Navajo Zoo - Obama Asked To Protect Sacred Mountain

Navajo Zoo A 'Sanctuary For Nature And Spirit'
By Kathy Helms
Dine Bureau
WINDOW ROCK – For the second year in a row the Navajo Nation Zoo will celebrate ZooFest, a free day of fun for family members of all ages.

The event begins at 9 a.m. May 2 and features food, games, door prizes, face painting, inflatable slides, guest speakers and more. The only tribal zoo in the country, the Navajo Nation Zoo has just completed a $25,000 renovation.

Matthew Holdgate, curator, said work is being completed on an indoor multi-species exhibit featuring a waterfall and species one might find in the back yard – rabbits, chipmunks, and prairie dogs for starters – tucked amid native plants. A video monitor features a Navajo storyteller talking about the animals and their relation to Navajo culture and traditions.

Indoor exhibits feature everything from the bug wall to the Lizard Lounge to snakes and skunks. “Originally when the zoo was built, it was probably one of the best zoos in the country since it incorporated all the natural rock formations and all the live plants,” Holdgate said. Founded in 1962, the zoo serves as “a sanctuary for nature and spirit.”

Like people, each animal has a history, and all are at the zoo because they are unable to survive in the wild on their own. For example, “B.J.,” the bobcat was taken from the wild as a kitten to be raised as a pet. Once he began tearing apart the house, he ended up at the zoo. Because he never learned to hunt, his chances of survival on his own would be slim at best.

The majority of animals on exhibit are native to the Navajo Nation, though some have been donated by other zoos, including two Mexican gray wolves, “Rico” and “Esperanza,” who came from the Rio Grande Zoo in Albuquerque. Naturally timid, the wolves have the option to show themselves to visitors or to remain out of sight amid the rocks and trees. Zoo staff respect their privacy and give them that opportunity.

“They're part of the Mexican wolf species survival plan. Some zoos help breed the wolves for release into the wild. We generally serve as a home for retired breeders,” Holdgate said. Many of the zoo's inhabitants have been hit by cars or have flown and landed on power lines and sustained injuries which make life outside of captivity impossible.

Napoleon, a 15-year-old cougar, and his partner Sophie were named by sponsors from the zoo's adopt-an-animal program.
“With our adoption program, you can not only get your name on a plaque and help pay for the animal's food, but if they are a new animal that's never been adopted, the first person gets to choose a name,” Holdgate said. “We still have a lot of animals who need names.”

The fee is $100 for a full year and the sponsor gets a certificate and framed photo of their animal, as well as their name on the plaque identifying the animal and recognition at ZooFest.

The black bear exhibit is unique in that the bears live outdoors where they actually can dig their own dens in the ground to hibernate during winter. “Other zoos have concrete floors so they bring their bears in for the winter,” Holdgate said, “but here they get to exhibit natural behaviors.”

The bears were orphaned when they were just cubs. “Their mother was hit by a car and the cubs were following behind. Zoo staff actually bottle fed and raised them from babies,” he said. Signs are evident of the dens they dug this past winter.

“They dig basically at an angle and then they flatten out a little. It's just enough room to fit a bear in. Usually in the winter when you come walking by, you'll see her snout sticking out just a little bit, keeping her nose out so she can know when it's feeding time,” Holdgate said of one of the bears.

“The wild bears will hibernate because of reduction in feed availability. If you feed them constantly they don't hibernate but they will dig a den and they'll still stay in the den pretty much all winter. We put the food outside the den and if you're here at the right time, you'll see a big paw come out and grab the food and pull it back into the den.”

One of the new favorites among zoo patrons is 2-year-old “Bobbie” the elk. Bobbie also is an orphan. “Allegedly someone found him alone and brought him to us,” Holdgate said. “But more likely the parents were finding food a ways off and were nervous because humans were there. We always tell everyone that if you come across a baby animal in the wild, it's best to leave them because chances are the parents are nearby waiting for you to leave.”

Just past the elk exhibit is an owl, two porcupines and the site of what is hoped to soon be an eagle sanctuary.

“We have the location and the expertise in animal care,” Holdgate said. All they're missing is the funding. With federal officials making sweeps in several states, confiscating eagle feathers, the eagle sanctuary would allow the Navajo Nation the opportunity to collect feathers and distribute them to tribal members without fear of confiscation.

“Right now there are only two tribes who have made this commitment: the Zuni Tribe and the Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma,” Holdgate said. The zoo now has two golden eagles, both of which were hit by cars and are unable to fly. With an eagle sanctuary, the zoo could provide a home to other injured bald and golden eagles which otherwise might have to be euthanized.

Navajo Looks To Obama For Protection Of Sacred Mountain
By Kathy Helms
Dine Bureau
WINDOW ROCK – The Navajo Nation Council has given its approval for the Nation's attorneys and leaders to meet with the Obama Administration in hopes of working out a settlement to protect the sacred San Francisco Peaks from desecration.

The Nation is seeking an expedited meeting prior to May 8, when the U.S. Solicitor General's response brief is due to the U.S. Supreme Court.

In “Navajo Nation v. United States Forest Service,” the Nation and three other tribes challenged the Forest Service's approval of an expansion of the Arizona Snowbowl ski resort on the San Francisco Peaks near Flagstaff under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

The expansion included using reclaimed sewer water to make artificial snow, which in the view of Indian religious practitioners, desecrates the mountain.

In 2008, the 9th Circuit, in an en banc decision, held that the Forest Service's approval did not violate the tribes religious freedom because the proposal does not place a substantial burden on their exercise of religion by forcing them to act contrary to their religion under the threat of a legal penalty or choose between their religion and the receipt of a government benefit.

Delegate Leonard Tsosie said it is feared that the Supreme Court will take the Religious Freedom Restoration Act in the wrong way, “because they're somewhat not sentimental to Indian cases.” The high court previously has withdrawn or denied First Amendment rights to tribes when it comes to federal land-management decisions.

The San Francisco Peaks, or Dook'o'oosliid, the sacred mountain to the west, is one of four mountains held holy by the Navajo people and 12 other Arizona tribes. Mount Taylor, or Tsoodzil, the sacred mountain to the south, is threatened by uranium mining.

The Navajo Nation, the Hopi Tribe, Yavapai-Apache Nation, the Havasupai, White Mountain Apache, Hualapai and others filed suit in federal court to stop what is viewed as a “government-sponsored desecration of a well-documented sacred and holy site.”

The Religious Freedom Restoration Act represents the last chance for the Navajo Nation and tribes across the country to protect their sovereignty, practice their religions, and to survive as a people, according to the emergency legislation sponsored by Tsosie and passed, 60-2, last week by Council. Edward Jim and Lawrence Platero voted against the measure.

The Nation has turned to President Barack Obama, who during his election campaign committed to honoring the government-to-government relationship between tribes and the federal government, ensuring that treaty obligations are met and that tribes will have a voice in Washington.

“What this does is it allows our lawyers and also our leaders to sit down with the Obama Administration and look at the possibility of settling the San Francisco Peaks (case) in favor of the Navajo Nation because the lawsuit is 'Navajo Nation v. U.S. Forest Service,' and the U.S. Forest Service is being represented by the U.S. government lawyers which the U.S. government has control over,” Tsosie said.

Delegate Ervin Keeswood told Council there also is a need to indicate that there are instruments of international law to which the Nation could resort.

“I believe that it's time to start quoting and also remind the United States' government of these actions internationally. At some point in time ... we may have to go to the international community for resolution of some of these matters if they're not heard as we wish in the United States government,” he said.

Delegate Rex Lee Jim, the Nation's “international representative” at the United Nations, received approval for an amendment to the legislation.

The amendment cites religious rights contained in the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man supported by the Organization of American States, of which the United States is a member. It also refers to religious rights contained in the American Convention on Human Rights, signed by the United States in 1977.

In September 2007, the United Nations adopted the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, by which the international community has made the effort to strengthen partnership with states, indigenous people and civil society as a whole.

The declaration recognized that “indigenous peoples have the right to maintain and strengthen their distinctive spiritual relationship with their traditionally owned or otherwise occupied and used lands, territories, waters and coastal seas and other resources and to uphold their responsibilities to future generations in this regard.”

The United States is one of four states that voted against the declaration.

“Without such commitment by the United States to protect the rights of its indigenous peoples, sadly the protection of holy and sacred sites such as Dook'o'oosliid will continue to yield to commercial interests,” the amendment states.

