Bureau of Prisons, including engineers, recently toured Alcatraz to conduct site assessments.

As KJZZ’s Gabriel Pietrorazio reports, the 22-acre island within the San Francisco Bay has strong ties to the Hopi Tribe of Arizona.

First a pre-Civil War fort, then a military prison, this maximum security federal penitentiary housed some of the nation’s most notorious inmates from Al Capone to George “Machine Gun” Kelly. But Matthew Sakiestewa (Hopi), a history professor at the University of Arizona, says they all had one thing in common.

“ The federal government has always seen that island as a place to put problematic people, including a group of 19 Hopi men.”

Some refer to them as the Hopi Nineteen hailing from the pueblo village of Orayvi perched atop Third Mesa in the high desert of northern Arizona.

The Hopis were charged with sedition after refusing to let their children attend Indian boarding schools.

With no due process since they were considered wards of the state, the then-Commissioner of Indian Affairs sentenced the Hopi Nineteen to confinement and hard labor in 1895 – nearly a thousand miles away.

“ You will encounter steep walkways, uneven surfaces and tripping hazards on Alcatraz Island. Please watch your step. Right now, it’s a park. This is a place for the public. I’ve taken the ferry boat trip there, less than two miles from the shore, and you can learn about this Native history.”

Sakiestewa says Alcatraz Island is also a political symbol.

“ Whether that’s [the] federal government’s perspective or also Indigenous people.”

And for Trump, Alcatraz is not only a symbol of law order.

“ It’s a big hulk that’s sitting there rusting and rotting, but it sort of represents something that’s both horrible and beautiful and strong and miserable. Weak.”

Tune in tomorrow for part two of this series on Alcatraz’s ties to the Hopi.

Lakota Sioux warriors charge Colonel William Royall’s detachment of Cavalry in this wood engraving from Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, August 12, 1876. (Courtesy Library Of Congress)

And on this day in 1876, the Battle of the Rosebud took place in eastern Montana between 4,000 Lakota Sioux warriors and General George Crook’s troops.

His men were surprised and caught in the open of a gully, but his Crow and Shoshone allies blunted the attack long enough for Crook to regroup.

He lost 28 out of 1300 men, but the greater disaster – the Battle of Little Bighorn – was eight days away.

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Writer, actress, comedienne, and activist Jana Schmieding is known for her work with Native-themed series such as Rutherford Falls and Reservation Dogs, but she’s also a “Duck”.

The University of Oregon alum is this year’s commencement speaker and spent this weekend reconnecting with her campus community.

Schmieding graduated in 2005 with a degree in Theater Arts.

On Saturday, she and her family tied on aprons and cooked fry bread tacos at the UO Longhouse for Native students, alum, and special dignitaries including President Karl Scholz.

Schmieding says it turns out Scholz’s daughter is a fan of her work, and there’s a new project underway.

“We just shot a pilot also created by Sierra Teller Ornelas, Bobby Wilson, and Jackie Keliiaa, three comedy writers. Sierra was the co-creator of Rutherford Falls. And it’s a community center comedy that takes place in Oakland but we shot it in Portland. And if the show gets picked up by NBC for a series run, we will shoot it in Portland.”

For all of her comedy stylings, Schmieding says she takes her role as this year’s commencement speaker for the Class of ‘25 very seriously. She gave a preview summary of her speech.

“Special shout out to the Native grads. And I’m talking about Indigenous joy. I’m talking about joy in general. And just the importance of maintaining joy as resistance. Joy as an important part of sustaining our movements, and joy as a creative practice.”

Schmieding says the collective struggle she and others faced as people of color really motivated her through her university experience, so coming back after 20 years brings those efforts full circle.

People sing and dance in front of a new Kootéeyaa raised at the Hoonah Harbor on Friday, May 30, 2025. (Photo: Clarise Larson / KTOO)

The City of Hoonah and Huna Heritage Foundation unveiled a brand new, 21-foot totem pole during a ceremony at the Hoonah Harbor at the end of May.

The totem pole, called a Kootéeyaa in Lingít, was designed and raised to honor the community’s rich fishing history and traditions.

KTOO’s Clarise Larson was there and has this story.

It’s called the Fisherman’s Honor Totem Pole.

