Posts Tagged ‘Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde’
Whisper Camel, a wildlife biologist with the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, stands on top of the wildlife overpass over U.S. Highway 93 near Evaro last week. Camel has been gathering data on wildlife crossing the highway since before its reconstruction through the Flathead Reservation, and it appears that animals are learning to use the safe crossings. Photo by TOM BAUER/Missoulian
Praise for wildlife crossings onFlathead Indian Reservation
Bear crossing underneath U.S. Highway 93. Photo courtesy CSKT, MDT and WTI-MSU
The part of U.S. Highway 93 North that goes through the Flathead Indian Reservation in western Montana is known there as the Peoples Way. But as Vince Devlin of the Missoulian writes, it caters to critters, too. The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, in conjunction with other agencies, have constructed a number of highway overpasses and tunnels to protect wildlife that otherwise would have to cross the highway. There are 41 crossings on the 56-mile stretch, says Whisper Camel, a wildlife biologist for the tribes.
The Montana Department of Transportation calls it “one of the most extensive wildlife-sensitive highway designs to occur in the continental United States.”
South Dakota takes Indian education in a new direction
From Cheat Brokaw of the Associated Press: The state Education Department is collaborating with teachers, school administrators and others to take a new approach to improving academic achievement and graduation rates among American Indian students, who as a group lag behind South Dakota’s non-Indian students. Five-year goals and plans to improve American Indian students’ performance will be put together by the Indian Education Advisory Council, a group of educators from across the state who have a lot of experience in teaching those students, said LuAnn Werdel, director of Indian education for the state Education Department.
Tribes to bury Native American skull used as college mascot
KGW-TV in Albany, Ore., reports that members the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde plan a ceremony to bury a human skull that once served as a college mascot. The case began with a man who’d taken the skull to Sweet Home grade school for show-and-tell in 1984, when he was a boy. It ended up at Albany College – now Lewis and Clark College – whose mascot is a pirate with a skull and crossbones. University of Oregon anthropologists say the skull is that of a Native American woman.
Bill would require First Nations financial reporting
A conservative Saskatchewan lawmaker has proposed a bill that would require First Nations chiefs and council members to report salaries and expenses, CBC reports. Although there’s already a process for such reporting, Kelly Block says the bill would make disclosure automatic.
Gwen Florio
Tags: Albany College, buffalo post, Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, First Nations, Flathead Indian Reservation, Indian Education Advisory Council, Lewis and Clark College, Native American news, South Dakota Department of Education, University of Oregon, Whisper Camel