Native Americans
Zinke tours Bears Ears, says Native Americans are ‘smart, capable’
During the first day of his tour of Bears Ears National Monument, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke disagreed with Utah officials who have claimed that Native Americans who support the monument are manipulated by special interest groups, says The Salt Lake Tribune.
National Bison Range won’t go to tribes after all, says Zinke
Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke has reversed plans to transfer control of the National Bison Range to the Bureau of Indian Affairs. When tribes called for the change in 2016, they claimed the federal government had taken the land from American Indians without their consent.
California tribe’s case sets precedent for water rights
In a case that could have ramifications for farms and ranches across the arid west, a Native American tribe in Coachella, Calif., has set a new precedent for tribal ownership rights to groundwater.
Zinke becomes Interior chief, says he will be a Teddy Roosevelt-style land manager
Bears Ears Monument is a win for tribal food sovereignty. Will Trump undo it?
Last week, President Obama created the 1.3-million-acre Bears Ears National Monument in Utah and the 300,000-acre Gold Butte National Monument in Nevada, bringing the total of new protected lands designated by his administration to 553 million acres. His critics are already calling on Trump to reverse the order
Native Americans set to lead the hemp market
While the rest of the nation debates whether to allow industrial hemp farming, the Navajo Nation is already planning for the first crop. Some are hoping that the controversial plant will help bring money to Native American reservations, the same way that casinos have, says Reuters.
Drought has hit Nevada’s Native Americans hard
In Nevada, the nation’s driest state, a five-year drought has emptied lakes and stalled rivers. Reservoir levels have plummeted and Lake Mead, the primary water source for Las Vegas, is at its lowest point since the Hoover Dam was constructed in the 1930s — just 1,073 feet above sea level. But while the entire state is struggling with the lack of water, perhaps those suffering the most are Native American tribes, says National Geographic.