Indigenous Governance Database
News and Opinion
Washington joins Nisqually Tribe to develop new 1,300-acre state park in Mount Rainier foothills
Washington will develop a new 1,300-acre state park in the Mount Rainier foothills, about a 2.5-hour drive north of Portland/Vancouver. The Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission and the Nisqually Indian Tribe on Tuesday signed a partnership agreement for the collaborative development of…
Cast-off State Parks Thrive Under Tribal Control, But Not Without Some Struggle
Rick Geisler, manager of Wah-Sha-She Park in Osage County, stands on the shore of Hula Lake. When budget cuts led the Oklahoma tourism department to find new homes for seven state parks in 2011, two of them went to Native American tribes. Both are open and doing well, but each has faced its own…
Authenticity: Ethnic Indians, non-Indians and Reservation Indians
Authenticity is a puzzling feature of contemporary Indian life. Growing up on an Indian reservation, I rarely encountered challenges to one’s identity as an Indian person. People within the reservation community knew most of the families. If they didn’t know the family connections of a specific…
Professor Breaks Down Sovereignty and Explains its Significance
Sovereignty is one of those terms we toss around without much thought. It is an important word within contemporary American Indian discussions. The term itself draws from legal, cultural, political, and historical traditions, and these traditions are connected to both European as well as Indigenous…
Cutting Edge Tech on the Rez
Bigger isn’t always better. Arizona’s Tohono O’odham Nation covers some 2.8 million acres, only a small portion of which is occupied by the successful San Xavier District’s Hi:kdan Business Park. The tribally chartered, Native-owned private business operates under the banner: “Moving Forward with…
Citizen Stewards: Chickasaw Nation Technicians Monitor Water Quality
Regulations and laws about environmental quality abound, yet the Chickasaw Nation has little use for them. Its citizens do not need legislation to inform them that they are stewards of the land. It is, of course, an immutable fact of existence. And Chickasaw Nation Environmental Services technician…
Laguna Now Operates Cebolleta Fire Department
Officials from Cibola County and the Pueblo of Laguna have worked together for several years to better serve northern Cibola County residents in regard to public safety. The Cebolleta fire station located in Bibo recently changed operational hands. According to Richard Luarkie, the Pueblo of Laguna…
Back to Our Path is not a Trip Backward
Many of us are familiar with our expression Ohnkwe Ohnwe. It is what we use to describe ourselves as the original people of Turtle Island. The approximate translation is “real human being, forever.” There was never any question that we had a future. We were never tied to a spot on a timeline. We…
UW Names Colville Tribal Federal Corp. Minority Business of the Year
The tribal business for the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation in North Central Washington–the Colville Tribal Federal Corp., or CTFC–recently won the 2013 William D. Bradford Minority Business of the Year Award. It’s the granddaddy of seven awards given annually by the University of…
Cherokee seed project sows respect for the past, hope for the future
The Cherokee Indians are preserving the roots of their heritage with a program that allows officially recognized members of the tribe to access seeds that are unique to the Cherokee Nation. Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation, Bill John Baker explained the seeds' lineage to CNN. "This strain of…
Yakama Nation Fights For Restored Authority
January 17, 2014 was a big day for the Yakama Nation tribe. On that day, Washington governor Jay Inslee signed a proclamation returning almost all civil and criminal authorities over to tribal members on the eastern Washington reservation. The next step is federal approval before the proclamation…
Credit union has grand opening at Fortune Bay
Banking will be much more accessible for Bois Forte Band members with the opening of the Northern Eagle Federal Credit Union. The non-profit institution celebrated its grand opening Monday at its Vermilion branch, located at Fortune Bay Resort Casino near Tower. Northern Eagle’s main branch is at…
Federal Recognition Process: A Culture of Neglect
The Shinnecock Indian Nation was petitioner number 4 on the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ list of tribes seeking federal recognition in 1978 soon after the agency established the seven criteria for recognition. Thirty-two years and $33 million later in June 2010, the BIA acknowledged the Shinnecock…
Empowering Parents Brings Community Change in Wind River
If you are a parent who has ever thought, “What can I do?” or “I am just a parent,” Clarisse Harris, Northern Paiute, has a program that might interest you. On the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming, the Parent Leadership Training Institute is arming parents with the tools to bring changes within…
Klamath Youth Program Melding Science and Traditional Knowledge Wins National Award
A unique collaboration between a Klamath youth leadership development program and U.S. government researchers has won the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Partners in Conservation award for its use of traditional knowledge in conjunction with modern science. The Klamath Tribal Leadership…
Cheyenne River Youth Project Turns 25, Launches Endowment and Keya Cafe Featuring Homegrown Food
Twenty-five years ago, Julie Garreau (Cheyenne River Lakota) developed the Cheyenne River Youth Project (CRYP) from a converted bar on Main Street in the tribe's capital Eagle Butte, South Dakota. For 12 years she volunteered her time to get an after-school program off the ground...
A Lifetime Journey: Alabama-Coushatta Name New Chiefs
For the first time in nearly two decades, the Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas is welcoming a new principal and second chief. The 1,200-member tribe, located on 4,500 acres of land north of Houston, elects its chiefs to life terms. An inauguration ceremony held January 1 was the first such event…
Navajos pass higher tax on junk food
The Navajo Nation Council, in its weeklong winter session, passed a tax on junk food and eliminated a tax on fresh, healthy foods Thursday. Denisa Livingston, a healthy food advocate, worked with about 75 other members of the Diné Community Advocacy Alliance for the past two years to pass the 2…
Cass County Board, Leech Lake Tribal Council hold productive joint discussions, first in three-plus years
A wide-ranging conversation between Leech Lake Tribal Council and Cass County Board of Commissioners, held Friday at the new Leech Lake Government Center in Cass Lake, concluded with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the two governmental units. The MOU is designed to…
Ancient Wisdom for Modern Times: The Seven Teachings
"We are invited once again to revisit the time-honored teachings, and to embrace the old ways in order to renew our connection to the Sacred Teachings. We need this old knowledge in our lives to live in these modern times of technology." So began a PowerPoint presentation by Chi-Ma'iingan/Great…