By DAN GELSTON AP Sports Writer

Raised in the rural Montana community of Big Sandy, Jeff Ament got hooked as a teenager on skateboarding at a time when not much more than only a handful of ramps were available in the state.

Ament's first love was a "terrible" clay wheel skateboard and his passion blossomed on a family trip to California, where he skateboarded and felt the g-forces on urethane wheels on paved asphalt streets and then poured through the pages of Skateboarder magazine on the 20-hour drive home to Montana.

Ament found pictures of decks and ramps that he used as inspiration for designs that his dad, George, would help him build — like how to craft a kick tail and create the perfect tail radius — and took his skateboard to compete in larger contests around the state.

"I think the idea that he was helping me build something was the most important thing to him," Ament said. "He gave me a life skill."

Ament's other major life skill, as bassist for the Pearl Jam band he co-founded, also has served him well and provided him with the means to help fund the creation of world-class skateboard parks in Montana. Many are in small, isolated communities, including at least one on every state Native American reservation by the end of the year. Construction starts in two weeks for one on the last reservation on the list, Northern Cheyenne.

"I think a lot of people don't understand artists," Ament said on a Zoom with The Associated Press. "I think skateboarding is probably even more of an art than it is a sport."

Ament has found the parks can help kids survive and thrive outside of daily isolation, a message spread in the short documentary "Paving the Way." Ament created original music for the film — which captures skateboarding's power to foster creativity, challenge stereotypes and build community, spotlighting Indigenous youth on the Flathead Reservation — that premiers Sunday at the Tribeca Festival in New York.

The film tells the story through skater and artist Alishon Kelly, who perseveres with her love of skateboarding even with a broken foot. "Paving the Way" is directed by Keelan Williams and was nominated for the Big Sky Award at the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival.

"I think what he captures really well is just, when you have that thing inside of you, you just feel the need to be created," Ament said. "I think it explains it really well, how cathartic it can be, how it helps you understand other aspects of your life."

At the film's backbone is a partnership between Jeff's Montana Pool Service — a nod to the large bowl at the center of a skate park — and the Confederated Salish & Kootenai Tribes, as five new skateparks rise across the Flathead Reservation.

"We're reminding people of our first peoples," Ament said. "I think most people in this country have no idea that they even exist. I think there's even been certain people in our government that are trying to kind of rewrite history, erase history. You even hear young people, say, younger people than me, talk about the Native people as if they're immigrants."

The 63-year-old Ament delivered the commencement speech at MSU-Northern in Montana last month and touched on the importance for the graduates to be being open to getting out and seeing the world, even if they come from areas that can seem disconnected from their rural hometowns. He met with some of the students after the ceremony and found the experience "gave me hope. I think sometimes I don't always see the best of the younger generation. They're almost to a person, so gung-ho about getting out, getting after it."

There also are plans in the works to get "Paving the Way" out in the world — Ament hoped for distribution beyond Tribeca, where Pearl Jam singer Eddie Vedder was the focus of a film in the festival last year — now available on YouTube or PBS — but wanted to make sure the film is somehow available to those in Indigenous communities and to show them the hope, resilience and joy that can be found at the skateboarding parks.

"These parks are where we come together and where we look out for each other," said Terrence Lozeau, a skater featured in the film. "You see little kids watching the older ones and learning."

As for Ament's day job, Pearl Jam returns in September to headline the Ohana festival in Dana Point, California, in its first performance since drummer Matt Cameron left the band in May after 27 years. The band has kept the identity of his replacement under wraps and will make it official at the Sept. 27 festival.

"I think the big question is, if it's going to work out that this is our future drummer," Ament told the AP. "It'll be the first show, so there's a little bit of a trial happening. It's exciting. It's taken a little bit longer than we thought it would take. We're not in any massive rush either."

Ament said the band has started writing new songs but would like to play a few dates with the new drummer before Pearl Jam hits the studio again next year.

"I think we need to get out and play like 10, 15 shows with whoever our drummer is and just kind of get that part going before we make a record," Ament said.

Northern Cheyenne Tribe Reclaims Cultural Belongings from the University of Montana

By NORA MABIE/Montana Free Press Montana Free Press

Inside the University of Montana's Maureen and Mike Mansfield Library, Donovan Taylor stretched his arms across a wooden conference table holding his phone, which was recording, up to two gray speakers. He furrowed his brow and closed his eyes as he listened to a 1968 recording of a Cheyenne love song.

Next to him, Theresa Small, a member of the Northern Cheyenne Tribal Council, leaned closer to the speakers and cupped a hand to her right ear, trying to hear the drums and singers through the lo-fi audio.

After months of consultation with the school, a group of about a dozen Northern Cheyenne elders and cultural leaders traveled from the southeastern Montana reservation to the University of Montana in Missoula last week to review and reclaim ownership of dozens of culturally significant items, recordings and documents in the university's collections. When such belongings are returned to tribal ownership, Indigenous leaders say, community members regain connection to their identity, ancestors and history.

"They don't sing like that now," Taylor, a traditional singer himself, told the group after the song ended. "We're losing our culture."

UM has digitized dozens of audio recordings of Cheyenne songs and interviews with elders, which were originally recorded on cassettes or wax cylinders by anthropologists or professors. But the digitizations are imperfect. Some of the recordings sound slow and garbled, like the speakers are underwater. Others make the voices of Northern Cheyenne elders sound high-pitched, like chipmunks.

Taylor asked Wallace Bearchum, chair of the Northern Cheyenne Cultural Commission, to play the Cheyenne love song again. He closed his eyes again as drums filled the room.

"I'm going to try to learn it," he said. "Bring it back."

Universities, museums and other institutions nationwide house Native American ancestral remains, cultural artifacts and belongings. Sometimes, the items have been donated. Other times, an employee may have purchased or unethically obtained tribal belongings for research purposes. It's often unknown how the possessions were originally taken from tribes, whether they were stolen from graves or traded.

The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, enacted in 1990 and commonly known as NAGPRA, establishes processes by which tribes can request the return of belongings and ancestral remains from institutions that house them. But in the more than 30 years since it passed, many institutions remain noncompliant with the law. ProPublica reported in 2023 that about half of the institutionally held remains of 210,000 Native Americans had not been returned.

In 2024, new NAGPRA provisions strengthened tribal authority in repatriation processes, requiring institutions that receive federal funding to get tribal consent before displaying or providing public access to tribes' cultural belongings. New regulations also require institutions to consult with tribes on all tribal belongings within a five-year deadline.

Complying with NAGPRA is rarely straightforward. Institutions, which may hold thousands of items, must identify which tribe an item belongs to and contact appropriate people within the tribe to facilitate its return. UM in 2023 hired Courtney Little Axe, the school's first full-time NAGPRA repatriation coordinator and collections manager, and during the 2025 legislative session lawmakers passed a state budget that included a $367,665 appropriation to UM to support repatriation efforts. That money, Little Axe said, was used to establish a student NAGPRA team at UM, with one student repatriation liaison assigned to each tribe in the state.

But most educational and historical institutions in Montana don't have a full-time role dedicated to repatriation. Montana State University works in conjunction with the Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman on repatriation work. A spokesperson for MSU said the university's sociology and anthropology departments reached out to 14 tribes in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming in 1996, but no claims were made on items in the school's possession. The Museum of the Rockies, the spokesperson said, has contacted at least 21 tribes since the 1990s and repatriated several items.

As of Jan. 6, 2025, UM reported having made 83% of more than 200 funerary objects in its holdings available for return to tribes, according to ProPublica's repatriation database. MSU reported having made none of the 49 funerary objects in its possession available for return, according to the same data.

Bearchum said that since the new NAGPRA provisions were enacted, he's heard from institutions across the country that possess, and want to return, Northern Cheyenne belongings. The problem, he said, is that the tribe doesn't have appropriate facilities to receive and store them.

"The issues are money and manpower," he said, adding that building a temperature-controlled repository with fireproof displays and security could cost millions of dollars.

Inside the social sciences building on UM's campus Wednesday afternoon, Northern Cheyenne Council member Theresa Small held her hand over a beaded pipe bag displayed on a table alongside other items in UM's collection.

"Hmm," she said. "This has come a long way to be here."

Tribal elders and cultural leaders walked around the table, examining the items — a beaded pouch, moccasins, dolls and pipe bags. The designs, colors and materials, they said, tell a story. A bag had been repurposed from a pair of beaded leggings. The soles on a pair of moccasins were made from a parfleche bag.

"They used everything they could to survive," Little Axe said.

Bearchum pointed to a pair of green, blue and gold beaded moccasins. The symbols — representing a tipi, thunderbirds, and the sun — tell stories of how Northern Cheyenne people hunted and held ceremonies, he said.

"It's beautiful," he said, looking at the shoes. "Our people are smart."

Annie Bement, an elder, pointed to a doll with solid blue leggings.

"I'm not sure that one's ours," she said. Others in the group nodded.

Mikaylia Yellowrobe, a UM repatriation liaison for the Northern Cheyenne Tribe, and Northern Cheyenne herself, stuck a coral-colored Post-it note to the table near the doll.

"Needs more research," she scribbled.

Bement, 78, never expected to see items like this in her lifetime. She grew up speaking the Cheyenne language at home, but speaking Cheyenne at school came at a cost. She attended St. Labre Indian School, a Catholic boarding school on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation, in the 1950s and 1960s. It was one of hundreds of schools nationwide that operated with the explicit mission of assimilation.

"We were slapped for speaking (Cheyenne)," Bement said. "We had to put our hands on a table and were hit with a ruler to be punished."

Assimilation efforts like those implemented in the boarding school era have contributed to the widespread loss of cultural knowledge and language. Three of the 12 Indigenous languages historically spoken in Montana are considered critically endangered, meaning their youngest speakers are elders who speak the language infrequently, according to a 2020 Montana Budget and Policy Center report. Bement is one of just 300 fluent Cheyenne speakers alive today.

"Our values, our stories, our history is contained in the language," Bearchum said. "It relates to our identity."

Small said hearing elders speak Cheyenne on old recordings "is a treat." She hopes they'll be used to educate young people on the reservation. Connecting with history that was once taken from tribal members, she said, is restorative.

"Without the ability to see where we came from, we'd be wandering," Small said. "This is who we are. This is our identity."

Standing before a crowd of Northern Cheyenne community members and university representatives on Wednesday evening, Northern Cheyenne Tribal Historic Preservation Officer Teanna Limpy and Little Axe signed several agreements to establish tribal stewardship and formally transfer ownership of the belongings in UM's possession to the tribe.

While it has chosen to continue to house the belongings at the university, "The tribe will now have full authority in what we do, how we handle items, how we store them, how we move them between buildings, and if we educate people using specific belongings or not," Little Axe said at the signing event. "This gives the tribe authority over their own story."

Limpy told the crowd she hopes the tribe will one day have a museum to house the belongings.

"This is just the first step," she said, as the crowd cheered.

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This story was originally published by Montana Free Press and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.

Ancient DNA Reveals a New Group of People Who Lived Near Land Bridge Between the Americas

By ADITHI RAMAKRISHNAN AP Science Writer

Scientists have identified a new pod of ancient hunter-gatherers who lived near the land bridge between North America and South America about 6,000 years ago.

Researchers are still charting how human populations spread across the Americas thousands of years ago, arriving first in North America before veering south. Groups that split off developed their own collection of genes that scientists can use to piece together the human family tree.

Discovered through ancient DNA, the group lived in the high plateaus of present-day Bogotá, Colombia — close to where the Americas meet. Scientists aren't sure exactly where they fall in the family tree because they're not closely related to ancient Native Americans in North America and also not linked to ancient or present-day South Americans.

The new study was published Wednesday in the journal Science Advances.

"Up to this point, we didn't believe there was any other lineage that would appear in South America," said archaeologist Andre Luiz Campelo dos Santos with Florida Atlantic University who was not involved with the new research. "This is unexpected."

Just 4,000 years later, these ancient humans were gone and a genetically-different human clan inhabited the area. Scientists aren't sure exactly what happened to make them fade away — whether they mixed into a new, bigger group or were pushed out entirely.

Analyzing more genes in South America will help confirm if this new group truly did disappear or if there could be evidence of their descendants elsewhere, said Campelo dos Santos.

Studying these ancient Colombian genes are important to piecing together the history of the Americas since ancient people had to cross this land bridge to settle in and spread across South America.

The area is "the gateway to the South American continent," said study author Andrea Casas-Vargas with the National University of Colombia.

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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Georgia O'Keeffe's Views of the New Mexico Desert Will Be Preserved with Conservation Plan

By MORGAN LEE Associated Press

A new conservation agreement will preserve land with breathtaking desert vistas that inspired the work of 20th century painter Georgia O'Keeffe and ensure visitors access to an adjacent educational retreat, several partners to the pact announced Tuesday.

Initial phases of the plan establish a conservation easement across about 10 square miles (26 square kilometers) of land, owned by a charitable arm of Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), on the outskirts of the village of Abiquiu.

That easement stretches across reservoir waterfront and native grasslands to the doorstep of a remote home owned by O'Keeffe's estate, a few miles from her larger home and studio in Abiquiu. Both homes are outside the conservation area and owned and managed separately by the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe.

The view from the rangeland should be familiar to even casual O'Keeffe afficionados — including desert washes, sandstone bluffs and the distant mountain silhouette of Cerro Pedernal.

"The stark colorful geology, the verdant grasslands going right down to the Chama River and Abiquiu lake -- all that just makes it such a multifaceted place with tremendous conservation value," said Jonathan Hayden, executive director of the New Mexico Land Conservancy that helped broker the conservation plan and will oversee easements.

Hayden said the voluntary plan guards against the potential encroachment of modern development that might subdivide and transform the property, though there are not any imminent proposals.

Land within an initial easement has been the backdrop to movie sets for decades, including a recreation of wartime Los Alamos in the hit 2024 film "Oppenheimer, " on a temporary movie set that still stands.

The conservation agreement guarantees some continued access for film productions, as well as preserving traditional winter grazing for farmers who usher small herds down from the mountains as snow arrives.

The state of New Mexico is substantially underwriting the initiative though a trust created by state lawmakers in 2023.

An approved $920,000 state award is being set aside for easement surveys, transaction costs and a financial nest-egg that the Presbyterian Church Foundation will use — while retaining property ownership — to support programming at the adjacent Ghost Ranch Education & Retreat Center and its use of the conservation area.

The center attracts about 10,000 visitors a year to overnight spiritual, artistic and literary retreats for people of all faiths, with twice as many day visitors, said center CEO David Evans.

Two initial phases of the conservation plan are part of a broader plan to protect more than 30 square miles (78 square kilometers) of the area through conservation easements and public land transfers, with the support of at least one wildlife foundation. That would extend protections to the banks of the Chama River and preserve additional wildlife habitat.

Many Native American communities trace their ancestry to the area in northern New Mexico where O'Keeffe settled and explored the landscape in her work.

Investigators Search for Native American Items Stolen Decades Ago in New Mexico

By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN Associated Press

The decades-old case file describes a medium-sized bowl crafted at Santa Ana Pueblo more than a century ago. Handed down over generations, this pottery piece adorned with dark red triangles was used for making bread.

The bowl is among nearly 150 antiquities stolen from the Native American community's ceremonial village during a series of burglaries that started in the summer of 1984. War shields, traditional clothing, moccasins, willow baskets and woven rugs were taken — all items that would fetch favorable sums given their rarity.

Federal authorities and tribal police in New Mexico eventually busted the thieves. Pleas were entered, punishments doled out and the case was closed. Inexplicably, authorities never pursued recovery of the stolen items.

Now, the pueblo's historic preservation and repatriation experts are partnering with a tribal conservation officer who once served as the top cop for the federal Bureau of Land Management to crack this cold case, one irreplaceable item at a time.

Little to go on

Picking up the trail has not been simple. Memories fade, and digging up old documents is a monumental task.

Case files provided by the FBI and the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs have helped, but key pieces of evidence are missing, including Polaroid photos found during a search of a suspect's home. The original reports contain only limited descriptions of the stolen items, further complicating the search.

The team has spent months combing through auction catalogs, gallery websites and even Pinterest and Instagram posts. A northern New Mexico antiquities dealer purchased some of the items decades ago, not knowing they were contraband. A breakthrough came when his family opened up his ledgers detailing acquisitions and sales.

The investigators started to connect dots, tracing the journey of the bowl across four decades through sales records, interviews and an out-of-print Santa Fe gallery publication. The most recent purchasers returned the bowl after learning its story.

Family members gathered this summer inside the tribal council room to be reunited with an heirloom they thought they would never see again. The bowl was sitting on the table; it was real. Disbelief gave way to tears.

Pueblo Gov. Myron Armijo described the moment as wonderful but emotional. For pueblo people, a sacred item is like another person — living, breathing and intertwined with their identity.

"You can't put a dollar amount on what was taken," said Armijo, whose family home was among those burglarized 40 years ago. "They were taking war shields, drums, pottery and many other items that meant so much to our community. It just really hurt the pueblo."

Under cover of darkness

The first burglary happened in early August 1984, about a week after the pueblo northwest of Albuquerque celebrated a feast day, a rare occasion when outsiders are welcomed inside to watch traditional dances and share food.

According to case files and court records, the thieves treaded stealthily through desert scrub and sandy washes at night to the secluded pueblo at the edge of the Jemez Mountains.

Over 10 months, the thieves targeted homes and traditional society houses in the village that had been added to the national list of historic places a decade earlier.

"Picture these guys stealing blankets, filling them up with pots, everything they could carry," said William Woody, the conservation officer helping with the investigation.

As the thieves fled, they dropped some items along the road. A rancher found other artifacts that had been stashed in the desert to be recovered later.

A nighttime sting ended the scheme in May 1985. Court records identify an Albuquerque antiquities dealer as the ringleader and some of the hired hands as members of Laguna Pueblo, another Native American community west of Albuquerque.

Federal investigations found other New Mexico pueblos were also targeted.

New Mexico is home to 19 pueblos, many situated along the Rio Grande where their ancestors settled after migrating from Chaco Canyon in northwestern New Mexico and Mesa Verde in southwestern Colorado. Pueblo people maintained their homelands throughout the Spanish conquest centuries ago and later as the United States made its westward expansion.

Unlike other pueblos, Santa Ana — known as Tamaya in the Keresan language spoken there — did not sell its pottery to people outside the community. Because of its rarity, Santa Ana pottery sold for comparatively high values during the 1980s, according to the tribal historic preservation office.

No place in the commercial market

Investigators say many of the stolen items are directly related to traditional activities, meaning they qualify as sacred objects under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. Those more than a century old qualify as antiquities protected under the Archaeological Resources Protection Act.

NAGPRA has opened up more opportunities for tribes to reclaim culturally significant items from museums, universities and other institutions over the last year, and Congress passed legislation in 2022 to prohibit the export of sacred Native American items.

But the export law has yet to be implemented, and tracking items through auction houses and private collections can be difficult because descriptions are often incorrect or intentionally misleading, according to Shannon O'Loughlin, CEO of the Association on American Indian Affairs.

"These are items that were part of another culture's religion, life ways, ways of being, things that hold close to our identity and that are part of our story and our relationships with one another," said O'Loughlin, a citizen of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma.

The association, which monitors auction houses around the world, has this year identified more than 200 auctions selling 13,900 potentially sensitive items tied to Indigenous nations in North America.

Not giving up

At Santa Ana, the mission is simple — to bring home as many of the stolen items as possible.

"We know they're out there," said Armijo, the pueblo governor. "We're not giving up."

Atop the list is a buffalo hide war shield decorated with a pair of horns and rays of alternating colors — symbolism still revered by the pueblo.

