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Tribal Natural Resources News
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Native American tribes around the West are making critical decisions regarding the management of their natural resources — land, water, fossil fuels and renewable resources. The Tribal Natural Resources Desk aims to produce objective reporting to tell stories of tribes empowering themselves through stewardship and decision-making around their natural resources.
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 U.S. Border Patrol unfolded its public demonstration Wednesday of the explosive force used to make way for a large border fence on the border road of the protected monument. Border Patrol officials pushed back against accusations they are desecrating areas of land sacred to the Tohono O’odham Nation in southern Arizona.
Wednesday is the 101st anniversary of Grand Canyon National Park. To commemorate, a group of Native leaders has launched a project to remind visitors long before it was a national park, the Grand Canyon was a place of great significance to several tribes.
Navajo President Jonathan Nez will attend a Los Angeles City Council meeting Wednesday to discuss a proposed partnership. The tribe wants to provide the city with 500 megawatts of clean energy.
Last year's coal-fired power plant closures include the Navajo Generating Station in northeastern Arizona. New data from the University of California San Diego shows benefits to both human health and agriculture in the areas around those shuttered plants.
A decade ago, it looked like Chef Nephi Craig was on the verge of something big. He had left a burgeoning international career in the restaurant industry to come back home to Whiteriver, Arizona, a small town on the Fort Apache Indian Reservation in eastern Arizona, where his people — the White Mountain Apaches — are from.
The Navajo Nation and the Hopi Tribe were, until recently, subject to a ban on development under what was known as the “Bennett Freeze.” To find out more out that piece of history and how it’s impacted communities, The Show spoke with Mark Trahant, editor of Indian Country Today.
The Navajo president said the trade agreement that the Trump administration and China signed Wednesday would open doors for tribes.
The Navajo Nation is taking steps to make solar energy a priority, with the help of Salt River Project. Salt River Project seeks proposals for up to 200 megawatts of solar development on the Navajo Nation.
When the Navajo Generating Station and the Peabody Coal Mine shut down late last year, they took with them royalties that the Hopi Tribe depended on for more than four decades. Hopi leaders have known this day would come, yet they left it up to the current tribal council to replace that revenue generator.
The Salt River Project announced it would close the Navajo Generating Station two years ago. That started a domino effect on the Navajo Nation. In November, the Kayenta Mine and the coal fired power plant closed, and hundreds of jobs were lost. Now new sources of energy are beginning to sprout.
The Hopi Tribe is vetting a group that has proposed an idea that could generate revenue, jobs and electricity for the tribe. Two Native-owned businesses called Northrock Technology and United Rain have proposed technology used for many years outside the U.S. to harvest coal bed methane, a form of natural gas.
Federal officials have fined the Hopi Tribe for failing to reduce arsenic levels in its drinking water at the Hopi Cultural Center. The Hopi Tribe has agreed to pay the $3,800 fine and to finish building a treatment system by early next year.
A Phoenix company is asking the federal government for preliminary permits to study two dam projects along the Little Colorado River on the Navajo Reservation. But tribes, conservation groups, and the Arizona Department of Game and Fish are speaking out.
The federal government is sending almost $29 million to tribes in the region for water infrastructure and environmental protection.
For many of us turning on the tap or flushing the toilet is something we take for granted. But a report released Monday showed more than 2 million Americans live without these conveniences. And Native Americans are more likely to have trouble accessing water than any other group.
Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez announced this week he is pulling the plug on the Navajo Transitional Energy Company's controversial purchases of three bankrupt coal mines in Wyoming and Montana last month.
With the closure of the Navajo Generating Station, many questions remain for those who relied on the station to generate jobs and energy. Coal is dying across the country as cleaner energy options become a reality, and communities are left looking for alternatives.
Data from the U.S. Interior Department shows fewer members of the Navajo Nation took part in a federal land buy-back program. In fact, the number of Navajo tribal members who decided to sell their land was among the lowest in the country. The program itself stems from a system known as fractionation.
The Navajo Generating Station is shutting down, creating a ripple effect across the region, from the families left searching for jobs to the Grand Canyon where its absence may mean improvements to air quality. Utility reporter Ryan Randazzo has been covering the generating station and what will be left in its wake.
The latest agriculture census was released earlier this year by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. It details all the types of farms and farmers in America and breaks down the data by congressional district in each state. One district in Arizona has more Native American farmers than any other in the country.
→ Arizona Millennial Farmers Keep Industry Moving Forward
→ Arizona Millennial Farmers Keep Industry Moving Forward
