National Native News

Photo: An Edison exit poll questionnaire. (Steve Rhodes / Flickr)

Four major Native American groups are criticizing the presentation of Native voters in exit polls for this year’s presidential campaign.

As KLCC’s Brian Bull reports, they say the data is misleading and potentially harmful.

In a joint release, the groups say exit poll data from Edison Research for the National Election Pool is concerning, given limits in scope and methodology.

They say the sampling of 229 Native Americans does not reflect the diversity of Indian Country, and add that exit polling was done at only 279 polling places on Election Day, and 27 early in-person voting sites.  And none were held on tribal lands.

“The numbers weren’t quite adding up for us.”

Michael Johnson is president of IllumiNative.

He says earlier work done with the Native Organizers Alliance on what’s called the Indigenous Futures Survey showed different results from the Edison-NEP research.

“While 48% of our community aligned with liberal ideologies, 52% of our community considered themselves moderate, conservative, or had no alignment to a party. And when we started seeing the exit poll from Edison-NEP, this didn’t seem to square with data we had done in our own community.”

But many major news outlets went with Edison-NEP’s findings, which showed 34% of Native voters in key battleground states identifying as left-leaning, and 65% as right-leaning.

Johnson says this is inaccurate, and harmful.

“The pervasiveness of misinformation creates a bias towards things that we don’t know or communities that we’re not a part of. And adds to the stereotypes, biases, and miseducation, and stands in the way of solidarity for all of our communities.”

The other two groups contesting the Edison Research-NEP data are the Native American Rights Fund and the National Congress of American Indians.

In a statement, Edison Research tells National Native News that given factors like the small sample size and the potential sampling error, the survey data should not be taken as a definitive word on the American Indian vote.

Johnson says he’s looking forward to a collaborative effort to tackle misrepresentation in polling, which would include more intensive tracking of Native voters at voting sites across Indian Country. He says this will help fight the plague of misinformation that harms nations.

(Courtesy Oregon State University)

The proper repatriation of Native American remains is behind a new facility in Corvallis, Oreg.

As KLCC’s Brian Bull reports, it’s a collaboration between Oregon State University and the nine federally recognized tribes within the state.

Called the “OSU-NAGPRA facility”, the two-buildings are about 2,000 square feet total.

They’re for consultation, records, and storing human remains in accordance with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA).

The 1990 federal law mandates the safe return of skeletons, bones, and cultural items to their tribes.

Ashley Russell is director of Natural Resources and Culture for the Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua, and Siuslaw Indians.

She credits sensitive discussions among tribes, OSU, and the state in making this facility possible.

“It’s just very important to us as tribes to have that relationship, and it not be like a transactional thing because these are ancestors. They’ve made their journey, they’re on the other side, and you have to be careful when you navigate those sorts of things.”

Other tribal representatives across Oregon have voiced support for the facility, which may be the first built specifically for repatriation purposes.

Oregon’s NAGPRA Director Dawn Marie Alapisco was pleased with the support.

“This isn’t an ending at all, this is a new beginning. This is a change, a shift in how NAGPRA can and should be performed.”

NAGPRA compliance has been a constant sore spot between many tribes and institutions.

Some universities have retained bones and remains in years past, citing “research” needs.

Mount Hope Farm and other tenants, including two private homeowners, will be able to remain on the property after the transfer. (Photo: Kenneth C. Zirkel / Wikimedia)

The Associated Press reports that Brown University has transferred 255 acres of its land in Bristol, R.I. to a preservation trust with the Pokanoket Indian tribe.

In 2017, tribal members and allies held a protest encampment at Brown, saying the land was illegally taken from them centuries ago.

A tribal cultural sensitivity assessment later led to a recommendation that the land be considered a traditional cultural property, and that Pokanoket people have sustainable access to its land and waters.

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Photo: A sign at Camp Marcedes in Winnipeg. (Antonia Gonzales)

Audio available by 12 p.m. ET

A grim search is underway at a landfill site near Winnipeg for the remains of two murdered Indigenous women.

This is the fourth stage of a five-stage plan that is expected to continue until the spring.

More from Dan Karpenchuk.

Wab Kinew, the province’s first Indigenous premier, was on hand for the start of the work as teams began the huge task of sifting through nearly 8,000 square feet of waste.

They are looking for the remains of Morgan Harris and Marcedes Myran.

Jeremy Skibicki was convicted of killing them and two other Indigenous women – Rebecca Contois, whose remains were found in a different landfill, and a victim identified only as Buffalo Woman.