After reviewing ledgers kept by Larry Frank, an author and Native American art expert in northern New Mexico, the team discovered the shield had been listed for sale at a gallery in New York City. The gallery posted a picture of the shield online in 2021, saying it was from Jemez Pueblo, not Santa Ana, and noting the shield had been acquired by a Canadian collector.

Donald Ellis, the gallery's owner, told The Associated Press via email that Frank had the shield for more than two decades and that there were no claims or concerns regarding its provenance when the gallery acquired it in 2005.

"The shield was acquired in good faith, from a credible and reputable source," Ellis said.

He said his gallery reviews all available documentation for the work it acquires and consults with experts to identify gaps in ownership history, but that it can be difficult to establish the provenance of Native American pieces from the 19th century and earlier.

Ellis said he didn't fact-check the Instagram post about the shield being sold to a Canadian collector and that he has no information on its current whereabouts.

Jarrett Lujan, a cultural resources coordinator with the pueblo, said his grandfathers taught him about passing along traditions to the coming generations. That means he must bring back the stolen pieces of Tamaya culture for his daughter and others.

"That's all we're looking for," he said, "to empower them and encourage them to keep the culture alive."

School Changing 'Thunderbirds' to 'T-Birds' to Comply with NY Ban on Native American Team Names

By PHILIP MARCELO Associated Press

A school district in New York City's suburbs agreed this week to change its "Thunderbirds" nickname to simply the "T-Birds" in order to comply with the state's mandate to retire all Native American sports names and mascots.

According to the deal, Connetquot Central School District on Long Island would be allowed to continue using imagery such as an eagle, thunderbolt or lightning bolt, so long as it can attest the "T-Birds" moniker has "never been associated with any Indigenous imagery of any kind."

But Native American advocates complain the proposed name change still falls short of the spirit of a 2023 state regulation, which districts had to comply with by the end of June.

John Kane, a member of the Mohawk tribe of upstate New York, argues there's no other etymology for "Thunderbird" than Native American culture. The mythical creature is associated with storms and often viewed as a powerful spirit and benevolent protector in many indigenous traditions.

In more recent times, the striking moniker has been adopted as the name of a popular Ford convertible, the U.S. Air Force's aerial demonstration team, a beloved 1960s children's science fiction TV show, as well as numerous sports teams across the country, such as the Springfield Thunderbirds, a minor league affiliate of NHL's St. Louis Blues.

"Don't ask me what the white origins of 'Thunderbirds' is except for the car or John Travolta's gang in 'Grease'," quipped Kane, who for years has called on local schools to change offensive names and mascots.

Connetquot's school board voted Tuesday night to approve a proposed settlement in its lawsuit challenging the state regulation.

In exchange, the district agrees to withdraw its appeal of a federal judge's decision in March that dismissed a lawsuit brought by Connetquot and other Long Island school districts over the state mascot regulation. The school system would, however, be allowed to revert back to the "Thunderbirds" name if the state regulation is repealed or overturned, the proposal states.

Joseph Pierce, director of Native American studies at Stony Brook University on Long Island, said it remains to be seen how much the proposed new nickname actually changes the way people describe Connetquot and its teams.

"In my view, this is a case where nobody really wins," he said. "It is a shame that people are litigating over this, rather than understanding that Native American people, imagery, and symbols, including the Thunderbird, are not theirs to use."

The Connetquot school district didn't respond to requests for comment Thursday.

The state education department declined to comment, citing the ongoing litigation.

The U.S. Department of Education, which under President Donald Trump has opposed efforts to erase Native American names and imagery from sports teams, also declined to weigh in, citing an investigation it launched in July into the Connetquot district's handling of the matter.

Earlier, it had determined New York's mascot ban was discriminatory and violated Title VI of the federal civil rights law because it still permitted the use of names and imagery derived from other racial or ethnic groups, such as the "Dutchmen" and the "Huguenots."

U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon announced that finding -- and called on New York to rescind its ban -- during a visit to Massapequa, another Long Island town that refuses to stop calling its sports teams the Chiefs.

Massapequa's board of education, in a statement Thursday, called Connetquot's name change efforts "deeply disappointing" as it vowed to "never back down" from its own efforts to preserve its Native American headdress-wearing "Chiefs" logo.

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Follow Philip Marcelo at https://x.com/philmarcelo

California Bill Would Provide Support Services to Native American Families, Reduce Foster Care

By SARAH STIERCH/The Mendocino Voice The Mendocino Voice

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A bipartisan bill to ensure Native American children and families receive culturally appropriate support services aimed at preventing foster care placements passed the California Legislature last week.

If signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom, Assembly Bill 1378 would amend state law to let tribes and tribal organizations partner with the California Department of Social Services to provide services aimed at keeping children safely at home and out of foster care.

Currently, tribes and tribal organizations can access foster care, adoption and guardianship services, but most preventive services, such as legal assistance and family counseling, are only available through nontribal organizations that often lack the cultural competence to respect each tribe's practices and sovereignty.

AB 1378 would give tribes and tribal organizations the ability to receive direct services and funding without going through an intermediary.

The bill comes as tribal children enter foster care at disproportionate rates, said Assemblymember Chris Rogers, D-Santa Rosa, who introduced it.

Native American children in California are placed in foster care at about four times the rate of other children, according to the state's Legislative Analyst's Office.

Native American children are overrepresented in the foster care system due to factors including poverty, substance use disorders, historical trauma, systemic bias and bureaucratic hurdles that make it difficult for tribes to access preventive services — prompting the introduction of AB 1378.

"When we invest in culturally appropriate services, we strengthen families and avoid the trauma of separation," Rogers said. "AB 1378 will ensure tribes can directly access the same prevention program funding that is available to counties and other service providers. This is critical step toward equity and better outcomes for tribal youth."

The bill was co-authored by several legislators, including Bay Area Assemblymembers Cecilia Aguiar-Curry, D-Winters and Patrick Ahrens, D-Sunnyvale, and Sen. Josh Becker, D-Menlo Park.

Services AB 1378 would give tribes better access to mental health care, substance abuse treatment and parenting education.

The bill would also provide funding for legal representation for families and children, ensuring appropriate counsel in court. In addition, tribes could access capacity-building support to establish preventive programs, train social workers and receive technical assistance for data collection and reporting.

Tribe Asked to Allow Search for Civil Rights Activist at Wounded Knee

By CARSON WALKER/South Dakota News Watch

The Oglala Sioux Tribal Council will be asked to approve a search for the remains of a Black civil rights activist who disappeared during the 1973 Wounded Knee standoff. He is likely buried on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

Perry Ray Robinson Jr. was 35 years old when he left his home in Bogue Chitto, Alabama, in April 1973 to answer a call for help from the American Indian Movement. For 71 days, AIM members and supporters occupied the village and exchanged gunfire with federal agents gathered around its perimeter. Robinson never returned, was later declared dead without his body being found, and no one was ever charged.

His name came to light after two men were indicted in 2003 on charges they killed Canadian Annie Mae Aquash in December 1975 in South Dakota’s badlands.

Arlo Looking Cloud was arrested in Denver. A federal jury in Rapid City convicted him in 2004 of murder. He was sentenced to life in federal prison, but that was later reduced to 20 years because of his cooperation and acceptance of responsibility. He was released in 2019.

The other man, John Graham, fought extradition from his native Canada. A state jury in Rapid City convicted him of murder in 2010 and he is serving a life prison sentence at the South Dakota State Penitentiary in Sioux Falls.

Hulu documentary about Aquash

Justin Baker, 40, who lives in Mission on South Dakota’s Rosebud Indian Reservation, started the latest effort to search for Robinson’s body.

He has been following the Aquash and Robinson cases since Looking Cloud and Graham were indicted. That included reading media accounts and documents released as part of a Freedom of Information Act request. Baker said he also spent considerable time with Leonard Crow Dog, a Sicangu Lakota medicine man and AIM’s spiritual leader who died in 2021.

Baker said he was prompted to action after watching a recent documentary about Aquash on the streaming service Hulu entitled ” Vow of Silence: The Assassination of Annie Mae.”

Witnesses testified that Aquash, who also responded to AIM’s request for help and rose to prominence in the organization, was killed because she was suspected of being an informant.

“I started thinking, ‘Why can’t they do something for this man, Ray Robinson?’” Baker said.

He called Paul DeMain of Hayward, Wisconsin, the former editor of the News From Indian Country newspaper who extensively investigated the Aquash and Robinson cases.

Among the people DeMain put Baker in touch with was Robinson’s widow, Cheryl Buswell-Robinson, and their son, Deeter Robinson.

“I asked Deeter, I said, ‘What would you like me to tell people?’ And he said what it was like growing up without a dad, not having somebody at my sporting events, not having a man’s guidance, not having a father to lean on, and it caused a lot of hardships in my life,” Baker said of the conversation.

“This is somebody’s family that was destroyed and is still hurting 52 years later, and there are still people remaining silent.”

Concerns about 1890 massacre site

DeMain had already done extensive work trying to identify Robinson’s likely resting place. Baker took up the cause using tribal channels.

“I wanted to create a grassroots effort because I think everything else has been tried already,” he said.

Baker presented a resolution to and received unanimous support for it in May from the Sicangu Lakota Treaty Council. That group in the Great Sioux Nation advocates for Native treaty rights and inherent sovereignty. The document’s purpose was to start building support for a culturally sensitive search for Robinson’s remains on the Pine Ridge reservation.

Baker then went to the Oglala Sioux Tribe’s land committee on Pine Ridge, which rejected the request for a search, saying it could unearth remains or artifacts from the 1890 Wounded Knee massacre.

Baker said the search would only involve a cadaver dog or ground-penetrating radar that would not disrupt the land. And the area already has been disturbed, he said.

“Wherever Ray is laying was already disturbed through the form of buildings, construction within the downtown Wounded Knee area, or it was disturbed in 1973 from digging bunkers,” Baker said.

Baker has drawn up a resolution he plans to present to the Oglala Sioux Tribal Council, which includes the Sicangu Lakota Treaty Council resolution and letters of support from elders, descendants of the 1890 massacre and others.

The document, viewed by South Dakota News Watch, calls for all Lakota tribes, in collaboration with Buswell-Robinson and cultural experts, to create a working group to oversee a non-invasive search for the remains of Robinson. The effort would include historic preservation officers, spiritual leaders and elders, the Robinson family, Indigenous archaeologists and forensic scientists and independent advisers.

“This resolution does not seek the removal or exhumation of any remains but seeks only to locate, document and honor the possible resting place of Perry Ray Robinson Jr.,” it states.

The document also calls for transparency and respect of those who died in 1890 and might have been killed on the site in 1973.

“We’re asking to search the ground that already has been disturbed and is a long way from the burial of the 1890 massacre victims,” Buswell-Robinson said.

Tribal leaders did not respond to a request for comment.

Widow hopes for Robinson’s return

Besides a son, who has children, the Robinsons have two adult daughters in Detroit, Desiree Marks and Tamara Fant, who have their own children and grandchildren.

“I’m 80 and doing fine. I’d like to get Ray back here before I’m dead,” Buswell-Robinson said. “I’m excited about it because Justin (Baker) is so excited.

“He’s been wonderful to follow and has a strategy.”

Buswell-Robinson said that because she’s in Detroit, she doesn’t have the connections or know the local structures or politics like Baker does. Based on her recollections and letters she wrote in the years after her husband’s disappearance, she believes he probably was killed because he naively thought he could turn an unorganized situation into a focused demonstration.

His nonviolent approach probably was not well received at what was a violent situation, Buswell-Robinson said. And it’s possible AIM members suspected he was a federal informant, which he was not, she said.

FBI documents include references to fresh graves

Two American Indians were confirmed to have died during the 1973 siege, and rumors of other deaths persist. FBI documents that are now public suggest the possibility of other people buried at Wounded Knee during the occupation.

A May 1973 memo says the FBI talked to a man who reported grave sites just outside of Wounded Knee. Another, a few days later, states that an Interior Department official “observed several fresh graves” at Wounded Knee. One of the graves belonged to one of the two Native Americans killed, the memo states.

There’s no mention of Ray Robinson in the FBI correspondence, but two documents reveal the presence of two Black people toward the end of the standoff.

A May 5, 1973, transcript of an interview with a man who claimed to be at Wounded Knee the week prior stated “he heard that one black man and one black woman had recently arrived.”

A May 21, 1973, FBI memo reported that a Native woman who left the village a month earlier counted 200 Indians, 11 whites and two Blacks. Buswell-Robinson said those two were most likely Ray Robinson and a woman from Alabama who went with him.

She returned after the standoff. He didn’t.

US Forest Service Issues Notice on Contested Land Transfer for a Major Copper Mine in Arizona

By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN Associated Press

The U.S. Forest Service on Thursday provided notice that it will publish a final environmental review and draft decision on a transfer of land that would clear the way for a massive copper mining project in Arizona that has been fiercely contested by Native Americans who consider the area sacred.

The federal agency was under court order to provide two months’ notice before reissuing the documents related to the transfer of the Tonto National Forest land — known as Oak Flat — to Resolution Copper.

Still pending is an appeal before the U.S. Supreme Court that was filed by a group known as Apache Stronghold, which represents the interests of certain members of the San Carlos Apache Tribe.

“This makes the stakes crystal clear: if the court doesn’t act now, Oak Flat could be transferred and destroyed before justice can be served,” said Luke Goodrich, an attorney representing the group.

Apache Stronghold sued the U.S. government in 2021 under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act to protect the place tribal members call Chi’chil Bildagoteel, an area dotted with ancient oak groves and traditional plants the Apaches consider essential to their religion.

That same year an environmental impact survey for the project had been pulled back while the U.S. Department of Agriculture under the Biden administration consulted for months with tribes and others about their concerns.

In 2024, an appeals court panel refused to block the crucial land transfer for the mine. That prompted Apache Stronghold to file a petition with the Supreme Court.

Attorneys for the federal government noted in Thursday's filing that if the petition is still pending or has been granted within the 60-day period following the notice, they may reevaluate how to proceed.

President Donald Trump has signed numerous executive orders since taking office, all aimed at invigorating domestic energy and mineral production and fueling technological advancements. One of those orders specifically focused on copper mining.

Resolution Copper — a subsidiary of international mining giants Rio Tinto and BHP — has estimated that 40 billion pounds of copper could be mined over the lifetime of the mine and that the project will generate $1 billion annually for Arizona’s economy and create thousands of jobs.

Resolution Copper called Thursday's notice a positive step, saying there has been more than a decade of rigorous review and consultation with local communities and Native American tribes.

"Working together, we have created a plan that preserves the area’s cultural heritage and natural resources and enhances recreational opportunities while creating new economic opportunities that will put Arizona resources and workers at the center of the nation’s energy security and infrastructure needs, with a domestic supply of copper and other critical minerals,” Vicky Peacey, Resolution Copper general manager, said in a statement.

Aside from concerns over damage to cultural resources, environmentalists call the area a “biological gem” and say that mining in the area would lead to extreme degradation.

Peacey said the company is committed to an open dialogue to ensure the project is done responsibly and sustainably.

Frustrated with Persistent Violence, Fort Peck Reservation Community Members Demand Change

By NORA MABIE/Montana Free Press Montana Free Press

Holding signs and wearing red, more than 100 people gathered at Fort Peck Community College on March 22 calling for an end to the violence that has plagued the tribal community.

Protestors walked about one-third of a mile from the campus in Wolf Point to an abandoned building that recently burned down.

"A murderer killed my father," 9-year-old Emadeline "Maddy" Weeks told the crowd. Her father, Cody Weeks Combs, was shot and killed near his home in Wolf Point in 2020. He was 28 years old.

"All my family members are gone," she continued. "No one seems to … care. Violence has to stop!"

Located in northeast Montana, the Fort Peck Reservation is home to nearly 10,000 people. The two largest towns on the reservation, Poplar and Wolf Point, are separated by about 20 miles.

Frustrated by persistent violence and insufficient law enforcement resources to combat it, community members have held several marches this month to raise awareness and call for change. Some residents have proposed creating a neighborhood watch group, others say they plan to establish new programs to engage youth in positive ways.

Four hundred miles away in Helena, members of Montana's American Indian Caucus are pushing for legislation that aims to bolster public safety in Indian Country at both the state and federal level.

Recent Incidents

The awareness campaigns come in response to several recent deaths on the reservation.

Stan Moran, Jr., a 48-year-old former addiction counselor and wrestling coach who struggled with homelessness, died in a fire while staying in an abandoned building in September.

Fort Peck Tribal Law Enforcement on Feb. 26 found the body of Gifford Standing near that same area. Standing, 47, loved sports, fishing and music and was engaged to be married on March 13, according to an obituary written by his family. Tribal police later announced that four people had been arrested in connection to his death, which they said was a homicide.

And two weeks ago, a child was stabbed near the wellness center in Poplar. Videos of the incident circulated social media.

Tribal council member Wayne Martell said while violence has been an issue in the community for years, lately, it's become normalized.

"It's so prevalent that we kind of overlook it," he told Montana Free Press last week. "It feels like it doesn't really have meaning anymore when it occurs."

Tribes Urge Adequate Funding for Law Enforcement

While Native Americans face higher rates of violence than their white peers nationwide, they must often rely on overburdened and underfunded systems of public safety.

A consequence of U.S. federal policy, on the Fort Peck Reservation tribal police generally handle misdemeanor crimes committed by tribal members. Federal entities, like the Bureau of Indian Affairs and FBI, handle major crimes. And because of cross deputization agreements between the state and Fort Peck Tribal Executive Board, Montana Highway Patrol and county law enforcement also assist in public safety efforts. Wolf Point police officers also patrol within city limits on the reservation.

Despite these partnerships, however, Fort Peck community members say law enforcement services remain inadequate. Wolf Point Police Department Clerk Chris Will said it's not uncommon for the department to have just one officer patrolling the 2,604-person city. With more resources, Will said the city could have two or three officers patrolling at once.

"It would help if we could have a presence," Will told MTFP last week. "If people could see us out on the street, we can stop and talk to them instead of just having one officer go from call to call."

Recent awareness campaigns have caught the attention of the Fort Peck Tribal Executive Board. Though the Fort Peck Tribes receive federal funding for various programs, Council member Roxanne Gourneau expressed frustration at a recent council meeting, saying those dollars are often earmarked for specific purposes.

She urged the council to bring together law enforcement, criminal investigators, court officials and social service leaders to find solutions.

"We've got all this money, but all this crime," she told her colleagues at the meeting Monday. "What can we do? What can we accomplish?"

The Fort Peck Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes are not the only ones in Montana to voice frustrations with insufficient law enforcement funding. Devastated by the death of an 8-year-old child last fall, Northern Cheyenne community members in southeast Montana took to the streets to protest violence. The tribe in 2022 sued the Bureau of Indian Affairs and Department of the Interior, alleging the federal government has failed to provide adequate public safety services on the reservation. The Fort Belknap Indian Community,

headquartered in north central Montana, in 2022 also sued the United States, saying the lack of funding has prevented them from hiring key positions.

Rep. Tyson Running Wolf, D-Browning, has proposed a resolution this legislative session that would urge Congress to fully fund law enforcement on reservations in Montana.

Running Wolf on March 25 told the Senate Energy, Technology and Federal Relations Committee that the resolution "is a call to action." He argued that adequate funding is necessary for tribes "to protect their communities."

House Joint Resolution 1 cleared the House and must advance out of the Senate before arriving on the governor's desk. While resolutions cannot create law or force action, they are meant to convey the Legislature's desires and priorities.

Another bill brought by Running Wolf to bolster the state's Missing Indigenous Persons Task Force became law. Effective July 1, the new law allows the task force to receive donations, grants and other money for operational expenses.

House Bill 545, also brought by Running Wolf, would rename the task force the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons Advisory Council and add a homicide investigator to the group. That bill sailed through the House and will move to the Senate for consideration.

