Indigenous Governance Database
Governance
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…
Seneca Nation Implements Native Plant Policy
The Seneca Nation of Indians are spearheading a movement to reintroduce more indigenous flora to public landscapes on tribal lands in Upstate New York. The tribal council unanimously approved a policy that mandates all new landscaping in public spaces on Seneca lands exclusively be comprised of…
Eastern Band of Cherokee Replenishes Iconic White-Tailed Deer on Its Lands
The Eastern Band of Cherokee, deprived for centuries of the white-tailed deer that symbolizes their culture, are in the process of getting their icon back. Though deer are considered almost a pest in many parts, devouring gardens and proliferating, the Cherokee themselves, who have cherished the…
Rebuilding Native Nations Course: What I Learned
I had the opportunity to take the Rebuilding Native Nations Strategies for Governance and Development course offered by the Native Nations Institute at the University of Arizona. I was lucky enough to take the online course at no charge through an article I saw on ICTMN. The course costs $75 as of…
Forest County Potawatomi Renewables Program Nets EPA Top 30 Nod
They squelched a mine, established air-quality monitoring and built a solar plant. Where does a tribe go from there? For the Forest County Potawatomi Community it meant going deeper. The tribe has translated traditional values into a program that uses cutting-edge technologies and sophisticated…
Klamath Agreements Strengthen Tribal Sovereignty
From time immemorial, salmon, steelhead and other fish runs have sustained the Klamath, Modoc and Yahooskin Paiute members of the Klamath Tribes. It has been more than 100 years, however, since our tribal members have seen salmon and steelhead migrate home to the Upper Klamath Basin, or had an…
Arizona tribe set to prosecute first non-Indian under a new law
Tribal police chief Michael Valenzuela drove through darkened desert streets, turned into a Circle K convenience store and pointed to the spot beyond the reservation line where his officers used to take the non-Indian men who battered Indian women. “We would literally drive them to the end of the…
Tribes Pushing Minimum Wage Higher
Though the minimum wage remains at $7.25 per hour for most Oklahomans, several tribal nations pay more or have boosted their entry-level wage above the federal level, a move that could cause the Oklahoma Legislature to take another look at the issue...
Red Lake Constitution Reform Initiative Community Engagement Meeting held in Redby
The second of six scheduled Red Lake Constitution Reform Initiative Community Engagement Meetings was held at the Redby Community Center on March 24, 2014 from 5:30 PM to 8:30 PM. The first meeting was held at the Minneapolis American Indian Center on March 22, 2014 with about 60 people in…
How Do We Re-Member?
On July 2, the tribal council of the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde held a special meeting to allow their citizens an opportunity to testify for or against a proposed emergency enrollment ordinance whereby the Council sought to delegate its constitutional authority to involuntarily…
South Dakota, tribe finalize plan to serve parole
South Dakota and Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate Tribal officials finalized an agreement on a pilot program for tribal members to serve parole at home on the reservation. Sisseton-Wahpeton Chairman Robert Shepherd and Department of Corrections Secretary Denny Kaemingk signed the intergovernmental…
Police Protection in CT Increases: Tribes Can Now Arrest Non-Natives
On Friday, August 1, 27 members of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Police received the power to arrest non-Natives on tribal land. “Up until now they could only hold and detain non-tribal members until the state police could come and make the arrest,” William Satti, director of public affairs for…
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…
Chickasaw Fishery Saves Endangered Species While Sustaining Fishermen and Tourism
Nothing elevates the hope and heart rate of an angler more than hearing that first predawn “ZWIIINNGGG” of a casting reel as fishing line slices through the early morning air and the lure plops into the water. Whether it’s the first or last day of the season, fishermen hope that is a dinner bell…
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…
Harvard Project Names 18 Semifinalists for Honoring Nations Awards
The Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development recognizes exemplary tribal government initiatives and facilitates the sharing of best practices through its Honoring Nations awards program. On March 3, the Harvard Project announced its selection of 18 semi-finalists for the 2014…
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…
Fisheries Are the Lifeblood of the Nez Perce Economy
The Nez Perce Tribe has the second largest economic impact in North Central Idaho and is the third largest employer in the region. The massive fisheries program which employs upwards of 180 people is a major contributor to those statistics. Fish have always been vital to the tribe. Salmon in…
Pascua Yaqui gain added power to prosecute some non-Indians
Southern Arizona’s Pascua Yaqui Tribe is one of the first Native nations in the country to earn legal standing to prosecute outsiders who attack women on tribal lands. The Pascua Yaquis – along with the Tulalip Tribes of Washington and the Umatilla Tribes of Oregon – have been been awarded special…
Collectively Managing Allotment Lands Is Better
Indian allotment holders are not making enough money from their allotments. One way for tribal allotment holders to gain more economic income from their allotments is to organize a corporation under tribal law and collectively manage allotted lands in order to gain more income for allotment holders…