Here’s the entire story from the Associated Press:

GREAT FALLS, Mont. (AP) – The federal government has announced that costs to repair damage from severe storms and flooding in June at Rocky Boy’s Indian Reservation will be covered 100 percent with federal money.

The White House on Friday said that the severity and magnitude of the damage warrants the decision.

President Barack Obama on July 10 declared the reservation and Hill County in north-central Montana a disaster area, making federal money available.

That money is usually available under a cost-sharing agreement where only 75 percent is paid by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

The White House says the decision to fully pay for reservation repairs does not apply to areas that are not part of the reservation in Hill County, where cost-sharing remains in place.

Tags: Chippewa Cree, disaster area, Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA, Hill County, Obama, Rocky Boy's Reservation, White House

Floodwaters are slowly going down on the Rocky Boy’s Reservation in northern Montana, and Tribal Chairman Jake Parker says the Chippewa Cree Tribe is now “out of crisis mode.”

Still, many families were evacuated and hundreds were left without drinking water after water mains burst. However, a dam that was beginning to overflow is being drained, reports Matt Volz of the Associated Press, here:

Parker led Gov. Brian Schweitzer on a tour of the damage on Wednesday morning. Parker says he is counting on Schweitzer to sign a disaster declaration that will allow them to receive federal assistance.

A team from the Federal Emergency Management Agency was expected to arrive on Wednesday to conduct an assessment.

Keep watching here for updates.

Gwen Florio

Tags: buffalo post, Chippewa Cree, Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA, Gov. Brian Schweitzer, Gwen Florio, Jake Parker, Native American news, Rocky Boy's Reservation

Here’s the entire story from Matt Volz of the Associated Press:

Flooding on the Rocky Boy’s Indian Reservation has left more than 200 homes without drinking water, forced the evacuation of at least 38 families and cut off access to the reservation’s only health clinic, a Chippewa Cree tribal leader said Tuesday.

A dam is threatening to overflow and several roads are impassable on the reservation in north-central Montana, Chippewa Cree Executive Administrative Officer Neil Rosette said.

More than 4 inches of rain has fallen on the reservation since Thursday, adding to already unseasonably high amounts of spring rain.

Now, the water won’t recede from the saturated land and tribal leaders are working with engineers with the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs and state emergency personnel to figure out what to do.

“There’s nowhere for it to go,” Rosette said of the water.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Agency Dam, Box Elder, buffalo post, Chippewa Cree Tribe, flooding, Gwen Florio, Jake Parker, Montana Disaster and Emergency Services, Native American news, Rocky Boy's Reservation, U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs

Last fall, Missoulian (Mont.) reporter Chelsi Moy and photographer Kurt Wilson drove to northern Montana’s Rocky Boy’s Reservation to watch the personal effort by University of Montana President George Dennison to recruit more Native American students to the university.

They spent three days there, not only with the university officials, but with students on the reservation, talking about their hopes and dreams. The resulting story and photo package has just won first prize in the 2009 National Awards for Education Reporting, the most prestigious national competition for education writing. Read more about the award here, and check out Moy’s story and Wilson’s photos, here.

And, the University of Montana’s School of Journalism announces here that senior Nate Rott took first place in the in-depth writing competition in the 50th annual William Randolph Hearst Foundation Journalism Awards. His work was part of the school’s annual Native News Project, which in 2009 was called “Empty Justice: Crime on Montana’s Reservations.”

Nate’s winning story was about a young man from the Crow Reservation who committed a crime off the reservation, then ran for the reservation border because he knew the Crow Tribe has no extradition agreement with the state and he would not have to face the consequences of his crime. The story tells of how the reservation became his self-imposed jail and also includes interviews of state and tribal prosecutors about the reasons for, and implications of, the lack of an extradition agreement.

Read Rott’s work here.

Both stories are examples of the kind of work – insightful and probing, unflinching and compassionate – that is increasingly rare as news organizations around the country trim resources. We’re thrilled that it’s still being done, and done so well, in Montana.

Gwen Florio

Tags: 2009 National Awards for Education Reporting, buffalo post, Chelsi Moy, Crow Reservation, Empty Justice - Crime on Montana's Reservations, Gwen Florio, Kurt Wilson, Missoulian, Nate Rott, Native American news, Native News Project, Rocky Boy's Reservation, University of Montana, University of Montana School of Journalism

Some might find John Collins’ home on northern Montana’s windswept Rocky Boy’s Reservation too remote, too forbidding. Collins knows that.