Premier Kinew was with the Myran and Harris families as the work began.

“This morning I was there with two family members as we watched that first blue truck of landfill material come down to the search facility. And it is an intense emotion.”

It was two years ago that the families found out that the two girls had been murdered by Skibicki.

Tons of material have already been excavated to bring the search to the approximate time the women’s bodies would have been left there.

Amna Mackin leads the project.

“As we start to find items of interest, such as receipts or papers that have dates and addresses we’ll be continually looking at that information to see what it’s telling us and whether or not we’re in the right location of interest.”

There are about 45 people in the search team, which includes family members, a forensic anthropologist, a health and safety officer, and a director of operations.

The search of the landfill will continue six days a week for the next several months.

Kinew says he prays to God that the search will succeed.

Adult lake trout reared at Iron River National Fish Hatchery in Wisconsin. (Photo: Katie Steiger-Meister / USFWS Midwest Region)

After nearly 70 years of work, fishery managers say lake trout have fully recovered in most of Lake Superior, a development that’s sure to please regional Native American tribes.

As Danielle Kaeding reports, that comes after a fish-killing invader decimated the trout’s numbers.

The lake trout population dropped dramatically during the mid-1900s due to overfishing and an invasion of sea lampreys.

The eel-like parasitic fish feeds on the blood of lake trout.

It spread to Lake Superior by 1938.

At that time, the commercial harvest of the lake’s top predator was four million pounds.

But, that dropped 95% by the mid-1960s.

Bill Mattes chairs the Lake Superior Committee of the Great Lakes Fishery Commission.

“What we’re seeing in our assessments are that the numbers of fish in the lake are similar to that seen in the lake prior to lamprey invasion and over harvest.”

Mattes is also with the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission.

Lake Superior tribes use gill nets to commercially harvest fish, and he says the assessments show they can be used to sustainably catch fish.

“We’ve done a really good job of harvest management and of controlling those harvests over time.”

Mattes says those efforts along with lamprey controls has helped create a self-sustaining population.

A people’s celebration for the removal of four hydroelectric dams on the Klamath River takes place Saturday in California’s Arcata Theater Lounge.

Regina Chicizola is with the group Save California Salmon.

She says previous events featured politicians and tribal councilors.

“What we want to do with this celebration is celebrate all the people and organizers and families. So we have a lot of elders coming out, and then we’re going to have a few bands play. All three of the bands are part of communities that helped fight for dam removal.”

The removal of the dams follow decades of lobbying by Native Americans and allies, who say salmon are already back to their traditional spawning grounds.

“It’s time to celebrate, and it’s time to bring our kids up there to see the salmon spawning, and just let the world know that you can win these really big fights even when it seems impossible, especially if people listen to the guidance of the native communities that have knowledge on how to get it done.”

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Photo: The Snake River near Twin Falls, Idaho. (Staplegunther / Wikimedia)

With a second Trump term near, Native American tribes are concerned for environmental restoration efforts.

In his first term, President Donald Trump opened up lands considered sacred to Native people for development, as well as rolling back dozens of environmental protections.

In a press call with tribal officials last month, Gov. Tina Kotek (D-OR) said she’ll stand with Oregon values as the White House changes hands again.

“My hope is that we’ll see respect and cooperation from the federal administration to work with our tribes.”

Gov. Kotek said she’s focused on the Columbia Basin Initiative, which has worked with President Joe Biden to restore fish runs.

William Ray Junior, chair of the Klamath Tribes, then spoke about protecting salmon and two species of sucker fish.

“Our biggest concerns about the incoming administration is how it’s gonna affect our endangered species of C’waam and koptu mullet species. If all the water delivery agreements are fulfilled at 100%, extinction becomes real viable.”

Trump has discussed diverting water from the Columbia River to California and has also questioned the need for protecting the endangered Delta smelt there.

President Biden has created more national monuments in a single term than any president since President Jimmy Carter left office in 1981.

Tribes and environmental advocates are pressing him to do even more.

The Mountain West News Bureau’s Rachel Cohen reports.

After President Donald Trump shrunk the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase Escalante monuments in Utah, Biden’s first step was restoring them.

“And because of that, he really started thinking about monuments right from the get go. So you see much more activity than you usually see during the first term.”

Justin Pidot is a professor at the University of Arizona law school, who worked in the Biden and Obama administrations.