Carved into the yellow cedar log are depictions of different fishing methods locals use.

Above that you have the gill knitter, and then you have the rod and reeler all by hand.

Master Artist Gordon Greenwald describes the design of the brand-new totem that now stands at the Hoonah Harbor. He speaks through a microphone to a crowd of more than 100 people who gathered for the ceremony.

“This is what you’re looking at, the Huna fishing people, all of us in the past, all of us in the future, and all of us now.”

Many Hoonah residents attended the event and a catamaran brought dozens of people from Juneau for the ceremony.

Greenwald led the team of carvers who designed and created the Kootéeyaa, which took five months to complete.

Fishing is deeply intertwined with its economy and identity of Hoonah.

A person unveils the new Kootéeyaa raised at the Hoonah Harbor on Friday, May 30, 2025. (Photo: Clarise Larson / KTOO)

During the 1950s and 60’s, Hoonah became known as the home of the “Million Dollar Fleet”. That’s because of the local fishermen’s highly lucrative skills and success on the water.

Hoonah’s Vice Mayor Amelia Wilson thanked the crowd for celebrating the Kootéeyaa and the meaning behind it.

“To see so many of our fishermen and fisherwomen here really just makes me so proud to be honoring all of you and that legacy that we have of 1000s and 1000s of years of amazing fishermen.”

David Sheakley, a speaker at the event, says the pole honors the fishermen who are alive today and recognizes those who have passed away.

He references the rain, which patters down on the tents above the crowd. Many people present were active or retired fishermen.

“It’s as if this Kootéeyaa is here to help turn those tears of sorrow into tears of joy, to continue on the fishing that is so important within the community, to continue that on into the future.”

The ceremony included traditional songs and dances as the tarp was pulled away from the pole to unveil it to the community.

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The U.S. Congress is considering a rescission request from the Trump administration to pull funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB).

As SDPB’s Lee Strubinger reports, the maneuver would negatively affect many tribal radio stations, including four in South Dakota.

The station KOYA stands to lose about $200,000 if congress ultimately approves the rescission.

John Miller is the station manager for the station in Rosebud. He says the funding reduction would be very detrimental.

“For the folks of the Rosebud. Because, we serve a purpose of keeping them up to date and passing along emergency information—passing along pertinent information that helps them in every way and every day. [CPB] funding that we do receive is very beneficial in keeping the station on the air. It wouldn’t be a good outcome for us.”

KILI of Porcupine, KDKO of Lake Andes, and KLND of McLaughlin all stand to loose around $200,000 in CPB grants.

South Dakota’s lone representative in the U.S. House, U.S. Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-SD), voted in favor of rescinding the money.

U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD) says he does not want to see funding cut for radio stations in rural areas that rely on public broadcasting — particularly on reservations.

“Let’s not cut the stuff where we really do need to be able to help some folks that are in some rural areas, and on the reservations, where they simply don’t have other resources available to keep those radios in operation.”

Rounds says his recission decision will be based on whether the package can be amended to allow for funding to continue to reach rural radio stations.

The question now heads to the U.S. Senate.

Grassroots organizers gathered Thursday in Montana’s largest city for a conference focused on combating the Missing and Murdered Indigenous People (MMIP) crisis.

Jackie Coffin reports from Billings.

Montana is home to 12 tribal nations and about 7% of the state’s population is Native American.

But looking at Montana’s current missing persons database, Native Americans are disproportionately represented, making up about 25% of missing persons cases.

Lita Pepion, co-founder of the Billings-based Warrior Women for Justice, says she’s tired of waiting for state and federal resources to make a dent in the problem.

“We hear people all the time who go, ‘what’s the council doing?’ ‘What’s the cops doing?’ ‘What’s everybody doing?’ ‘What are we doing?’ Because it’s not just their problem, it’s our problem as well.”

Pepion helped organize the two-day MMIP conference to share stories and strategies for searching for missing loved ones, advocating for their cases, and how to heal from the grief that comes with losing family members.

“Part of the problem with that addressing that is that we’ve been under or in a state of trauma for so long that we just carry grief after grief, after grief for centuries.”

Charlene Sleeper runs MMIP Billings, a grassroots advocacy program that develops research methods, trainings, and communication strategies for missing persons cases in Montana.

