Karuk Tribe Takes National Forest to Court

The Karuk Tribe in California and two environmental groups have filed a lawsuit in federal court against Six Rivers National Forest for allegedly failing to protect spiritual areas as part of a wildfire fuel reduction plan around Orleans, the Times-Standard of Eureka reported today.

The plaintiffs are suing over a portion of the plan for what is known as the Orleans Community Fuels Reduction program. Launched in 2006, the goal of the 2,698-acre project is to remove fire-prone forest material, reduce the density of some forest stands to promote wildlife diversity and enhance the Panamniik World Renewal Ceremonial District.

They claim that Six Rivers has breached several guidelines related to sacred sites and wildlife, including using heavy equipment on a spiritual trail, removing fire-resistant hardwoods and placing log decks along the spiritual trail.

They plaintiffs allege violations of the National Historic Preservation Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, the National Forest Management Act and the Healthy Forests Restoration Act.

Federal Voter Guide Translated in Four Native Languages

The federal election voter guide is now available in the four most commonly spoken Native American/Alaska Native languages, Cherokee, Dakota, Navajo and Yup'ik, languages spoken by about 220,500 Americans.

The guide was translated by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission’s Language Assistance Program to improve voting accessibility for people who speak these languages and have limited English proficiency.

The guide explains the basics of ballot casting as well as special voting procedures, such as early voting, absentee voting and military and overseas voting.

“Part of EAC’s mandate under the Help America Vote Act is to assist states in making voting more accessible to all citizens. These translations are important in carrying out this work,” said EAC Chair Donetta Davidson in a press release issued on May 7.

BIE Schools Unprepared for Violence, Report Says

School violence is on the rise nationwide, and campuses in Indian Country are not immune to this trend. In fact, they could be more of a breeding ground for violent activity than mainstream public schools.

A new evaluation report published by the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Office of Inspector General found that the nation’s Bureau of Indian Education schools have many indicators of potential violence, deficiencies in school policies to prevent violence and substantial deficiencies in preventative and emergency safety procedures.

Indian Country in general, as the report stresses, has a violent crime rate that is two to three times higher than the national average. This statistic alone should keep the red flag raised, but there is more.

The report states that 37 percent of BIE students have reported carrying a weapon on campus, compared to 6 percent of public school students. And 75 percent of gang members in Indian Country are school age.

Making BIE schools more prone to violence is the lack of security measures. Around 80 percent lack adequate fencing, and only just about half have a security guard. While most have video surveillance systems, the report says the equipment is often flawed.

Further, the report says, many BIE school staff members have not received even basic training in violence prevention, like anger management, bullying prevention and gang awareness.

In the 2007-2008 school year, the year the report is based on, there were 184 BIE schools in 23 states, with about 48,000 students enrolled.

To read the full report, click here.

Study Shows Greater Reproductive Health Risks for Urban AI/AN Women

American Indian and Alaska Native women living in urban areas are more likely than non-Hispanic whites to report non-voluntary first sexual intercourse, unintended and teen pregnancies, unprotected first sex and first sex with older partners, according to a study released last week by the Urban Indian Health Institute, a division of the Seattle Indian Health Board.

Here are some highlights from the report:

• About 17 percent of urban AI/AN women have experienced non-voluntary sex their first time, compared to 8 percent of white women.
• Nearly 14 percent of urban AI/AN women said their first sex partner was seven or more years older, compared to 9 percent of white women.
• Urban AI/AN who had unprotected sex in the past year, had sex before age 15 and who had more than two sex partners in the past three months are 77 percent more likely to have had an unintended pregnancy than whites with the same sexual risk status.
• Urban AI/AN reports of two or more abortions are twice that of NH-whites (10 percent vs. 5 percent).

To view the full report, click here.

DOJ Allocates 33 New Prosecutors to Indian Country

Indian Country justice just got tougher with the allocation of 33 new Assistant U.S. Attorney (AUSA) positions to 21 judicial districts that contain tribal lands.

The new AUSA allocation is the result of $6 million provided in the U.S. Department of Justice FY 2010 budget for hiring prosecutors in Indian Country.

In a press release issued on May 4, DOJ said that these new prosecutors will enable the agency to work with tribal and state law enforcement to improve public safety in tribal communities.

"Violent crimes, and particularly crimes against women and girls, continue to devastate tribal communities across the country, and the U.S. Attorney community is crucial to the Department of Justice's response," Attorney General Eric Holder said in the release.

DOJ has also launched three Indian Country Community Prosecution Teams. The pilot projects will be initiated with three tribes: the District of New Mexico will launch a pilot with Navajo Nation; the District of South Dakota will launch a pilot with the Oglala Sioux Tribe on the Pine Ridge Reservation; and the District of Eastern Wisconsin will launch a pilot with the Menominee Indian Tribe.

To learn more about this initiative, go to: http://www.tribaljusticeandsafety.gov.

Alaska Native Groups Demand a Halt to Oil Exploration in the Arctic

As the oil leak at the floor of the Gulf of Mexico continues to gush, at the rate of about 210,000 gallons a day, Alaska Native groups are demanding the halt of oil drilling in the Chukchi Sea and Camden Bay in the Beaufort Sea, which is supposed to begin this summer, until the federal government knows what caused the spill in the Gulf and can guarantee that kind of accident does not occur in the waters off Alaska.

In a call to action sent out this week, the Native Village of Point Hope, located on the coast of the Chukchi Sea, has created a sample letter asking Ken Salazar, Secretary of Interior, to stop Shell Oil’s exploratory drilling in the Arctic.

The letter states: “The impacts of a major spill in the Arctic would be widespread, long-lasting and disastrous. At risk are endangered whales, polar bears, seals, walruses, birds, fish and the Inupiat people’s subsistence culture.”

To view the letter, go to www.aitc.org/node/355.

Helicopters Cause a Stir at Wounded Knee

Over the weekend, three helicopters attempted to land at the site of Wounded Knee, the place where, in 1890, about 300 Sioux were massacred by U.S. soldiers, as reported by KOTATV.com on May 2.

Located on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, the Wounded Knee site is considered very sacred by the Sioux people, so, not surprisingly, those who saw the helicopters try to land at the site late morning on Saturday were outraged.

Charley New Holy was among the witnesses. He told KOTA: "One chopper landed 50 feet from the cemetery, just for a moment.”

No one knows who owns the helicopters or their reasons for being there, according to the report.