Tribal Resources News
Native American tribes around the West are making critical decisions regarding the management of their resources — land, water, fossil fuels and renewable resources. The Tribal Resources Desk aims to produce objective reporting to tell stories of tribes empowering themselves through stewardship and decision-making around their resources.
Nearly a third of the Navajo Nation still lives without running water, but that doesn’t stop travelers from veering off the grid to find a place without a faucet, flushing toilet or shower to spend the night.
→ More tribal natural resoures stories
→ More tribal natural resoures stories
In a 5-4 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that the federal government does not have to take affirmative steps to secure water for the Navajo Nation.
The Show spoke with reporter Umar Farooq on the inconsistent water sources in the Navajo Nation and how a lack of resource has left a $128 million facility unable to open.
On Monday, a coalition of House Republicans, including Arizona’s Paul Gosar, signed a letter calling for an investigation into Haaland’s work with the Pueblo Action Alliance, a New Mexico advocacy group opposed to drilling in the Chaco Canyon region.
Growing Western interest in psychedelic drugs has many Indigenous people sounding the alarm. These are plants they have been cultivating relationships with for millennia and, to do it right, they say, Western medicine should create bridges with traditional knowledge holders.
The Navajo Nation’s government criticized the U.S. Department of the Interior for protecting a swath of Chaco Canyon in northwestern New Mexico from new oil and gas leasing for the next 20 years.
Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs has urged President Joe Biden to use the Antiquities Act to designate the proposed Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni Grand Canyon National Monument.
The Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni National Monument has been proposed by Tribal leaders to protect native land and Colorado River water.
Lower Basin states recently announced a short-term agreement that will keep water in the Colorado River’s reservoirs. Gov. Katie Hobbs, Arizona water managers and Gila River Indian Community Gov. Stephen Roe Lewis recently talked about the accord at a press conference.
In a visit to Arizona this week, U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm announced several grants to fund projects benefiting Indigenous communities.
On a windy day in late April, with dust blowing across an arena on the San Carlos Reservation east of Globe, eight young men, all members of the San Carlos Apache Tribe, are gathered around several horses and a trailer workshop.
A government watchdog advisory released at the end of April finds persistent safety issues with federally run detention centers on tribal land.
The city of Tucson is returning a portion of ancestral land to the Tohono O’odham Nation in a new resolution unanimously passed by the City Council this week.
A Native American tribe in Arizona reached a deal Thursday with the U.S. government not to use some of its Colorado River water rights in return for $150 million and funding for a pipeline project.
In a letter to Republican Congressman Bruce Westerman of Arkansas this week, Arizona Congressman Raúl Grijalva says he wants a committee hearing on a piece of legislation that would prohibit mining at Oak Flat.
Republican Representative Eli Crane of Arizona’s 2nd Congressional District has reintroduced a bill to ratify a treaty that establishes tribal lands in the state for the San Juan Southern Paiute tribe. Crane’s predecessor, Democrat Tom O’Halleran, introduced the same legislation during his term.
When President Joe Biden took office, his administration acted quickly to unpublish an environmental report that gave the green light to a proposed copper mine in the Oak Flat area of Tonto National Forest. But it may soon republish the report.
→ More news from the Fronteras Desk
→ More news from the Fronteras Desk
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments Tuesday in a case over a land transfer in the Tonto National Forest that would bring a massive copper mine to a sacred indigenous site about an hour east of Phoenix.
Native American communities have long utilized traditional natural resources such as water, lumber, minerals and crops. As they are taking greater roles in the management and preservation of these precious and sometimes finite resources, many are seeking to diversify and modernize their economies and infrastructure.
Oak Flat stretches across just over 2,400 acres of the Tonoto National Forest and is a sacred site to the San Carlos Apache Tribe and other Arizona tribes. A last-minute piece of legislation passed in 2014 put its future into the hands of a proposed mining operation called Resolution Copper.
Fifteen Native American tribes will get a total of $580 million in federal money this year for water rights settlements, the Biden administration announced Thursday.