'No More Looking the Other Way'

At a community meeting after the march last weekend, organizer Lance FourStar, proposed forming a goodwill ambassador program, where respected community members receive training to essentially act as a neighborhood watch.

Frances Weeks, who served in tribal and federal law enforcement for 13 years and whose granddaughter spoke at the march earlier this month, would help lead the program.

With insufficient policing, Weeks said people feel emboldened to commit crime, knowing it's unlikely they'll be held to account. Those who witness a crime, she added, are therefore less likely to come forward, fearing retaliation.

"It's a Catch-22 for law enforcement, then," she said in an interview last week. "They know people see things, but people don't follow through and report it."

The goal of the goodwill ambassador program, Weeks said, is to encourage people to report suspicious incidents to someone they trust.

"A lot of people just don't know what kind of information might be helpful," she said. "We want community training for community policing."

Dave Mathison, a retired fire chief who is planning a similar march in Poplar, said young people would benefit from more services and activities.

"You look at these communities and there is absolutely nothing for these kids to do," he said. "They're only kids, and we're creating nothing for them."

He is planning a march against violence in Poplar on April 5 that he hopes will include music, bounce houses and games. Mathison said he hopes to implement a program that would incentivize young people to clean up the community and get involved in other safe activities.

"I don't want the people of Poplar to leave," he said. "We have good things that can happen on this reservation. There's possibilities galore, but we have to get together as a team. There's no more looking the other way."

Mathison's march against violence will begin at noon on April 5 at the cultural center in Poplar.

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This story was originally published by Montana Free Press and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.

These Native Tribes are Working with Schools to Boost Attendance

By FELIX CLARY of ICT undefined

As the Watonga school system's Indian education director, Hollie Youngbear works to help Native American students succeed — a job that begins with getting them to school.

She makes sure students have clothes and school supplies. She connects them with federal and tribal resources. And when students don't show up to school, she and a colleague drive out and pick them up.

Nationwide, Native students miss school far more frequently than their peers, but not at Watonga High School. Youngbear and her colleagues work to connect with families in a way that acknowledges the history and needs of Native communities.

As she thumbed through binders in her office with records of every Native student in the school, Youngbear said a cycle of skipping school goes back to the abuse generations of Native students suffered at U.S. government boarding schools.

"If grandma didn't go to school, and her grandma didn't, and her mother didn't, it can create a generational cycle," said Youngbear, a member of the Arapaho tribe who taught the Cheyenne and Arapaho languages at the school for 25 years.

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This story is part of a collaboration on chronic absenteeism among Native American students between The Associated Press and ICT, a news outlet that covers Indigenous issues.

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Watonga schools collaborate with several Cheyenne and Arapaho programs that aim to lower Native student absenteeism. One helps students with school expenses and promotes conferences for tribal youth. Another holds monthly meetings with Watonga's Native high school students during lunch hours to discourage underage drinking and drug use.

Oklahoma is home to 38 federally recognized tribes, many with their own education departments — and support from those tribes contributes to students' success. Of 34 states with data available for the 2022-2023 school year, Oklahoma was the only one where Native students missed school at lower rates than

the state average, according to data collected by The Associated Press.

At Watonga High, fewer than 4% of Native students were chronically absent in 2022-23, in line with the school average, according to state data. Chronically absent students miss 10% or more of the school year, for both excused and unexcused reasons, which sets them behind in learning and heightens their chances of dropping out.

About 14% of students at the Watonga school on the Cheyenne-Arapaho reservation are Native American. With black-lettered Bible verses on the walls of its hallways, the high school resembles many others in rural Oklahoma. But student-made Native art decorates the classroom reserved for Eagle Academy, the school's alternative education program.

Students are assigned to the program when they struggle to keep up their grades or attendance, and most are Native American, classroom teacher Carrie Compton said. Students are rewarded for attendance with incentives like field trips.

Compton said she gets results. A Native boy who was absent 38 days one semester spent a short time in Eagle Academy during his second year of high school and went on to graduate last year, she said.

"He had perfect attendance for the first time ever, and it's because he felt like he was getting something from school," Compton said.

When students do not show up for school, Compton and Youngbear take turns visiting their homes.

"I can remember one year, I probably picked five kids up every morning because they didn't have rides," Compton said. "So at 7 o'clock in the morning, I just start my little route, and make my circle, and once they get into the habit of it, they would come to school."

Around the country, Native students often have been enrolled in disproportionately large numbers in alternative education programs, which can worsen segregation. But the embrace of Native students by their Eagle Academy teacher sets a different tone from what some students experience elsewhere in the school.

Compton said a complaint she hears frequently from Native students in her room is, "The teachers just don't like me."

Bullying of Native students by non-Native students is also a problem, said Watonga senior Happy Belle Shortman, who is Kiowa, Cheyenne and Arapaho. She said Cheyenne students have been teased over aspects of their traditional ceremonies and powwow music.

"People here, they're not very open, and they do have their opinions," Shortman said. "People who are from a different culture, they don't understand our culture and everything that we have to do, or that we have a different living than they do."

Poverty might play a role in bullying as well, she said. "If you're not in the latest trends, then you're kind of just outcasted," she said.

Watonga staff credit the work building relationships with students for the low absenteeism rates, despite the challenges.

"Native students are never going to feel really welcomed unless the non-Native faculty go out of their way to make sure that those Native students feel welcomed," said Dallas Pettigrew, director of Oklahoma University's Center for Tribal Social Work and a member of the Cherokee Nation.

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Associated Press writer Sharon Lurye in New Orleans contributed to this report.

South Dakota Birthing Risks Rise as Another Hospital Ends Service

By BART PFANKUCH/South Dakota News Watch South Dakota News Watch

The elimination of birthing services at Winner Regional Health hospital on Saturday will force dozens of expectant mothers in a wide swath of south-central South Dakota to drive one to two hours on rural highways to give birth under the care of a doctor.

Ending the hospital’s labor and delivery services came only after “a lot of tears and sleepless nights,” but the difficult decision was ultimately the correct one, said hospital CEO Brian Williams.

When all factors were considered – especially the high cost of the service and a lack of qualified providers – the decision to end birthing services at the small, independent hospital boiled down to patient risk and safety concerns, he said.

“The unfortunate thing is we weren’t doing the safest things for everybody involved,” which included expectant mothers and their babies, Williams said of the hospital that delivered 107 babies in 2024. “This was a horrible decision for us and for the community.”

For maternity care, traveling long distances on country highways requires more planning and more time, two things that can be hard to find during the uncertain hours surrounding a delivery. An hourlong drive or more also creates greater risk to both mother and child if any complications arise.

“Anytime someone has to travel in pre-labor or active labor, it could cause a negative outcome,” Williams said. “Obviously the closer you are (to a birthing hospital) the better off you’ll be.”

‘Maternity deserts’ expanding in SD, US

Health experts across the country are increasingly concerned that the reduction in birthing sites, especially in rural areas, will lead to more health complications and even deaths among mothers and children.

“Access to quality maternity care is a critical component of maternal health and positive birth outcomes, especially in light of the high rates of maternal mortality and severe maternal morbidity in the U.S.,” according to an exhaustive report by the March of Dimes.

Ending birthing services in Winner, which Williams hopes will be temporary, adds to a growing “maternity desert” in South Dakota. The state ranks second-worst in the nation for percentage of counties without delivery services or obstetric care. North Dakota has the highest number nationally, with 74% of counties without birthing services, and South Dakota has 56% of counties without the service, according to the March of Dimes.

Winner also becomes the latest rural hospital in the U.S. to end delivery services, joining more than 200 others that have ended the service over the past decade, including the hospital in Sisseton, in northeast South Dakota, as reported previously by News Watch.

According to the March of Dimes report, more than 9% of South Dakota women live more than an hour from the nearest birthing hospital, compared to 1% nationally. Furthermore, 16% of new mothers in South Dakota did not receive adequate prenatal care, according to the report.

The shortage of women’s health care providers is expected to worsen in coming years.

According to a report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the U.S. will face a shortage of about 5,200 obstetrician-gynecologists by 2030 and South Dakota will see a shortage of 30 providers, roughly 25% fewer than what is needed.

Costs, personnel are barriers at rural hospitals

The hospital in Winner faces many of the same challenges as other rural hospitals across the country.

Williams said he has had great difficulty recruiting and retaining doctors in the city of fewer than 3,000 people, especially those who specialize in obstetrics and gynecology or family physicians who are certified to perform deliveries.

The greatest barrier to continue offering delivery services was a lack of qualified personnel, as delivering a baby requires a trained OB-GYN or family doctor and two nurses. That staffing level can be difficult to reach, especially when a birth occurs overnight or on weekends, Williams said.

The costs of delivery are also a major hurdle to providing birthing services, he said. With a high percentage of expectant mothers at Winner Regional Health hospital on Medicaid or other government insurance plans that typically do not cover the full costs, the hospital loses thousands of dollars on almost every birth, Williams said.

On average, it costs $65,000 a day to operate the hospital, and the ongoing nursing and physician shortage forced the hospital to spend about $1.2 million a year on temporary traveling practitioners, many in the OB-GYN field, he said.

The region of South Dakota served by Winner is an especially bad place for a new maternity desert, according to the U.S. Census. The six counties surrounding the hospital all have birth rates above the state average, with Todd County, home to the Rosebud Indian Reservation, among the highest.

South Dakota also has a high rate of maternity complications and challenges compared to other states and the nation. The state infant mortality rate of 7.8% in 2023 was 44% higher than the national average of 5.4%.

According to a recent South Dakota Department of Health report, 7.1% of babies born in 2022 were low birth weight, 2% of mothers had no prenatal care and 30% of mothers were on Medicaid or other government insurance programs, including the Indian Health Service.

About 13% of babies suffered from abnormalities and 10% of infants required care in a neonatal intensive care unit in 2022, the report said. South Dakota only has three NICUs, two in Sioux Falls and one in Rapid City, according to neonatal0gysolutions.com.

Abortion ban a disincentive to practice in SD

South Dakota’s abortion law also makes it more difficult to recruit and retain physicians, said Amy Kelley, M.D., an OB-GYN at Sanford Health in Sioux Falls.

The strict abortion ban – which allows for medically necessary abortions only to save the life of a mother – is turning away some delivery doctors, she said. Many worry that ambiguity in the law about exactly what constitutes a threat to the life of a mother could put them at risk of a criminal charge if they conduct an abortion during an emergency, Kelley said.

“We shouldn’t have to risk our license or our freedom when conducting a medically necessary procedure,” she said.

Kelley, who works on state affairs for the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and also attends national conferences, said she’s heard numerous delivery doctors across the country say they won’t practice in states where abortion bans could put them in legal jeopardy.

“It is not hyperbole,” she said. “People in this field are repeatedly saying, ‘Why would I come there with the laws the way they are?’”

Avery Olson, 30, is a Rapid City native who graduated from medical school at the University of South Dakota. Olson is nearing the end of her medical residency as an OB-GYN in Hawaii.

Olson, who delivered her first baby as a medical student at Winner Regional Health a few years ago, said she hasn’t decided where to practice, and added that her partner’s ongoing job search will also play a role in where they decide to live and work.

Olson really wants to return to her home state but is concerned about the less-than-supportive environment for women’s health and the ambiguity in the current laws surrounding maternity in South Dakota.

“I miss home a lot because I’m a South Dakota girl through and through,” she said. “But it (the current legal and political environment) would make it easier for me to accept that I would go to a different place.”

Worsening climate for women’s health care

After more than 30 years of providing women’s health care in western South Dakota, and delivering more than 9,000 babies along the way, OB-GYN Marvin Buehner, M.D., of Rapid City decided to retire in late 2024.

Buehner, 67, had hoped to sell his practice, where he built a reputation for kindness, quality care and a devotion to helping women in underserved populations, including Native Americans.

While the need for birthing and other services remains extremely high, and his practice was highly profitable, Buehner tried to sell his practice but was ultimately forced to close Black Hills Obstetrics and Gynecology for good.

“We had a great reputation and more patients than we could see,” Buehner told News Watch. “But nobody wants to come to South Dakota, and you can’t really blame them.”

Serving as an OB-GYN is a tough job, he said, given the long hours, being on call 24/7 for several days in a row and caring for patients who often lack insurance or are on Medicaid. But things have worsened in recent years due to what Buehner said increasingly feels like a hostile political and cultural environment toward women and women’s health care in the state and country.

“It’s a cultural problem that is trickling down into the mechanics of health care, and women’s health care is not only a low priority, it’s also a target,” he said.

The current law surrounding medically necessary abortions does not jibe with established medical reasons for terminating a pregnancy in a crisis situation, Buehner said, which makes practicing in states with a near-complete ban more stressful and mentally draining.

Buehner is a co-chair of the group Doctors for Freedom, which formed in 2024 to support a statewide ballot measure to legalize first-trimester abortions. The measure failed in November.

“An abortion is a tragedy every time,” he said. “But the reasons a woman or a doctor would choose to end a pregnancy are multifactorial and can’t be easily simplified.”

Buehner said he is pained to leave the medical field at such a devastating time for women’s health. The shortage of OB-GYNs has led to reduced rates of prenatal health care, especially in rural areas and among lower-income populations, including those on reservations, he said.

“That is increasing the maternal mortality rate, which is already abysmal in South Dakota,” he said.

Buehner said he sees little hope that women’s health care will improve anytime soon in South Dakota. And yet, he believes the hard work of individual providers, and a potential grassroots return to greater support for women’s health care, will someday reshape the landscape into a positive future.

“It’s the dark of night right now,” he said. “But at some point, there will be a dawn or a movement and a realization that this isn’t working and that we need to change.”

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This story was originally published by South Dakota News Watch and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.

Historic Images of Native Americans by a Swiss Artist Find Their Way Back to North Dakota

By JACK DURA Associated Press

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — More than two dozen historic prints that depict a slice of Native American life and culture on the Upper Missouri River nearly 200 years ago will soon be more accessible to the public thanks to a gift that enabled a North Dakota organization to buy the rare aquatints.

The State Historical Society of North Dakota on Wednesday presented four of the 26 aquatints reproduced from 1839 to 1843 from works done by Swiss-born artist Karl Bodmer. He made the artwork during his journey from 1832 to 1834 with Prince Maximilian of Wied-Neuwied across the U.S., as far west as present-day Montana.

The Historical Society is reviewing the prints, which for some time had been stored at a San Francisco arthouse, and will develop a plan to exhibit the images, State Historical Society spokeswoman Kara Haff, said.

The aquatints are notable in part because they are more vibrant than most historic black and white imagery, State Historical Society Director Bill Peterson said.

"It's not incredibly often that we get a chance to look at the richness of the color and the vibrancy and what the paintings represent and what the art represents," Peterson said.

The aquatints are presumed to be from an original collection by Bodmer. Aquatints were common in his era and often were used to illustrate books, said David Borlaug, an owner of Masters Gallery in Bismarck, which facilitated the acquisition.

"An original painting would then be converted to metal, copper or steel, by an engraver, which is an art form all of its own, in reverse, and then they would pull a print, if you will, off that plate, usually with just one or two colors. Then the next set of artisans would come in, watercolor artists who would hand-tint, add all the colors to each image, one by one by one," Borlaug said.

The images depict a variety of scenes and people, Haff said, including Fort Union, a Mandan village, an Arikara warrior, Mandan chief Mato Tope or Four Bears, the funeral scaffold of a Sioux chief, Mandan dog sledges, bison hunting, a scalp dance and travelers along the Missouri River.

The artworks are printed in textbooks and accessible in other formats and reproduced in other ways, Haff said. But it is rare to have ownership of prints made during the initial publishing, she said. Bodmer's images were created for a book by Maximilian, "Travels in the Interior of North America," she said.

Bodmer used ink and pencil for sketching but also used watercolors, Borlaug said.

His images are beautiful pieces and an important component of the history of the American West, said Dakota Goodhouse, a Native American historian and enrolled member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. But some of Bodmer's artworks are posed and set up, which can misinform the viewer of the daily life of Native American peoples, he said.

"When Four Bears got all dressed up for Bodmer's portrait, it's not like he went about his everyday life completely dressed up," Goodhouse said.

Given the Native American subjects, Goodhouse said he thinks a percentage of sales of Bodmer's prints today could go toward supporting contemporary Native American efforts to improve education, health and housing.

Several years after Bodmer's journey, a smallpox epidemic in 1837 nearly destroyed the tribes he portrayed along the Upper Missouri. Amy Mossett, a member of the State Historical Board and education administrator for the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation's Tribal Education, said entire families died and people had no time to save or pass along material possessions.

"So much was lost, and so when I look at these images, it just kind of preserves ... the images of our culture when it was still very active and still very much alive," said Mossett, a Mandan/Hidatsa member of the MHA Nation.

To have the aquatints back in the area where they originated may be serendipitous but also destiny, she said.

"Just thinking about the whole circular approach to life, I think there's just a reason why they came back here and this is really where they belong," Mossett said.

The State Historical Society is still tracing where the artworks' provenance. North Dakota history lover Sam McQuade Jr. donated $150,000 to the State Historical Society of North Dakota Foundation, which worked with Masters Gallery and purchased the artworks and donated them to the State Historical Society for its permanent collection.

Oregon Tribe has Hunting and Fishing Rights Restored Under a Long-Sought Court Ruling

By CLAIRE RUSH Associated Press

LINCOLN CITY, Ore. (AP) — Drumming made the floor vibrate and singing filled the conference room of the Chinook Winds Casino Resort in Lincoln City, on the Oregon coast, as hundreds in tribal regalia danced in a circle.

For the last 47 years, the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians have held an annual powwow to celebrate regaining federal recognition. This month's event, however, was especially significant: It came just two weeks after a federal court lifted restrictions on the tribe's rights to hunt, fish and gather — restrictions tribal leaders had opposed for decades.

"We're back to the way we were before," Siletz Chairman Delores Pigsley said. "It feels really good."

The Siletz is a confederation of over two dozen bands and tribes whose traditional homelands spanned a large swath of what is now western Oregon. The federal government in the 1850s forced them onto a reservation on the Oregon coast, where they were confederated together as a single, federally recognized tribe despite their different backgrounds and languages.

In the 1950s and '60s, Congress revoked recognition of over 100 tribes, including the Siletz, under a policy known as "termination." Affected tribes lost millions of acres of land as well as federal funding and services.

"The goal was to try and assimilate Native people, get them moved into cities," said Matthew Campbell, deputy director of the Native American Rights Fund. "But also I think there was certainly a financial aspect to it. I think the United States was trying to see how it could limit its costs in terms of providing for tribal nations."

Losing their lands and self-governance was painful, and the tribes fought for decades to regain federal recognition. In 1977, the Siletz became the second tribe to succeed, following the restoration of the Menominee Tribe in Wisconsin in 1973.

But to get a fraction of its land back — roughly 3,600 acres (1,457 hectares) of the 1.1-million-acre (445,000-hectare) reservation established for the tribe in 1855 — the Siletz tribe had to agree to a federal court order that restricted their hunting, fishing and gathering rights. It was only one of two tribes in the country, along with Oregon's Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, compelled to do so to regain tribal land.

The settlement limited where tribal members could fish, hunt and gather for ceremonial and subsistence purposes, and it imposed caps on how many salmon, elk and deer could be harvested in a year. It was devastating, tribal chair Pigsley recalled: The tribe was forced to buy salmon for ceremonies because it couldn't provide for itself, and people were arrested for hunting and fishing violations.

"Giving up those rights was a terrible thing," Pigsley, who has led the tribe for 36 years, told The Associated Press earlier this year. "It was unfair at the time, and we've lived with it all these years."

Decades later, Oregon and the U.S. came to recognize that the agreement subjecting the tribe to state hunting and fishing rules was biased, and they agreed to join the tribe in recommending to the court that the restrictions be lifted.