A presenter at the conference, she feels the state-led effort in combating MMIP has stagnated.

“So when it comes to sovereignty and self-determination, I feel like if we, as Indigenous women, take the initiative to create our own solutions in a way that benefits our specific communities that we come from, they’ll be far more effective and impactful.”

Pepion says Warrior Women for Justice will hold future events centered around MMIP throughout the summer and fall.

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Native American tribes are advising members to carry paper documentation as they travel, to avoid getting caught up in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids.

Since President Donald Trump’s push to arrest and deport undocumented immigrants began with his second term, reports of Native people being confronted about their citizenship status by ICE agents have been happening all across Indian Country.

This week, the Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indians of southern California issued notice to their members to carry a state-issued drivers license, a certificate of degree of Indian blood, and a tribal ID card as their primary documents.

Passports, social security cards, military IDs, and birth certificates are also recommended.

The tribe says all Native Americans are U.S. citizens, and therefore not subject to being deported, but having documentation can avoid wrongful detention and harassment.

People have rights during any law enforcement encounter. This includes the right to remain silent, the right to request a lawyer, and the right to ask if you are free to leave.

A controversial measure in the province of Ontario was recently passed into law.

It gives the cabinet of the government of Premier Doug Ford the power to create special economic zones where certain resource projects could be exempt from provincial laws.

As Dan Karpenchuk reports, the bill passed, even though there was widespread opposition from lawmakers, environmentalists, and Indigenous groups.

Premier Ford says Bill 5 was urgently needed in the face of the trade war started by President Trump.

It’s also called the Protect Ontario by Unleashing our Economy Act.

It would speed up the process for allowing major infrastructure and resource projects such as critical mineral extraction and make Ontario one of the world’s fastest regimes to approve permits.

Even though there was widespread opposition, Ford’s government has a majority in the Ontario legislature and the law was quickly passed.

Among those to speak against the new law was Linda Debassigee, a grand chief of the Anishnabet First Nation.

“We are disappointed and very concerned that Ontario has proceeded in the way it has without any meaningful consultation, engagement and accommodation to our first nations. Bill 5 can be viewed as circumventing protections that are seen as impediments or obstacles to development and furthering the colonial regimes of old and the continued disregard for the treaty relationships. I caution you not sell out our first nation rights, heritage and history in your frenzied attempts to appease the U.S. president, unleash our natural resources and establish a foothold in the global economy.”

Ontario’s Minister of Indigenous Affairs Greg Rickford says there will be consultations with Indigenous groups after Bill 5 is passed. That hasn’t happened yet.

Other Native leaders say those talks should have taken place before the legislation was developed, not after.

The question now is how soon the Ford government will act to designate any location in the province a special economy zone.

The Tribe of Gad Warriors from Oklahoma celebrate after defeating AZ Heat for the Triple-A championship at the D-Backs Inter-Tribal Tournament on June 5, 2025. (Photo: Gabriel Pietrorazio / KJZZ)

Last week, the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community hosted the Arizona Diamondbacks annual baseball-softball competition for Native American youth. This summertime tradition, known as the D-Backs Inter-Tribal Tournament, is now in its 25th year.

KJZZ’s Gabriel Pietrorazio has this report.

Rising tribal baseball and softball players from near and far shined while competing in the inter-tribal tourney under the bright lights at Talking Stick Resort’s Salt River Fields near Scottsdale, Ariz.

This year’s outing has grown to 75 teams, about 1,100 Indigenous youth representing more than 20 tribes from all over Arizona, California, Oklahoma, and New Mexico.

Four days. Three divisions. 103 games in all.

Oklahoma’s Tribe of Gad Warriors won 4-2 over AZ Heat in the Thursday night Triple-A finals, scoring its second consecutive championship.

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Last Friday, a federal judge in Phoenix denied a pair of motions seeking preliminary injunction to stop the Oak Flat land swap between the U.S. Forest Service and the multinational mining company Resolution Copper.

KJZZ’s Gabriel Pietrorazio has details.

Federal Judge Dominic Lanza considered their pleas “premature” amid a nearly two-hour hearing at the Sandra Day O’Connor Courthouse.