The Navajo Nation is formally requesting that Obama, on behalf of the United States and its indigenous peoples, sign the declaration without delay and stand firm with its commitment to protect and preserve holy and sacred sites of indigenous people within the United States.


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82 year old Black Farmer Arrested On Terroristic Threatening Charges

By Monica Davis
davis4000_2000@yahoo.com
Friday, April 24th

Right as we speak, our farm land is being stolen; black farmers are driven off the land, Native American farmers are dispossessed, family farmers of all ethnic groups are even arrested for refusing to lie down and disappear.

Every now and then, the main stream press rises from its self-imposed slumber and does a"story", then falls asleep, We cannot let this story die, or let our people be driven insane or killed. Keep the story alive.
Monca Davis

Harry Young, an 82 year old black farmer from Owensboro, Kentucky was arrested and released on $50,000 bond in connection with allegations of threatening US Department of Agriculture employees - terroristic threatening. It all stems from a contested foreclosure and sale of his family farm in 2005.

Young was arrested over the weekend on allegations that he threatened a federal employee of a farm agency last week via phone. Supporters are questioning the arrest on those allegations, particularly given the fact that Young has consistently maintained an orderly, legal attempt to regain his land and has been in plain sight, presenting his case to Congress and to the world and working his rented fields for years.

Young says he never made threats to “blow something up”, and supporters question whether the allegations have merit, particularly because of the state of feud that has existed between Young and the FSA office in Owensboro. Since the foreclosure and auction his Utica Kentucky farm in 2005, Young has given interviews, written hundreds of letters to Congress and newspapers and has testified before Congress. And he has made enemies along the way, in and out of governnment.

Young's outspokenness has generated emnity from supremacists and hate groups. His property has been vandalized and he has also been the target of terroristic threats by phone. The situation has been so volatile, that the county sheriff advised him to carry a gun. Vandals have shot at his house. They have pulled protest signs from his front yard on several occassions. In 2007, supremacist groups reportedly tresspassed on his rented fields.

When he secured the fields with a locked gate, tresspassers cut the locks and chains and pulled gateposts out of the ground with a tractor. Long before the current foreclosure fraud and Wall Street mortgage meltdown began generating headlines, Young and farm rights supporters maintained that the Farm Service Agency and the United States Department of Agriculture had major problems in the loan application process.

Civil rights activists and audits noted problems in loan servicing, document forgery, conflicts of interest, employees benefitting from bonuses from foreclosing on loans they serviced, and maintaining a hostile environment for minority employees and farmers alike. Noting the endimic institutional racism and anti-family farmer bias within the USDA, more than one author has called the USDA the “Last Plantation.”

Even after years of investigations, lawsuits and congressional hearings, critics say the agency remains biased against minority farmers and family farmers. According to Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, the agency still has problems. Secretary Vilsack told a group of black farmers at a conference sponsored by the Federation of Southern Cooperatives and the Land Assistance Fund, that "Some folks refer to USDA as the last plantation, and it has a pretty poor history of taking care of people of color.” (Congress Daily, 2-23-09)

Historically, agency employees have been downright antagonistic, spending careers working in a culture of institutional bias, which has existed for generations. Critics say the agency has been practicing agism, sexism and racism for so long, that discrimination against minority employees and farmers is as much a part of the culture as the paperwork the bureaucracy generates.

"You've got outright bias and discrimination. Also you've got good people who don't even know that they're discriminating," said Vilsack. "It's necessary to begin the process of re-educating people."

(Ibid) Activists say “business as usual” in the agency includes document forgery, identity theft and collusion with local real estate developers, favored white farmers and county deed registration offices. Documents have reportedly been destroyed in some local farm loan offices, and farmers around the country have voiced complaints over alleged foot dragging and obstruction of Freedom of Information (FOIA) requests to the agency.

Many say the information in their files is not accurate and often contains forged or incomplete documents. As in the cases of tens of thousands of foreclosure cases, and that many documents are missing, as well. He says he has a signed document from the local Farm Service Agency supervisor that his loan was paid.

While Young maintains that he has never had his day in court, the government says he has had a day in court, represented by a local attorney. Young claims he never hired the man. Land theft activists say, at one time, it was common for white attorneys to “represent” black clients who never hired them, in favor of biased interests who wanted the black victim's land or property. Historic problems in the Farm Services administration continue. Family farmers and black land owners continue to be victimized by the system. White employees within the system worked in a culture of racism and bias toward large farm operations.

Lawrence Lucas, a retired USDA employee, who was one of the whistleblowers in the historic Pigford vs. Glickman “Black Farmers Case,” says “Racism and sexism is institionalized and perpetuated. We’re not just talking about black farmers but Hispanic farmers, women farmers, Native American farmers.” (http://www.agcoalition.org/news/news20040923f.htm)

Dr. John Boyd, will lead a protest April 28, 2009 in Washington, DC. Among the issues Dr. Boyd will cover are:
* Failure to pay administrative costs necessary to process black farmer discrimination claims;
* Failure to pass legislation that will provide full compensation to all eligible black farmers;
* The need to re-open black farmer complaints closed by the USDA Office of Civil Rights without an investigation;
* The need to revamp the USDA’s County Committee System that discriminates against black farmers;
* The need to include black farmers in subsidy programs.

According to Donald Burger, a retired federal employee, former director Iowa Civil Rights Commission, “Harry Young's case is one of the best and well document examples of the collaboration between the Department of Agriculture Office of General Counsel and the prolonged failure of the Office for Civil Rights within the Department of Agriculture in providing a remedy.

It is encouraging that Secretary Vilsac has appointed a Special Assistant, who formerly served as Director of Office of Civil Rights in the Clinton Administration. His name is Lloyd Wright. Burger says “Mr. Wright met with a delegation of black farmers last month to discuss the nature of complaints nationwide on ongoing problems within the Office of General Counsel abetted by the US Department of Justice Michael Sitkof and dozens of US Attorneys nationwide.”

Monica Davis is an Indiana-based author, columnist and public speaker. She specializes in economic, history and public policy issues and has written articles on land loss, bank failure, environmental justice and alternative energy.

She is published in Great Britain, the US and India and home schoolers in New Zealand have used her articles as teaching tools. Ms. Davis has given presentations on land lynching and the farm catastrophe at churches, museums and universities.

Her articles been read into the Congressional Record and used as the basis for interviews by other reporters. She is available for speaking engagements. Her author web site is: http://www.lulu.com/davis4000_2000

She may be reached via email: davis4000_2000 [at] yahoo.com

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Black Mesa: From Wagon Trails To Pavement

By Kathy Helms
Dine Bureau
WINDOW ROCK – Snow fell Friday morning as Black Mesa residents broke ground on what soon will be a 7-mile stretch of pavement on N-8066. And though the light dusting soon turned the dirt road to mud, it was viewed as a blessing, sealing 30 years of planning and lobbying for transportation funds.

A festive atmosphere prevailed at Black Mesa Community School where local residents, tribal and Bureau of Indian Affairs dignitaries gathered to celebrate the occasion.

Jane Marie Baloo, 69, whose home lies 7 miles north of Black Mesa Chapter, has been a Kitsiili resident all her life. She has seen the mode of transportation go from horses and wagons to automobiles.

“In the old days we used horses and wagons for our transportation. It was easier then. In those days the roads used to be like wagon trails. It wasn't as hard. Our own transportation doesn't last long. Tear and wear. With the horses, it's different. You don't have to worry about flat tires on the horses,” Baloo said.

“My dad, he passed on about 32 years ago. He would tell us, 'Maybe it's going to be you,” who will see the road paved. “Now, what he said is coming, and I want to see the highway.”

Baloo recalled the first time she ever saw an automobile in Kitsiili back in the1940s. It belonged to a resident they called “The Man With The Vehicle.” When her brother returned from serving his country, he too, had an automobile.

“I used to think, 'What did they do to the wagons?' In those days, the vehicles looked like wagons – the way the wheels were – the old Model-T. This is what my brother used to drive back and he used to transport me to the boarding school in Pinon. I watched him drive and I thought, 'This is amazing.'”

Last winter, with snow 5 feet deep in some places with up to 8 foot drifts, they ran out of hay for the horses, she said. As the snow melted, it became too muddy for the animals to go out and forage on their own. When she and her husband Freddie attempted to go into Pinon for supplies, they mired down in the mud.

Road crews from Navajo and Apache counties and the Bureau of Indian Affairs got them back on the road and guided them all the way to the highway. “That's how we got feed for the animals and water to help us. These are the kind of times that we go through every year,” she said.