“A lot of people hate it,” he tells the reporter Chelsi Moy in this extensive story in today’s Missoulian. “I don’t get why they hate it. It’s where you live.”

It’s home. It’s family. And the powerful pull those forces exert keep many Indian kids from leaving the reservations and traveling hundreds of miles to the University of Montana. UM officials are trying to change that. Recently, UM President George Dennison and others from the university embarked on an intensive recruiting effort, traveling to every one of Montana’s Indian reservations extolling the virtues of a university education.

Some 545 Native students attend UM; Dennison would like to see that number at 1,000, which would more accurately reflect Indians’ proportion of Montana’s population.

“We want students to consider UM. We want them very much,” Dennison says. “But as I tell students, ‘You need to get some college. But it’s more important to go where you feel comfortable.’”

Gwen Florio

Tags: buffalo post, Fort Belknap Reservation, Native American news, Rocky Boy's Reservation, University of Montana

A couple of weeks ago, a group representing victims of abusive Jesuits came to the Flathead Indian Reservation in Montana, and also to the nearby city of Missoula in an effort to publicize the fact that time was running out for those victims to pursue their tormenters in court.

The group, SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests), focused on two priests in question, Father Bernard Harris, who worked at St. Francis Xavier in Missoula in the late 1950s and ’60s, and Father Augustine Feretti, who spent time on the Flathead and Rocky Boy’s Indian reservations. (Both are dead.)

The Jesuits in the Northwest have filed for bankruptcy, mainly because they’ve paid out more than $25 million in abuse claims. A bankruptcy judge recently set a Nov. 30 deadline for any additional victims to make claims.

More than 50 people have come forward since attorneys Tim Kosnoff and John Allison came to Montana to talk about the case, according to this story in today’s Missoulian.

Kosnoff finds that encouraging. “There’s an element to this that will always keep people silent,” he says. “The church has really had the ability to silence people, and it’s very difficult for people to bring up the past like this without someone saying, ‘Hey, why are you dredging all this up?’ It’s always been hard to come forward, so I’m very encouraged to see people telling their stories now.”

He says the bankruptcy process may make it easier way for victims to tell their stories because there won’t be the typical cross-examination that goes on in a civil case.

If you were abused by a Jesuit priest and want to understand your options regarding the bankruptcy, call attorneys Tim Kosnoff and John Allison at 1-888-667-0683.

Gwen Florio

Tags: buffalo post, Flathead Indian Reservation, Jesuit, Native American news, Rocky Boy's Reservation, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests

A couple of announcements came over the transom today with good news for Montana’s tribes.

From Gov. Brian Schweitzer’s office, the news that nearly $1 million in federal grants will go to two tribal youth programs.

The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes and Salish Kootenai College will use a $359,667 grant to place 250 students in grade school to high school in service learning projects focusing on protecting the environment and preserving Native language and culture.

Hopa Mountain Inc. is a nonprofit organization that invests in rural and tribal citizen leaders who are working to improve education, ecological health and economic development. Its $580,000 grant will go to the Youth Leaders in Service program that fosters civic engagement for 11- to 17-year-olds.

The grants are from Learn and Serve America, a program administered by the Corporation for National and Community Service.

Also, U.S. Sen. Jon Tester’s office announces that two northern Montana reservations could benefit from the latest chunk of federal stimulus change proposed for the state.

The Fort Peck-Dry Prairie Rural Water System would receive $14 million. The rural water system serves the Fort Peck Indian Reservation, as well as Valley, Daniels, Sheridan and Roosevelt counties. Once completed, the project will deliver treated water from the Missouri River through 3,200 miles of pipeline to 31,000 people in northeast Montana.

The Rocky Boy’s-North Central Montana Regional Water Authority would receive $16 million to deliver clean, safe drinking water to more than 50,000 people who live across north-central Montana. The project will eventually deliver treated water from Lake Elwell to the Chippewa Cree Tribe and 22 public water systems. Rocky Boy’s Indian Reservation is currently experiencing severe shortages of clean water.

The Senate has approved the legislation funding the projects; now it goes to a conference committee to work out differences between the House and Senate versions.

And remember, here’s where you can check the flow of stimulus money into Indian Country.

Gwen Florio

Tags: American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan, buffalo post, Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, Fort Peck Indian Reservaton, Hopa Mountain Inc., Native American news, Rocky Boy's Reservation, Salish Kootenai College