Native America Calling

Once plentiful, salmon that return to Alaska’s Yukon River are struggling to survive. The fishery is in the sixth straight year of restrictions, affecting commercial, sport, and subsistence salmon harvests. The reasons for the major decline in fish populations are complex. There’s little agreement on which path to take from here. Alaska Native residents along the Yukon are working to have their voices heard along with the many entities weighing in trying to develop solutions.

GUESTS

Jazmyn Vent (Iñupiaq and Koyukon), Indigenous communications director & acting administrative assistant for the Yukon River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission

Janessa Newman (Rampart Village Council), Indigenous stewardship director for the Yukon River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission

Serena Alstrom (Yup’ik and Yupiit of Andreafski Tribal Member from St. Mary’s, Alaska), executive director of Yukon River Drainage Fisheries Association

Holly Carroll, Yukon River Federal in-season salmon manager for U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Indigenous Two-Spirit and LGBTQ+ artists often add another layer of expression to their work and stories. On top of celebrating their tribal and personal identities, they’re bringing stories and voices forward that aren’t often heard from elsewhere. They can also provide recognition and support for other LGBTQ2+ people searching for connection. We’ll take a look at three new and upcoming Indigenous Two-Spirit and LGBTQ+ art exhibits: “Queering Indigeneity” coming to the Minnesota Museum of American Art, “Two-Spirit and MMIW/R Voices” touring Minnesota, and “Two-Spirit and Gender Diversity through History” at the new Orillia Recreation Centre in Ontario, Canada.

The Trump administration is working to remove protections for more than 58 million acres of national forests. A brief public comment period is now open on a plan to rescind the federal government’s 25-year-old Roadless Rule which prohibits road construction and timber harvesting in several states. Environmental groups and leaders of Alaska Native tribes with cultural ties to the Tongass National Forest — the country’s largest national forest — are raising alarms about the plan. The vast temperate rainforest covers 17 million acres and is also the nation’s largest stand of old-growth trees, many of which are at least 800 years old. Advocates warn that road construction and increased commercial logging threaten subsistence hunting, plant harvesting, and fishing. We’ll talk with tribal leaders and others about what’s at stake in Tongass and the future of forest management.

The Shinnecock Nation in New York is in an ongoing legal battle to have their fishing rights recognized. A lawsuit brought forward by a Shinnecock tribal citizen argues the tribe has never ceded their right to fish in any treaty or agreement. The tribe has no treaty with the federal government, but instead with British colonists from the 1600s. This case could possibly affirm the tribe’s unended aboriginal claim to fish in the Hamptons. We’ll talk with Shinnecock citizens about what’s at stake with the case as it moves forward in federal district court.

Serving on a school board is not a glamorous position, but it’s an important one that plays a big role in Native American students’ success. Elected members of school boards make decisions ranging annual budgets to what’s allowed in classroom lessons. They are also responsible for representing the community’s values and interests. As such, individual board members are lightning rods for public criticism. We’ll get a look at what school board members encounter on a daily basis and hear about a program designed to support Native school board participation.

Santa Ana Pueblo is celebrating the return of a clay bowl that was stolen in 1984, but it’s only one out of nearly 150 irreplaceable items taken during a series of burglaries and never recovered. Investigators believe the items were eventually sold to collectors around the world and authorities never tracked them down. We’ll check in on the tribe’s renewed efforts to find and bring the items back home.

We’ll also get updates on other repatriation efforts, including tribes and lawmakers putting renewed pressure on the University of California over its failure to return remains and artifacts required by law, and we’ll recount the largest Native Hawaiian repatriation in history with Edward Halealoha Ayau.

Miccosukee Tribe of Florida scored at least a temporary legal victory when a federal judge halted construction and ordered parts of the facility dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz” removed. The decision comes in the lawsuit by the tribe and environmental groups claiming work on the abandoned airport turned emergency immigrant detention center in Florida violates environmental and national preservation laws. The facility is on traditional Miccosukee land. The Department of Homeland Security and Immigrations and Customs Enforcement along with the state of Florida see the compound as part of ramped-up immigrant deportation efforts. We’ll speak with Chairman Talbert Cypress (Miccosukee).

We’ll also hear from Lakota artist Danielle SeeWalker, who settled a lawsuit with the city of Vail, Colo. after officials cancelled a summer artist residency. The cancellation came after she posted a picture of a work criticizing Israel’s actions against the citizens of Gaza.