“With the highway here, we can travel to the (main) highway and get what we want – like the other people do.”

Helene Yellowhorse, 71, lives on the west side of Oraibi Wash. “There is 50 homes and 200 people there, and 69 students they have to pick up every day. Sometimes we get the mud so bad the students miss the bus – no school for like a whole month last year. We are so far behind.”

Amos Johnson, Navajo Nation Council delegate for Black Mesa/Forest Lake/Rough Rock, said construction of N-8066 is long overdue. “It's been in the planning 30 years. It's 14 miles up to the school, but the first stage is only going to cover 7 miles. That's $33 million. So we're going to try to work on Phase II to get support to move that up on the priority list.

“We've done plenty of stories in the past and everybody knows what we go through at Black Mesa. We're resilient people. We try to prepare for the winter every year.”

Yellowhorse said she has to cross two washes to get to her home. “Sometimes it gets really deep in the big snow and we can't get across for like a whole month, and we have to kind of almost suffer.”

She has worked as a long-term care provider with the state ACCESS program for about 12 years, traveling the dirt roads to Black Mesa, Rough Rock and Pinon every day to check on elderly patients..

“I get a new truck and use it 4-wheel, and it only takes about four years till it's falling apart. You get stuck in the mud, there's no choice. You have to dig. If you have a chain, you put the chain on, even if it's in the water,” she said.

“Working with the elderlies, we have to show ourselves up there every day. They need help so bad, with their coal, with their woods, with their water. Some of them are on dialysis. Some you have to give them shots. They don't know how much medicine to put in there themselves. Some ladies they can't see, they can't read. You have to be out there.”

Rose Lee, 58. was raised in Black Mesa by her mother and grandmother. She is the oldest of 14 brothers and sisters.

“My grandma and my mom, both of them had a heart attack. They didn't make it because of the road. My grandma she got sick and got stuck in the mud. That's the way we lost her. And the same way with my mom. She had a heart attack and she didn't make it to the hospital. That happened again two years ago in May. My oldest grandson, he turned 10, and we didn't make it to the hospital again. He had asthma,” she said.

Critical patients are taken to either the Indian Health Service hospital in Chinle or Hopi Health Care Center. “In Pinon, they don't take emergency care at night. It's only during the day. When we have a lot of snow, they use the helicopter,” Lee said.

Back around 1966 and again in 1975 they had big snows. Hay for the animals and food supplies had to be brought in by helicopter. “When we needed milk for the babies, we had to use the horses to go to Pinon (22 miles away) to get milk for them,” she said. “That's why we need a better road, a paved road. This is really a rough place.”

Dorothy Yazzie also has her share of memories from being stuck on N8066. “I was with my kids and my niece and we got stuck about 5 miles down toward Pinon late at night. There was nobody, no help, nothing. We had to walk about 3 miles just to go home.

“That was a horrible experience for me and my kids, walking in the pitch black and making sure we stayed on the road, and trying to figure out where it turns off to the wash. We had to walk into the wash and that was even more scary,” she said.

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Torture at Kamloops Indian School - The Canadian Holocaust

Torture At Kamloops Indian School – 1964
Occupied Squamish Nation territory
23 April, 2009
Submitted by Monica Davis

Dear friends and supporters,
Last week, William Combes stood with me outside Christ Church Anglican church in Vancouver and spoke through a loudspeaker to passersby and the media about the tortures he suffered at the hands of priests at the Kamloops Indian residential school in 1964. And thanks to William's bravery, for the first time TV audiences saw and learned about the murder of children at that school.

It's those kind of small acts of integrity that have created the growing wave of change we're seeing across Canada. But William couldn't have made his stand last week without the presence of supporters through our network known as The Friends and Relatives of the Disappeared (FRD). (It is GOOGLED – Check It Out- BHO)

Founded in 2005, FRD has forced historic apologies and disclosures from the government and churches of Canada, including their admission that thousands of children died at their hands in the residential schools. FRD is a community-based movement of native and non-native people that is completely self-funded, and depends entirely on your help to sustain it in this enormous David and Goliath fight to win justice for victims of genocide in Canada, both past and present.

We have worked in every province except the Maritimes with residential school survivors to win recognition and justice for those who have had neither.

Every month, FRD requires about $600 to sustain its work, including the travel costs to have me and others speak at public events and conferences across the continent, and the expense of producing copies of my books and our award-winning documentary film, UNREPENTANT. Our work involves documenting eyewitness stories of crimes in the residential schools, holding public events and rallies, publishing our information and educating the public about what we have learned.

Our work is now reaching a critical stage, as evident in an invitation I have just received to speak before indigenous groups at the United Nations during May and at human rights gatherings in Europe in the fall. The fact that the Vatican has been forced to issue a belated "apology" to residential school survivors reveals the growing impact of our efforts.

To fulfill these tasks, FRD and I must raise $5000 to allow me to travel to these destinations, conduct more cross-Canada organizing trips, and raise the profile of our work and the stories of people like William Combes. At present, our financial resources are negligible. I receive no regular income from any source, devoting my days to the work of FRD and helping countless residential school survivors on the ground. And operating under a constant blacklisting for my work, I cannot rely on normal sources of income. I have only you.

On behalf of William and many others who cannot speak to you, but whose voices must be heard, I am asking each of you to consider contributing once or regularly to the work of our truth movement. Please donate to our work through a series of post dated cheques, made out to our treasurer, Lori O'Rorke, and mailed to the address below, or by direct bank deposits to this account:
Scotiabank Harbourfront branch,
65 Commercial St.,
Nanaimo, B.C.
Canada
Account of Lori O'Rorke
Account No.: 40220 001 8929
Bank code: 002

You can also donate to our cause through the PayPal system, which you can access on our website: http://www.hiddenfromhistory.org/ . We also accept Airmiles!I appreciate any amount that you can pledge at this time. It will go a long way, and will be received with my personal thanks and gratitude. Please share this appeal with your own networks, as well.

In addition, for those of you who pledge or donate $250 or more, you will receive complimentary copies of both my book "Hidden from History: The Canadian Holocaust" and our film "UNREPENTANT".

Finally, if you can help organize a speaking event for me in your community, that will also help us raise the funds we need to continue.

In hope and thanks,
Kevin D. Annett
260 Kennedy St.
Nanaimo, B.C.
Canada V9R 2H8

email: hiddenfromhistory@ yahoo.cawebsite: http://www.hiddenfromhistory.org/

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Eight State AGs Comment On Desert Rock Permit - WINS Seeks Native College Students - NAPT Opps

Attorneys General Issue Comments On Desert Rock Permit
By Kathy Helms
Dine Bureau
WINDOW ROCK – The attorneys general of New York, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, Oregon and Vermont have jointly submitted comments to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency voicing concerns regarding the proposed issuance of an air quality permit for construction of the Desert Rock power plant.

The attorneys general said they believe EPA's Region 9 cannot properly rely on a memo from former EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson, issued about a month before the Bush Administration left office, as the basis for refusing to impose the “best available control technology” requirement for carbon dioxide.

“Rushed through without an opportunity for public comment, the Johnson memo was issued in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act,” they said.

Johnson issued the memo Dec. 18, saying that carbon dioxide is not a pollutant “subject to regulation” under the Clean Air Act. The attorneys general said the legal interpretation of “subject to regulation” in the Johnson memo is inconsistent with the act.

“The Johnson memo's interpretation of the act is erroneous,” they said. “EPA Administrator (Lisa) Jackson's announcement last month that the agency is reconsidering the Johnson memo reflects an acknowledgment of these concerns.”

Several environmental groups have petitioned EPA to reconsider the Johnson memo and separately filed a petition for review in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. Subsequently, the state of California filed its own challenge. The D.C. Circuit litigation has been stayed pending EPA's completion of its reconsideration of the Johnson memo. On Feb. 17, Administrator Jackson announced that EPA was granting the petition for reconsideration.

The attorneys general said that Desert Rock is expected to emit 12 million to 13 million tons of carbon dioxide annually and that applying the flawed legal interpretation in the Johnson memo could lead to the addition of several hundred million tons of global warming pollution into the atmosphere over the life of the plant.

“Such a result would be wholly inconsistent with the Obama Administration's pledge to deal with global warming pollution from power plants,” they said.

Desert Rock, a 1,500 megawatt coal-fired power plant to be built on the Navajo Nation near Farmington, will employ state-of-the-art technology and have the most stringent limits on emissions of any coal-fired power plant in the country, according to developers Dine Power Authority and Sithe Global Power of Houston.

