Tribes Connection to Land

Tribes Connection to Land

• Tribes Connection to Land

• UCUT and Regional Roles in Fossil Fuels Policy

• Tribes Nationally Changing Fossil Fuel Policy

• International Implications of COP21

• Renewable Energy Opportunities

• Conclusions/Questions

All begins with water; medicine, travel, food

• All begins with water; medicine, travel, food

• Four Chiefs;

• salmon, bear, bitterroots, service berry

• Relied heavily on that source of nourishment

• First Scientists knew the seasons and harvested what the land provided -not nomadic

The cultural and traditional beliefs bound to our environment have sustained our people for tens of thousands of years.

• The cultural and traditional beliefs bound to our environment have sustained our people for tens of thousands of years.

• These gifts of the First Foods also carry a responsibility of active stewardship of those gifts; It is our foundation.

• We honor that responsibility by taking action on Climate Change Impacts to ensure the environment will provide for generations to come

TRIBAL RESTORATION INITIATIVES

• TRIBAL RESTORATION INITIATIVES

• Kootenai River habitat restoration program

• Sturgeon and Burbot conservation aquaculture

• Nutrient restoration & biomonitoring

• Wetlands & riparian conservation strategy

• Critical uncertainties research

• Operational loss assessment

• Wildlife mitigation

Mines, Waterways and Dams

• Mines, Waterways and Dams

• Midnight Mine Restoration – Superfund Site, inactive open pit uranium mine

• Renovated Fish Hatchery for kokanee and rainbow trout

• Spokane River Water Quality and Quantity

• Mount Spokane Preservation of First Foods and Sacred Sites

• Ongoing Mitigation Efforts for Grand Coulee Dam

Historic Meeting with the White House Council on Environmental Quality to Protect Puget Sound

• Historic Meeting with the White House Council on Environmental Quality to Protect Puget Sound

• Stopping Habitat Loss, Increasing Pressure from Urban Growth

• Opposing Coal and Oil Transport through Treaty Lands

• State of Our Watersheds Report

• 2016 Tribes and State agreed to a reduced Fishery for protection of salmon

• Pushing for Strong Laws to Protect Salmon and Habitat

Lummi Nation Gathered Allies to Fight Cherry Point

• Lummi Nation Gathered Allies to Fight Cherry Point

• Coal would be hauled from mines to port by BNSF Railways.

• 18 daily coal trains (9 full, 9 empty). Each 1.5 mile long train, comprising about 150 cars.

• Peabody Energy is the world’s largest private sector coal company.

• Carrix/SSA Marine, partnered with Goldman Sachs, is one of the largest cargo terminal operators in the world.

• Cherry Point is a Lummi Nation burial site and an Aquatic Reserve

• Totem Pole transported across the North American to protest Bakken Oil and Coal

ATNI Unifies Tribes to Oppose Bakken Oil and Coal Transports

• ATNI Unifies Tribes to Oppose Bakken Oil and Coal Transports

• From ATNI Resolution RESOLUTION #13 – 47;

• ATNI is in opposition of the transportation and export of fossil energy in the Northwest based on infringement and endangerment upon indigenous, inherent, and treaty-protected resources, impacts on human health, economies, sacred places and our traditional way of life; and

• BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, the tribes of ATNI support a strategy to document the impacts of these fossil fuel energy transport and export proposals, which includes baseline studies of science from a local approach, impacts to the economies, as well as legal and policy initiatives.

“We love this land more than any oil company or politician ever could.  The tribes will continue to work together to fight for the Great Sioux Nation,” said Cheyenne River Sioux Tribal Chairman Harold Frazier.  “We do not just own these lands…we are a part of them.”

• “We love this land more than any oil company or politician ever could.  The tribes will continue to work together to fight for the Great Sioux Nation,” said Cheyenne River Sioux Tribal Chairman Harold Frazier.  “We do not just own these lands…we are a part of them.”

The Obama Administration and the U.S State Department DID NOT conduct any meaningful consultations with any of the 567 Tribes with regard to the US Position on Climate Change at the COP 21 negotiations nor included Tribal Governments at any table

• The Obama Administration and the U.S State Department DID NOT conduct any meaningful consultations with any of the 567 Tribes with regard to the US Position on Climate Change at the COP 21 negotiations nor included Tribal Governments at any table

• NOTE: Canada put First Nations leaders on their negotiation team! New Zealand also did and Norway consulted the Saami regularly at COP21!

Outcomes can be debated, however it was a turning point on putting limits on emissions in a global sense.

• Outcomes can be debated, however it was a turning point on putting limits on emissions in a global sense.

• A legally binding Agreement was signed by 187 States!

• Emphasis on healthy forest and landscapes but through a market based approach like REDD+ (reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation)

• Funding for protecting and promoting forest health.

• A recognition of the rights of Indigenous Peoples and knowledge of the first stewards of the land.