"The Governor of Oregon and Oregon's congressional representatives have since acknowledged that the 1980 Agreement and Consent Decree were a product of their times and represented a biased and distorted position on tribal sovereignty, tribal traditions, and the Siletz Tribe's ability and authority to manage and sustain wildlife populations it traditionally used for tribal ceremonial and subsistence purposes," attorneys for the U.S., state and tribe wrote in a joint court filing.

Late last month, the tribe finally succeeded in having the court order vacated by a federal judge. A separate agreement with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife has given the tribe a greater role in regulating tribal hunting and fishing.

As Pigsley reflected on those who passed away before seeing the tribe regain its rights, she expressed hope about the next generation carrying on essential traditions.

"There's a lot of youth out there that are learning tribal ways and culture," she said. "It's important today because we are trying to raise healthy families, meaning we need to get back to our natural foods."

Among those celebrating and praying at the powwow was Tiffany Stuart, donning a basket cap her ancestors were known for weaving, and her 3-year-old daughter Kwestaani Chuski, whose name means "six butterflies" in the regional Athabaskan language from southwestern Oregon and northwestern California.

Given the restoration of rights, Stuart said, it was "very powerful for my kids to dance."

"You dance for the people that can't dance anymore," she said.

A Tiny Tribe is Getting Pushback for Betting Big on a $600M Casino in California's Wine Country

By OLGA R. RODRIGUEZ Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — For decades a small, landless tribe in Northern California has been on a mission to get land, open a casino and tap into the gaming market enjoyed by so many other tribes that earn millions of dollars annually.

The Koi Nation's chances of owning a Las Vegas-style casino seemed impossible until a federal court ruling in 2019 cleared the way for the tiny tribe to find a financial partner to buy land and place it into a trust to make it eligible for a casino.

Now the tribe of 96 members has teamed up with the Chickasaw Nation of Oklahoma, which owns the biggest casino in the world, and is waiting for U.S. Department of Interior Secretary Deb Haaland to decide whether the 68-acre (27-hectare) parcel the tribe bought for $12.3 million in Sonoma County in 2021 is put into trust.

Placing the land into trust would allow the Koi to move closer to building a $600 million casino and resort on prime real estate in the heart of Northern California's wine country.

The decision comes as the U.S. government tries to atone for its history of dispossessing Indigenous people of their land, in part through a federal legal process that goes beyond reinstating ancestral lands and allows a tribe to put land under trust if it can prove "a significant historical connection to the land."

The Koi Nation, a Southeastern Pomo tribe whose ancestors lived in Northern California for thousands of years, faces mounting opposition from other tribes and even California Gov. Gavin Newsom over its plans for the Shiloh Resort and Casino, which would include a 2,500-slot machine casino and 400-room hotel with spa and pool.

If approved, the casino would be built near Windsor, about 65 miles (105 kilometers) north of San Francisco, near two other Native American casinos a few miles away: Graton Resort and Casino in Rohnert Park and River Rock Casino in Geyserville.

The money generated would allow tribal members a better life in one of the country's most expensive regions, including educational opportunities for young tribe members, said Dino Beltran, Vice Chairman of the Koi Nation's Tribal Council.

"It has taken us years to be on the same playing field as every other tribe in the United States and now the same tribes that have established themselves are against us. It's a very sad thing," Beltran said.

Among the most vocal critics of the Koi Nation's project is Greg Sarris, chairman of Graton Rancheria, a federation of Coast Miwok and Southern Pomo people with more than 1,500 members. The tribe's casino is the biggest in the Bay Area and is undergoing a $1 billion expansion.

Sarris, who last year was appointed by Newsom to the University of California Board of Regents, said the Koi Nation are Southeastern Pomo people whose ancestral home is in Lake County, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) northeast of the project site.

The tribe, Sarris said, is not linguistically, culturally or historically connected to Sonoma County and he accused the tribe of cherry-picking land that already draws tourists.

"They are claiming that part of their deep historical connection is they had a family member in the early 20th century who lived in Sonoma County," Sarris scoffed.

The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, enacted by Congress in 1988, sets rules for how and where Native American tribes can operate casinos, and generally limits them to ancestral lands that have been returned to the tribe.

But the law also makes a "restored lands" exception for federally recognized tribes that do not have a reservation — or rancheria, as they are called in California — to build a casino outside their ancestral land if the tribe can show historical and modern connections to the area where the gambling facility will be located. The land also has to be near where a significant number of tribal members reside.

"Generally speaking, tribes cannot game on any land that is taken into trust after 1988 but there are important exceptions to that general prohibition that are meant to be fair to tribes that did not have land in 1988," said Kathryn Rand, an expert on tribal gaming law at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas's International Center for Gaming Regulation.

Before white colonizers arrived in California, Koi Nation's ancestors lived on an island in Lake County and traded with other tribes in Northern California, according to the tribe's website.

In 1916, the U.S. government approved land in Lake County for Koi Nation's rancheria about 28 miles (45 kilometers) north of the proposed casino site. The land was eventually declared uninhabitable by the Bureau of Indian Affairs because of its rocky terrain and many Koi families moved south to neighboring Sonoma County, mainly to Sebastopol and Santa Rosa, where the tribe is now headquartered.

Four decades later, the federal government took that land and sold it for an airport, leaving the tribe landless. After a lengthy court battle, a federal judge in 2019 ruled the Koi Nation had the right to pursue buying land for a casino.

Michael Anderson, a Koi Nation attorney, said a historic trail used by the tribe from the Clear Lake basin to Bodega Bay, on Sonoma County's Pacific Coast, runs through a portion of the property, which supports the legal requirement of having a "significant historical connection to the land."

Anderson said their legal case is strong. But, "the politics is a whole different thing," he added.

Sarris, whose casino gives millions to small, non-gaming tribes and has become a major donor to California politicians, said the Koi Nation has previously tried to get land under trust to open a casino in Solano and Alameda Counties — both in the San Francisco Bay Area — and accused the tribe of "reservation shopping."

Anderson said the term was offensive and Sarris is simply trying to protect his lucrative casino from competition.

"This is about market protection, that's the heart of it," Anderson said.

Newsom and local politicians also oppose the project along with the Dry Creek Band of Pomo Indians, which operates River Rock Casino.

Newsom's office sent a letter last month to Department of the Interior Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs Bryan Newland urging him not to move forward with the Shiloh casino project and another proposed casino in the Bay Area, saying the governor is concerned the department is not considering other sites for the casinos and approving them would "stretch the limits of the 'restored lands' exception."

The department is weighing three other land trust applications under the "restored lands" exception, including one by the Scotts Valley Tribe that wants to build a casino in Solano County. In Oregon, the Coquille Indian Tribe wants to open a casino in Medford, about 170 miles (273 kilometers) south of its tribal headquarters and closer to the California border.

Casino-owning tribes are pushing back on both. The Guidiville Rancheria tribe in Northern California has applied but has not yet identified land for their project, according to the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Haaland will consider several factors in making her decision, including opposition to the casinos, said Steve Light, an expert on tribal gaming policy at the UNLV International Center for Gaming Regulation.

But the secretary also will take into account whether the casino will help with "tribal self-determination, tribal self-governance, and tribal economic development, job creation and resources for the tribe," he said.

Of the 574 federally recognized tribes, 110 are in California. According to the American Gaming Association, there are 87 tribal casinos in the state, making California the largest tribal gaming market in the country.

"With 40 million people in California, this is presumably still an untapped market, but one that is increasingly competitive," Light said.

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This story has been updated to correct the name of the law that regulates tribal casinos. It is the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act.

Book Review: A Retired Small-Town Cop Searches for Missing Girls in William Kent Krueger’s Mystery

By BRUCE DESILVA Associated Press

Cork O’Connor, whose wife is a full-blooded Ojibwe and who is half Native American himself, retired from his job as Aurora, Minnesota, police chief a while back. He now runs a fast-food place, but when trouble comes to Minnesota’s Great North, Cork still is apt to end up in the middle of it.

In “Spirit Crossing,” William Kent Krueger’s 20th novel featuring Cork, there’s trouble aplenty.

For starters, the daughter of an influential politician is missing, and the FBI, state law enforcement agencies and the press are all over it. Oil pipeline construction is about to intrude on the wetlands of Spirit Crossing, an area sacred to the Native Americans, and the protesters and counter-protesters are gathering.

Meanwhile, Cork’s daughter, Annie, who worked as an aide worker in Central America for years, has just returned home. With her, she’s brought a Guatemalan nurse named Maria and a shattering secret she is reluctant to reveal to anyone.

The action begins innocently when Cork leads several members of his large family, including his 7-year-old grandson Waaboo (Little Rabbit) to a secret blueberry patch near an abandoned shack in the woods. As they near the patch, Waaboo discovers a shallow grave and says he can hear a sad girl’s spirit calling to him.

FBI and state law enforcement agencies descend, seizing control and ordering local authorities not to interfere. But when the body ends up being that of a Native American girl, they lose interest.

The investigation falls to Cork’s successor, Aurora Police Chief Marsha Dross, who enlists Cork and the Iron Lake Ojibwe Tribal Police. Soon they discover more bodies of Native American girls, Cork suspects they may be connected to the missing white girl, suspicion falls on pipeline workers, and someone fearful of Waaboo’s visions targets him for murder.

Krueger has no Native American blood himself, but as usual he treats native culture and mysticism with understanding and respect. His prose and character development are superb, and his vivid descriptions bring Minnesota’s north woods to life.

“Spirit Crossing” returns to three of the author’s familiar themes: the rape of the natural world in the pursuit of profit, the mistreatment of Native Americans, and, with emphasis this time, that thousands of Native American women and girls are missing and not much ever seems to be done about it.

The author puts this thought in the mouth of one of Cork’s relatives: “To be an Indian is to walk with loss. It goes before us and it follows us. It is our shadow self.”

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Bruce DeSilva, winner of the Mystery Writers of America’s Edgar Award, is the author of the Mulligan crime novels including “The Dread Line.”

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AP book reviews: https://apnews.com/hub/book-reviews

Tribes Honor the Birth of a Rare White Buffalo Calf in Yellowstone and Reveal its Name: Wakan Gli

By AMY BETH HANSON and MEAD GRUVER Associated Press

WEST YELLOWSTONE, Mont. (AP) — In a gathering near a picturesque lake outside Yellowstone National Park, hundreds of people cheered Wednesday as a Native American leader spoke the name revealed on a painted hide for a rare white buffalo that was born in the park earlier this month: Wakan Gli, which means “Return Sacred” in Lakota.

The moment marked the highlight of a Native American religious ceremony to commemorate the calf's birth that also featured dancing, drumming, singing and the retelling of how a mysterious woman brought a message of reassurance during hard times.

Earlier this month, the white buffalo calf was born in Yellowstone National Park's vast and lush Lamar Valley, where huge, lumbering bison graze by the hundreds in scenes reminiscent of the old American West.

To the several tribes who revere American bison — they call them “buffalo" — the calf's appearance was both the fulfilment of sacred prophesy and a message to take better care of the Earth.

“It’s up to each and every one of you to make it happen for the future of our children. We must come together and bring that good energy back,” Chief Arvol Looking Horse said at the ceremonies a few miles west of Yellowstone, in far southern Montana.

Looking Horse is spiritual leader of the Lakota, Dakota and the Nakota Oyate in South Dakota and the 19th keeper of the sacred White Buffalo Calf Woman Pipe and Bundle. He describes the white buffalo calf's appearance as both a blessing and a warning about the natural environment.

About 500 people — including representatives of the Colville Tribes in Washington, Lakota and Sioux in the Dakotas, Northern Arapaho in Wyoming, and Shoshone-Bannock in Idaho — attended the ceremonies at the headquarters of Buffalo Field Campaign between Hebgen Lake and the southern reach of the Madison Range. The conservation group works with tribes to protect and honor wild buffalo.

At most, only a handful of people got a look at the calf soon after its birth June 4. Fewer still got photos to prove its existence. The calf has not been seen since.

Each passing week without a sighting adds to suspicions the calf has fallen victim to predators, river currents, illness or any number of hazards for young buffalo. Regardless, it was an auspicious sign with deep roots in Lakota legend and spiritual belief.

Some 2,000 years ago — when nothing was good, food was running out and bison were disappearing — White Buffalo Calf Woman appeared and presented a bowl pipe and a bundle to a tribal member and said the pipe could be used to bring buffalo to the area for food.

As she left, she turned into a white buffalo calf. She promised to return one day, when times are hard again, as a white buffalo calf with black nose, black eyes and black hooves.

“This is a very momentous time in our history when this white buffalo calf with black nose, black eyes, black hooves is born,” Looking Horse said.

White calves are unusual but not unheard of on buffalo ranches, a result of interbreeding between buffalo and cattle. White bison in nature are another level of rare, with none known in Yellowstone — the continent's largest wild reserve of the animals — in recent memory, if ever.

This calf came after a severe winter in 2023 drove thousands of Yellowstone buffalo to lower elevations. More than 1,500 were killed, sent to slaughter or transferred to tribes seeking to reclaim stewardship over an animal their ancestors lived alongside for millennia.

Jordan Creech, who guides in Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks, was one of a few people who captured images of the white buffalo calf.

Creech was guiding a photography tour when he spotted a cow buffalo about to give birth near the Lamar River. The buffalo disappeared over a hill and the group continued to a place where grizzly bears had been spotted, Creech said.

They returned later and saw the cow with its calf, Creech said. It was clear the calf had just been born, he said, calling it amazing timing.

“And I noted to my guests that it was oddly white, but I didn’t announce that it was a white bison, because, you know, why would I just assume that I just witnessed the very first white bison birth in recorded history in Yellowstone?” he said.

Yellowstone park officials have no record of a white bison being born in the park previously. Park officials have been unable to confirm this month's birth.

Erin Braaten, who also captured images of the white calf, looked for it in the days after its birth but couldn't find it.

“The thing is, we all know that it was born and it’s like a miracle to us,” Looking Horse said.

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Gruver reported from Cheyenne, Wyoming.

How to Tackle Crime in Indian Country? Empower Tribal Justice, Ex-Justice Department Official Says

By LINDSAY WHITEHURST Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — A quarter-century ago, the Justice Department had few meaningful relationships with Native American tribes.

While the federal government worked with state and local police and courts, tribal justice systems did not have the same level of recognition, said Tracy Toulou, who oversaw the department's Office of Tribal Justice from 2000 until his recent retirement. “They were essentially invisible,” he said.

Attorney General Merrick Garland said Toulou built the office from an idea into an “institution within the Justice Department."

Its relationships with the nation's 574 federally recognized tribes are important, in part because federal authorities investigate and prosecute a set of major crimes on most reservations.

Public safety statistics reflect the serious challenges. Native Americans and Alaska Natives are more than twice as likely to be victims of a violent crime, and Native American women are at least two times more likely to be raped or sexually assaulted compared with others.

For Toulou, a descendant of the Washington state-based Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, part of addressing those grim realities is expanding the power of tribal justice systems.

Tribes had been barred, for example, from prosecuting non-Natives under a 1978 Supreme Court decision, even if the crime happened on reservations, making it harder to seek justice in many cases. That changed somewhat in 2013 with a federal law that allows tribes to prosecute non-Natives in a limited set of domestic violence cases. The authority was expanded in 2022 to include cases such as violence against children and stalking.

“That was a key change … tribes were now viewed as participants in the justice system on a more or less equal basis with everybody else, which should never have changed,” said Toulou, who was a federal prosecutor in Montana early in his career.

Still, much works remains to be done.

Tribal police and courts are stretched thin and are coping with conflicting jurisdictional issues and underfunding, leaders told the Senate Indian Affairs Committee at a session last month that drew more than 600 comments.

Police Chief Algin Young of the Oglala Sioux Tribe in South Dakota said he has six to eight officers to patrol nearly 4,700 square miles (12,200 square kilometers) against an “influx of guns, illegal drugs including fentanyl, methamphetamine and heroin, and violent crime that can only be described as shocking and extremely dangerous."

“Our people don’t feel safe in the communities, and our visitors do not, either,” he said.

The challenges comes against a historical backdrop of injustices committed by the federal government against Native Americans, including massacres, forced assimilation of Native children in abusive boarding schools and the removal of many tribes from their ancestral land.

One of Toulou's personal regrets is he does not speak his tribe's language because his grandparents were sent to boarding schools, breaking the links that would have passed it down through generations.

"We have a unique responsibility to Indian tribes,” Toulou said, partly due to obligations the U.S. made in treaties, through Congress and other acts. “There is a moral responsibility that is underpinned by those treaties to support those tribal nations and interact with them on a government-to-government basis.”

In recent years, that has meant heeding calls to address the crisis of Indigenous people who have been killed or gone missing. Thousands of those cases remain unsolved, hundreds have been closed due to issues such as jurisdictional conflicts and many families say authorities regularly fail to communicate about the status of pending cases.

Toulou was a leader in the effort to create a federal strategy to respond to violence against Native people in 2022, after the passage of the Not Invisible Act and Savanna’s Act.

He also helped develop legislation such as the Safeguarding Objects of Tribal Patrimony Act of 2021 aimed at halting the removal of historic archaeological remains and the Tribal Law and Order Act of 2010. That law improved the collection and reporting of Native crime data, expanded the sentencing authority of tribal courts and allowed tribes such as the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe Indians in Minnesota to expand their policing powers.

“That really makes a big difference,” said the tribe's chief executive, Melanie Benjamin. “We have the experience, we have the commitment of our own tribal members and our community members that want to be a part of public safety to protect and serve."

Working within the federal bureaucracy can be like “pushing a big rock up a steep hill," said W. Ron Allen, chairman of the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe in Washington state. But tribal leaders have become more sophisticated in navigating it over the past two decades, he said.

“Tracy has played a critical role,” said Allen, citing Toulou's help in educating federal lawyers on Native culture, from restorative justice to traditional land management.

The Justice Department also takes part in civil litigation involving tribes, including environmental cases and hunting and fishing rights.

In Toulou's place as acting director is Daron Carreiro, a career attorney from the Environment and Natural Resources Division who is also steeped in laws and policies around tribal communities, sovereignty and public safety.

As he begins his retirement in Montana, Toulou is hoping to see improved communication between the federal law enforcement and victims' families and more Native people working at the Justice Department.

Garland said Toulou's “legacy will be felt at the Justice Department and in tribal communities for generations to come.”

Washington's Makah Tribe Could Once Again Harpoon Whales as US Waives Conservation Law

By GENE JOHNSON Associated Press

SEATTLE (AP) — The United States granted the Makah Indian Tribe in Washington state a long-sought waiver Thursday that helps clear the way for its first sanctioned whale hunts since 1999 and sets the stage for renewed clashes with animal rights activists.

The Makah, a tribe of 1,500 people on the northwestern tip of the Olympic Peninsula, is the only Native American tribe with a treaty that specifically mentions a right to hunt whales. But it has faced more than two decades of court challenges, bureaucratic hearings and scientific review as it seeks to resume hunting for gray whales.

The decision by NOAA Fisheries grants a waiver under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, which otherwise forbids harming marine mammals. It allows the tri

be to hunt up to 25 Eastern North Pacific gray whales over 10 years, with a limit of two to three per year. There are roughly 20,000 whales in that population.

The tribe celebrated the decision but said it took far too long.

“Whaling remains central to the identity, culture, subsistence, and spirituality of the Makah people, and we regard the Gray Whale as sacred," Makah Tribal Council Chairman Timothy J. Greene Sr. said in a written statement. "In the time since our last successful hunt in 1999, we have lost many elders who held the knowledge of our whaling customs, and another entire generation of Makahs has grown up without the ability to exercise our Treaty right or experience the connections and benefits of whaling that our ancestors secured for us.”