He says Biden has had a particular focus on monuments proposed by tribes. That includes Avi Kwa Ame established last year in Nevada. It’s a site sacred to the Fort Mojave Indian Tribe, among others.

Before leaving the White House, Biden could designate more national monuments.

Local campaigns are advocating for protection of the Owyhee Canyonlands on the border of Oregon and Idaho and the Dolores Canyons in southwest Colorado.

A new report reveals Indigenous-owned businesses contribute more than $46 billion to the U.S. economy each year. And a lot of that activity is happening in the West.

The Mountain West News Bureau’s Kaleb Roedel has more.

Research firm B2B Reviews analyzed the percentage of Indigenous-owned businesses within each state and how many people they employ, among other factors.

Researchers found that Oregon is the best state in the country for Indigenous entrepreneurs.

Nevada, Idaho, Washington, and New Mexico also cracked the top ten.

Arizona and California made the top 20, Colorado and Montana landed in the middle of the rankings, and Wyoming and Utah were near the bottom.

Zac Carman is a member of the Kaw Tribe, and CEO of ConsumerAffairs, a national user-review website.

He says Indigenous business owners face many challenges that politicians should address.

“Oftentimes state and federal are just completely disconnected from the realities of Indigenous peoples. I think you would need to start by listening and building resources and programs that fit their reality.”

He says that could help Indigenous entrepreneurs gain more access to funding, business education, and mentorship.

And 35 years ago, President George H.W. Bush proclaimed the week of December 3-9 as National American Indian Heritage Week, as Presidents Ronald Reagan and Gerald Ford had done in their terms.

But the following year, President Bush would approve a Joint Resolution making November 1990 the first National American Indian Heritage Month.

It kept the name until 2009, when President Barack Obama issued a proclamation making November Native American Heritage Month.

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(Photo courtesy Save the West Berkeley Shellmound / Facebook)

As thousands of shoppers took advantage of Black Friday deals last week, Indigenous Ohlone people and supporters gathered for the 28th annual Shellmound Prayer Walk in Emeryville, Calif.

The event is to bring attention to the shopping malls built on burial sites known as shellmounds.

Christina Aanestad reports.

Some 200 Ohlone activists and supporters gathered at the Berkeley shellmound for the Shellmound to Shellmound Prayer Walk, bringing attention to the Indigenous villages and burial sites from Berkeley to neighboring Emeryville, where shopping centers are built.

A post shared by Save the Shellmounds (@savetheshellmounds)

Corinna Gould is tribal chair for the Confederated Villages of Lisjan.

“Bay Street (Emeryville) mall was placed on there in the late 1990’s and the city of Emeryville knew, even though they were cleaning up a brownfield at the time, that that was a sacred site and one of the largest cemeteries in the area, and yet they decided to do it anyway. We protested for many weeks, at city council and zoning meetings in Emeryville, and still they allowed that to happen. So it’s a reminder that even though there’s buildings on top, even though there’s asphalt, that these shellmounds, these burial sites, remain in our area and they’re covered by all these places.”

Gould first organized the rally nearly 30 years ago. Then, three years ago, she passed on the organizing to her daughter Deja Gould.

“We’ve started doing this walk to set prayers down, set intention down, but also to bring awareness to community, and people, that our people are still here, are still active.”

Now they march and stop at shellmound sites and villages along the way that were also developed or paved over.

Gov. Tina Kotek during a Zoom call with tribal officials on November 20, 2024.

Expansion of gaming across Oregon doesn’t seem likely, a development some tribes were hoping for.

During a recent press call with tribal officials, Gov. Tina Kotek (D-OR) said she appreciated visiting with all nine federally-recognized tribes within Oregon this year. However, in terms of allowing more development of gaming venues…

“My position has not changed, and we have had fruitful conversations about the importance of gaming.”

The Coquille Tribe has expressed interest in an electronic bingo facility in Medford, Oreg., which Gov. Kotek said she opposed in 2023.

Her stance continues a “one tribe, one-casino” policy that’s been the mainstay for the state.

And for tribes across the Pacific Northwest, it’s an ideal time to burn hazel.

About a dozen Native people gathered yesterday to burn hazel growth in a rural spot used for Traditional Ecological Inquiry Programs (TEIP) near Eugene, Oreg.

Jerome Viles is a Siletz Tribal member, who led the burn demonstration.

He says this practice makes for better baskets for his people.