In fact, Lanza had admittedly made up his mind before plaintiffs – including the San Carlos Apache Tribe and a coalition of conservation and recreation groups – showed up in court.

The judge said granting their request would subvert an act of Congress.

However, Lanza also ruled that the Forest Service could not proceed with the land exchange until the 60-day mark after the government publishes its final environmental impact statement for the proposed copper mining project.

The federal agency is expected to release that report later this month.

Roughly 73 square miles of forestland in Northern California have been returned to the Yurok Tribe in what’s being called the largest land-back conservation project in state history.

Christina Aanestad reports.

The land back more than doubles the Yurok Tribe’s ancestral land holdings, including salmon habitat and areas of cultural and spiritual significance.

Tiana Williams-Clausen is the Yurok Tribe’s wildlife department director.

“So re-acquiring landscapes like this allows us to heal, to work towards healing a wound that was inflicted not only on the lands but our hearts when these lands were taken away from us.”

Josh Kling of Western Rivers Conservancy says his organization bought and transferred land to the tribe in phases, raising $56 million for the conservation deal.

“We’re thrilled to announce that we’ve transferred the final phase of land to the Yurok tribe and completed creation of the Blue Creek Salmon Sanctuary and the Yurok tribal community forest.”

Historically, the Yurok Tribe had fished, hunted, and gathered in this watershed flanked by coastal forests.

The Yurok Tribe lost 90% of its territory through Gold Rush massacres and diseases from settlers.

Timber companies owned and managed the land for over a century.

Tim Hayden is the Yurok Tribe’s deputy executive director of natural resources.

“This is an incredible opportunity for the tribe to really assert its self-determination, manage its own resources for the benefit of both fish and wildlife, to restore the tribe’s land base, provide access for ceremonial and subsistence and gathering needs of the tribe.”

Salmon and trout populations were once the third largest in the Klamath.

Now with a dam removal complete, there’s hope those populations will rebound.

Pergish Carlson is a river guide with the Yurok.

“I know that generations from here will really see the benefits of it even when I’m gone or whatever. And that’s what I always kind of like smile about and think about, you know, a lot is that the future generations, how good it could be even from now.”

(Photo: Loco Steve / Wikimedia)

And on this day in 1971, federal officers removed the last few Native activists from Alcatraz.

Launched November 20th, 1969, the “Occupation of Alcatraz Island” was carried out by the group, Indians of All Tribes.

They claimed Alcatraz was rightfully theirs through the 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie, and by the federal government’s closing of the prison island in 1963, designating it surplus federal property.

At its peak, the occupation saw roughly 400 Natives and allies.

Celebrities like Jane Fonda, Marlon Brando, and Jonathan Winters all visited.

In the final months, power and telephone services were cut off, and a young girl fell to her death, devastating her parents and causing them to leave.

Despite setbacks, many see this occupation as the launchpad of modern American Indian activism.

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In Montana, the FBI and Crow Tribe are working together to offer $10,000 for information in the disappearance of Sa’wade Birdinground, a teenage girl who’s been missing from the Crow reservation for eight months.

YPR’s Jackie Coffin has more from Crow Agency.

For its third consecutive year, the FBI has surged resources to its bureaus that serve Indian Country as part of Operation Not Forgotten, an effort in part to investigate cases of Missing and Murdered Indigenous People.

This year’s effort will see increased personnel working out of the Billings, Mont. field office covering the nearby Crow and Northern Cheyenne tribal nations.

For the Crow Tribe, the surge means a flow of badly needed resources to look for missing people including Birdinground, who was last seen by her family in Garryowen on October 6.

Her father Wade Birdinground remembers the last words he heard from her.

“It was a Sunday, I was in Billings, I was out, it was kind of late and she called me to tell me goodnight and I love you, she always checks on me, you know.”

On Friday, FBI agents from the Salt Lake City, Utah bureau, which covers Montana, joined Birdinground’s family, friends, local and tribal leadership, and law enforcement in Crow Agency to announce new resources in the search for Birdinground.

The FBI Special Agent in Charge is Mehtab Syed.

“The FBI is offering a $5,000 reward for information that leads to her recovery”

Crow Tribal Chairman Frank White Clay announced the tribe would match the money.