The hunts will be timed in an effort to avoid harming endangered Western North Pacific gray whales that sometimes visit the area — about 200 to 300 remain — as well as a group of about 200 gray whales that generally spend summer and fall feeding along the Northwest coast.

Nevertheless, some hurdles remain. The tribe must enter into a cooperative agreement with the agency under the Whaling Convention Act, and it must obtain a permit to hunt, a process that involves a monthlong public comment period.

Animal rights advocates, who have long opposed whaling, could also challenge NOAA's decision in court. DJ Schubert, a senior wildlife biologist with the Washington, D.C.-based Animal Welfare Institute, said his organization would object to the issuance of the hunt permit but likely wait until final approvals are given before deciding whether to sue.

He noted that while the Eastern North Pacific gray whale population appears healthy now, it has fluctuated wildly in recent years, and no one knows how the whales will fare as climate change continues to affect the Arctic. Scientists estimate that as much as 40% of the population died off from 2018 to last year before it began to recover.

“We completely respect the tribe's cultural practices and traditions,” Schubert said. “We just fundamentally disagree that they need to hunt whales to continue those traditions. We hope that as this decision-making process plays out, perhaps the Makah Tribe and the government could reconsider the need to hunt whales and advocate for protection instead of persecution.”

Archeological evidence shows that Makah hunters in cedar canoes killed whales for sustenance from time immemorial, a practice that ceased only in the early 20th century after commercial whaling vessels depleted the population.

By 1994, the Eastern Pacific gray whale population had rebounded, and they were removed from the endangered species list. Seeing an opportunity to reclaim its heritage, the tribe announced plans to hunt again.

The Makah trained for months in the ancient ways of whaling and received the blessing of federal officials and the International Whaling Commission. They took to the water in 1998 but didn’t succeed until the next year, when they harpooned a gray whale from a hand-carved cedar canoe. A tribal member in a motorized support boat killed it with a high-powered rifle to minimize its suffering.

It was the tribe's first successful hunt in 70 years.

The hunts drew protests from animal rights activists, who sometimes threw smoke bombs at the whalers and sprayed fire extinguishers into their faces. Others veered motorboats between the whales and the tribal canoes to interfere with the hunt. Authorities seized several vessels and made arrests.

After animal rights groups sued, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned federal approval of the tribe’s whaling plans. The court found that the tribe needed to obtain a waiver under the 1972 Marine Mammal Protection Act.

Eleven Alaska Native communities in the Arctic have such a waiver for subsistence hunts, allowing them to kill bowhead whales — even though bowheads are listed as endangered.

The Makah Tribe applied for a waiver in 2005. The process repeatedly stalled as new scientific information about the whales and the health of their population was uncovered.

Some of the Makah whalers became so frustrated with the delays that they went on a rogue hunt in 2007, killing a gray whale that got away from them and sank. They were convicted in federal court.

Move Over Grizzlies and Wolves: Yellowstone Visitors Hope to Catch a Glimpse of Rare White Buffalo

By MATTHEW BROWN, MEAD GRUVER and AMY BETH HANSON Associated Press

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. (AP) — Standing at the edge of a bluff overlooking the Lamar River in Yellowstone National Park, TJ Ammond stared through binoculars at hundreds of buffalo dotting the verdant valley below.

Tan-colored calves frolicked near their mothers while hulking bulls wallowed in mud.

As his wife and young children clustered behind him, Ammond panned the vast herd and cried out: “I see a white one!”

“Or no — that’s a pronghorn,” he soon corrected. “It’s white and it’s small.”

Grizzly bears and wolves are usually the star attractions for wildlife watchers in Yellowstone but this spring, a tiny and exceedingly rare white buffalo calf has stolen the show.

White buffalo — also known as bison — are held sacred by many Native Americans who greeted news of the birth of one in Yellowstone as an auspicious sign.

It all began when Kalispell, Montana, photographer Erin Braaten snapped several images of the tiny, ungainly creature nuzzling with its mother on June 4, soon after its birth near the banks of the Lamar River. Braaten and her family had been driving through the park when she spotted “something really white” and got a closer look through her telephoto lens.

They turned around and pulled over to watch and shoot photos of the calf with its mother for over half an hour.

Despite throngs of visitors with scopes and photographers with telephoto lenses in the Lamar Valley, a prime spot for wildlife viewing in Yellowstone, few others saw the calf and no sightings have been reported since. Even Braaten and her family did not see the calf again despite going back to look over the next two days, she said.

As in legend, the calf remains mysterious in life.

Some speculate it was a short one. Bison calves often don’t survive when their herds decide to plunge across waters like the Lamar, which has been flowing high and muddy with mountain snowmelt.

Yet even if it has died, the event is no less significant to Native Americans, said Chief Arvol Looking Horse, spiritual leader of the Lakota, Dakota and the Nakota Oyate in South Dakota, and the 19th keeper of the sacred White Buffalo Calf Woman Pipe and Bundle.

“The thing is, we all know that it was born and it’s like a miracle to us,” Looking Horse said.

The creature’s birth fulfills a Lakota prophecy that portends better times, according to members of the American Indian tribe who caution that it’s also a signal that more must be done to protect the earth and its animals. They plan a ceremony in the coming weeks to commemorate the event.

Word of the white buffalo has meanwhile spread far and wide. Ammond had heard about the white calf on The Weather Channel and was keen to see it on his family's trip to Yellowstone from Ohio.

Usually, white bison are born in ranch herds due to interbreeding with cattle. They are rare but not unheard of, with births making local headlines every so often.

Two genetic variations, leucism and albinism, account for an unusually light-colored animal. Experts doubt the Yellowstone calf is an albino.

In any event, a wild white buffalo is exquisitely rare — maybe even unheard of in Yellowstone, one of the last sanctuaries for free-roaming American bison. The animals once numbered in the tens of millions before commercial hunting drove them to near extinction. Yellowstone's herd numbers about 5,000.

For Yellowstone's dedicated wildlife watchers, a good look or photo of a wolf, grizzly — or especially an elusive wolverine or lynx — makes for a good day in the field. A glimpse of the white bison calf would be the privilege of a lifetime.

Employees at several of the businesses that offer guided tours, hikes and horseback rides in Yellowstone said they had not seen the white bison calf. At least one was skeptical the sighting was authentic but a cellphone video provided by Braaten's son, Zayne Braaten, showing the calf in a wide scene looking very much like the Lamar Valley left little room for doubt the calf is — or was — the real deal.

Amateur photographer Sabrina Midkiff, from Houston, said getting pictures of buffalo calves was the main purpose of her trip to the park this summer. She'd taken thousands of photos so far and wondered if the white calf was hidden somewhere in the crowd in one of her images.

Seeing it would be thrilling, Midkiff said, but she'd heard talk that it may have died — by drowning, getting eaten by wolves or coyotes, or simply being too weak to survive.

“There are a lot of things that could happen out here in the wild," she said.

Near the site where Braaten said she took her photos, New Mexico native Bob Worthington stood outside his truck Thursday and scoped a distant hillside. He said he'd been visiting Yellowstone for 26 years with a singular focus: Seeing grizzly bears.

Worthington gruffly dismissed a query about the valley's bison herds. But when the white calf was mentioned, he lit up with a grin.

“I'd love to get to see the little rascal,” he said.

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TJ Ammond's first name has been corrected.

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Gruver reported from Cheyenne, Wyoming, and Hanson from Helena, Montana.

Man Pleads Guilty in Eagle ‘Killing Spree’ on Reservation to Sell Feathers on Black Market

By MATTHEW BROWN and AMY BETH HANSON Associated Press

MISSOULA, Mont. (AP) A Washington state man accused of helping kill thousands of birds pleaded guilty in federal court on Wednesday to shooting eagles on an American Indian reservation in Montana and selling their feathers and body parts on the black market.

Travis John Branson pleaded guilty to conspiracy, wildlife trafficking and two counts of trafficking federally protected bald and golden eagles, under a plea deal reached last month with government attorneys.

The prosecution over eagles killed on the Flathead Indian Reservation underscores the persistence of a thriving illegal trade in eagle feathers despite a law enforcement crackdown in the 2010s that netted dozens of criminal indictments across the U.S. West and Midwest. Feathers and other parts of eagles are widely used by Native Americans in ceremonies and during powwows.

Court documents quote Branson saying in a January 2021 text that he was going on a “killing spree” to obtain eagle tails. Branson and a second defendant, Simon Paul, killed approximately 3,600 birds, including eagles on the Flathead reservation and elsewhere, according to a December indictment.

Federal authorities have not disclosed how most of those birds were killed, nor where else the killings happened, and the issue was not discussed during Wednesday's hearing.

Branson, of Cusick, Washington, sold an unidentified purchaser two sets of golden eagle tail feathers — highly prized among many Native American tribes — for $650 in March 2021, according to prosecutors.

Less than two weeks later, law enforcement stopped him on the reservation and found in his vehicle the feet and feathers of a golden eagle he had shot near Polson, Montana, which is on the reservation according to court filings that included a photo of the bird's severed feet with their massive talons. The bird's carcass had been “cleaned” by the second defendant, Paul, and was found in a nearby field, prosecutors wrote.

Multiple phones seized by authorities during the stop yielded photos and text messages that described “the shooting, killing and ultimate selling of bald and golden eagles throughout the United States,” prosecutors said.

Branson acknowledged in response to questions from Magistrate Judge Kathleen DeSoto that he “conspired to take and sell migratory birds,” which is illegal under federal law. He also said he grew up with his co-defendant and was originally from the Polson area.

DeSoto scheduled sentencing for July 31 before U.S. District Judge Dana Christensen.

Branson was not taken into custody pending his sentencing and he made no public comments after the hearing. His attorney, Assistant Federal Defender Andrew Nelson, declined comment.

The plea deal also calls for Branson to pay restitution for damages. An amount has not been set but tribal officials hope some of that money comes to the Flathead reservation, home to the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes.

“My hope is that we can see some of those monies because our resources were damaged,” said Rich Janssen, Natural Resources Department Head for the tribes. “And frankly, it was our wardens that did a lot of the legwork that brought this case forward to the federal agencies that finally got the prosecution.”

Paul, of St. Ignatius, Montana, remains at large. A federal judge issued an arrest warrant for Paul in December when he did not show up for an initial court hearing.

The indictment described Branson and Paul trafficking golden and bald eagles or their parts on at least 11 occasions between December 2020 and the stop of Branson by law enforcement on March 13, 2021.

Court filings suggest the illegal activity went on much longer. They outline a conspiracy that began in 2015 and involved other people who killed eagles on the Flathead Reservation but have not been publicly identified.

In a 2016 text message quoted by prosecutors, Branson appeared to acknowledge that shipping eagles internationally was illegal, adding, “I just get em for 99 cents...price of a bullet.”

In another text exchange, Branson was negotiating an eagle feather sale when he allegedly wrote, “I don’t get em for free though....out here (sic) committing felonies,” according to the court filings.

He faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine at sentencing on the most serious charge, conspiracy. Under the plea deal, lawyers for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Montana said they would seek to dismiss additional trafficking charges and would recommend a sentencing guideline reduction that could lessen the severity of Branson’s punishment.

The criminal case comes almost a decade after the launch of a multi-state U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service trafficking investigation — dubbed “Operation Dakota Flyer” — that led to charges against 35 defendants and the recovery of more than 150 eagles, 100 hawks and owls and 20 species of other protected birds seized or bought by authorities in undercover purchases, according to federal officials.

Federally recognized tribes can apply for permits with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to take a bald or golden eagle for religious purposes, and enrolled tribal members can apply for feathers and other bird parts from the National Eagle Repository in Colorado and non-government repositories in Oklahoma and Phoenix. There’s a yearslong backlog of requests at the National Repository and researchers say the high demand is fueling the black market for eagle parts.

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Brown reported from Billings, Mont.

Mohegan Tribe to End Management of Atlantic City's Resorts Casino at Year's End

By WAYNE PARRY Associated Press

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — The Mohegan tribe will end its management of Atlantic City's Resorts casino at the end of this year, both parties said Monday.

The move will conclude an agreement the tribe's gambling arm, Mohegan Gaming Advisors, made with Resorts in 2012 six months after the casino's co-owner, veteran gambling executive Dennis Gomes, died.

Gomes' death left Resorts without crucial experience and know-how to compete in the ever-more-crowded northeastern U.S. casino market.

Mohegan's successful operation of casinos in markets including Connecticut and Pennsylvania made it attractive to Resorts, which in 1978 became the first casino in the United States to open outside Nevada.

Now, Resorts says, the casino is able to stand on its own two feet.

“Mohegan has been a valuable partner, and we are grateful for their contribution to our success,” said Morris Bailey, who owns Resorts. “We entered into a management agreement with Mohegan at a time when Resorts faced many operational, economic and market challenges. Mohegan brought stability and direction to Resorts by helping to assemble a stellar management team which will remain in place. We are happy that, with Mohegan’s help, Resorts has reached a point where it is able to operate independently.”

As part of the 2012 deal, Mohegan acquired a 10% ownership interest in Resorts, which it will retain. Resorts became the first Atlantic City casino to be run by a Native American tribe.

“We’re extremely proud of our relationship with Resorts Casino Hotel and what we have helped accomplish,” said Ray Pineault, president and CEO of Mohegan. “We want to express our deepest gratitude to our Resorts team members, guests and the Atlantic City community for their support and dedication throughout our tenure as manager.”

Mark Giannantonio, Resorts president, praised Mohegan “for the outstanding partnership over the past decade.”

Resorts had $130.8 million in gambling revenue in 2012, according to state gambling regulators. That total increased to $163 million last year.

During the time Mohegan managed Resorts, the casino signed a deal with DraftKings sportsbook and launched an online operation — Resorts Digital, which took in over $822 million last year, an increase of over 50% from the previous year.

Cross-marketing between Resorts and Mohegan casinos will end at the end of this year, but Resorts plans to launch new marketing programs.

Mohegan Gaming Advisors is a subsidiary of the Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority.

In addition to Connecticut and Pennsylvania, Mohegan operates casinos in Washington and Nevada; Niagara Falls, Canada, and Inchon, South Korea. It also owns the Connecticut Sun WNBA team.

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Follow Wayne Parry on X, formerly Twitter, at www.twitter.com/WayneParryAC

Things to Know About Minnesota’s New State Flag and Seal

By STEVE KARNOWSKI
Associated Press

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) __ Love it, hate it or yawn at it, Minnesota is set to get a new state flag this spring that echoes its motto of being the North Star State, replacing an old flag that brought up painful memories of conquest and displacement for Native Americans.

During the monthslong selection process, some publicly submitted designs gained cult followings on social media but didn`t make the final cut. They included: a loon _ the state bird _ with lasers for eyes; a photo of someone's dog; famous paintings of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln; and an image of a rather large mosquito.

Instead, the flag design adopted in December includes a dark blue shape resembling Minnesota on the left, with a white, eight-pointed North Star on it. On the right is a light blue field that to those involved in the selection process symbolizes the abundant waters that help define the Land of 10,000 Lakes.

The new state seal features a loon amid wild rice, to replace the image of a Native American riding off into the sunset while a white settler plows his field with a rifle at the ready. The seal was a key feature of the old flag, hence the pressure for changing both.

Unless the Legislature votes to reject the new emblems, which seems unlikely, they will become official May 11. Other states are also considering or have already made flag changes. Here are things to know about Minnesota`s new flag and seal, and how the debate unfolded.

WHY THIS DESIGN?

The flag was designed by committee __ a commission that included design experts and members of tribal and other communities of color. More than 2,600 proposals were submitted by the public. The commission picked one by Andrew Prekker, 24, of Luverne, as the base design.

The main changes the commission made were rotating the star by 22.5 degrees so it pointed straight north, and replacing the original light blue, white and green stripes with a solid, light blue field. The significance of the light blue area is up to the beholder. The original Dakota name for Minnesota, Mni Sóta Makoce, which will go on the new seal, can be translated as "where the water meets the sky." The commission's chairman, Luis Fitch, said that to him, the light blue represents the Mississippi River, which originates in Minnesota, pointing to the North Star.

THE CRITICISM

It`s fair to say that much of the public reaction to the new flag fell into the category of "meh" or worse when the design adoption was announced. But supporters of the new flag hope it will grow on people. It`s not like many people were particularly attached to the old flag.

Some criticism circulated by conservatives has been inaccurate. The flag does not resemble that of Somalia nor of its Puntland region.

While it`s true that both the original design and the Puntland flag had light blue, white and green stripes in the same order, the commission dropped the stripes in favor of simplicity and symmetry. And it`s a stretch to say the final version bears much resemblance to the Somali national flag, which is a solid light blue with a white, five-pointed star right in the center. The state Democratic Party chairman issued a news release taking one GOP lawmaker to task for fueling the spread of the misinformation on social media.

Two Republican lawmakers who were nonvoting members of the commission objected to putting the Dakota name for Minnesota on the seal. They said they will propose letting voters decide up or down this November. That proposal is unlikely to get traction in the Democratic-controlled Legislature. And Democratic Secretary of State Steve Simon, a commissioner who backed both designs, said a referendum would probably be unconstitutional.

Additionally, Aaron Wittnebel __ a voting member of the commission for the Ojibwe community __ said in a minority report last week that adopting the Dakota phrase on the seal "favors the Dakota people over other groups of peoples in Minnesota. ``

THE PRAISE

While the new flag might strike some critics as uninspired __ and a waste of time and the $35,000 budgeted for the commission __ the change is important to many Native Americans in a state where there are 11 federally recognized Ojibwe and Dakota tribes.

"Dare I say anything that's not a Native person being forced off their land is a flag upgrade?!" tweeted Democratic Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, a member of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe. "Excited to have a new state flag that represents every Minnesotan."

Democratic state Sen. Mary Kunesh, a descendant of the Standing Rock Lakota, was a chief author of the bill that launched the redesign and a nonvoting member of the commission. She said in a statement that the more than 2,600 submissions and the lively public debate showed that Minnesotans care deeply about their state.

"It was an incredible experience to see our community's energy and passion captured in the beautiful designs they submitted," Kunesh said. ``From loons and wild rice to water and the North Star, we have captured the essence of our state in the new flag and seal. These designs honor our history and celebrate the future of Minnesota."

One Indigenous graphic designer is already selling T-shirts online that bear the new design and say, "At least the flag isn`t racist anymore."

Ted Kaye, secretary of the North American Vexillological Association, who studies flags and was involved in the redesign, has said the new Minnesota flag gets an "A+" from him for its simplicity, uniqueness and inclusion of meaningful symbols.

THE REST OF THE COUNTRY

Several other states also have been redesigning flags.

The Utah Legislature last winter approved a design featuring a beehive, a symbol of the prosperity and the industriousness of its Mormon pioneers. Mississippi chose a new flag with a magnolia to replace a Confederate-themed flag. Other states considering simplifying their flags include Michigan, Illinois and Maine.

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Associated Press writer Trisha Ahmed in Minneapolis contributed to this report.

Federal Appeals Court Upholds Judge’s Dismissal of Dakota Access Pipeline Protesters’ Lawsuit

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) __ A three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld a federal judge`s 2021 decision dismissing a lawsuit filed by protesters of the Dakota Access Pipeline, who alleged law enforcement officers used excessive force during a clash in 2016.

Nine protesters filed the lawsuit in 2016. They alleged civil and constitutional rights violations in officers` use of tear gas, rubber bullets, shotgun bean bags and water in below-freezing temperatures during the clash on Nov. 20, 2016, at a blocked highway bridge. Lead plaintiff and Navajo Nation member Vanessa Dundon said she sustained an eye injury.

The lawsuit`s defendants included the Morton and Stutsman county sheriffs, the Mandan police chief and 100 unidentified officers. In 2021, U.S. District Judge Daniel Traynor granted the officers` request to dismiss the case. The protesters appealed in 2022. The appeals court decision affirming Traynor`s ruling came Nov. 3.