“When it burns, it stimulates a plant to send up really straight, long shoots. So when it doesn’t burn, we’re still able to get shoots, but they’re not as straight or long, so basket weavers really want those long, straight hazel shoots to weave baby baskets and all sorts of other baskets.”

The Traditional Ecological Inquiry Program group discusses hazel burning and basketry. (Photo: Brian Bull)

Nearby, TEIP leader Joe Scott – also Siletz– pares down hazel with a hedge trimmer, as Jerome Viles’ father Drew explains.

“That’s one technique that we’ve resorted to since reservation times to tend the hazel with. It likes to put up straight shoots after coppicing, and that’s what Joe’s doing right now.”

The senior Viles appreciated his son taking his knowledge of hazel and basketry, and put it to use.

“Gives me encouragement and makes my heart a lot lighter when you see young people who are practicing their culture.”

In roughly a year and a half, the hazel will be harvested for baskets.

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A new true crime documentary series looks at the murder of activist Annie Mae Aquash, whose body was found on South Dakota’s Pine Ridge reservation in 1976.

A Mi’kmaq Native from Nova Scotia, Aquash was a teacher and mother who was active in the American Indian Movement (AIM) in the 1970s.

Her disappearance and murder shook the Native community deeply for generations.

Yvonne Russo is the director and producer of Vow of Silence: The Assassination of Annie Mae.

“I’ve always known Annie Mae’s story growing up because I was a kid on the reservation. And also, AIM was pretty prominent during that time. Decades later, who knew that, as a filmmaker, this project would be presented to me? So I said, ‘Yes, I’m definitely interested,’ but I knew that I needed to call home and seek some guidance with regards to this story and speaking to elders and community, because it was kept silent for decades, people were afraid of the truth.”

Russo worked on this four-part docuseries for six years.

She says nearly 50 years after her death, the fight for justice for Aquash never ended, especially for her family.

“There was a botched autopsy. There were lots of misinformation out there, we’ll just say, and they wanted to know the truth. When I learned about all the harrowing efforts they did to seek truth and justice, it made me realize, you know, in this day and age that the past is still present in Indian Country in terms of the crimes that happen on reservations, and the injustices that happen within our communities. And maybe question, why cases -as it pertains to missing and murdered Indigenous people – why aren’t they being solved?”

Russo says she and her team wanted to get all sides represented, which included talking to people active in AIM and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. But they had to also be shrewd with some accounts.

“As you know, in Indian Country, sometimes it could be a double-edged sword, because you hear many different accounts of what people think happened to her, and for us, the responsible way, at least, you know in the reporting is that we have to corroborate, but also give meaningful consideration to what people are saying. And it can’t be hearsay. One thing when you have somebody saying they heard something happen, because so and so and so and so told them, Well, okay, that’s fine, but that’s not actual proof.”

Russo says she’s very happy with the end result of this project. And she made sure that Aquash’s family, including her daughter Denise, was pleased with the results as well.

“What it meant for me was, it’s like repatriating her mom’s story, but repatriating also like her legacy and all of us understanding what Annie Mae stood for, and it was important that the story brings healing to the community. You know, healing in the form of even like a spiritual justice.”

Vow of Silence: The Assassination of Annie Mae is now available on Hulu.

Courtesy U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs

And today is Native American Heritage Day, an occasion to reflect and appreciate the contributions the First Peoples of the North American continent have provided, including serving in the U.S. Armed Forces.

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AI image generated by DeviantArt

Today is the Thanksgiving holiday, which means many things to many people across the U.S.

For years, the event was portrayed as a cheerful feast between Pilgrims and Native Americans. But critics say this whitewashes the conflict and animosity that has marked the centuries since the Mayflower’s arrival at Plymouth Rock, and some Native people boycott the holiday.

Others use it to gather relatives and friends, to celebrate the resilience of Native Americans despite war, disease, and colonization.

However you celebrate Thanksgiving – or, alternately, Turkey Day – we at National Native News are grateful for your listenership and support.

Julissia King holds up model of a traditional kayaq. (Photo: Rhonda McBride)

The Alaska Native Heritage Center in Anchorage is known for its exhibits and cultural programs.

But as Rhonda McBride from our flagship station KNBA tells us, the center’s Indigenous awareness programs are growing in popularity, especially during Native American Heritage month.

Almost 700 students filled the auditorium at East Anchorage High School this month to learn about Alaska’s many different Native cultures and their values.

The team from the Alaska Native Heritage Center had a warm reception from students for two separate programs this month.

