Indigenous leaders face a choice: develop renewable electricity for grid reliability and energy independence, or sell power off-site for economic benefit.Continue readingFor Tribal governments, can energy sovereignty and economic self-sufficiency go hand-in-hand?
Category: Native Nations & the West
A federal push to return American Bison herds to tribal control raises hopes that the once-abundant species can regenerate landscapes and restore native traditions. Continue readingDo buffalo still roam the American West with Native tribes? And if so, where?
The long-term push to restore a portion of ancestral lands to Native American tribes has gained new energy, fueled in part by the efforts of non-profit conservation organizations and private land holders. Continue readingNative American land return movement makes gains, faces obstacles
Despite persistent efforts by the U.S. government to eradicate Indigenous farming and ranching practices, they are regaining currency in an American West stressed by drought, diminishing resources and climate change. Continue readingNative agriculture never went away. Now it is on the rise.
Stanford Law School’s first Native American professor discusses the marginalization of tribal legal structures.Continue readingHow the U.S. legal system ignores tribal law: Q&A with Elizabeth Reese
The Navajo Nation has the most capacity, but its troubled energy history and culture of livestock grazing make solar development fraught.Continue readingWhat it May Take to Harness Solar Energy on Native Lands
Most local authorities, private experts and activists agree that since 1994, when the EPA started to address the issue, cleanup efforts for hundreds of uranium mining sites have been slow. Continue readingCan a New EPA Office Expedite Uranium Cleanup on Navajo Land? Not if Past Is Prologue.
The fishing rights promised to the Pacific Northwest’s Native Americans 160 years ago are proving the sharpest knife the region’s environmentalists possess. So far in 2016, these rights have undergirded decisions to block two planned terminals to ship coal to Asia. Another decision could cost Washington state a billion dollars in highway repairs aimed at protecting salmon.Continue readingIn the Pacific Northwest, Native Fishing Rights Take on a Role as Environmental Protector
Photo courtesy Anna Elza Brady By Anna Elza Brady Gavin Noyes Anna Elza Brady is the Policy & Communications Strategist for Utah Diné Bikéyah, a Native-led nonprofit organization that has been working to protect Bears Ears since 2010. In the wake of this week’s deeply fractured general election, millions of Americans are grasping to figure…Continue readingAn Unprecedented Coalition of Five Sovereign Tribal Nations
After months of anticipation, the Obama Administration has designated 1.3 million acres of southeastern Utah as the Bears Ears National Monument. The decision, announced 22 days before the end of the administration, has been met with praise and criticism. Here, we present several perspectives on this momentous decision.Continue readingThe Bears Ears National Monument