Together, FBI agents and tribal members carried red balloons on a walk around the Little Big Horn College to honor Birdinground, with her father holding onto hope the reward brings her home.

“I love you, I know you’re out there, I’m not giving up.”

Foxwoods Resort Casino in Mashantucket, Conn. (Courtesy NCAI)

This week, tribal leaders from across the country are gathered on the homeland of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation in Connecticut for the National Congress of American Indian (NCAI) mid-year convention.

Leaders are addressing top issues facing their communities and advancing tribal priorities for NCAI to advocate on their behalf.

Monday’s agenda included discussions about the Indian Health Service, violence against women, and Native education.

Among concerns of attendees are recent actions by the Trump administration including possible funding cuts to federal programs and services for tribes.

Rodney Butler, Chairman of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, says the NCAI gathering is a place to interact with government officials, fellow tribal leaders, and other stakeholders in Indian Country.

He adds that Indigenous people are resilient and have been through many tough times.

“We are born out of perseverance and we will get beyond these moments, right? That’s the most important thing in sharing that. But also, that recognizing that there are some opportunities even in the clouds that we’re seeing. So, like, the interim Assistant Secretary of Interior will be here, Scott Davis, and he’s going to talk a lot about what tribes can do with this administration and, you know, in advancing sovereignty and growing our tribal economies in other areas where their priorities do overlap. Not perfectly with ours, but there’s certainly opportunity in there. And so that’s a lot of what we’re talking about and just sharing the war stories of ‘how did you navigate this scenario with your grant reductions’ and ‘what’s the best path forward?’ And you see a lot of that. And that’s the beauty of NCAI, broadly speaking, is just being able to share those experiences with sister tribal nations. And we all learn from each other.”

Tuesday’s agenda includes conversations about Native child and family wellbeing, Indigenous determinants of health, and NCAI/Native American Rights Fund priorities.

The NCAI convention and marketplace continues through Wednesday.

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The New York State Education Department has rejected the Trump administration’s demand that a ban on Native American mascots be reversed, challenging the federal government’s interpretation of civil rights law.

The New York Times reports that President Donald Trump recently accused New York of illegal discrimination, condemning a state requirement that strips funding from school districts that appropriate Native culture in sports teams and other activities.

President Trump has shown support for parents in Massapequa, a community on Long Island’s South Shore, that protested a ban on the district’s “Chiefs” logo and moniker.

Trump then ordered New York to allow all school districts to choose their own mascots.

But the state’s education department shot back in a letter, that the Trump Administration’s determination was based on “internally inconsistent arguments.”

The ban has been in place for two years, and follows many tribe’s complaints that Native mascots are derogatory, inaccurate, and harmful. New York’s schools also rebuked the White House when it demanded that Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programs be ceased or face defunding.

The New York Education Department’s letter also questioned the Trump administration’s involvement in a state issue, adding that a federal court in Brooklyn has previous rejected challenges to the Native mascot ban.

Four Corners Power Plant. (Public domain)

Last week, the Interior Department announced more than $119 million meant to aid communities reclaiming abandoned coal mines – part of President Trump’s agenda to achieve American energy dominance.

As KJZZ’s Gabriel Pietrorazio reports, two tribes were named as grant recipients.

The Navajo Nation and Crow Tribe of Montana are among 24 coal producing states getting federal dollars, including Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico.

Despite diversifying and transitioning to some sources of renewable energy like solar, the Navajo Nation still heavily depends on coal to fuel its economy.

Four Corners Power Plant solely relies on coal coming from the Navajo Mine in New Mexico.

It produces almost 5,000.000 tons of coal annually, generating over a third of the tribe’s general fund.

(Courtesy Oregon State University)

A new species of bacteria that conducts electricity has been found on the Oregon Coast.

Scientists have named it for the Native Americans who historically lived there.

The bacteria was found in a mud flat in the Yaquina Bay estuary, and has been deemed Ca. Electrothrix yaqonensi.

The original people’s descendants are now part of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians, who helped the researchers come up with the name.

Cheng Li was a postdoctoral researcher at Oregon State University during the research.

The rod-shaped cells that make up this form of “cable” bacteria have filaments that have electrical conductivity that help optimize their metabolic processes in the muck.