“We do a lot of amazing stuff. It fills my cup.”

Chris Delgado manages the Heritage Center’s cultural awareness programs and says they can be customized to meet the needs of a wide variety of organizations.

“We have National Park Service. We’re working with the FBI. We are working with the United States Air Force.”

Maureen Cronin, an academics coach at East High, is not surprised that companies want to invest in programs that raise their employees’ cultural awareness.

She says cultural literacy is important everywhere, but especially at East, which has students from fifty different cultures and is one of the most diverse schools in the nation.

“It’s really important to demystify cultural generalities, and it’s important to develop cultural understanding.”

And cultural appreciation for what the Heritage Center calls the genius of Indigenous culture, or “Indigi-nuity”.

“That’s how we survived out in the Arctic, back in the day.”

Colton Paul, a six-time gold medalist at the Arctic Winter Games who demonstrates traditional Alaska Native games at the workshops, says the athletes and their feats of strength and endurance epitomize “Indigi-nuity.”

“They can jump so high. They can kick way above their heads. I remember when I was a little kid, I would see these other kids kicking way above their heads, I would think, ‘That is right above the stars. That’s so high.’”

The cultural awareness trainers at the Heritage Center say they’ve noticed that when people gather to learn about another culture, they also learn to build better relationships with each other.

(Courtesy Michael Sherman / Spring Fed Media)

Regrowth and renewal were the themes of a special replanting ceremony in Blue River, Oreg. this month.

The event was also to highlight the history of Native Americans in the McKenzie River Corridor.

About 30 people gathered to accept white oak seedlings that were blessed and sprinkled with tobacco.

Dietrich Peters of the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde coordinated the event.

“Come on up, we’ll get you some tobacco, and you can offer your prayers as well.”

Katherine Wilson of the group McKenzie Reel said while much of this was to help restore Blue River’s landscape after the devastating Holiday Farm Fire of 2020, it was also to highlight the activity of Native people who crossed through before colonization.

She said there was one clear takeaway from the event by those present.

“Well, by the sounds of the sobs, the healing. The river and the land just seemed to be so joyous. It was healing, and I didn’t expect that.”

Attendees took oak tree seedlings to plant across the region. Wilson says she’ll hold similar events soon, to complement Blue River’s natural rejuvenation as it keeps building homes and facilities.

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Photo: This is a station at the Navajo Nation Chinle Chapter where logs from national forests are chopped into firewood for tribal families to heat their homes in the winter. (Courtesy National Forest Foundation)

The U.S. Forest Service is spending another $20 million to remove flammable underbrush and logs from forests.

Some of the funding will be used to turn that chopped timber into firewood for Indigenous families to heat their homes.

The Mountain West News Bureau’s Kaleb Roedel has more.

The National Forest Foundation’s Wood for Life project is similar to a food bank. But instead of food, it delivers firewood to tribal families – at no cost.

The nonprofit is receiving $250.000 to remove logs from forests in Idaho, Colorado, and Wyoming.

That will produce firewood for half-a-dozen tribes – Shoshone Bannock, Shoshone Paiute, Eastern Shoshone, Northern Arapaho, Ute Mountain Ute, and Navajo Nation.

Rosanna Jumbo-Fitch is the Navajo Nation Chinle Chapter president.

She says thousands of families in her community receive wood through the project.

“It’s a huge benefit, because it’s used for warming the home, cooking, and everyday needs. And our biggest population that we serve is our elderly population, those that are 65 and older.”

Nationwide, in counties with a high percentage of tribes, roughly one-third of households rely on firewood to heat their homes. That’s according to Census Bureau data.

Sunset on the Tanana River near Tanacross in Interior Alaska. (Photo: Rhonda McBride)

Long before there was a designated day to give thanks, there was a time when expressing gratitude was a form of deep spirituality.

Rhonda McBride from our flagship station KNBA looks at the word for “thank you” in three different Alaska Native languages, starting with Yup’ik, or Yugtun.

For Ossie Kairaiuak, Quyana is a word with deeper layers of meaning – one with roots to a culture of sharing food gathered from the land and the sea.

Ossie grew up near Bethel, Alaska in Chefornak, where he absorbed the true meaning of “quyana”.

“As I got older, I was able to help my father more. And I watched him butcher seals that my brothers caught. And then he would hand me the choice parts. which are the shoulders of the seal, and he would say, ‘Here. Gives these to these elders’.”

