The Wrap: Tribe may get land back

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Chinook Indian Nation closer to resecuring ancestral winter village

The Naselle Youth Camp , a juvenile detention facility in Naselle, Washington, closed in September 2022. The Washington State Office of Financial Management convened a task force in July to help decide what to do next with the facility and nearly 23 acres of land.

On April 25, the task force voted to recommend the return of the camp to the Chinook Indian Nation.

There were close to 30 ideas in July 2023 when the task force first started meeting, which were then shortlisted to around five. The Chinook Nation emerged as the final recommendation.

The Chinook Indian Nation’s proposal is the only option that utilizes the entire facility and land. Some other options that were proposed were affordable housing, an inpatient behavioral health program and a learning center. These are all options that the Chinook can achieve while also utilizing the rest of the facility.

“[The vote] does feel like something for the history books and something that our descendants will look back on as an awfully important moment,” said Chinook Indian Nation Chairman Tony Johnson. READ MORE — Luna Reyna, Underscore News and ICT

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A powwow for Palestine

Over the past few weeks, students at university campuses across Turtle Island have set up encampments and staged protests in support of Palestine and calling for divestment from companies with ties to Israel. At the end of April, Portland State University students and community members camped out in the Branford P. Millar library, demanding the university end financial relationships with companies that have ties to Israel, including Boeing and Intel.

Classes at PSU were canceled for nearly a week . On May 2, the Portland Police Bureau (PPB) arrested 30 protesters for trespassing and illegally entering the building, according to a PPB announcement . Students returned to class on May 3, but the library remains closed . It is expected to reopen in the fall, with need for repairs.

Students and community members gathered on campus again for the Powwow for Palestine on May 4. The powwow was organized by Native community members after the PSU chapter of the United Indigenous Students in Higher Education (UISHE) decided to reschedule the 51st annual Naimuma Powwow because the university wanted a police presence to monitor the powwow after the occupation of the Millar library, according to PSU alum and UISHE alumni advisor Tashina “Bear” Cunningham, Hunkpapa Lakota and Siletz.

The group did not feel comfortable having a police presence at the powwow and thus made the decision to reschedule the 51st annual Naimuma Powwow to May 25. UISHE was not officially involved with the organization of the “Powwow for Palestine.” READ MORE — Nika Bartoo-Smith, Underscore News and ICT

Alaska Native languages at crucial juncture, biennial report says

Before Monday evening’s advanced Tlingít language class, Raven Svenson and her classmate discussed how to conjugate the verb “boil” in the context of cooking. The University of Alaska Southeast class in Juneau is headed into finals week and students are preparing for dialogues that will test their conversational skills.

Professor X̱’unei Lance Twitchell walked in and suggested the specific verb for cooking meat by boiling. He answered a few questions in English, then switched to Tlingít as he started class. All his students switched languages, too. For the next hour, conversation was almost exclusively in the original language spoken primarily from the mouth of the Copper River to the southern edge of the Alexander Archipelago and the foundation for Tlingít cultural identity.

The classroom is a microcosm of the change Twitchell and other members of the Alaska Native Language Preservation and Advisory Council called for statewide: An Alaska committed to increasing the number of Alaska Native language speakers and promoting common use of the languages.

“Tlingít, the thing that it has in common with most of the other languages in Alaska is that there’s fewer than 50 speakers remaining,” he said. “The majority of Alaska’s languages are severely endangered.” READ MORE — Alaska Beacon

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Tribes look to secure land for entertainment park

WASHINGTON – The Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes are looking to Congress to gain ownership of land lost centuries ago in order to build an amusement park just west of El Reno, Okla.

“I think that the proposed park would really support not only the tribes in an impactful way, but it would help the city and the community,” said Cheyenne and Arapaho Gov. Reggie Wassana.

Plains Heritage Park, an entertainment venue meant to draw people to western Oklahoma, is proposed by the tribes to be built on about 2,500 acres of land currently owned by the USDA. The park will include a living history museum and amusement facilities such as rides and shops. Plains Heritage Park would be more than 10 times the size of Six Flags Over Texas, which is on 212 acres in Arlington,Texas.

The Federal Correctional Institute, a medium-security facility that occupies about 1,000 acres near Fort Reno, had until recently used part of its land as a dairy farm where inmates were taught agricultural skills. But according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, the dairy program has been dismantled. READ MORE — Gaylord News

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