“The cable bacteria are able to oxidize sulfide and channeling electrons along themselves conducting like wires, and then go to the surface of the sediment and reduce oxygen. Kind of connecting the two parts together by using electrical currents,

Li says it’s important to honor the original inhabitants of the land where this bacteria was found.

“So I think that history, it’s really rich, and should be preserved and telling people what had happened. And I think especially more important nowadays, because we’re facing some unforeseen drawbacks on diversity, equity, and inclusiveness.”

The findings are published in the journal, Applied and Environmental Microbiology.

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(Photo: Gabriel Pietrorazio / KJZZ)

Oak Flat is set to become one of the biggest copper mines in the world following a U.S. Supreme Court decision not to hear the case last month, but the Apache people who consider it to be a sacred site are still fighting to protect it.

More than a dozen opponents to the project will appear at the Phoenix federal courthouse Friday where the Harvard-educated, Trump-appointed U.S District Court Judge Dominic Lanza will hear from plaintiffs representing a pair of separate lawsuits against the U.S. Forest Service.

KJZZ’s Gabriel Pietrorazio takes us inside Oak Flat, as he concludes his two-part series.

President Ulysses S. Grant established the San Carlos Apache Reservation in 1871.

Jeffrey Shepherd is a history professor at The University of Texas at El Paso.

“So you get this flurry of executive orders, but it’s also tied with the just, just horribly violent clampdown on Apaches in the Southwest.”

This led to rounding up thousands of Apaches, including Geronimo, and marching them to Old San Carlos — nicknamed “Hell’s Forty Acres” — as prisoners of war under military occupation.

A mural in downtown Superior depicts an interpretation of the infamous Apache Leap story. (Photo: Gabriel Pietrorazio / KJZZ)

Sharpshooters surveyed the landscape for fleeing Apaches. As many as 4,000 Western Apaches, Mojave, Yavapai, and Chiracahua Apaches were held captive under deplorable conditions by 1874.

Some even refer to it as a concentration camp — that became their new homeland.

Yet, these communities are made up of complex kinship networks of bands and clans, like Tonto, Yavapai, Chiricahua, and many more.

Today’s San Carlos tribal membership is essentially a melting pot of many Apache ancestors, including the White Mountain, Cibecue, Coyotero, Mimbres, Chiricahua, Pinal, Apache Peaks, Aravaipa, Tonto, Mogollon, and Chilecon bands.

But back then, not all of them got along, according to Marcus Macktima (San Carlos Apache), an assistant history professor at Northern Arizona University.

“Obviously, when you bring all of these different people together on the reservation, there’s going to be some ancient, cultural, historical clashes, because there was no Apache nation. That didn’t exist. We wouldn’t have ever confined ourselves in that way at all.”

The San Carlos Apache Tribe only gained federal recognition less than a century ago, when the U.S. unified these distinct bands and clans through the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934.

Long before that, Apaches were nomadic and traveled to hunt, gather, and farm seasonally.

So when the U.S. temporarily restricted movement with reservations, that upended their entire way of life, while also severing their ties to Chi’chil Biłdagoteel until the U.S. released them, added Shepherd.

“They’re really waging a military but also bureaucratic war on Apaches, as a people, but also upon their land.”

Oak Flat is considered by some Apaches as holy land where the Gaan, or mountain spirits, reside beneath the earth. (Photo: Gabriel Pietrorazio / KJZZ)

Mineral wealth, in large part, was a motivator for resizing their reservation six times — between 1873 and 1912 — by the U.S. and even the tribe itself.

The chance to discover old Spanish silver mines, especially, attracted expeditions to the Southwest, said Macktima.

“That’s driving people into Arizona. And of course, that means the extermination of Apache peoples in the region.”

Shepherd stressed that’s not hyperbole.

“Rounding people up, concentrating them on reservations, deporting them, and as that happens, we start to see the emergence of that federal land management regime take over the territory as public domain.”

In 1896, a tribal measure passed with 56% of the vote to reincorporate a 232,000-acre mineral strip – mostly containing coal — from off-reservation into the public domain in exchange for $12,433 annually — more than $470,000 when adjusted for inflation, explained Macktima.