As Ossie carried the seal meat to his elders, he remembers how full his hands were.

“I gently use my feet to knock on their door, and the would open it up and they would say, ‘Oh, my. Thank you so much. Thank you so much.’”

“Gunalchéesh.”

X’unei Lance Twitchell (Lingít) has dedicated his life to spreading knowledge about the languages and cultures of Southeast Alaska, where he teaches Lingít at the University of Alaska Southeast.

“Some of our elders like the late Kingeesti, David Katzeek, used to talk about the power of this phrase, and how much emphasis and love you could put into it, sometimes by dragging out that last syllable, gunalchéesh.

Kay Wallis is Gwich’in, a traditional healer who believes “mahsi’ choo” carries great spiritual energy.

“It isn’t just a casual thank you. It’s mahsi’ choo. It means so much to me. Your kindness.”

She says her people’s long history has shown that gratitude helps to heal from sickness and trauma, and also, survive hard times.

“When I talk about my elders, most of them have passed. But they all remember hunger. They remember the starvation period. And then when somebody would just share a bone with them, a moose bone, a caribou bone, or a piece of fish, mahsi’ choo.”

Wallis says most of us today have never known such hardship and the importance of sharing what little you may have to give.

“Mahsi’ choo. You’re keeping me alive. You’re keeping my family alive. Thank you from my heart.”

She says the word, mahsi’ choo, comes from a time when gratitude was a way of life.

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Photo: Fin whale draws community to the mudflats. (Darian LaTocha)

A frozen whale is beached on the mudflats near Anchorage, Alaska.

The unusual sight draws hundreds of people every day to see and experience it firsthand.

Scientists have identified it as a rare fin whale.

After researchers took samples to find out what caused the whale’s death, they left nature to do its work.

As Rhonda McBride from our flagship station KNBA tells us, some are hoping to salvage parts of the whale, before the tides take it back out to sea.

For the ocean to reclaim the whale, it will take high tides at their peak to move it off the mudflats.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Alaska whale stranding coordinator Mandy Keogh says that will probably happen sometime in mid-December.

“For the community of Anchorage, it’s probably an opportunity they won’t get again.”

Keogh says fin whale are listed as an endangered species and it’s rare to see them in the Upper Cook Inlet.

This one was a young female and already quite big.

“It’s a 47-foot whale. You know when these whales grow to be well over 70 feet, so this is actually a fairly young animal. So, when you think about it, they would almost you know more than not quite double in length when that was an adult.”

Keogh says NOAA has had a lot of questions about whether parts of the whale can be salvaged.

She says rules regulating that comes under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, which allows Alaska Natives to harvest the meat and whale parts. because of their long tradition of using them for food, as well for their arts and crafts.

“No one else can collect any more mammal parts, so we really need people to leave the animal alone or, if there are Alaskans in the area that are salvaging parts, to give them space so that they can do it safely.”

Michael Livingston visits with fin whale. (Photo: Darian LaTocha)

Michael Livingston is an Unangax from the Alaskan Peninsula.

“There was a ton of people walking out there on the on the ice, and it was just a real powerful to be in her presence for a few minutes.”

He says the whale is a gift.

“How large she is and how graceful she is. even in her passing — to see her fluke to see her tail and how large it was how powerful was and muscular. It was just a really inspiring to be that close to a whale and to be in her presence.”

Livingston says there is a group of people organizing a blessing for the whale.

Cape Foulweather, Oreg. (Photo: Wayne Taylor / Flickr)

In Oregon, a coastal piece of the Siletz Tribe’s ancestral territory has been recently restored, nearly 170 years after Congress created the reservation’s boundaries.

Twenty-seven acres of Cape Foulweather on the Oregon Coast have been reacquired by the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians.

The tribe purchased the land from the McKenzie River Trust last month, with a $2 million grant from NOAA.

Angela Sondenaa is director of the tribe’s Natural Resources Department.

“It really is an amazing opportunity for us to become stewards again.”

She hopes to reintroduce cultural burning to the coastal prairie section, to rejuvenate its ecosystem.

“Cape Foulweather is an incredibly diverse and sensitive ecological area. It’s been a cultural gathering site for millennia. And it will provide direct opportunity for tribal members to gather and resume subsistence harvest in the rocky coastline there.”

The Siletz reservation was established in 1855 by Congress and President Franklin Pierce.

It was further diminished through land cessions.