The defendants` attorney, Randall Bakke, told The Bismarck Tribune that "Morton County and the other defendants are pleased with the 8th Circuit appellate court's decision to uphold the North Dakota federal district court's dismissal of all the plaintiffs' claims against them."

The protesters` attorney, Rachel Lederman, told the newspaper: "This has been a hard-fought struggle by Indigenous-led water protectors to vindicate their constitutional rights, which were so egregiously violated at Standing Rock. It is disappointing to see the federal courts readily absolve law enforcement who brutally pummeled nonviolent, peaceful people with freezing high pressure water and dangerous, maiming munitions for hours on end."

Similar lawsuits continue to play out, including cases filed by three protesters who say they were injured because of officers` actions, and by two photographers who allege officers used excessive force and violated their constitutional rights while they were covering the protest.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers recently released a draft environmental review of the oil pipeline, part of a lengthy process expected to result in late 2024 with a decision as to the line's controversial Missouri River crossing near the Standing Rock Reservation.

The pipeline has been operating since 2017. The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe opposes the pipeline as a risk to its drinking water supply due to the potential of a spill.

For copyright information, check with the distributor of this item, Bismarck Tribune.

Theodore Roosevelt National Park to Reduce Bison Herd From 700 to 400 Animals

By JACK DURA
Associated Press

National park officials are planning to gather and reduce the bison herd in Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota, rehoming the animals to a number of Native American tribes.

The "bison capture" is scheduled to start on Saturday and continue through the week in the park`s South Unit near Medora. The operation will be closed to the public for safety reasons.

The park plans to reduce its roughly 700 bison to 400. The park will remove bison of differing ages.

Bison removed from the park will be rehomed and come under tribal management, InterTribal Buffalo Council Executive Director Troy Heinert told The Associated Press.

The bison will provide genetic diversity and increase numbers of existing tribal herds, he said. The Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation and the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe will receive bison; more bison could go to other tribes, depending on demographics, said Heinert, who is Sicangu Lakota.

A helicopter will herd bison into a holding area, with a survey of the landscape and a population count before the gathering of the bison.

The park alternates captures every year between its North Unit and South Unit, to maintain the numbers of the herd due to limited space and grazing and for herd health reasons, Deputy Superintendent Maureen McGee-Ballinger told the AP.

Report: U Of Minnesota 'Committed Genocide' Of Native People

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - The University of Minnesota should hire more Native American faculty, offer students additional financial support and give back land to atone for its historic mistreatment of the state's tribes, a report conducted through a collaboration with the school concluded Tuesday.

The report said that the university's founding board of regents "committed genocide and ethnic cleansing of Indigenous peoples for financial gain, using the institution as a shell corporation through which to launder lands and resources."

Totaling more than 500 pages, the report marks the first time a major American university has critically examined its history with Native people, said Shannon Geshick, executive director of the Minnesota Indian Affairs Council and a member of the Bois Forte Band of Chippewa.

The report is the result of a collaborative effort between the council and the university called the TRUTH Project - short for Towards Recognition and University-Tribal Healing - which has received funding from the Mellon Foundation, Minnesota Public Radio reported.

"The TRUTH Project just rips that open and really reveals a narrative that a lot of people I think just don't know," Geshick said.

The effort draws on archival records, oral histories and other sources to examine through an Indigenous lens the troubled history between Native people and the state's flagship university. The university stopped short of saying whether it would adopt the recommendations but thanked researchers in a statement for what they called their "truth-telling.''

The project started following a series of reports in the publication High Country News in 2020 revealing how universities around the country were founded on the proceeds of land that was taken from tribes through the 1862 Morrill Act.

That included a financial bonanza - dubbed the "Minnesota windfall" - that channeled more than $500 million to the fledgling University of Minnesota from leases and sales of land taken from the Dakota tribe after the federal government hanged 38 Dakota men in Mankato, Minnesota, in December 1862, ending the U.S.-Dakota war.

Meanwhile, it found that the university's permanent trust fund controls roughly $600 million in royalties from iron ore mining, timber sales and other revenues derived from land taken from the Ojibwe and Dakota tribes.

The report also found that the university had failed to teach a full history of the land on which it was founded and raised questions about how some medical research was conducted.

The university has taken meaningful steps toward addressing some of their concerns, tribal leaders said. In 2021, the university created a program that offers free or substantially reduced tuition to many enrolled members of the state's 11 federally recognized tribes.

University of Minnesota President Joan Gabel, who is leaving to take over the University of Pittsburgh, created high-level positions within her administration focusing on Native American issues and tribal relations, and held quarterly, face-to-face meetings with tribal leaders. But Geshick, along with the Minnesota Indian Affairs Council, said a lot more could have been done.

For example, she and others have called for an expansion of the scholarship program, which has been criticized for only benefiting a fraction of Native students.

"It's a great start. But it shouldn't be the end," said Robert Larsen, president of the Lower Sioux Indian Community and chair of the Minnesota Indian Affairs Council.

Groups Push US Land Managers For Lasting Chaco Protections

By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN
Associated Press

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) - Native American activists and environmentalists are pushing the U.S. Interior Department to move ahead with its promise to include tribal perspectives when making management decisions that could affect culturally significant areas beyond the boundaries of Chaco Culture National Historical Park.

A coalition of more than 20 groups and individuals sent a letter to Interior Secretary Deb Haaland on Wednesday saying oil and gas development in northwestern New Mexico remains a threat and that they want the agency to halt leasing until cumulative effects on cultural resources and the environment can be addressed.

The letter includes recommendations that supporters say would ensure lasting protections for an expansive area around the national park. One includes the creation of a tribal advisory committee and an environmental justice advisory committee with authority to inform resource development on federal lands.

Haaland, who is from Laguna Pueblo in New Mexico and is the first Native American to lead a Cabinet agency, traveled to New Mexico in 2021 to announce the "Honoring Chaco" initiative.

Since then, there have been interviews, planning sessions and meetings with historic preservation experts and others. Now, the groups want to know when the next phase will begin and when changes will start to be made.

"In order to continue to build trust and confidence that this initiative indeed represents a new direction for cultural landscape management in the region, the Department of the Interior must show that it is willing to refrain from taking interim actions that would irreparably harm the landscape and prejudice the selection of lands and resources for protection," the letter reads.

The groups suggest that pausing development is within the agency's authority and would be in line with the Biden administration's policy mandates.

The Interior Department affirmed on Thursday its commitment to the Chaco initiative, saying leaders with the Bureau of Land Management and the Bureau of Indian Affairs have been working with tribal preservation officers and tribal groups.

The agency released a report in November detailing the work so far, saying the idea was to establish a new tribally led approach to best identify ways to protect the culture of tribes and pueblos throughout the region and consider strategies for securing a sustainable economic future for residents and workers.

The debate over closing off a 10-mile (16-kilometer) radius around the park has pitted the Navajo Nation against other tribes in the region. Some Navajos have called for a smaller area to be protected as a way to preserve the royalties and other revenues that some families depend on.

If approved by the Interior Department, the withdrawal would affect only federal land, but critics have argued that the checkerboard nature of landholdings in the region would limit interest in Navajo-controlled lands and those parcels owned by individual Navajo allottees.

Federal officials have billed the Chaco initiative as a novel effort that could provide a roadmap and lessons learned for future collaborations with tribes.

Still, some of the activists who have been pushing for Chaco protections say they feel like momentum has stalled, and they've invited federal officials to visit the region again.

Pueblo preservation experts also are working on finishing a first-of-its-kind ethnographic study of the region that they hope will be used as part of the initiative and in future decision making.

FEMA Fires Group For Nonsensical Alaska Native Translations

By MARK THIESSEN
Associated Press

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) _ After tidal surges and high winds from the remnants of a rare typhoon caused extensive damage to homes along Alaska's western coast in September, the U.S. government stepped in to help residents _ largely Alaska Natives _ repair property damage.

Residents who opened Federal Emergency Management Agency paperwork expecting to find instructions on how to file for aid in Alaska Native languages like Yup'ik or Inupiaq instead were reading bizarre phrases.

``Tomorrow he will go hunting very early, and will (bring) nothing,'' read one passage. The translator randomly added the word ``Alaska'' in the middle of the sentence.

``Your husband is a polar bear, skinny,'' another said.

Yet another was written entirely in Inuktitut, an Indigenous language spoken in northern Canada, far from Alaska.

FEMA fired the California company hired to translate the documents once the errors became known, but the incident was an ugly reminder for Alaska Natives of the suppression of their culture and languages from decades past.

FEMA immediately took responsibility for the translation errors and corrected them, and the agency is working to make sure it doesn't happen again, spokesperson Jaclyn Rothenberg said. No one was denied aid because of the errors.

That's not good enough for one Alaska Native leader.

For Tara Sweeney, an Inupiaq who served as an assistant secretary of Indian Affairs in the U.S. Interior Department during the Trump administration, this was another painful reminder of steps taken to prevent Alaska Native children from speaking Indigenous languages.

``When my mother was beaten for speaking her language in school, like so many hundreds, thousands of Alaska Natives, to then have the federal government distributing literature representing that it is an Alaska Native language, I can't even describe the emotion behind that sort of symbolism,'' Sweeney said.

Sweeney called for a congressional oversight hearing to uncover how long and widespread the practice has been used throughout government.

``These government contracting translators have certainly taken advantage of the system, and they have had a profound impact, in my opinion, on vulnerable communities,'' said Sweeney, whose great-grandfather, Roy Ahmaogak, invented the Inupiaq alphabet more than a half-century ago.

She said his intention was to create the characters so ``our people would learn to read and write to transition from an oral history to a more tangible written history.''

U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola, who is Yup'ik and last year became the first Alaska Native elected to Congress, said it was disappointing FEMA missed the mark with these translations but didn't call for hearings.

``I am confident FEMA will continue to make the necessary changes to be ready the next time they are called to serve our citizens,'' the Democrat said.

About 1,300 people have been approved for FEMA assistance after the remnants of Typhoon Merbok created havoc as it traveled about 1,000 miles (1,609 kilometers) north through the Bering Strait, potentially affecting 21,000 residents. FEMA has paid out about $6.5 million, Rothenberg said.

Preliminary estimates put overall damage at just over $28 million, but the total is likely to rise after more assessment work is done after the spring thaw, said Jeremy Zidek, a spokesperson for the Alaska Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.

The poorly translated documents, which did not create delays or problems, were a small part of efforts to help people register for FEMA assistance in person, online and by phone, Zidek said.

Another factor is that while English may not be the preferred language for some residents, many are bilingual and can struggle through an English version, said Gary Holton, a University of Hawaii at Manoa linguistics professor and a former director of the Alaska Native Language Center at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

Central Alaskan Yup'ik is the largest of the Alaska Native languages, with about 10,000 speakers in 68 villages across southwest Alaska. Children learn Yup'ik as their first language in 17 of those villages. There are about 3,000 Inupiaq speakers across northern Alaska, according to the language center.

It appears the words and phrases used in the translated documents were taken from Nikolai Vakhtin's 2011 edition of ``Yupik Eskimo Texts from the 1940s,'' said John DiCandeloro, the language center's archivist.

The book is the written record of field notes collected on Russia's Chukotka Peninsula across the Bering Strait from Alaska in the 1940s by Ekaterina Rubtsova, who interviewed residents about their daily life and culture for a historical account.

The works were later translated and made available on the language center's website, which Holton used to investigate the origin of the mistranslated texts.

Many of the languages from the area are related but with differences, just as English is related to French or German but is not the same language, Holton said.

Holton, who has about three decades experience in Alaska Native language documentation and revitalization, searched the online archive and found ``hit after hit,'' words pulled right out of the Russian work and randomly placed into FEMA documents.

``They clearly just grabbed the words from the document and then just put them in some random order and gave something that looked like Yup'ik but made no sense,'' he said, calling the final product a ``word salad.''

He said it was offensive that an outside company appropriated the words people 80 years ago used to memorialize their lives.

``These are people's grandparents and great-grandparents that are knowledge-keepers, are elders, and their words which they put down, expecting people to learn from, expecting people to appreciate, have just been bastardized,'' Holton said.

KYUK Public Media in Bethel first reported the mistranslations.

``We make no excuses for erroneous translations, and we deeply regret any inconvenience this has caused to the local community,'' Caroline Lee, the CEO of Accent on Languages, the Berkeley, California-based company that produced the mistranslated documents, said in a statement.

She said the company will refund FEMA the $5,116 it received for the work and conduct an internal review to ensure it doesn't happen again.

Lee did not respond to follow-up questions, including how the mistaken translations occurred.

TVA to Return Ancestral Remains of Native Americans

NOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - The Tennessee Valley Authority is taking steps to return the ancestral remains of nearly 5,000 Native Americans, according to federal records.

The TVA filed notice in the Federal Register for publication Wednesday that it intended to repatriate all ancestral remains and associated funerary objects it possesses, the Knoxville News Sentinel reported. The remains and associated objects were removed from their original resting places in Tennessee, Kentucky and Alabama.

TVA has identified ancestral remains of at least 4,871 Native Americans and 1, 389 lots of objects that the utility corporation believes were placed with or near the ancestral remains "at the time of death or later as part of the death rite or ceremony," the notice said.

The process of repatriation allows tribes and descendants to take possession of the remains and associated funerary objects. The TVA said the remains would be available for return on or after April 29 and it listed 21 tribes that could make requests.

If competing requests are filed, TVA would determine "the most appropriate requestor."

Cornell Univ. Returns Native American Remains Dug Up In 1964

By MICHAEL HILL
Associated Press

Cornell University has returned ancestral remains to the Oneida Indian Nation that were inadvertently dug up in 1964 and stored for decades in a school archive.

``We're returning ancestral remains and possessions that we now recognize never should have been taken, never should have come to Cornell and never should have been kept here,`` Cornell President Martha E. Pollack said at a small repatriation ceremony Tuesday, according to the university.

Pollack apologized on behalf of the Ivy League school in Ithaca, New York, noting the ``disrespect shown to these ancestors.''

The remains, possibly more than 300 years old, were unearthed by people digging a ditch for a water line on an upstate New York farm east of Binghamton in August 1964.

Police called a Cornell anthropology professor, who determined the remains belonged to a young adult male of Native American ancestry. Repatriation records recently filed with the federal government indicate the remains represent ``at minimum'' three people.

The remains were stored on campus until after the professor's death in 2014, when they were transferred to the anthropology department. They were rediscovered by colleagues during an archival inventory.

``These individuals, an adult man, a child of four years or younger and another child or adolescent of undetermined age, will be once again laid to rest in the traditions of our people,'' Oneida Indian Nation Representative Ray Halbritter said at the ceremony.

Twenty-two ``funerary'' objects that were interred with the remains also were returned. The objects include pieces of pottery, a piece of leather, a large mammal skull fragment and an acorn.

The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act requires federally funded institutions, such as universities, to return remains and cultural items.

Cornell is among colleges, museums and other institutions returning Native American artifacts and ancestral remains. Colgate University in November returned to the Oneidas more than 1,500 items once buried with ancestral remains, some dating back 400 years.

The dig site in Windsor, New York. was once a large settlement located on the banks of the Susquehanna River, in the traditional territory of the Oneidas

Senate Backs Big Land Transfer For Nevada Military Complex

By GABE STERN

Associated Press/Report for America

RENO, Nev. (AP) – The U.S. Senate has voted for a massive expansion of a northern Nevada naval air training complex that will transfer of a huge swath of public land to the military.

The Senate approved as part of the annual defense spending bill what is likely to be one of the final steps in yearslong negotiations to designate 872 additional square miles (2,258 square kilometers) of land for bombing and military use to the Naval Air Station (NAS) Fallon, which is 65 miles (104 kilometers) east of Reno.

The measure also designates more than 906 square miles (2,347 square kilometers) of land for conservation, wilderness areas and other protected areas, as well as roughly 28 square miles (73 square kilometers) of land and $20 million each to two Native American tribes. Churchill County, where the training facility is located, will also receive $20 million.

The Fallon complex is the Navy's main aviation training range, supporting aviation and ground training, including live-fire exercises. All naval strike aviation units and some Navy SEALs train at Fallon before deployment.

The House approved the National Defense Authorization Act last week. It now awaits President Joe Biden's signature.

The management of Nevada's vast swaths of federal land, and the differing needs it serves, has long been a push-and-pull for different groups in Nevada that has resulted in legal battles over lithium mining, development, national monuments and endangered species designations. The training facility expansion has been under consideration for years as Nevada's congressional delegation has introduced it time and again while trying to balance the interests of different groups, including the Navy, conservationists, counties and Native American tribes who have long considered the land to be sacred.

The expansion will “improve our national security, fuel economic growth in Churchill County, and preserve important cultural heritage sites for Tribal nations,” Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto said in a statement. Praise also came from Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak and Sen. Jacky Rosen, both Democrats, and Republican Rep. Mark Amodei and Churchill County Chairman Pete Olsen.

The Navy has said the expansion is critical to meeting combat training needs for modern aircraft and weapons systems that have outgrown training capabilities over the past two decades.

“This critical legislation enhances our Nation's security by allowing our Carrier Air Wings and Naval Special Warfare Teams to train in a more realistic environment and better prepare for strategic competition,” Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro said in a statement.

Several groups have historically been split or mixed on the expansion, including conservationists and some nearby tribes. Brian Sybert, the executive director for the Conservation Lands Foundation, thanked Cortez Masto, Rosen and Amodei for “crafting a delicate community compromise that has resulted in the only conservation win within this year's NDAA.'”

But Patrick Donnelly of the Center for Biological Diversity called it “a devastating loss for Nevada wildlife.”

He said the public land set to be transferred is one of the few swaths of U.S. land that is largely absent of humans. He added that even parts of the land that will still be maintained by the U.S. Interior Department will still hold combat training exercises that can harm wildlife.

Tribes that have been living in the area where the training complex is located and who consider the valley to be sacred were more optimistic.

“While our tribe will never support the expansion of NAS taking more of our ancestral lands,'' said Cathy Williams-Tuni, the chairwoman of the Fallon Paiute-Shoshone tribe, “we're still very thankful and grateful of the many benefits that the NDAA for our tribe has.''

Williams-Tuni has said that they would work closely with the military and Nevada's delegation to “come up with – we don't always want to say this word, but a compromise.”

The Paiute-Shoshone Tribe is not against national defense, she added, but there is also an importance to the ancestral lands, with burial sites and artifacts spread out across it.

Over the past year, the Nevada congressional delegation, Interior Department, and Navy officials have engaged with northern Nevada tribes that would be affected by the expansion. The assistant secretary of the interior also flew to Nevada to visit the land and the tribe. About two weeks ago, Williams-Tuni met with Department of Interior and Indian Health Service officials in Washington D.C.

Williams said Thursday that the next step is for the tribe to co-steward the lands with the Department of the Interior and the Navy, which she could potentially include a cleanup program of military residue and the transfer of some vital materials to the tribe for heating subsystems.

The Fallon Paiute-Shoshone tribe funding will go toward building and maintaining a cultural center, and the Walker River Paiute tribe's $20 million is due to past ordnance contamination on tribal land, with about 13 square miles (34 square kilometers) held in trust.

Williams-Tuni said Thursday that although she still opposes the plan as a whole, she is looking forward to “explaining to our membership how we didn't just give away, and we didn't give in.”

When the NDAA passed the House last week, Amber Torres, Chairman of the Walker River Paiute tribe, called it “a momentous day where an historic injustice against the Walker River Paiute Tribe has been resolved” in a statement.

___

Stern is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms. Follow Stern on Twitter: (at)gabestern326.