“In the late 19th century, they’re talking about minerals and getting rid of the [San Carlos] reservation to allow for prospecting, and they do that, but the Apaches who agree are not from that reservation.”

Aravaipa Pinal Apaches primarily opposed that decision because it harmed their territorial farmlands, while Yavapais and White Mountain Apaches didn’t, with Macktima adding, “so all these different Apaches are coming in saying, ‘Hey, we should go ahead and give this up.’”

These ceded lands were supposed to be supervised by the U.S. government for mineral recovery with all revenues returning to the tribe.

It wasn’t profitable, so the tribe sought to regain its territory.

That mineral strip along the southern border of the reservation was eventually returned to the San Carlos Apache Tribe in 1969.

Unlike the mineral strip, Oak Flat has remained in the public domain since 1955, when President Dwight D. Eisenhower incorporated that site into the Tonto National Forest — where it remains protected to this day.

Macktima believes if the Apaches remained nomadic, “Oak Flat would still become a very prominent place for Apaches to travel to, and if the reservation didn’t exist, then you would still see a lot of that into the modern day.”

Wildfires in Wanless, Manitoba, Canada. (Courtesy Manitoba Government)

Devastating wild fires across western Canada have forced thousands of people from their homes, including those in Indigenous communities.

Two provinces, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, have declared states of emergency.

Air quality from the fires is being felt as far south as Georgia – and even Europe is feeling it.

As Dan Karpenchuk reports, for many first nations, the crisis now is one of temporary accommodation.

According to the latest statistics, and they change quickly, more than 30,000 people in Saskatchewan and Manitoba have been forced to leave their homes and are displaced.

Hundreds of homes have been destroyed, many Indigenous people have been flown out of remote communites, and satellite images show that in some regions the situation is worsening.

Recently, First Nations leaders in Manitoba gathered to address the issue of temporary space for those forced to flee. But in Winnipeg, Manitoba’s largest city, there isn’t much left.

Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs Grand Chief Kyra Wilson says the situation has become dire.

“And we see young children and families waiting in whatever environment that they’re in, waiting to go to their secondary accommodation, whatever that is, And it’s really sad to see our children having to sleep; on floors, people are sitting waiting in hallways, waiting outside. And right now we just need everybody to come together.”

In Ottawa, the federal government has deployed military personnel to help fight the fires.

Officials says the firefighting service has now been stretched the maximum and the call has gone out to Canada’s international partners for help.

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Photo: The Old San Carlos Memorial is located in Peridot on the San Carlos Apache Reservation. (Gabriel Pietrorazio / KJZZ)

Nestled within the Tonto National Forest in Arizona is Oak Flat – home to one of the largest undeveloped copper deposits on Earth.

The ore could be worth a fortune to the mining companies planning to extract it, but to many Apache people, Oak Flat’s value can’t be measured in dollars.

They are connected to it – culturally and spiritually – and have been fighting to save it.

KJZZ’s Gabriel Pietrorazio explores the region’s deep Apache roots, in part one of this two-part series.

Chi’chil Biłdagoteel — the Apache name for Oak Flat — has been a spiritual site for generations of Apaches.

Resolution Copper’s No. 10 shaft, the deepest single lift mine shaft in the U.S., overlooks the Oak Flat campground in the Tonto National Forest. (Photo: Gabriel Pietrorazio / KJZZ)

From coming-of-age and sunrise ceremonies to picking acorns underneath Emory oak trees, it’s also where some believe angels — called the Gaan — or mountain spirits reside among minerals beneath the surface.

San Carlos Apache Chairman Terry Rambler has deep ties to this land east of the Valley.

“My great-grandmother, she was from that area: Winkelman, Superior, and Oak Flat. My people, Aravaipa, in Apache they’re called Tsé Binesti’é. That means Surrounded by Rocks clan. So when you’re in the area, you can just know why my ancestors were given that name.”

Rambler’s relatives resided in the rugged Pinal Mountains, and are among at least eight Apache clans and two Western Apache bands that lay claim to Oak Flat.

In all, about a dozen modern-day federally recognized tribes in the Southwest maintain cultural connections there, including the Hopi, Zuni, and Four Southern Tribes: Tohono O’odham, Ak-Chin, Salt River Pima-Maricopa, and Gila River.