Allen, S.D. (Photo: Ss114 / Wikimedia)

And hopes run high that Congress will pass a bill that would help Native Americans get home mortgages.

Dakota News Now reports that Senate Bill 1941 would permanently fund the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Native Community Development Financial Institution lending program.

While some proponents like U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD) say they’re confident the bill will pass with bipartisan support, others point out that the bill was introduced in June of 2023 and has been stuck in a Senate Committee since March of this year.

Just 38% of Native Americans own a home in South Dakota.

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Photo: Roy Kady sits in southwestern Colorado, adorned by a textile he wove from the wool of a Navajo-Churro sheep. (Chris Clements / KSJD)

On the Navajo Nation, a rare breed of sheep is treasured by herders and weavers.

The sheep were once nearly driven to extinction by the U.S. government.

Chris Clements and Clark Adomaitis visited a community celebration of the breed in southwest Colorado.

Navajo-Churro sheep, a breed considered sacred to the Navajo, are a source of community and artistic expression for a group of herders and weavers in the Four Corners region.

At Fozzie’s Farm in Lewis, Colo., Tyrrell Tapaha wove the beginnings of a Navajo tapestry with a loom.

He used wool from flocks of Churro sheep that he dyed brilliant shades of lavender, red, pink, and orange.

“In the summer times, I’ll pull 16-hour days weaving. It’ll be like three in the morning. This is my whole life. This is how I make my income.”

Tapaha, a member of the Navajo Nation, is part of a group of apprentice weavers in the Four Corners region who are herding Churro sheep.

In the late 1500s, Spanish colonists brought the Churro to the region, and Navajo people came to depend on them for the breed’s meat and uniquely durable wool.

But Churro sheep almost became extinct — twice.

During the Long Walk of the Navajo in 1863, the U.S. military forced the tribe to relocate as part of a campaign of ethnic cleansing.

U.S. government livestock reduction policies during the Dust Bowl decimated the breed again.

Roy Kady is a master fiber artist and sheep herder from Goat Springs, Ariz. He led the group of apprentices, including Tapaha.

Kady spoke to around 20 community members at Fozzie’s Farm about the history of Churro sheep.

He and his apprentices were at Fozzie’s as part of a partnership with Montezuma Land Conservancy, a land trust that manages the farm.

They allowed Kady and his apprentices to graze their sheep at the farm. In return, the weaver provided education on the breed to the general public.

“Not all of the Navajos went on the Long Walk. The ones that didn’t were the ones that helped save this breed of sheep. They took it with them across the San Juan River, hid high in the mountains, and some down in Canyon de Chelly.”

Tapaha described the responsibility he feels to keep the tradition of sheep herding and fiber weaving alive.

“We don’t own it. It’s knowledge that we should pass on since we don’t have ties to it in that way. You don’t have to practice this. You don’t have to live this way, but just as long as you know.”

For lunch, the weavers roasted a sheep they slaughtered earlier in the morning.

Attendees gathered around the grill and watched the fire hiss and sputter as the mutton cooked.

Above the flames, wisps of grayish-yellow clouds slid over the farm and nearby Sleeping Ute Mountain.

Kady discussed sheep herding’s importance to generations of his family.

“I’m filling these big shoes that my mother wore as an agro-pastoralist. I continue those traditions with the next generations to come. In caring for the land, in turn, the land takes care of you.”

Kady said that today, younger generations don’t need to weave rugs and textiles solely to sell products, as was common during the trading post era.

“That was imposed on us as a part of colonization because this was being woven for the trading post, for their sole purpose to sell it to the tourists and to profit from three or four times fold. Now, you’re the artist. Now, you’re in control of your own artistry, your interpretation of what you want to design and to weave.”

Tapaha is one of Roy Kady’s many fiber-weaving apprentices. He’s grateful for Kady’s leadership.

“There’s always a teacher and a student, and I think that dynamic has always been positively enforced in my life.”

Kady added: “I was once them, their age, and I was once taking that unknown path and wondering where my life would be. Continuing that journey in my life into old age makes me happy. It fulfills me.”

The legacy of Navajo-Churro sheep herding and weaving will live on in similar community celebrations.

They’re happening all across the Navajo Nation, most recently at the Dził Ditł’ooí School of Empowerment, Action, and Perseverance (DEAP) in Navajo, N.M., where Kady visited last week to give weaving demonstrations to students.

Kady and his apprentices continue to educate the public about spinning and dyeing Churro wool, and the history that lives in between each thread.