The Navajo Nation Council has approved all components necessary for the project to move forward from its end, however, approval of the Navajo Transmission Project, which is needed to transmit any power generated by the plant to areas such as Phoenix and Las Vegas, is back on the table for reconsideration following a challenge by Western Environmental Law Center.

The law center contended that the two projects are “connected actions” and that without the transmission project, Desert Rock cannot be built because there is no way to convey the electricity generated.

The attorneys general asked Region 9 not to make a decision about including a best available control technology limit for carbon dioxide in the Desert Rock permit until EPA headquarters completes its reconsideration of the Johnson memo.

The projected 12-13 million tons of carbon dioxide per year to be emitted by Desert Rock would amount to more than 120-130 million tons over the live of the plant, “thus significantly contributing to the public health and environmental harms associated with global warming,” they said.

Scientists overwhelmingly agree that the global community must reduce the emission of greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide, to well below 1990 levels within a few decades. The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change recently declared: “If there's no action before 2012, that's too late. What we do in the next two to three years will determine our future.”

Twenty three states are participating in a regional cap-and-trade programs to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and several states now require power plants to meet emission rates that will limit the generation of greenhouse gas emissions.

EPA Region 9 issued the air permit for Desert Rock in July 2008, and at the time, declined to include a best available control technology limit for carbon dioxide emissions, based on the rationale that it lacked the authority to do so given previous agency interpretations, the attorneys general said.

WINS Looking For Native College Students
Submitted by Christine Yazzie - Krystyln Media
Jack Soto from the WINS internship program is looking for Native college students with an accounting/finance background. He is trying to fill two internships – one at the gaming commission and the other at Treasury.

Anyone have any leads? If so, please have them contact Jack Soto at http://us.mc01g.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=soto@american.edu :

Jack Soto, Director
Washington Internships for Native Students
Washington Semester AI/AN Program
American University
Capital Building , Room 1144400
Massachusetts Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20016-8083
T: (202) 895-4879
F: (202) 895-4882
C: (202) 445-5211
http://us.mc456.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=soto@american.eduhttp://www.american.edu/wins

NAPT Producer Opportunities
Squaw Valley Screenwriting Program
Deadline April 25
The Squaw Valley Screenwriting Program takes place August 1 to August 8, 2009.

The program focuses on individual attention and work-in-progress, mentored by award-winning writers and writer-directors. Designed for both screenwriters and filmmakers, this unique program invites both narrative features and character-driven documentaries that are currently in development.

Chicago International Children's Film Festival
Deadline May 1
The 26th Annual Chicago International Children's Film Festival (CICFF) is North America's largest and longest running children's film festival and a world-class showcase for children's films.

Presenting more than 200 films and 150 premieres each year, the CICFF serves as the launching point for children's films into the U.S. market. As the only Academy Award-qualifying children's festival, CICFF grants top winners a chance at an Oscar nomination.

Mill Valley Film Festival
Deadline May 15
Known as a filmmakers' festival, the Mill Valley Film Festival offers a high profile, prestigious and non-competitive environment perfect for celebrating the best in independent and world cinema. MVFF accepts short and feature length films and videos in the following categories: narrative, documentary, experimental, animation, children's films and youth produced.

Regular Deadline: May 15
Final Deadline: June 15

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'FLSA Applies To Indian-Owned Smoke Shop On Rez'

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Sen. Bingaman (NM): Update 1872 Mining Law - NAPT Opps

Mining Law Changes Proposed - Navajos Want Action On RECA
By Kathy Helms
Dine Bureau
WINDOW ROCK – On April 2, U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman, chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, introduced legislation aimed at updating a more than century old mining law passed on the heels of the California gold rush.

Bingaman believes the 1872 Mining Law needs to be updated given the nation's economic challenges and concerns about public health, safety and environmental issues, especially as they relate to abandoned mine sites.

“The mining industry plays an important role in our part of the country. It fuels local economies and it contributes to our national security. At the same time, the industry has been criticized on both fiscal and environmental grounds. The Hardrock Mining and Reclamation Act of 2009 will make responsible changes to this outmoded law,” he said.

Bill Brancard, New Mexico’s director for Mining and Minerals, said New Mexico's long history of mining has left a legacy of thousands of abandoned mine features that pose a threat to public health and safety. “This bill would provide a funding source to mitigate many of these hazards,” he said.

While the United States is moving forward with a nuclear revival, the Navajo Nation's philosophy basically has been that the uranium legacy of the past should be cleaned up first and that former uranium workers should be compensated.

Keith Killian of the Durango, Colo., law firm, Killian, Jensen & Davis, hired to lobby on behalf of Navajo to amend the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, said there is a lot of desire from the Navajo Nation, as there has been for the last 30 years, to see this accomplished.

“The fact of the matter is that every month that goes by, every week that goes by, eligible members are dying because many of the miners that worked prior to 1971 are no longer alive. Now, their widows are dying as well, so the benefits that can be obtained for these folks are not going to be useful to the miner or the spouse. We're quite concerned about the passage of time,” he said.

Nearly 300 people turned out March 28 for a meeting at Teec Nos Pos Chapter to voice concerns regarding the legacy of Cold War uranium mining and radiation-related illnesses.

Phil Harrison, a Navajo Nation Council delegate and longtime advocate of compensation for Navajo uranium workers and downwinders, said Navajo families complained about the lack of attention to amending the federal Radiation Exposure Compensation Act.

“What they want to do is they want to put some heat on the effort,” he said. “The Navajo families think that with the Obama Administration they have a window of opportunity for the amendment to be completed,” he said.

“There were some people that complained about the remediation. They're asking what is going on with contaminated water, contaminated land and vegetation. They're concerned about their compensation, their health, the environmental damages that have been done.

“They have lived near the mines and tailings and drank contaminated water to the point where, everyone that spoke said they had health problems. Their children, their grandchildren have seen symptoms like what the miners have. They said, 'What's health studies going to do?' They want to be compensated for the exposure.”

Bingaman's bill would establish a program for the reclamation of abandoned hardrock mines in 14 western state and create a Hardrock Minerals Reclamation Fund comprised of hardrock royalties, fees, and donations. The bill proposes grant programs for all states for hardrock reclamation projects and for public entities and nonprofit organizations for collaborative restoration projects to improve fish and wildlife habitat affected by past hardrock mining.

Harrison said everybody is getting bailed out by the federal government while Navajo families who defended the United States and delivered services to support the war effort 50 years ago are dying without having received RECA compensation to which they believe they are entitled.

“They have had enough of that. They want some of that stimulus money for health studies,” he said. “They want to put a closure on this thing.”

Killian said that on their last trip to Washington in November 2007 they outlined a dozen or so changes they would like to see in the RECA law.

“One of the big ones would be that benefits should not be limited to those individuals who were exposed to radiation prior to 1971, but there ought to be post-1971 benefits. We also said that there are certain regulations that inhibited the Navajo from obtaining their benefits but also harm other people that are not members of the Navajo Nation,” Killian said.

“We suggested that other categories of those being exposed, such as core drillers, be included. Before, if you were an ore hauler or a miner or miller, you were included. But if you were a core driller that drills cores seeking uranium, you were not included.”

They suggested ways to broaden and make it easier for radiation victims to obtain benefits, and proposed that downwinders – persons who lived downwind from atomic testing at Nevada Test Site – receive medical care.

“They were excluded from medical care. There are different categories of benefits depending on how you were exposed. We suggested that these benefits be identical. Regardless of how you got your radiation cancer, you ought to be eligible to receive medical benefits,” he said.
They also recommended that persons who were exposed to radiation through atomic testing at the Trinity Test Site in New Mexico be eligible for RECA compensation. At present, they are excluded.

NAPT OPPORTUNITIES
VisionMaker Video Youth Video Contest
VisionMaker Video, a product of NAPT, will start accepting online entries for the Youth VisionMaker Video Contest on April 15. VisionMaker Video/NAPT seeks to engage today's youth by aiding in the development of their storytelling abilities through video. Contestants will produce a short video that relates to this year's theme: "Youth Choices, Elder Voices."

The contest is open to legal residents of the U.S. and its territories who are 14-21 years of age at the time of entry. There is no entry fee.The top five videos will be screened at the biennial VisionMaker Film Festival Oct. 30-Nov. 5 in Lincoln, Neb. The VisionMaker Film Festival is a showcase of Native American documentaries and feature films.Deadline to enter is Sept 15th..

Native Sounds - Native Voices Special Spring Programming
Native Sounds-Native Voices is rolling out the special programming this spring in honor of great events in Indian Country.

