Jennifer Fairbanks

Contact the Interior Department about Bears Ears

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As the first national monument proposed by a coalition of Tribal Nations, Bears Ears gained protections under the Obama administration but lost protections under the Trump administration.

The five Tribes of the Bears Ears Commission (BEC) — Navajo Nation, Hopi Tribe, Ute Indian Tribe, Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, and the Zuni Tribe — are among the many Tribal Nations with deep cultural connections to the entire Bears Ears landscape.

They helped win the reinstatement of protections under President Biden, who restored the original designation and re-established the BEC as collaborative managers of these sacred lands and waters.

In an unprecedented collaborative process, the BEC worked directly with the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service to develop a draft resource management plan for the monument, which has just been released — and it needs our support.

Alternative E was created from the input from over 90 community meetings which gathered input and concerns. As outlined in this newly released plan, Alternative E would set a new standard for sustainable management of public lands.

Specifically, Alternative E incorporates the most Traditional Indigenous Knowledge and TraditionalEcological Knowledge — both needed to balance public access with protecting the area’s cultural and natural resources. It would represent a sustainable collaboration that:

  • Upholds the sovereignty of the Tribes and honors Indigenous peoples’ personal, traditional, and cultural connections to the land.
  • Reflects time-tested best practices for land management passed down over centuries from the original, and ongoing, stewards of this land.
  • Protects the habitat, wildlife, and resource biodiversity.
  • Responsibly manages access and use of the Monument in a way that allows current and future visitors to recreate, hunt, and fish, while also responding to the needs and health of the land.

Our work together has already generated more than 63,000 comments in support of the plan, but that’s not enough to ensure its adoption before the final decision is made — and the deadline is fast approaching.

We must back-up this unprecedented community-driven federal-Tribal co-management plan for Bears Ears National Monument. Please add your name now to show strong public support during the official comment period.

Together, we’re re-Indigenizing national parks and protecting sacred places across the country.

Hawwih (thank you) for supporting grassroots community-powered Tribal sovereignty.

Jennifer Fairbanks

Indigenous Leaders Call for Compassionate Release of Leonard Peltier

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For Immediate Release: April 15, 2024

Rapid City, SD – In light of the severe health conditions and medical needs of longtime Indigenous political prisoner Leonard Peltier, NDN Collective and Native Organizers Alliance are asking Attorney General Merrick Garland to free Peltier through compassionate release.

“At the 2022 White House Tribal Nations Summit, Attorney General Merrick Garland stood in front of hundreds of Tribal leaders and committed to make Native American civil rights a priority to the Biden administration,” said Nick Tilsen, President and CEO of NDN Collective. “Supporting the compassionate release of Leonard Peltier after nearly five decades of imprisonment would be a clear signal that he intends to make good on that promise.

“Peltier’s civil rights were violated repeatedly throughout his prosecution and imprisonment. His continued incarceration should be considered cruel and unusual punishment,” continued Tilsen. “Will Attorney General Garland be known for being humane and releasing Leonard Peltier, or for letting him die behind bars on his watch? One of these choices will absolutely be a part of Garland’s legacy. Given the recognition of the many prosecutorial and constitutional violations from every level of those involved in his prosecution, the only morally and legally sound action is to release Leonard Peltier now. Every single moment matters.”

“We are asking the Department of Justice to support the compassionate release of Leonard Peltier,” said Judith LeBlanc, Executive Director of Native Organizers Alliance. “As the longest-serving political prisoner in the United States, Leonard has become a symbol of resilience. At a time when democratic values are being questioned, the DOJ should take action as he nears the end of his life and allow him to return to his family and his ancestral homeland. We implore the DOJ to grant Peltier compassionate release.”

NDN Collective has been actively organizing for the release of Leonard Peltier for years, including leading a caravan from Rapid City, SD to Washington, DC last year where they rallied outside the White House.

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NDN Collective is an Indigenous-led organization dedicated to building Indigenous power. Through organizing, activism, philanthropy, grantmaking, capacity-building, and narrative change, we are creating sustainable solutions on Indigenous terms. 