Apaches past and present, arguably, prized it the most.

Apache Stronghold founder Wendsler Nosie Sr. speaks about their ongoing religious battle for Oak Flat in 2023.

More than 60 Western Apache clans — some now extinct — and differing bands roamed the borderlands of the Southwest from modern-day Flagstaff, Ariz. to eastern New Mexico and even into Mexico.

Violence brewed between U.S. settlers, Mexicans, and Apaches.

Even the Mexican state of Sonora began, in 1835, paying out bounties for Apache scalps: 100 pesos per male, 50 pesos per female, and 25 pesos per each child under age 14.

Despite the 1848 Mexican-American War ending with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, tensions still escalated.

Settlers encroached on Apache homelands, bringing ranching, mining, cattle, timber, and railroad interests with them to the West.

The mass migration, in part, led to the Apache Wars, a series of armed conflicts spanning decades with the U.S. Army.

Then, the Treaty of Santa Fe — an 1852 truce — was ratified and supposed to cease hostilities.

Wendsler Nosie Sr. speaks to the crowd about their ongoing religious struggle at the Apache holy site. (Photo: Gabriel Pietrorazio / KJZZ)

Jeffrey Shepherd is a history professor at The University of Texas at El Paso.

“Apaches broke it. Americans broke it. The military broke it. Mexicans broke it. They didn’t care, they just ignored it. Then there were some bands of Apaches that said, ‘This treaty doesn’t cover us. We don’t want peace. We don’t want to let people through here. Why should we trust you?’”

Two years later, Mexico sold 29,670 square miles of soil to the U.S. for $10 million through the Gadsden Purchase — eventually leading to the formation of the Arizona and New Mexico territories — with the 1863 Arizona Organic Act amid the Civil War.

At the same time, the U.S. still had to deal with Apaches in the West.

Marcus Macktima (San Carlos Apache) is an assistant history professor at Northern Arizona University.

“A lot of superintendents are saying, ‘Hey, we’re kind of thinking we should just give up the eastern half of the Arizona Territory to the Apaches, because there’s no way we’ll ever be able to control them.’”

Warfare ensued for almost four decades, with the U.S. still trying to get rid of Apaches until 1886 when Chiricahua Apache leader Geronimo surrendered near Skeleton Canyon — 30 miles northeast of modern-day Douglas, Ariz., near the New Mexico border.

Even then, renegade Apaches still raided northern Mexico until 1915, Macktima noted.

“The reports from military say that these tribes are just kind of wandering around. They don’t really have a reason to be in these places. That’s just not the case. The people knew what they were doing, and we had a cyclical nature to our culture, but in specific places at specific times, and Oak Flat was a part of that.”

They were forced out of Oak Flat in the 1870s.

In one horrific incident, 75 Apache warriors near Oak Flat plummeted to their deaths off a sheer cliff — later named Apache Leap – located just on the outskirts of present-day Superior.

Aravaipa Pinal Apaches, in particular, were persecuted.

Federal and territorial government officials sanctioned militarized citizen gangs to essentially track down and kill families.

More than 380 Apache deaths were documented in 35 encounters between 1859 and 1874, according to Simon Fraser University anthropology professor John Welch, a former historic preservation officer for the White Mountain Apache Tribe.

Terry Rambler recalled those days.

“The rifles defeated the bows and arrows, and so our people, including my great-grandmother, were herded like cattle from that area to Old San Carlos. They had the help of the U.S. soldiers and the PR campaign by the local papers, depicting us as savages and that we were in the way of Manifest Destiny.”

California lawmakers this week voted to support four new bills by Assemblymember James Ramos (Serrano/Cahuilla/D-CA), the state’s first and only Native American legislator.

All four passed with full support, according to Asm. Ramos’ office.

One bill creates a three-year pilot project granting peace officer status to California tribes in limited capacity.

Another bill involves campaign finance and government ethics.

A third bill focuses on suicide prevention by having experts work with state transportation to make bridges safer where suicide attempts have happened.

The fourth bill seeks to have the California State University system work with tribes to find land for respectfully reburying Native American remains.

All four bills now move to the Senate.

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