Native America
$116M available for locally led conservation projects proposed by tribes, states
In an effort to fund locally led landscape-scale conservation and restoration projects, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation announced grant funding opportunities available through the 2023 America the Beautiful Challenge. “Through the America the Beautiful Challenge, we are catalyzing investments from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to pursue locally led, collaborative and inclusive approaches to […]
Hate group tags Apsaalooke site in Montana
A white nationalist group appears to have taken credit for etching Nazi symbols on an outdoor recreational area managed by the Bureau of Land Management and named after a prominent Crow leader. The BLM confirmed that it is investigating graffiti carved into the Four Dances area, which is located approximately three miles south of Billings, […]
Larry Williams wasn’t given a Navajo translator to speak to his doctor; he died after his visit
It was the early morning on Feb. 6, 2018 and Larry Williams started to experience shortness of breath, disorientation, hallucinations and couldn’t walk. The 67-year-old spoke primarily Navajo and relied on his wife, Lenora Williams, to help translate for him. However, that day she was unable to go with him to the San Juan Regional […]
Lawmakers get closer to passing bill that would expand voting rights and accessibility
Voting could be easier for hundreds of thousands of people in New Mexico if election-related legislation makes it a few more steps forward in the Roundhouse this session. House Bill 4, otherwise known as Voting Rights Protections, would boost voting accessibility in the state, especially for Indigenous communities and formerly incarcerated people convicted of felonies. […]
Public health councils struggle for funding in the Roundhouse
Advocates for New Mexico’s local community health planning councils are scrambling to revive support after a House panel last week blocked a proposal to finally provide them with the money needed to carry out their public health mission. Thirty-three health councils operate in every county in New Mexico, and another nine are based in tribal […]
Indigenous leaders denounce Lujan Grisham’s appointment to lead Indian Affairs
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s appointment of a former San Ildefonso Pueblo governor to lead the state’s Indian Affairs Department could be in peril as members of the state’s Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Relatives Task Force, and a Navajo state senator, say they will fight his nomination. The appointment of James R. Mountain to […]
To’Hajiilee receives $90.4 million to build a new community school away from flood plain
Severe weather can force students at To’Hajiilee Community School to evacuate and lose an entire day’s worth of learning because the building is in such disrepair that it’s dangerous for people to be inside. “Whenever it rains, it leaks through our roofs and floods our school. It becomes really muddy, and the dirt becomes like […]
Toxic water project sparks controversy with Navajo neighbors
In October 2021, workers from a water treatment company irrigated a 10 x 20 foot test plot of scrubby grass on an oil well site near a Navajo Nation chapter house in northwest New Mexico. The grass thickened, grew and later shriveled under the high desert sun and drought. Even so, it nourished a statewide, petroleum-based […]
‘Not an object to be bartered,’ the Rio Grande is lifeblood for the land
SILE, N.M. — The river is something Phoebe Suina carries with her always. “I look at my hand, and you have all of these veins. They’re all blue, just like a river,” Suina (Cochiti Pueblo) said. “As blood flows through us, so do the rivers and streams across the land from the mountains.” The river […]
Fossil fuel drilling threatens air and wildlife in national parks, advocacy group finds
WASHINGTON — A “massive” methane cloud forming over Chaco Culture National Historical Park in New Mexico. Noxious air pollution fouling Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado. Herds of mule deer and pronghorn at risk of decimation at Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming. Environmental problems like these are already resulting from fossil fuel extraction near four […]
Expanding Indigenous access to the ballot is good for democracy
Indigenous communities across the U.S. are being denied the full measure of our civil rights, including the right to fully participate in the democratic process. Native Americans make up at least 12% of New Mexico’s population, but you’d be hard-pressed to find that representation in any sector within the state — especially in the political […]
Tribal education is a matter of cultural survival: ‘We need to act now,’ leaders tell lawmakers
There is plenty of history between the state of New Mexico and Native nations, and it hasn’t always been very pleasant, said Mark Mitchell, former governor of Tesuque Pueblo. “There are still some seeds of doubt, distrust, lingering feelings of suspicion, resentment, and still layers of misunderstanding and misinformation about tribes,” said Mitchell, chairman of […]