Photo: Maria Palma / KUNR

A new mobile clinic is now serving about 2,000 Tribal patients in rural Nevada.

It’s one of the latest beneficiaries in the region of a federal grant program.

KUNR’s Maria Palma reports for the Mountain West News Bureau.

The unit will provide services to both the Lovelock Paiute Tribe and the Yomba Shoshone Tribe.

Without a mobile clinic, medical staff would make weekly trips in multiple vehicles covering hundreds of miles to provide medical services. 

Cathi Williams-Tuni, Chairwoman of the Fallon Paiute Shoshone Tribe, says it’s a dream come true. 

“We have the remote locations at Yamba and Lovelock and sometimes to go out to Lovelock, they always have to take the four by fours, because of the roads. Much of the road is dirt.”

Clinical nurse Joy Schultz says the mobile clinic will bring people immunizations, lab testing, physician and nurse visits, wound care, prescription medicine distribution and education.

“We can say we’ve actually saved lives, we’ve saved limbs, we’ve saved communities from COVID.”

The new mobile clinic was funded through a $670,000 Rural Emergency Health Care grant, provided by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

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Alaska’s long election season has finally come to an end.

In his steady march to unseat U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola (Yup’ik/D-AK), Nick Begich III has crossed the finish line.

Rhonda McBride from our flagship station KNBA has more on the final vote count.

As early and absentee ballots trickled in after election night, Rep. Peltola was never able to close the gap between her and her Republican challenger, Nick Begich. And under Alaska’s ranked choice voting system, Begich could not get past the required 50% threshold to win.

That is, until the Division of Elections added the second choice ballots from two other candidates in the race to the totals.

“So in round three, we have an unofficial winner, Nick Begich with 51.31% of the vote over Mary Peltola with 48.69%.”

After the final count, Peltola issued a statement thanking Alaskans for the honor of serving.

She also thanked her campaign and Congressional staffers for their support and achievements.

“You’ve lifted me up during difficult times. You achieved generational wins for Alaska. You brought so many new people into the Alaska political process. You amplified Alaskans’ voices across the country. And you made fish a national issue.”

Alaska historian Steve Haycox says Peltola was once a student of his, who went on to make history herself as the first Alaska Native to represent the state in Congress.

“That will serve as an important precedent in Alaska history as it goes forward.”

Haycox also says, although Peltola only served one full term – and the last part of the late Congressman Don Young’s term – he says it’s too early to write Peltola’s political obituary.

“I cannot imagine that her public career is over. I think she’ll be back.”

Haycox says Nick Begich’s win was also historic.

He now fills the Congressional seat that his grandfather Nick Begich, Sr. held.

(Courtesy The Dairy Arts Center)

Some Native artists say a great way to honor National Native American Heritage Month is to support Native arts, but some in Wyoming say there are barriers to their exposure and success.

Kathleen Shannon reports.

Some new programs and exhibits support Native art in the region, including a Native Arts Fellowship from the Wyoming Arts Council and a permanent establishment in Boulder, Colo.’s Dairy Arts Center dedicated to Native arts called the Creative Nations’ Sacred Space.

Bruce Cook (Haida/Arapaho) is a fellow this year and was awarded a startup challenge grant from the Wyoming Innovation Partnership to help emerging Native artists become established creative professionals.

“We just closed the Homeland Show for the welcoming back of the Arapaho and the Cheyenne to their homelands. And we’re going to continue on that theme with bringing emerging artists from the reservation down there to get them a show and professional development. ”

(Courtesy The Dairy Arts Center)

Cook, who’s based on the Wind River Reservation, is a celebrated wood carving artist in the Haida tradition and has been expanding his ledger-painting work in the Arapaho tradition.

His work will be on display at Scarlow’s Art and Coffee in Casper, Wyo. through the end of the month.

Cook says there’s not a lot of opportunity for Native artists in the area.

Business was easier in Seattle, he says, where he was represented by a gallery. But in Wyoming, the road for Native art to be accepted, recognized, and funded has been more difficult.

“There’s a lot of sales of beadwork within the reservation. But it’s not really being seen outside the reservation. As far as the arts scene in Wyoming, it’s pretty nonexistent.”

With fellow artist Robert Martinez (Northern Arapaho), Cook co-founded the Northern Arapaho Artists Society and this was the second year they ran a Native arts market in Jackson.

He reminds supporters of arts in the West that Native artists are “alive and well, creating art”.

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