The following shows will air on the all-Native online radio network, AIROS.org. Check AIROS.org for times:
Gathering of Nations - 4/17-4/25
Earth Day - 4/21-/4/24
Waila/Chicken scratch - 4/28-5/9
Mother's Day songs - 5/9-5/10
Thunder songs - 5/14-5/18

And don't forget to check out the new blogs from the new Native Sounds-Native Voices hosts Sina Bear Eagle and Aden Marshall.

VisionMaker Video April Special: Tribal Survival
Spiral of Fire:
When the federal government rounded up the Cherokees and other tribes in the Southeast, some Native people escaped and created their own community. Nearly 200 years after the Trail of Tears, Author LeAnne Howe (Choctaw) visits the Eastern Band of Cherokee in North Carolina to discover how tourism, community and cultural preservation are the keys in maintaining the tribe's health and prosperity in the 21st Century.

Spiral of Fire is part of a two-part series produced by NAPT and Adanvdo Vision for PBS, Indian Country Diaries. To view the Indian Country Diaries website, click here.
See the trailer.

VisionMaker Video Clearance - All VHS Tapes - $5
VisionMaker Video is clearing out its inventory of VHS tapes. Buy these great stories for $5 each + shipping and handling:Beyond Reservation RoadBattling high unemployment, dropouts and teenage pregnancy, the Oklahoma Cherokee community of Cherry Tree said they had enough and started on a project to build a baseball field to illustrate how a grassroots effort can make a difference.

Winner of the 1997 Parents Choice Gold Award -- Video Librarian
"Highly recommended," 3 ½ stars -- Video Librarian
"Well-told and skillfully filmed" -- School Library Journal

Best Indian-Produced Documentary (short), 1997 Red Earth Film Festival
Home use $5Educational use $5

Fire Warriors - Capturing real-life action of the Chief Mountain Hotshots, an elite firefighting crew of the Blackfeet Indian Nation in Montana, Fire Warriors follows the crew through an 18-day tour of duty during the worst fire season in U.S. history.

Companion discussion guide for web or print.Home use $5Educational use $5

Monument Valley Film Festival Call For Entries
Deadline: May 1
The Monument Valley Film Festival is the only film festival of its kind on the Navajo Nation.

For the past two years, the Monument Valley Film Festival has showcased films produced, written or directed by Native Americans from across the country. This year they are very excited to make their call for entries for this year's film festival, as well as expand their call for entries to all film makers for their Native Themed Program.

Also added for this year's festival are awards for the films in the Native Film Makers Program!

Moondance 2009 - Call For Entries
Deadline: May 15
Get your films, scripts, film scores, TV scripts, stageplays, short stories, radio plays & etc. ready now to enter in the 2009 Moondance competition.

http://moondancefilmfestival.com/02-Entry.html Submission guidelines and procedures

TO SUBMIT an ARTICLE, OPINION PIECE, COMMENTS to the Native Unity Digest, e-mail bobbieo@digitaldune.net.

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'Are Changes Ahead For The Single Audit Process?'

NATIVE ISSUES BLOG
Professor Robert J. Miller
http://lawlib.lclark.edu/blog/native_america/

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Land Claims: Mohawk Style - Congressmen Request Hearing For Downwinders

Land Claims: Mohawk Style
Submitted by Native Pride
jmkane1220
http://letstalknativepride.blogspot.com/

This is the statement released by the Men's Council of the Great Law Longhouse in Akwesasne.
February 6, 2009
Land Reclamation Position Remains The Same

On January 21, 2009 the Kanienkehaka Kanonhsesne released a statement regarding the reclamation of a parcel of land on what has been referred to as the “Hogansburg Triangle”, within the Kanienke territory of Akwesasne.

The statement made it clear that the land is and always has been the property of the Kanienkehaka. The people will no longer tolerate anyone else laying claim to this land and interfering with its use.

Any attempt to purchase, cede into Federal trust or otherwise transfer title to this land will be rejected and resisted by the Kanienkehaka Kanonhsesne. Any financial transactions, including profiteering, bribery, fraud or other pay-off schemes will not be acknowledged as a part or in any way connected to the title to this land, which is absolute and inherent to each generation of Kanienkehaka.

The territory of the Kanienkehaka, including Akwesasne, is not established, defined, set aside, reserved or granted for or to the Kanienkehaka by treaty or any other pretended legislation. There has never been a legally binding transfer of Kanienke title, which is specifically vested with the women for perpetual ownership for those faces that will always be beyond the sight of each generation.

Although the Kanienkehaka do not currently control or occupy all of their homeland, the Kanienkehaka Kanonhsesne rejects any and all of the fraudulent transactions spoken, written or otherwise claimed to suggest anything but our clear and absolute title to the territory of the Kanienkehaka.

As with this current reclamation, there is no intention to dispossess anyone of any legitimate personal property or forcibly remove anyone from our lands. The Kanienkehaka Kanonhsesne will, however, work diligently with the people to make Akwesasne whole again by addressing those parcels that have been claimed to have been removed or some how carved out from within the community.

Efforts to reclaim and reoccupy Onkweh Ohnwe homeland are a uthorized by a long-standing resolution of the Grand Council of the Haudenosaunee to reclaim lands ‘by hook or by crook”. It is the position of the Kanienkehaka Kanonhsesne to not simply seek permission to use certain lands under the control and authority of other controlling interests but to assert and affirm the rightful control and historic birthright of the People to their homeland.

Monday, April 6, 2009
What Do We Do About These People?

In January of this year (2009), a group of Mohawk men, fed up with the unending bureaucracy and politics of “land claims”, took back a parcel of land, clearly within the community of Akwesasne. (See the post from January, "Land Claims, Mohawk Style".)

The land, which is undeveloped, has been illegally under non-native control for quite some time, dating back to a time when White people could lease land, pretend they own it and the State and counties were fine with that. In this era of economic melt down; home foreclosures through the roof, a plunging stock market and scam artists like Bernie Madoff, it is important to put this land dispute in perspective.

The self described "land owner" is a speculator. He has no ties to this land other than his hope to cash in on it. He “purchased” control of the land fully expecting to “sell” it back to the Mohawks for an obscene profit. Not even the Senecas would buy a parcel of their own land for $4 Million. Any judge, legislator or other official that hears this man’s sob story needs to put this complaint in its proper perspective.

The man took a gamble and LOST. Sorry about your luck. Perhaps you should have speculated in the Catskills. The State and local officials would do well to stay clear of this one. There is no up side for you here.

To all the so-called “tribal leaders” and their lawyers who are scared by what this could mean for them and their precious land claims, you better be careful in any condemnation of the actions of the people, especially when you know damn well they are right. Any native person who can't support this move likely has what they perceive as a competing interest.

Everyone should support this because it is right and, yes , it’s fair. No money to fight about here, no courts, no lawyers; what could be better? If the speculator thinks he was sold something that was misrepresented, then let him sue the seller.

To suggest that finally one of these land grabbers, who sits behind his grand oak desk on top of h is fat checkbook, who lost a few dollars speculating on a real estate deal, is a victim is ridiculous. Remember; no one was evicted, no one’s home was taken, no one was run off or threatened.

The only property of the speculator that was over taken was the “For Sale” sign with the New Jersey phone number brandished across it. Many of us realize that perhaps all land disputes can't be settled this way, but maybe many of them can.

Minnick, Simpson, Matheseon Request Hearing For Downwinders
Submitted by Eleanore Fanire
Washington, D.C. – In a letter sent to the House Judiciary Committee, Congressmen Mike Simpson (R-ID), Jim Matheson (D-UT) and Walt Minnick (D-ID) requested an oversight hearing on the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA), its amendments of July 2000, and the possibility of expanding the legislation to cover individuals exposed to radioactive fallout that are not currently covered.

The letter was addressed to Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-MI) and Ranking Member Lamar Smith (R-TX).

The United States carried out more than 1000 nuclear weapons tests for more than two decades. The radioactive debris from these tests entered our nation’s atmosphere and was later deposited, in the form of radioactive fallout, all across our nation as can be seen in the accompanying Iodine-131 map produced by the National Cancer Institute.

In their letter, Congressmen Simpson, Matheson and Minnick addressed the relationship of exposure, poor health and compensation, “For decades, individuals living within the fallout areas have lived with adverse health effects caused by radiation exposure. Today, several claimant categories exist which allow individuals meeting certain criteria to apply for compensation ranging from $50,000 to $75,000 per individual, depending on their category.”