Rare attack in Alaska renews interest in polar bear patrols

By GENE JOHNSON and MARK THIESSEN
Associated Press

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) _ For isolated communities at the top of the world, keeping the planet's largest land predators -- polar bears -- out of town is key to coexistence.

That can mean patrolling for the animals by snowmobile or four-wheeler, shooing them away with spotlights or a revved engine, or hazing them with beanbag shotguns. In one Canadian town, polar bears that can't be scared off are kept in an air-conditioned ``bear jail'' until they can be flown out onto the sea ice. Such bear patrols have long succeeded in reducing conflict.

But this week, a polar bear attack killed a mother and her 1-year-old son in Wales, a tiny, remote Alaska whaling village whose bear patrol had lapsed. The incident _ the first fatal polar bear attack in Alaska in 30 years _ underscored the risks of living alongside the creatures, which can weigh more than 1,700 pounds (771 kg).

While it's not clear why the bear attacked, and while no patrol can prevent all troublesome encounters between bears and people, the mauling has renewed interest in such programs.

``There's absolutely discussion now in Wales, saying, `Hey, maybe things have changed to the point that we need this, and how do we do that?''' said Susan Nedza, the chief administrator for the Bering Strait School District.

Polar bear attacks are extremely rare. But as climate change reduces the amount of Arctic ice, forcing the bears to spend more time on land, the number of encounters between people and bears is on the rise, researchers say. Raising awareness and improving ways to keep both bears and people safe has become imperative.

In northeastern Russia, patrollers have planted walrus carcasses far from villages to lure the bears away. The patrols were increased in 2019 when about 60 polar bears descended on Ryrkaypiy in Russia's remote Chukotka region, forcing the cancellation of all public events.

In Arviat, a hamlet on the Hudson Bay in northern Canada, a bear patrol program was credited with dramatically reducing the number of bears killed in defense of life or property, from about eight per year before it began in 2010 to one per year afterward.

Another Hudson Bay town _ Churchill, in northeastern Manitoba _ has had a bear alert program for decades and has turned the animals into a tourist attraction. There, wildlife agents and police patrol by helicopter and by ground to protect trick-or-treaters on Halloween. Problem bears are captured and kept in an air-conditioned ``bear jail'' until the ice freezes up and they can be transported out to where they can find natural prey such as seals.

Another successful model is among the coastal communities of the North Slope, where Alaska meets the Arctic Ocean; there tribes have traditionally hunted the bears, along with whales and seals. It's not uncommon to see dozens of bears on the outskirts of some of those villages, depending on the time of year and ice conditions.

In the early 1990s, scores of polar bears massed on the shore of Utqiagvik, formerly known as Barrow, the northernmost community in the U.S. The village elders gathered: The school year was approaching, and something had to be done.

On their advice, the town put together patrols to try to keep the polar bears out.

``We went on shifts, we used whatever we could use, a snow machine or a truck,'' recalled Billy Adams, an employee of the North Slope Borough Department of Wildlife Management who still sometimes patrols for bears. ``It's all about keeping the people and the bears safe.''

The goal is to keep an eye out for bears, respond to reported sightings, and shoo them away as gently as possible. Sometimes that means just revving the engine of a snowmobile, truck or four-wheeler, or shining a spotlight at them; other times it can escalate to the use of beanbags or ``cracker shells,'' like firecrackers fired from a shotgun, to harass the bears, said Taqulik Hepa, director of the North Slope Borough Department of Wildlife Management in Alaska.

The North Slope has patrols on standby in case bears come close; three villages have active patrols now, Hepa said.

In Kaktovik in 2014, a patroller shooed away a polar bear that had gotten into the entryway of an 81-year-old woman's home, where it was feeding on a drum of seal oil. The woman had hidden inside and was unharmed.

The North Slope Borough doesn't maintain a budget for the program, but supports it by providing fuel or equipment. When available, grants from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service help offset the costs, which can include pay for patrollers.

Polar bears appear less frequently in Wales, a community that is the westernmost point on the North American mainland _ just 50 miles (80 kilometers) from Russia across the Bering Strait. Wales is home to about 150 people, almost all of them Inupiat. It's accessible by plane and boat, including barges that deliver household goods. Winter trails provide snowmobile access to other communities and subsistence hunting grounds.

Wales began a polar bear patrol in 2014 with the help of the World Wildlife Fund, which has supported the creation of several such programs in far northern communities across the globe. But the local program became inactive due to a confluence of factors _ including the COVID-19 pandemic, the relative lack of bears and the recent death of its leader, Clyde Oxereok.

The community also has fewer financial resources than some of its counterparts in the North Slope, where the oil industry has buoyed the economy.

Even if a patrol had been active, though, it's not clear it could have prevented Tuesday's attack. It occurred early in the afternoon _ not typically a risky time for bear encounters _ and came amid a near whiteout, with extremely poor visibility.

Authorities investigating the mauling said they intend ``to learn from this tragedy and determine what future measures we and our communities can take to prevent future fatal human-bear encounters,'' according to a joint statement released Thursday by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game and the Alaska Nannut Co-management Council, which represents 15 Alaska Native tribes that have traditionally hunted polar bears.

Chrissy Friberg, a traveling optician from Washington state, spent a couple days in Wales just before the attack, holding a clinic for the villagers. She said people didn't seem overly concerned about the risk of bears.

``We were outside, walking around,'' she said. ``There were no threats or warnings.''

___

Johnson reported from Seattle.

New Mexico Allocates Grants From $32M Mine Spill Settlement

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) _ Six entities impacted by the 2015 Gold King Mine spill will share roughly $4 million in grants from a settlement, according to the New Mexico Attorney General's office.

Outgoing Attorney General Hector Balderas announced earlier this month that nearly $4.3 million will be divided among multiple municipalities and agencies.

The cities of Aztec and Farmington in San Juan County, the San Juan Soil and Water Conservation District, the state tourism department and the New Mexico State University Extension Service will all receive six-figure grants.

To be recipients of the grant program, they submitted a proposal to the New Mexico Attorney General's office.

``Out of tragedy comes hope, and I am honored to award these amazing applicants and their ideas to invest in their own communities,'' Balderas said in a statement.

The grant funds come from the overall $32 million settlement reached in June between New Mexico and the U.S. government over the spill that polluted rivers in three western states. The spill released 3 million gallons (11 million liters) of wastewater from the inactive Gold King Mine in southwestern Colorado, sending a bright-yellow plume of arsenic, lead and other heavy metals south to New Mexico, through the Navajo Nation and into Utah through the San Juan and Animas rivers.

Water utilities were forced to scramble and shut down intake valves _ and farmers stopped drawing from the rivers as the contaminants moved downstream.

Under the New Mexico agreement, the federal government will make cash payments for response costs, environmental restoration and efforts to mitigate negative perceptions about the area's rivers following the spill. Money also will go toward monitoring water quality and other cleanup activities.

In 2021, the state also received $11 million in damages from the mining companies.

Under that agreement, $10 million will be paid to New Mexico for environmental response costs and lost tax revenue and $1 million will go to Office of the Natural Resources Trustee for injuries to New Mexico's natural resources.

Michigan, Native Tribes Reach New Great Lakes Fishing Deal

By JOHN FLESHER
AP Environmental Writer

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) – Four Native American tribes have agreed with Michigan and federal officials on a revised fishing policy for parts of three of the Great Lakes, officials said Monday.

The tentative deal involves contentious issues for groups wanting shares of a valuable resource as populations of some species – particularly whitefish and salmon – have fallen over the past two decades.

A proposed order submitted to a federal judge would extend for 24 years a system overseeing commercial and sport fishing in areas of lakes Michigan, Huron and Superior covered by an 1836 treaty.

Under the treaty, the Odawa and Ojibway nations described collectively as Anishinaabek ceded lands that would comprise nearly 40% of Michigan's eventual territory, while retaining hunting and fishing rights.

Rising tensions between tribal commercial operations and sport anglers led to a fishery management pact in 1985, which was updated in 2000. That version was due to expire two years ago but was extended to allow continued negotiations.

“We believe this agreement has clear benefits for all the parties,” said David Caroffino, tribal coordination unit manager for the fisheries division of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.

In addition to the state and federal governments, participants include the Bay Mills Indian Community, the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians and the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians.

The Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, which has joined the previous deals, hasn't signed this one, Caroffino said. The tribe has filed a motion with U.S. District Judge Paul Maloney, who is overseeing the case, seeking the authority to regulate its own fishing. Officials from that tribe didn't immediately respond Monday to messages seeking comment.

Maloney has scheduled a conference for Friday to review where the case stands and consider the Saut tribe's proposal.

The agreement, like its predecessors, sets zones where tribal fishing crews can operate and areas where commercial fishing is off limits. It deals with topics such as catch limits and which gear tribal operations can use.

Particularly controversial is tribes' use of large-mesh gill nets, an effective tool that hangs in the water column like a wall. Critics say they indiscriminately catch and kill too many fish. The new deal let tribes use the nets in more places, with restrictions on depth in the water they're placed, the times of year they're used and how much netting is deployed.

State biologists are confident that the limited expansion of gill netting won't harm fish populations and will have “minimal impacts” on sport fishing, Caroffino said.

Sport fishing groups believe otherwise, said Amy Trotter, executive director of the Michigan United Conservation Clubs. Under the 2000 consent decree, she said, Michigan spent more than $14 million paying tribal operations to transition from gill nets to trap nets, which are more selective.

“More gill netting will upset a roughly 50-50 balance between harvesting opportunities for tribes and state-licensed sport anglers,” Trotter said. “The consent decree appears to tilt in the direction of tribal interests at the expense of sport anglers, charter boat operators and tourism-dependent communities.”

“We've lived in relative harmony for the past 22 years,” Trotter said. But if sport anglers struggle to find fish or encounter nets stretched across bays as they try to reach open waters in boats, “we definitely will have conflicts in the future.”

Caroffino said tribal crews' need for gill netting to improve harvests has risen with the collapse of whitefish populations, which have suffered as invasive quagga mussels have gobbled up plankton and unraveled food chains.

The nets are particularly important for landing lake trout, which have become a more important commercial species as whitefish have plummeted. Lake trout, once devastated by parasitic sea lamprey, have bounced back in recent decades because of lamprey controls and trout restoration efforts.

Grand Traverse Band attorney Bill Rastetter said the overall structure and balance between tribal and sport interests remain intact under the new agreement, although one side or the other might do better in particular areas.

“We've reached an agreement that's consistent with what's been in place for 37 years but reacts to a changed fishery,” Rastetter said. “It won't create any burden on state-licensed fishers. The harvest limits will remain in place.”

Panel Picks Finalists for New Mexico Regulatory Commission

By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN
Associated Press

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) _ New Mexico's governor will have nine candidates to choose from as she fills a powerful regulatory commission that oversees utility rates and will help chart the state's course toward more renewable energy development.

A nominating committee voted unanimously Friday to forward the finalists' names to Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham. It wasn't immediately clear how long the governor will take to make her appointments.

The candidates include a top official in the state attorney general's office, a policy expert with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in Washington, D.C., an associate dean at the University of Florida's law school and an Albuquerque lawyer who has represented several New Mexico tribal communities.

The list of finalists for the Public Regulation Commission is the result of a monthslong selection process.

“Really we're picking people here who are going to look at not just today's problems, but tomorrow's problems and tomorrow's issues and we don't even know what they are,” said Bill Brancard, a member of the nominating committee and a bureau chief with the state energy department.

Cydney Beadles, another member of the committee, said it is a pivotal time for utility regulation, noting that grid operations and energy markets are undergoing major transformations across the U.S.

“Utilities need predictable regulation now more than ever, and we, the state, need them as partners to spur economic growth and prosperity,” she said. ``Consumers need to feel confident that the commissioners know how to ensure the utilities spend no more than they have to during these rapidly changing conditions so that ratepayers pay no more than they have to. The scope of the PRC's duty is the public interest.''

A constitutional amendment approved in 2020 changes the PRC from a five-member elected body representing districts around the state to a three-person panel appointed by the governor and confirmed by the New Mexico Senate.

A coalition of nonprofit groups sought to overturn the change, saying Native American communities in particular would be disenfranchised since they would no longer have a say in choosing representation through elections. The state Supreme Court rejected the challenge earlier this week.

Krystal Curley is the executive director of Indigenous Lifeways, one of the plaintiffs in the case. She addressed the nominating commission Friday while holding back tears.

This is ``leaving a voice out for the indigenous people on the frontline communities that have faced the impacts of colonization for over 500 years,'' said Curley, who is Navajo. ``For our voice to be eliminated in this way is unjust. It's hard for me to believe in the system.''

Many of the recent decisions made by the PRC have had direct consequences for northwestern New Mexico, which is home to a large swath of the Navajo Nation as well as the Jicarilla Apache Nation. Those include the recent closure of the coal-fired San Juan Generating Station and projects for replacing the lost capacity with solar and battery storage systems.

None of the recommended candidates for the regulatory panel is from northwestern New Mexico. Five identify themselves as Democrats.

Joseph Little is among those who will be considered by the governor. From the Mescalero Apache Nation in southern New Mexico, Little has worked with tribes on everything from water rights to utility easements.

The others are Cholla Khoury, New Mexico's chief deputy attorney general for civil affairs; Amy Stein, who has worked as a lawyer in Washington, D.C., and California before teaching in Florida; former Public Service Co. of New Mexico resource planner Patrick O'Connell; former Republican state lawmaker Brian Moore; FERC senior policy adviser Gabriel Aguilera; Carolyn Glick, who worked for years at the PRC as general counsel and a hearing examiner; Sandia National Laboratories engineer James Ellison; and Arthur O'Donnell, who has served as a PRC consultant.

Outgoing New Mexico House Speaker Brian Egolf, chair of the nominating committee, acknowledged some of the criticism surrounding the PRC overhaul but said the measure was hotly debated and vetted over the course of several legislative sessions.

Egolf, who was among the Democrats pushing for the amendment, added that while 70% of San Juan County voters rejected the proposal, support was overwhelming in precincts that included the Navajo Nation.

``It's important that we all keep in mind that we are enacting the will of the people,'' he said. ``This was not something that was done on the sly. This is not something that was done in some sort of like backroom deal.''

Hoopa Valley Tribe Sues US Over California Water Contracts

By KATHLEEN RONAYNE
Associated Press

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) _ The Hoopa Valley Tribe alleged in a lawsuit Monday that the federal government is violating its sovereignty and failing to collect money from California farms that rely on federally supplied water to pay for damages to tribal fisheries.

The tribe, which has a reservation in northwest California, says in its lawsuit against the Biden administration that the Trinity River that it relies on for food and cultural purposes has been decimated by decades of the federal government diverting water.

The suit alleges the U.S. Department of the Interior has failed to follow laws that require the contractors who use that water to pay money for habitat restoration projects. It says those contractors owe $340 million for environmental restoration work along the Trinity River and other places damaged by water diversions.

``The river has become a place that is no longer a healing place, but a place that is a sick place,`` said Jill Sherman-Warne, a member of the Hoopa tribal council.

The suit also alleges that the federal government has failed to appropriately consult with the tribe on matters related to the river.

The Interior Department declined to comment through spokesman Tyler Cherry.

Since the 1950s, the Trinity River has been a major source of water for the Central Valley Project, a system of dams, reservoirs and canals that sends water south to farmers who harvest fruits, nuts and other crops. Fish that swim through the river include the coho salmon, which is listed as an endangered species. Twelve miles of the river flow through the tribe's reservation.

Congress updated laws governing the water project's operation in 1992. It gave the tribe some power to concur over changes to river flows, added requirements for protecting fish in the Trinity River, and stated any renewals of long-term water contracts had to follow existing laws.

At the end of the Obama administration, Congress passed a law saying that any temporary federal contracts for water could be turned into permanent ones if they pay back the federal government for certain costs. Previously, the contracts had to be reapproved on a regular basis.

Westlands Water District, the nation's largest agricultural water district, was one of the contractors that converted its water contract to a permanent one. The new agreement doesn't grant Westlands any additional water or promise that it will get everything in dry years, but it effectively gives the district a contract for water in perpetuity.

The deal was controversial because David Bernhardt, a former Westlands lobbyist, was interior secretary when the contract was approved and a judge later declined to validate it. But Westlands and the federal government are still moving forward with it, Westlands spokeswoman Shelley Cartwright said. The district has rejected claims it received special treatment.

The suit alleges the contract fails to include requirements for habitat restoration payments. As Bernhardt left office, he wrote a memo agreeing with staff recommendations that most environmental mitigation work related to the Central Valley Project was complete.

Daniel Cordalis, deputy solicitor for water resources in Biden's Interior Department, later rescinded that decision. But the tribes allege the money has still not been paid. Cherry, the interior spokesman, didn't respond to an email asking for the department's current position on whether the work is done.

Tribal leaders, though, say restoration work is far from complete and that the river is in dire need of help.

``An integral part of the life here is the Trinity River. That changed dramatically in the 1950s when Congress chose to dam up the river,`` said Mike Orcutt, fisheries director for the Hoopa Valley Tribe. ``We've been fighting for decades to right that wrong.``

Cartwright, the Westlands' spokeswoman, said the district pays a set fee to a restoration fund based on how much water it receives. She said in an email that the contract ``provides for the payment of money, consistent with federal law.``

The tribe initially sued during the Trump administration but later put the lawsuit on hold and hoped to settle with the Biden administration. The current interior secretary is Deb Haaland, a member of the Pueblo of Laguna Tribe and the first Native American to hold a cabinet position. Tribal officials chose to renew the lawsuit because the Biden administration has not changed course, leaders said.

University Of Kansas Returning Native American Remains

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) _ The University of Kansas has begun the process of returning Native American remains and other sacred objects that were recently discovered in its museum collections, the university said.

University officials said in a statement posted online that ``culturally unidentified individual remains,'' funeral objects and other sacred objects were found in Spooner Hall and Lippincott Hall Annex on the Lawrence campus.

The university is verifying its inventory of Indigenous artifacts it holds across campus.

A spokesperson did not respond Tuesday to questions about the number of artifacts, specifically how and when they were found, or to which tribes they belong.

The announcement comes 32 years after the passage of the federal Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, which sets out criteria for tribal nations to reclaim human remains and other objects related to burials.

Kansas Chancellor Douglas Girod initially announced the discovery in a message to the campus Sept. 20. The university had begun efforts to repatriate some items in the past, but the process was not completed, he said.

The university said its repatriation efforts will include forming an advisory committee, consulting with tribal nations, auditing all university collections, securing space for the Indigenous Studies Program, supporting gathering opportunities for the university's Native American community, and instituting repatriation policies and procedures.

``The intent in sharing this announcement is to publicly apologize to Native communities and peoples, past, present, and future, and to apologize to the tribal nations across North America,'' the university's statement said.

South Dakota Tribes Buy Land Near Wounded Knee Massacre Site

By STEPHEN GROVES
Associated Press

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) _ Two American Indian tribes in South Dakota have joined forces to purchase 40 acres around the Wounded Knee National Historic Landmark, the site of one of the deadliest massacres in U.S. history.

The Oglala Sioux and the Cheyenne River Sioux said the purchase of the land on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation was an act of cooperation to ensure the area was preserved as a sacred site. More than 200 Native Americans _ including children and elderly people _ were killed at Wounded Knee in 1890. The bloodshed marked a seminal moment in the frontier battles the U.S. Army waged against tribes.

``It's a small step towards healing and really making sure that we as a tribe are protecting our critical areas and assets,'' Oglala Sioux Tribe President Kevin Killer told The Associated Press.

The tribes agreed this week to petition the U.S. Department of the Interior to take the land into trust on behalf of both tribes. The Oglala Sioux tribe will pay $255,000 and the Cheyenne River Sioux tribe will pay $245,000 for the site, Indian Country Today reported. The title to the land will be held in the name of the Oglala Sioux tribe.

