Mastodawn

DoomsdaysCW Dec 1, 2024

Here is a link to the story I wrote for #MaineWellBeing back in 2001. The publisher and editor, Judith Southworth, let me take the time needed to research this story -- including attending a conference at the #PenobscotNation on Indian Island, and interviewing the #WabanakiConfederacy leaders to get their side of the #MaineSettlementAct. I had some friends at the nearby Law School library help me to translate some of the "legalese" used in the Settlement Act (deliberately so). My story, though only in a newspaper with a small run (though statewide in its reach), helped to bring awareness to issues that the Wabanaki Confederacy -- especially the Penobscot Nation -- still face to this day.

Protecting Maine’s Life-Giving Rivers

First published in 2001, in Maine Well-Being

An excerpt:

TRIBAL GOVERNORS TAKE A STAND  

The State of Maine and three major paper companies assert that the Settlement Act of 1980 makes the three tribes involved (the Passamaquoddy, Penobscot and Houlton Maliseets) different from other sovereign Indian nations, claiming that they do not have the same rights as the other nations in the United States. There is language in the Settlement Act’s enforcement piece — the Implementing Act — which has been interpreted by the state as meaning the tribes are actually municipalities under state control. Because of this, the paper companies are bringing lawsuits against the Penobscot and Passamaquoddy tribal governments for access on their internal documents on water quality regulation. The paper companies claim that the Penobscot Nation and Passamaquoddy Nation are subject to the Freedom of Access Act, a state law requiring municipalities to provide such information on demand.  

Passamaquoddy Governors Richard M. Doyle and Richard Stevens, as well as newly-elected Governor Dana of the Penobscot Nation, were threatened with daily $1000 fines and a year in jail for refusing to hand over the documents. The Penobscot and Passamaquoddy leaders claim that the health of their waters, which is life to them, is a matter of the health and welfare of their people and an internal matter, not subject to state regulations. The tribal governments are appealing to the Maine Judicial Supreme Court, but if they fail, the governors face imprisonment. Governor Dana asserted, “The paper companies don’t just want our documents... they’re after the continued right to pollute the river.”   

#WaterIsLife #LandBack #Wabanaki #Maine #TraditionalCaretakers #MaineRivers #Pollution #Sovereignty #FirstNations #MaineFirstNations #IndigenousPeoplesDay

Protecting Maine’s Life-Giving Rivers

This was a published news story that I wrote after interviewing leaders of Maine's First Nations and doing some research on the Maine Settle...

DoomsdaysCW Oct 14, 2024

The U.S. gets a new national #MarineSanctuary, the first led by a tribe

By Lauren Sommer
Published October 14, 2024

"More than 4,500 square miles of ocean will soon be protected by the federal government off the #CentralCalifornia coast. The #Biden administration is creating a new national marine sanctuary, which will be the third largest in the U.S.

"The sanctuary is also the first to be led by #IndigenousPeople. It was nominated by members of the #NorthernChumashTribe, who drove the effort for more than decade to protect the rugged #coastline that is their historical homeland.

"Going forward, the new #ChumashHeritage National Marine Sanctuary will be managed in partnership with tribes and I#ndigenous groups in the area, who will advise the federal government. It marks a growing movement under the Biden administration to give tribes a say over the lands and waters that were taken from them.

"'We’re still here, and so are the Indigenous people wherever you live,' says #VioletSageWalker, chairwoman of the Northern Chumash Tribal Council, who led the campaign for the sanctuary. 'Being able to address #ClimateChange, use traditional #ecological knowledge, and participate in #comanagement is Indigenous peoples’ contribution to saving the planet.'

"The final sanctuary boundaries are smaller than originally proposed due to California’s burgeoning #OffshoreWind industry. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) says it plans to look at expanding the sanctuary in the future.

"National marine sanctuaries are similar to a national forest on land. The new sanctuary will be protected from oil and gas #drilling, as well as #UnderseaMining, while #fishing is still permitted. It also means more public outreach and monitoring for environmental impacts, something NOAA says is vital to understanding how the ecosystem is being affected by climate change."

#LandBack #IndigenousNews #IndigenousPeoplesDay #TraditionalKnowledge #TraditionalCaretakers #ProtectTheSacred #WaterIsLife #OceansAreLife

The U.S. gets a new national marine sanctuary, the first led by a tribe

Over 4,500 square miles of ocean will be protected off the California coast. It will also be managed in partnership with the indigenous groups that fought to create it.

INTERLOCHEN

DoomsdaysCW Apr 7, 2024

How the #ColvilleTribes are restoring #TraditionalLands and wildlife

The tribes are re-establishing native species wiped out by systematic #colonization.

Rico Moore February 20, 2024

"For the 12 tribes of the Confederated Tribes of the #Colville, whose reservation is located in north-central #WashingtonState, their #ecosystem isn’t complete without the animals and plants who have long inhabited the land alongside them.

"Maintaining these relationships of reciprocity in modern times involves the protection and reintroduction of native species, as well as the restoration of their habitats, an ambitious effort that the tribes’ wildlife department has been leading since its inception in the 1970s.

"As the tribes work together to restore populations of more native species like bighorn sheep and salmon to their lands and waters, they bring collective healing with them. This healing is felt by the people who have long endured cultural trauma from the forces of European and American colonization. It further strengthens their enduring resilience."

#LandBack #TraditionalCaretakers #ConfederatedTribesOfTheColville #FirstNations #Restoration #Environment

How the Colville Tribes are restoring traditional lands and wildlife

The tribes are re-establishing native species wiped out by systematic colonization.

High Country News