The letter also stressed the importance of treating fallout victims fairly, “Eligibility for compensation, however, is limited to certain counties in just a few states. These geographical boundaries are, quite frankly, arbitrary boundaries that do not account for the fact that radioactive fallout does not abide by lines on map. Some of the counties experiencing the largest concentration of fallout in the entire nation are not included in the current RECA program – including areas in our home states of Idaho and Utah.”

In 2000, Congress enhanced the RECA program by adding additional categories of compensable illnesses, but has not received serious review by the Congress in the past seven years.

For this reason, Simpson, Matheson and Minnick believe now is an appropriate time for the Judiciary Committee to hold an oversight hearing on this important federal law.

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Native Americans Aren't Victims In 'We Shall Remain'

Submitted by Monica Davis

'We Shall Remain' - 9 PM ET/PT
Monday, April 13th - After The Mayflower
Monday, April 20th - Tecumseh's Vision
Monday, April 27th - Trail Of Tears
Monday, May 4th - Geronimo
Monday, May 11th - Wounded Knee

By Janice Lloyd, USA TODAY
Major Ridge is cosmopolitan. Clean-shaven, resplendent in top hat and tailored suit, he is shown stepping into a horse-drawn carriage in front of his elegant plantation home.

What's different about this character from the 1830s? For starters, he is not wearing war paint. He is a savvy diplomat who knows the president of the United States — and he is Cherokee.

We Shall Remain, a 7½-hour, five-part look at pivotal moments in Native American history, premieres tonight on PBS (Monday the 13th) (9 ET/PT, times may vary). The third episode focuses on Major Ridge, who is posed as a prime example of one of the important but little-known leaders and heroes who emerged even as Europeans shaped the United States.

He was no saint — he also owned slaves — but he struggled to do the right thing. He signed a treaty with the U.S. government outlining how the Cherokee Nation would move west to Indian Territory, an act for which his people vilified him.

"We're very aware of native people being presented in two-dimensional terms," says senior producer Sharon Grimberg. "They were either hapless victims who have no control over their fate, or they've been ferocious and brutal warriors. There's never been something in the middle."

In seeking that middle ground, the producers consulted native advisers and academic scholars and cast Native American actors in central roles. The American Experience series, which spans more than 300 years and took three years to make, is being rolled out with a community outreach program in 15 cities and a proposed curriculum for social studies teachers.

Though they're far from being the first departure from B-Western portrayals of Indians as nobles or savages, the 90-minute episodes, each focusing on a pivotal moment in history, are sweeping in reach, Grimberg says. All the episodes differ in style; the first three in particular are almost entirely dramatizations, a big departure from the PBS Ken Burns-style epics of still images and narratives. "This is definitely the biggest leap we've made into dramatic work," Grimberg says.

The reason? "There really aren't any still images to use," she says. Often the only images available were of landscapes and deeds. And even in the acted and filmed portions, a desire to stick close to history was hampered by a lack of documentation.

That changes as the series advances; the final episode uses footage from the Wounded Knee uprising in 1973. "We knew from the beginning the films wouldn't look the same," she says.

The series stretches from the 1600s with the Wampanoag, a tribe that befriended struggling English settlers, to the 1970s with the armed leaders of the American Indian Movement defying U.S. Marshals. "The history of America is normally told by the point of view of Europeans looking West," Grimberg says. "We said, 'Let's reverse the lens, and look from the point of view of Native Americans.' "

'Therapeutic' For Star Studi
For Wes Studi, a Cherokee who has appeared in more than 50 TV shows and movies (Dances With Wolves, The Last of the Mohicans, NBC's Kings), it was eye-opening to star as Ridge. This is the first film in which he has spoken his language.

"One thing I really appreciated was there was no stick with feathers hanging off of it," he says. "You know what you usually see, with eagles screaming in the distance and the mountains? I didn't see that, and was happy to walk on the set."

Studi says the role "was therapeutic to myself as a Cherokee, and I hope it will be so for other Cherokees as well. (Ridge) was in the minority in terms of thought. It wasn't anything malicious that he and the treaty party were doing. They thought what they were doing was right."

The episode tells a story Grimberg says few Americans know. President Andrew Jackson refused to enforce a Supreme Court decision allowing the Cherokees to stay on their ancestral lands.

Ultimately, government forces forced the Cherokees to march 850 miles to new lands. Four thousand Cherokees, more than a quarter of those in that march, died on the "Trail of Tears."
"The United States gained a lot of land, but the loss for American government is the stain it put on our national honor," says Russell Townsend, a narrator of the film and historic preservation officer for the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. "What they did in the 1830s to southeastern Indians is ethnic cleansing."

Reaching Out To Communities
The retelling of the "cleansing," done in a five-minute segment, is portrayed in stark visuals. Director Chris Eyre, a Cheyenne and Arapaho, filmed the route over the mountains in black and white, emphasizing the bleak, endless terrain.

"I think we're pretty honest in this series," says Eyre, who won a 2005 Peabody Award for Edge of America and a 1998 Sundance Film Festival Filmmaker's Trophy for Smoke Signals. "One of my favorite scenes is an out-of-focus image of a young boy walking through the snow, holding the hand of someone else. It's impressionistic, and it forces the audience to participate by getting them to imagine what else is going on around this boy."

Eyre hopes the series helps young Native Americans identify some new leaders and teach them some "self-esteem and self-love." He says that when he visited an Indian boarding school during filming, he was concerned after asking the students whom they identified as heroes.

"They said Tiger (Woods) and Beyoncé," Eyre says. "They might have some Indian blood in them, but they are not the kind of example I was hoping to hear."

Previews to Indian groups are playing to "somber audiences," says Chad Smith, principal chief of the Cherokee Nation, who viewed the series in Washington recently. Smith's ancestor Ancie Hogtotter led a cow over the Trail of Tears at the age of 13.

Between the series and outreach efforts with Native American organizations, "our sincerest hope is that this story gets out and the American public begins to understand the complexity of issues our people faced," Smith says. "We're not just a Washington Redskins caricature."

'These Lands Are Ours'
The series' name is taken from a speech given by Shawnee chief Tecumseh in the early 1800s, when white settlers were pushing into the Ohio Valley.

The lead character in Episode 2, Tecumseh is portrayed as a gifted leader. Among several speeches repeated in the series is this: "These lands are ours. No one has the right to remove us. The master of life has appointed this place for us to light our fires. And here we shall remain."
Tecumseh worked with the British and forged an Indian confederacy to regain some lost lands before dying in battle against U.S. forces in 1812.

"These people belong in the pantheon of inspirational leaders because they showed incredible courage and were ingenious and imaginative," Eyre says.

The series closes at Wounded Knee, the site of the last massacre of the Indian Wars in 1890 and of another siege in 1973. The American Indian Movement faced off with the FBI, brought national attention to problems at the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota, and sparked Indian activism to save their cultures.

AIM leader Russell Means still lives on the Lakota reservation. The segment weaves together footage of him, Dennis Banks and others with new interviews. "We were about to be obliterated culturally," Means says in the series. "This was the rebirth of our dignity and self-pride."

In an interview with USA TODAY, Means says, "I was taught to be proud. I grew up in Northern California at a time when the cowboy-and-Indian movies were at their zenith and we were the bad guys. My brother and I were the only Indians in town, so we had to fight everyone."

He is happy Wounded Knee closes the series: "It leaves open questions in the audience's mind, that this is unfinished business for Indians."

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Native Grandmother's Epic Walk - Earth Day 2009

A Native Grandmother's Epic Walk For The Water
Submitted by Western Shoshone Defense Project

Josephine Mandamin set out six years ago to walk around the Great Lakes. She's made it 17,000 km so far and shamed us along the way
http://www.thestar.com/News/Insight/article/613541

April 04, 2009
Kevin McMahon
special to the star
KINGSTON–Josephine Mandamin warms you with her grandmotherly smile and speaks in soft aboriginal tones that lull you into agreement, even as she conks you on the head.

"I really think – and I don't like saying it either – that it seems that it's always been the native people that bring these things to light ... to awaken people."

What Mandamin, an Anishinabe elder from Thunder Bay, wants illuminated is environmental collapse. And while you might be perturbed by the notion that aboriginals care more about that than the rest of us, it should be pointed out that Mandamin has walked 17,000 kilometres to reinforce her point.

Mandamin grew up on Manitoulin Island, eating fresh fish daily and drinking straight from Georgian Bay. During her lifetime, she has seen the Great Lakes nearly ruined – the fish killed by invasive species, the harbours poisoned, and, now, the water evaporating into the clouds of global warming.