To Request an Interview Contact:

press@ndncollective.org

Press release originally published here: https://ndncollective.org/indigenous-leaders-call-for-compassionate-release-of-leonard-peltier/

 

Jennifer Fairbanks

NOA celebrates the designation of Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni Grand Canyon National Monument

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Jennifer Fairbanks

NOA’s Public Comment on Reconciliation in Place Names

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Jennifer Fairbanks

Mobilizing Against Renewable Energy and Fossil Fuel Extraction

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Our efforts are needed now. We continue to mobilize across Indian Country to stop oil and gas leasing to protect our sacred lands, cultural resources, water, and environments from imminent harm. Presently, the Biden administration is outpacing Trump on issuing oil and gas leases on public lands. The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 allocates funds for promising increases in renewable energy and health care costs over time, but it does not adequately address or prevent devastation caused by extraction that will compound environmental degradation and climate chaos across the globe. The IRA will reinstate three oil and gas leases, two in the Gulf of Mexico and one impacting the Cook Inlet of Alaska by the end of this year. While the IRA significantly expands offshore leasing for wind energy, it also requires that oil and gas leases be offered over massive areas of the outer continental shelf as a condition of making wind leases available. Progressive policy provisions are supported by NOA, but compromise is not enough with respect to taking action on climate resiliency.

The Indigenous Environmental Network stated that the IRA is, “a distraction from the need to declare a climate emergency while allowing polluting industries to continue business as usual.” Our partners at NDN Collective submitted a letter to President Biden, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi outlining the misstep of passing a bill that links clean energy with fossil fuel extraction. “When it comes to offshore drilling, the coupling of the expansion of oil and gas with the development of renewables, is not only morally unsound but a betrayal of this Administration’s pledge to combat environmental racism and destruction.”

In unification with the voices heard across Indian Country demanding for the Biden-Harris administration to uphold promises of a transition to clean energy on public lands, NOA is resolute in pursuing efforts to leverage collective power in taking action to protect lands and waters sacred to our peoples. Efforts to eliminate environmental racism and continued devastation of our lands and waters requires true government-to-government meaningful consultation between Tribal Nations and the federal government in any and all decision-making that will impact Indigenous people.

Sign our petition today to voice your support for legislation that will protect our sacred lands, cultural resources, environments, peoples, and places. The petition will be presented to the House Committee on Natural Resources before the end of the year, December 2022. Join us in adding your name as we stand together in support of this landmark legislation.

Sign the Petition

Sources:

Jennifer Fairbanks

How the Inflation Reduction Act is Investing in Tribal Communities

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Native Organizers Alliance supports the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act being signed into law by President Biden. The bill includes an investment of $272.5 million for our Tribal communities. We must act on this moment as a time to redouble our efforts for speeding up a just transition from fossil fuels through collective organizing and climate advocacy.

According to U.S. Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, the Inflation Reduction Act will pass the House and will be signed into law by President Biden who is a champion of the climate resiliency, tax, and healthcare bill.

The bill’s passage will allocate:

  • $150 million for Tribal home electrification, which has been an infrastructure challenge plaguing tribes who have the necessary expertise and authority to electrify homes, but not the financial means to do so.
  • $75 million for loans to Tribes for energy development, energy rebate programs offering incentives for homes with high energy efficiency, and for modernizing existing systems to make them more climate-friendly.
  • $25 million for climate resilience funding to the Office of Native Hawaiin Relations at the Department of Interior, representing the biggest investment in climate justice ever in history, paid for by corporate taxes according to Senator Mazie Hirono (D) Hawaii speaking to Hawaii News Now.

It also establishes a Tribal Energy Loan Guarantee Program (TELGP) with up to $2 billion available to support tribal investment in energy-related projects such as electricity generation and transmission facilities both renewable and conventional.

In order to pass the bill into law, there were compromises made related to allowing new oil and gas leasing, which continues to cause devastating harm to our lands and our people. According to Indianz.com, tribal leaders are applauding and supporting the bill citing the need for advances in climate protection now with the weight of draughts, storms, fires, and other natural disasters looming.

William Smith, Chair of the National Indian Health Board has stated, “Once perceived as future threats, the impacts of climate change are now upon us. The action taken today demonstrates a renewed respect for Mother Earth and our waters and will focus attention on critically needed resources and alleviating the impact of climate change and transitioning to clean energy.”

Additionally, with this bill savings on health care costs, medicare expenses, and a reduction in pricing of some critical medications alleviate the burden on our elders and our families. There are provisions for inflationary and deficit control that can bring some financial relief to Tribal citizens across nations.

Sunday as the bill passed the Senate, Secretary Haaland said, “As communities across the country continue to face extreme heat, intense storms, and other climate impacts, now is the time to make bold investments.”

Native Organizers Alliance is committed to our mission to mobilize communities to leverage sovereignty and collective power for sacred land and climate protections.

References:

info@nativeorganizing.org

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