Marlis Afraid of Hawk, a member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe whose grandfather, Albert Afraid of Hawk, survived the 1890 massacre as a 13-year-old boy, said she was overjoyed to see the tribes take ownership. She said she carries on the oral tradition of telling her grandchildren how her grandfather survived by fleeing through a ravine after a rifle held by a U.S. calvary soldier failed to fire at him.

As a member of a group that represents the descendants of the massacre's survivors, she had initially raised objections to the Oglala Sioux Tribe's purchase of the land, but said the joint purchase made her feel ``honored and grateful.''

Members of the Oglala Sioux, Standing Rock Sioux, Rosebud Sioux and Cheyenne River Sioux tribes were all at Wounded Knee in 1890, Afraid of Hawk said.

She hoped the site could be used for ``education for the people who come and see the massacre site.''

``They need to know the history. It needs to come through the true, true Lakota people,'' she said.

The tribes' agreement ends a decades-long dispute over ownership of a site that has figured largely in Indigenous people's struggles with the U.S. government. Jeanette Czywczynski became sole owner of the property after her husband, James, died in 2019. He had purchased the property in 1968.

The Czywczynski family operated a trading post and museum there until 1973, when American Indian Movement protesters occupied the site, destroying both the post and Czywczynski's home.

The 71-day standoff that left two tribal members dead and a federal agent seriously wounded led to heightened awareness about Native American struggles and propelled a wider protest movement.

The family moved away from the area and put the land up for sale, asking $3.9 million for the 40-acre parcel nearest the massacre site even though the land, including an additional adjacent 40-acre plot, had been assessed at $14,000.

In 2013, film star Johnny Depp announced a plan to buy the property and donate it to the Oglala Sioux tribe. Depp, who played the role of Tonto in a remake of the film, ``The Lone Ranger,'' was criticized for trying to capitalize on the film by making unsubstantiated claims of having Native American ancestry. Depp did not follow through on the purchase.

Killer, the Oglala Sioux Tribe's president, said the tribe's resolution for the land purchase calls for it to be preserved as a sacred site.

He said, ``There's still a lot of unresolved artifacts and items that should be left undisturbed.``

Manny Iron Hawk, another member of the Wounded Knee Survivor's Association, said he saw the land acquisition as another step in the century-old Indian revival movement known as the Ghost Dance. The U.S. military was trying to suppress the Ghost Dance in 1890 after it had swept across Indigenous communities with a prophecy that colonial expansion would end and Native American communities would unite for prosperity.

``The Ghost Dance was a beautiful dream for our people. It wasn't a dream of death, it was a dream of life,'' Iron Hawk said. ``Today we are the new Ghost Dancers and we carry on a duty that came to us to do what we can for our relatives there at Wounded Knee.''

Archives to Return Native American Remains, Burial Objects

By KIM CHANDLER
Associated Press

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) _ The remains of Native American people who once lived in Alabama were dug up a century ago _ often by amateur archaeologists _ and given to the state along with the jewelry, urns and other objects buried with them.

The Alabama Department of Archives and History announced this week that it is beginning the process of returning the remains and funerary objects held in its collections to tribes as required by federal law. The department also announced it had removed the funerary objects from displays where the artifacts had sat for years, viewed by school groups and other visitors.

``The origins of those materials and the way they came into our possession is really quite problematic from today's perspective. and we very much honor and agreed with Native perspectives on what is and isn't a proper type of material to show in a museum exhibition,`` Steve Murray, the director of the Alabama Department of Archives and History, said Thursday.

The funerary objects were,``the personal property of someone who was buried and then that burial was later disturbed without permission,`` Murray said.

The 1990 federal Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act requires federally funded institutions, such as universities, to return Native American remains and cultural items to lineal descendants, Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations. However, the return has been slow to happen.

The Associated Press reported last month that 870,000 Native American artifacts _ including nearly 110,000 human remains _ are still in the possession of colleges, museums and other institutions across the country, according to data maintained by the National Park Service.

The first materials to be returned from the Alabama archives will be 37 sets of human remains and 349 associated funerary objects that were excavated from burials at two sites in Montgomery and Lowndes counties in the early 1900s. The graves were of people who lived in Alabama in the 18th century although some dated back to the 1600s, Murray said.

State archives have a total of 114 sets of remains taken from 22 sites across the state plus the objects that were buried with those people, Murray said.

University of Alabama museums are the largest holder of Native American remains and artifacts in Alabama.

St. Paul Schools Develop Policy on Native American Smudging

PAUL, Minn. (AP) _ St. Paul Public Schools officials are drafting a new policy to allow and encourage the Native American practice of smudging at schools and events in Minnesota's second-largest district.

Smudging is the cultural practice of burning sage or other sacred herbs for healing and to cleanse the soul of negative thoughts.

Smudging is already taking place on an informal bases at some St. Paul schools, but supporters want to develop an official policy.

In a presentation to school board members Tuesday, John Bobolink, supervisor of the district's American Indian Education Program, said that during a smudge, cedar, sage or sweetgrass is placed in a shell or container and ignited. The flames are gently blown out, creating wafting, cleansing smoke.

Leonard Spears, a Johnson Senior High School freshman, said smudging is a source of positive energy and he tries to do it daily.

``It is a cleanser,'' Spears said. ``It is a medicine for the mind.''

Supporters say it's a way to create a sense of belonging for Native American students who make up about 3.7% of the school district's population. District officials say smudging could help students who struggle with test anxiety, or aggressive behavior, or who are fighting to overcome trauma, the Star Tribune reported.

A policy draft says smudging can be done at an event such as a pow wow or cultural presentation, or with a student or group of students with a counselor or Indian Education staff member present.

Duluth Public Schools instituted a similar policy this spring.

Eiteljorg Museum Will Show Native American Art in New Way

By DOMENICA BONGIOVANNI
The Indianapolis Star

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) _ The Eiteljorg Museum 's revamped Native American Galleries will show works spanning more than 170 years when they reopen in June. But visitors won't start at the beginning, middle or even the end of that timeframe. Instead, they'll be greeted by artwork with stories that fuse past, present and future.

Hannah Claus' ``water song: peemitanaahkwahki sakaahkweelo,'' for example, wraps the Miami people's origin story into a work she created as a 2019 Contemporary Art fellow at the Eiteljorg. She took photos around their homelands in the Mississinewa and Wabash river areas, between Marion, Peru and Wabash.

In doing so, Claus, who is a member of the Bay of Quinte Mohawks First Nation, explored the story of how the Miami first reached from the water in the area of present-day northern Indiana and southern Michigan to grab tree branches and pull themselves onto the land to walk. Digital imagery printed on acetate film in the form of discs will hang delicately from threads affixed to the ceiling, reflecting the story and the sound waves of a song written about it.

``water song'' will be an introduction to about 300 artworks, with more cycling into the installation over time, that will tell the story of tribes from across North America through a thematic presentation that centers Native cultural values in the galleries.

``Native art is on this continuum that what's considered older or traditional and what's newer or contemporary _ it's all Native art and they inform one another,'' said Dorene Red Cloud, associate curator of Native American art.

The piece also will stand amidst spoken greetings from Great Lakes tribes and written acknowledgement of the peoples _ including the Miami, Potawatomi, Delaware, Shawnee, Peoria and Kickapoo _ who are the original inhabitants of the land where the museum now stands.

The reconstructed Native American Galleries are part of the Eiteljorg's larger Project 2021, a $55 million fundraising campaign that will add to its endowment and re-envision galleries and events space. Of special interest to those from this region is the spotlight on Native peoples of the Great Lakes, which is expanding after the museum acquired a major collection of their art in 2019.

``This is really transformational for the museum. We've gone for 30 years in a certain mode, and now we're looking at the art differently and we're presenting it to the public very differently,'' President and CEO John Vanausdall said. ``It's going to look so dramatically different and I think much more contemporary and inviting for today.''

Before the renovation, Native American art sat in large wooden cases, placed according to its geography into categories that included the Woodlands, Plains, Great Basin and Desert Southwest. The floorplan was largely the same as it had been since 1989, when the Eiteljorg opened.

Working with its national Native American Advisory Council, the Eiteljorg developed a new vision for the galleries that is organized into the themes of Relation, Continuation and Innovation, which are important across Native cultures.

Artworks _ which include jewelry, pottery, prints, portraits, ribbonwork and beadwork _ will be displayed in glass cases that greatly open up the space.

``One of the biggest changes from the old exhibit to the reinstallation is looking at the art through these three major themes because previously, we took _ as did many other museums _ an anthropological look at the art and the people and the cultures and really categorizing people by geographic area. So you had people of the plains, people of the southwest,'' said Elisa Phelps, who is the vice president and chief curatorial officer.

``That really is a non-Native perspective on looking at the art and the cultures and the peoples.''

The theme of Relation explores the connections to spirits, animals, plants, families, communities and nations. Red Cloud said that Native peoples' creation, or origin, stories will be part of this section. Mesa Verde national park in Colorado and Cahokia Mounds, which is just east of St. Louis, are among places that are ancestral to today's tribes but not properly recognized as such, she said.

``Native peoples have lived in North America for thousands of years. And when European settlers came to America, they saw these mounds and other places and didn't give credit to the living Native peoples that were there,'' Red Cloud said. ``If you talk with Native peoples who are descended of these areas, they will tell you, `Oh those are our relatives, those were our ancestors.`''

Continuation celebrates the Native practices and observances that thrive despite assimilation efforts, while it explores forced removal and relocation as well as the schools meant to rid children of their culture. Finally innovation includes Native artists' entrepreneurship in creating and selling their work.

About 15% of the galleries' artworks will be from the collection the Eiteljorg previously acquired from art dealer Richard Pohrt Jr. The items, which were created by Great Lakes Native peoples in the mid-19th and early 20th centuries, give a broader understanding of Indiana's past and present.

The new art from Pohrt adds a great deal of diverse work to the museum's existing Great Lakes collection, which had previously been small compared to others, according to public relations manager Bryan Corbin. The Eiteljorg had displayed some of that work from the Miami, Delaware and Potawatomi in ``Mitohseenionki: The People's Place'' since 2002. Now, some of those items will be in the reconstructed galleries.

Other Miami and Potawatomi artworks that were shown previously in the galleries were on loan and have been returned after almost 20 years on exhibition.

This section of the reinstallation will focus on tribes' connections to the Great Lakes as well as contemporary environmental issues, like pipelines in the area and returning varieties of seeds to their place of origin in Native communities.

Artworks by people from the Great Lakes and surrounding areas will be threaded throughout the reinstalled galleries and specifically spotlighted in the Connected By Water room. With a dark ceiling and walls, art like textiles and moccasins will be inside lit-up boxes.

``You'll be in this jewel box-like setting,'' Phelps said.

Given many works' sensitivity to light, the art will rotate, which will help the museum show more of the 400-plus items from the Pohrt collection, Phelps said.

The tribes' art and skill will be evident, and Red Cloud said the exhibit offers an opportunity to teach about their spiritual beliefs through images used in the works, like those of thunderbirds and underwater panthers. Again, past and present will unite through works like a turn-of-the-20th-century bandolier bag with floral beadwork, an art form that continues.

On ``the bandolier bags, you'll see a lot of floral patterns _ floral and plant. They're based on plant knowledge that people have, you know, what kind of plants are beneficial to use for medicine or to eat,'' Red Cloud said. ``The floral beadwork is something you only find in the Great Lakes area, and the artists are still doing it today.''

Construction of galleries is ongoing as the Eiteljorg moves into the final fundraising phase of Project 2021. In October, the museum announced its goal to raise more than $6 million by May after receiving almost $49 million during the private phase that began in 2016. Part of the money _ $40 million _ will be added to its endowment. The remaining $15 million will go toward its capital campaign.

Along with the Native American Galleries, the latter includes the reconstruction of the Western Art Galleries, which reopened in 2018; renovation of the Nina Mason Pulliam Education Center, which reopened in November; and the future expansion of the Allen Whitehill Clowes Sculpture Court events space. Corbin said that the museum has raised more than 90% of its overall goal so far.

Audio descriptions, digital tools, information that's easily seen by those who use wheelchairs, and special lighting for people who are visually impaired will make the galleries more accessible. Visitors will be able to touch parts of the exhibitions, too.

The additions include videos from Native artists who explain their work. These voices are key to telling the stories of the art and people behind it, Phelps said. Even in the midst of enduring painful situations throughout Native peoples' history, Red Cloud said the galleries will show the perseverance and joy of their cultures.

``People are still culturally alive and viable as reflected in art,'' she said. ``Art practices are still continuing and evolving, and that's when we get to innovation and really celebrate Native art and its diversity.''

_

Source: The Indianapolis Star

Chickasaw Princess Hoka to be Depicted in Mississippi Mural

OXFORD, Miss. (AP) _ Work has begun on the most recent outdoor mural in Oxford.

Artist Anna Murphy has begun the painting of Princess Hoka, a Chickasaw woman who once owned the land that is now the City of Oxford, The Oxford Eagle reported.

Murphy worked closely with members of the Oklahoma-based Chickasaw Nation to ensure the accuracy of the design, including the facial features, jewelry, and clothing depicted, the newspaper reported. The flora and fauna in the design are native to the area, and the animals featured hold special meaning to the Chickasaw Nation.

Members of the Chickasaw Nation traveled to Oxford to bless the wall and those involved in the process before painting began.

``Anna's talent and ability to paint hyper realistic large scale murals is incredible,'' said Earl Dismuke, a Mississippi artist who has been working with Murphy since 2019 on the design of the mural. ``I am thankful we live in a city where public officials and members of the community embrace opportunities like this one.''

Murphy, a visual artist living in Chicago, has been painting murals since 2016. Her mother Paula Murphy, also an artist, assists in the painting, the newspaper reported.

The downtown mural will be 1,600 square feet, the newspaper reported. ``Princess Hoka'' will be painted in Murphy's signature blue and white, similar to porcelain china, on a background of gold.

The mural will take about four to six weeks to complete.

Those involved in the project say members of the public are invited to stop by and meet the artist during the process of creating the mural.

Business owner Helen Overstreet of Mike Overstreet Properties LLC commissioned the artwork.

South Dakota Film to Feature Native American Elders' Voices

By MICHAEL NEARY
Rapid City Journal

RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) _ Urla Marcus has hoped for a long time to preserve the voices of area elders in a carefully crafted, artistic format. Now Marcus, director of the Center for American Indian Studies at Black Hills State University, will help to shape a documentary to do just that.

Staff members at the Center for American Indian Studies at Black Hills State University are preparing to work on a documentary - and to bolster many of the Center's services - by drawing from a $242,769 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities that took effect earlier this school year. The grant was made possible by the American Rescue Plan.

The university announced earlier this month that it had been awarded the grant ``to restore and expand BHSU Center for American Indian Studies (CAIS) public programming.''

Marcus, a member of the Northern Cheyenne Nation, said the grant facilitated the hiring of Tiarra Little as program manager of the Center for American Indian Studies. Little, a member of the Oglala Lakota Oyate who grew up in the Pine Ridge and Oglala areas, began her position on Nov. 1 and will play a key role in shaping the documentary, the Rapid City Journal reported.

Little earned her master's degree in Education Policy and Management from Harvard University, and she's slated to work for a year in the Center for American Indian Studies as she prepares for Ph.D. studies.

``She's going to be spearheading the documentary, and she's going to be looking at our American Indian Studies program, specifically at our assessment,'' Marcus said.

The position was added, Marcus said, after the Center's assistant director's post was frozen in March.

The grant will also be used to sustain and grow CAIS programs such as the annual Wacipi, or Powwow; American Indian Awareness Week; a speaker series and various course work, according to an announcement from the university.

Little, in addition to her master's degree from Harvard, brings a bachelor of arts from Stanford University in comparative studies in race and ethnicity, with an emphasis on education, access, and equity.

``I was heavily involved in the Native communities at Stanford and Harvard during my time at school,'' she said. ``I think it's a strength to be able to tap into those experiences as I contribute to student support at BHSU.''

At Stanford, during her sophomore year, she co-taught an alternative spring break course - part of a service learning program - designed to help students make contributions to various communities during spring break. The course focused on Native American and rural education, and she traveled to Pine Ridge during spring break, with the students and the other co-teacher, to perform service.

``We visited with organizations to hear first-hand about Indigenous education,'' she said. ``That was the very first time that I saw the behind-the-scenes part of my home community. It was stepping into the professional side of Indigenous education for the first time.''

Little has worked on a sprawling array of other service projects, as well, including those in several countries around the world. Much of her experience working with people, though, hits close to home.

``I come from a big family, a blended family, and so just being able to mentor and give advice to my younger relatives has been a constant,'' she said.

She said her work at the Center for American Indian Studies will encompass a wide swath of tasks.

``So far it's been giving pep talks,'' she said. ``Sometimes it's giving people a ride back home - people who need a ride home during the break.''

She said she also wants to help people stay connected to ``what's happening in our communities back home'' and to consider ``how that connects with what's happening here at school.''

She noted the importance of working with Lakota Omniciye, a student organization on campus, along with other activities.

For the documentary, Marcus said the Center has tapped three consultants: Jace DeCory, professor emeritus at BHSU, along with filmmakers Kenn and John Little - not related to Tiarra Little. The two brothers created the film ``More Than a Word,'' a project described at http://morethanawordfilm.com/.

Both are members of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe that straddles the South Dakota and North Dakota border.

DeCory is a member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe.

``She's an elder herself,'' Marcus said of DeCory. ``She's very well-known, not only in our state but in our region.''

Marcus lauded DeCory's expertise and said DeCory will be conducting much of the interviewing in the documentary, Marcus explained.

Marcus said people from the Center for American Indian Studies have recorded the voices of speakers before, including at BHSU's celebration of American Indian Awareness Week. But the documentary moves a step further.

``We've always wanted the opportunity to capture what these speakers are saying - and what our elders, more specifically, are saying - in a professional way,'' she said. She added that ``we can use (the documentary) in our classes and make it more widely distributed so the public can use it as well.''

Marcus said plans are in the works to visit with five elders.

``We're going to travel to their home and do (the interviews) in their home communities,'' she said.

Marcus noted that this has been a trying, and in some cases a devastating, time for elders in the community.

``We lost so many of our elders due to the pandemic, and we didn't have the opportunity to get their information and hear their stories,'' she said. ``We always listened to them, but we never really had the opportunity to record them.''

This will be the first time the Center for American Indian Studies has produced a documentary, Marcus said.

``This is brand new,'' she said. ``That's why it's important for us to work closely with John and Kenn. They have done documentaries, and we're relying heavily on them to guide us.''

In January, she said, the Littles, who both live outside of the area, will come to campus and help train interns and to establish groundwork for the film. Later, they'll work with the material that's been recorded.

``We're going to be sending them all the footage, and Kenn specifically will be piecing it together working with his equipment,'' Marcus said.

Marcus mentioned plans to conduct interviews in February and March and then assemble the film during the summer. She said the film will likely be available online, and she noted the possibility of a public showing.

``We would like to have a release,'' she said.

The grant is also sponsoring five interns to work in the Center for American Indian Studies, and they will also be contributing to the documentary.

Marcus reflected on some of the other activities that the NEH grant will help to sustain and develop, as well. She said two interns will be working this spring on the annual Wacipi, or Powwow, doing planning, fundraising and organization. The Wacipi has been canceled the past two years due to the pandemic, she added.

``It's a large cultural event, and a lot of our community participates,'' she said.

And Marcus said a key function of the grant would be its funding of Tiarra Little's position as program manager.

``It's really important for us to have our assistant back in the Center to work with the students,'' she said. ``She's from Pine Ridge, and so she shares a lot of the background with the students. She's a recent (university) graduate herself, so she knows the challenges our students are facing, and she also knows how to celebrate their successes.'