Since the lakes provide drinking water to 35 million people, you'd think their health would be a raging public issue. But it has ebbed and flowed from public consciousness since the Cuyahoga River fire of 1969.

In 2005, more than 60 scientists endorsed a report declaring the Great Lakes ecosystem so stressed that it's nearing "irreversible" collapse – a prediction ignored by most of the region's media.

First Nations' grandmothers do not love their grandkids more than you love yours, but they may have a clearer view of the horizon.

In the Anishinabe tradition, women fetch the water. So, in 2003, when Mandamin was "moved by the spirits" to speak out for the Great Lakes, it was natural for her to pick up her copper pail and start walking. She decided to circle the lakes and tell people that "the water is sick ... and people need to really fight for that water, to speak for that water, to love that water."

Every spring since, Mandamin and a small band of followers have walked around one of the lakes. Next weekend they depart from the Katarokwi Native Friendship Centre here to walk up the St. Lawrence River. Their mission will end where the lakes' water pours into the Atlantic Ocean (bearing so much poison that a quarter of the male beluga whales in the Gulf of St. Lawrence have cancer).

At every tributary, Mandamin stops and talks directly to the water, offering prayers, tobacco and thanks. "I've heard so many times, `You're crazy...'" she says. "But we know it's not a crazy thing we're doing; we know it's for the betterment of the next generations."

Walking up the St. Lawrence, Josephine will soon reach Akwesasne, which straddles the river at Cornwall and is renowned for its gambling, smuggling and Mohawk warriors. But 40 years ago, Akwesasne was known for its farms and fishery, which had thrived for at least 3,000 years and made it a pillar of the legendary Iroquois Confederacy. Henry Lickers, head of Akwesasne's environment department, likes to remind Torontonians that the reserve shipped its extra food to our soup kitchens during the Depression, yet we didn't even notice when its economy disappeared.

The fisherman and farmers were ruined by the industries that came with the St. Lawrence Seaway. Domtar Paper and General Motors poisoned the fish with, respectively, mercury and PCBs. Alcoa pumped so much fluoride into the air that cows' teeth grew brittle and broke, and they died. Pollution also caused the farms to go bust.

Henry Lickers draws a straight line from the ruin of Mohawk agriculture to the rise of the privateers and their warrior platoons. "People look at me kind of funny when I say PCBs caused the Oka Crisis. But that's what happened."

There are some 800 outstanding native land claims in Canada. Most concern the three-fifths of the country that urbanites view as trackless expanse, resource companies see as a storehouse, and rural First Nations call home. These claims sow perpetual conflict as industrialists race to strip disputed land while its once-and-future owners struggle to protect it. It is not NIMBYism that pushes natives to the barricades, but a well-founded premonition of apocalypse.

We only hear about these struggles when they're bloody or inconvenient. If you block the 401, the media come running. But make your stand in the sticks, as did Algonquins blocking uranium mining near Peterborough, and you're thrown in jail without even getting on TV.

When he was Indian Affairs Minister, Jim Prentice, now Minister of the Environment, said: "Blockades are not in anyone's interest... The worst thing, I think, is that they erode the goodwill that exists toward aboriginal people."

That sounds reasonable, but it's not true. For every situation that devolves into a bitter mess like the Caledonia standoff, there are two in which non-natives cheer to see rapacious extractors hobbled.

Consider Haida Gwaii, the B.C. archipelago often called "Canada's Galapagos." Its Sitka spruce take 800 years to grow 90 metres. Multinational paper companies were furiously felling these behemoths until the exasperated Haida – whose culture was built of cedar and spruce – set up blockades. So began a drama that raged on muddy roads for decades and ultimately brought the islands' two communities – native and non-native – together.

The latter knew the Haida were not against logging; they'd always been loggers. But everyone also knew the multinationals would rape the forest, then lay everybody off and leave. So loggers and fishermen stood with the Haida on the blockades until they won.

But these struggles are not undertaken lightly, and some native communities – fearing strained relations with neighbours and the possibility of people getting hurt – don't resort to blockades.

Then again, doing nothing is not an option in communities where many still feel bound by the Great Law. Codified by the Iroquois Confederacy, it dictates that every societal action be weighed for its impact on the next seven generations.

That's not an abstraction for Josephine Mandamin. "My third great-grandchild will be born soon," she says. "If I live long enough, maybe that child will have a child... I may see five generations before I die."

So, should you be driving along the 401 next week and spot an old lady carrying a brass bucket, ask not for whom she carries that water. She carries it for us all.

Kevin McMahon is the director of Waterlife, a documentary about the Great Lakes. Josephine Mandamin appears in the film, which premieres next month at Hot Docs.
© Copyright Toronto Star 1996-2009

Return Of Ancestors & Earth Day 2009
500 years ago the Mayan Ancestors wrote out their prophesies on stone for the upcoming years, creating the Mayan Calendar. With only four years left of the Mayan Calendar, many people fear the end of the world. But it is not predicting the end of the world in 2012, but the start of a new era.

To usher in this new era, The Institute for Cultural Awareness is holding a sacred gathering in Northern Arizona beginning Earth Day Weekend, April 18th – 28, 2009.

Indigenous Elders and Spiritual Leaders as well as Future Wisdom Keepers are coming from every corner of the world, from the highest peaks of the Andes Mountains to the Plains of Africa.

They are coming to share their wisdom and prophesy with the world to help us heal it and to follow in their ancestors’ footsteps as prophesized, creating new, guiding stone tablets of prophesy for the upcoming 500 years…the world has awaited this renewed life plan.

For more information, please visit
http://www.instituteforculturalawareness.com/

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Navajos Lobby For Changes In RECA - Green Collar Focus: Employment Ops

By Kathy Helms
Dine Bureau
WINDOW ROCK – On March 24, France announced that it would pay compensation to persons suffering from radiation-linked illnesses. According to The New York Times, France carried out more than 200 nuclear tests between 1960 and 1996.

In the United States, former Navajo and Post-71 uranium workers, and victims of fallout from above-ground nuclear tests conducted by the federal government in Nevada and New Mexico are still seeking just compensation and recognition for their illnesses.

While the United States began compensating Cold War uranium victims under the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act in 1990 and amended the legislation in 2000 to include mill and ore workers, the legislation still falls short, according to Keith Killian of Killian, Jensen & Davis of Durango, Colo., which was retained by the Navajo Nation to lobby for further changes to RECA.

As of April 3, $1.391 billion in claims have been paid, according to the U.S. Department of Justice, however, more than 8,000 claims have been denied, which is not to say that the claimants are not sick, they just do not meet federal criteria for receiving compensation. In Navajo's case, it is too stringent for many to qualify, and Post-71 victims are not eligible under current law.

In addition, according to Gilbert Badoni, president of the Navajo Nation Dependents of Uranium Workers Committee, there are an estimated 15,000 to 17,000 second-generation dependents and mothers now beginning to surface who possibly have some form of health ailment associated with radiation exposure.

“We do have mothers who have passed on, and we're beginning to see young folks getting diagnosed with some form of cancer. We heard this past winter that at least a couple had passed on – and they're just young, like 25, 26 years old – due to cancer. Their grandparents worked in the mines. So now we're beginning to see all these things creeping up,” Badoni said.

“There's been enough studies by the government. They know the effects of radiation. I can understand from the congressional side that they want clear evidence,” he said, but the health studies needed to document such claims are not being conducted. “We need to put this on the fast-track.”

Killian and the Navajo Nation uranium lobbying team are planning a trip to Washington in June to meet with congressional members in hopes of getting a non-partisan bill introduced in Congress. Their last trip was in November 2007.

“We were expecting and hoping that something would be introduced in 2008, but we had some (national) financial turmoil toward the end of the year last year and also the election, so I think it kind of got sidetracked,” he said. “There's no legislation pending right now. There's nothing that's been introduced.”

“We haven't been able to move anything forward. It's really been kind of depressing,” said Linda Evers of the Post-71 Uranium Workers Committee of Grants, a volunteer committee committed to documenting the health status of uranium industry workers after 1971 who are suffering from health problems believed to be related to their employment.

Through a survey sent out to Post-71 workers, many of whom are Hispanic and Native American, they have documented 1,203 eligible participants.

“We continue our fight to educate the lawmakers in our country to these issues. I'm so frustrated. We really haven't made a difference yet. We got very active in the election process because we totally believed the people that were talking what we wanted to hear,” she said.

As a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, Tom Udall of New Mexico was leading the way in the last Congress to promote RECA changes, along with Rep. Rick Renzi of Arizona and Rep. Jim Matheson of Utah. Renzi did not seek re-election and “that had a negative effect on these changes because Renzi was involved in them and was kind of the point person,” Killian said.

Udall took up the mantle, Killian said, but was elected to the Senate in November, meaning that he has to develop new alliances in the Senate. “I don't think it's beyond a reasonable expectation that he can do that,” Killian said.

“Senator Udall is actively engaging numerous western senators in discussions about proposed amendments to the RECA law, and we hope that a bipartisan and broadly supported piece of legislation emerges,” Marissa Padilla of Udall's office said Friday.

GREEN COLLAR FOCUS: EARTH
Submitted by Native Workplace

Employment Opportunities
The Nation has experienced an increase in clean-up activities, restoration, and recycling efforts. Because of this, we have seen an increase in opportunities in environmentally related occupations.

Employment of environmental technicians will be needed to help regulate waste products; to collect air, water, and soil samples for measuring levels of pollutants; to monitor compliance with environmental regulations; and to clean up contaminated sites.

Environmental Field Technician: performs various environmental activities including: Supervising environmental construction projects, site assessments, monitoring activities and sampling, remediation activities, report writing.

In addition to assisting clients with regulatory compliance. Individuals may work with vapor extraction, ground water pump and treat, and dual-phase recovery systems, amongst others.

Candidates with 40 Hour OSHA (29 CFR 1910.120) HAZWOPER health and safety training are preferred, but many companies will train the right person. Entry-level candidates are considered.

Successful candidates will be mechanically inclined. Any previous experience in site investigation, remediation, construction or other outdoor fieldwork is advantageous.

Forest And Conservation Technicians:
These workers usually work in a forest under the supervision of a forester, doing specific tasks such as gathering data on populations of trees, disease, insect damage, and conditions that may pose a fire hazard.

In addition, technicians measure timber, locate property lines, train and lead other forestry workers in seasonal activities, such as planting tree seedlings, and maintaining recreational facilities.

Increasing numbers of technicians work in urban forestry—the study of individual trees in cities and other nontraditional specialties, rather than in forests or rural areas. More details on this career

Average pay $35,000/year Bureau of Labor Statistics

Training: Penn Foster Career School

Green Roof Construction:
At this time, these jobs are found more in urban areas rather than rural. Green Roofs have become a very important component of sustainable urban development within the last 30 years. Growing environmental awareness and the striking economical and ecological advantages are the driving forces for this great success.

Arizona pipetrades trains welders
A program developed by the United Association of Plumbers, Pipefitters and Sprinklerfitter (UA) has helped 12 members of the Navajo Nation complete a 16 week Hybrid Welding Program

Saving green Save money: Avoid plastic bottles, make your own drinks

NWP Announcements:
NWP Executive Director will be speaking on Green Jobs & Training at the Department of Interior IEED 477 National Conference in Orlando, Florida April 6-10

The DOI Office of Indian Energy & Economic Development in partnership with the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College and Dept. of Commerce MBDA are hosting a FREE three day Executive Training Retreat "Building Successful Native American Businesses" April 14-16th at the Poarch Creek Wind Creek Casino & Hotel , Atmore, AL

Contact Rebecca Naragon (202) 208-4401

Read past issues of our newsletter

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Must Our Water Always Flow Uphill Toward Money? - Australia's Support For Indigenous Peoples

Bottled Water Is Wasteful!
Submitted by Eleanore Fanire
April 02, 2009
by Susan J. Tweit, High Country news

I've given up drinking bottled water. It's so wasteful: Up to three quarts of water are used for each quart bottled. Also, it consumes 67 million barrels of oil annually on its journey from source to consumer, and sends 2 million tons of plastic bottles to landfills.

It's especially wasteful in arid country like the high-desert valley where I live in south-central Colorado. But that hasn't stopped Nestle, one of the world's largest producers of bottled water, from attempting to siphon off our scarce local groundwater.

The company plans to pump 200 acre-feet of water annually, enough to supply the yearly household needs of 400 to 600 families, from springs that pour into the Arkansas River. Nestle says it will pipe the water five miles to the nearest highway, load it into tanker trucks, and haul it uphill over the mountains to its bottling plant 130 miles away in Denver.

Like many Western rivers, the Arkansas is already over-appropriated: Every drop it carries, including some imported from river basins on Colorado's wetter Western Slope, is "owned" by a water user, most of them far away on the populous Front Range. The water Nestle is purchasing, however, is "native" to our valley and its rare springs.

In coming to Chaffee County, population 17,000, Nestle is following the pattern it has established in small rural communities from Maine to California: The company exploits our hunger for jobs, tax revenue and development.

In tiny McCloud in Northern California, for example, Nestle negotiated a contract with the local water district to extract and bottle 500 million gallons of spring water for a pittance, plus the right to use unlimited amounts of groundwater in operating its planned bottling plant, all without conducting a study of the environmental impacts.

Local people opposed to the plan commissioned an independent report which concluded that the company's pumping plans would seriously endanger Squaw Valley Creek, crucial to the area's tourist economy, and would provide mainly low-wage and seasonal jobs. In 2007, the California Supreme Court upheld a lower court ruling striking down the contract. But Nestle, which sold nearly $10 billion of bottled water that year, hasn't gone away.

Here in Chaffee County, the springs Nestle intends to pump flow into the most heavily used stretch of whitewater in the country. Nearly 230,000 people boated the Upper Arkansas in 2008, bringing an estimated $24 million to the local economy.

No one is suggesting Nestle's pumping would dry up the Arkansas River, but Chaffee County's commissioners must decide whether the company's plans promote the "general welfare" of our county's citizens and are consistent with protecting the county's environment, economy and communities. These criteria leave a lot of room for interpretation.

The company is proposing to pump water from a high-quality aquifer whose boundaries and recharge rates are unknown, although Nestle tells us it collects snowmelt and rainfall draining the drier, rain-shadow side of the valley.

Nestle points to data showing the historic average flows of the two springs are significantly higher than the amount the company plans to pump, and to its own pumping tests, which show no diminution in flow. But historic data may no longer be relevant: Climate models show our part of the world growing radically warmer and drier.

Salida tallied just over 5 inches of precipitation last year, barely 50 percent of the historic average; this year, we've gotten a dismal 30 percent.

Moreover, Nestle's pumping tests spanned weeks, not years, after a winter with a record-high snowpack. This offers no assurances about what might happen over longer time spans, or during drought conditions.

True, the company must "replace" the 200 acre-feet a year it plans to export from the valley, but that water won't come from the same source, and as any trout knows, all water is not created equal. Water quality, nutrients and chemical "signature" vary widely.
As for jobs, after the pipeline and loading station are constructed, the company will have no employees in Chaffee County. It will pay an estimated $80,000 in property taxes, some of which is already being paid by current landowners.

Nestle talks a good line, employing feel-good words like habitat restoration, community involvement and money. But the company has not committed to anything, and it's clear from its figures that the vast majority of dollars will flow out of the county along with our groundwater.
Here in the West, we often say that water flows uphill toward money.

I hope my county proves the exception to that rule.

Susan J. Tweit is a contributor to Writers on the Range, a service of High Country News (hcn.org). She is a naturalist and the author of several books.

International Meeting Applauds Australia's Support For Indigenous Peoples
At today's international meeting under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), being held at UNESCO headquarters in Paris, Australia was given spontaneous applause following the announcement that Australia has supported the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

The CBD meeting, continuing for one week until 9 April 2009, is the seventh session of the working group developing a regime for access to and benefit sharing of genetic resources.

In acknowledging Australia's improved position on the Declaration Mr Mattias Ahren, the chairperson of the Saami Council of Arctic and northern Europe region, expressed the view in the meeting that the stance of the government represented not only a significant benefit for the Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islander people of Australia, but all Indigenous Peoples of the world.

He said Indigenous Peoples welcomed the decision of the government and thanked the government of Australia for its positive change in international policy.

The brief announcement, made during the morning discussions, drew immediate and prolonged applause from the 600 participants at the meeting, including governments, environmental groups, industry and Indigenous Peoples.

One of the subjects under discussion at the meeting is the protection of Indigenous Peoples' traditional knowledge rights in obtaining access to genetic resources.

The objective is to identify an international regime which might be adopted at the 10th session of the Conference of Parties, the general assembly for the Convention, to be held in Japan in 2010.

Les Malezer


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