Here’s the full story from the Associated Press:

WHITE SHIELD, N.D. (AP) — The Three Affiliated Tribes in North Dakota says one of the remaining few elders who could teach the Arikara language has died.

Maude Starr, whose American Indian name meant Yellow Calf Woman, died Jan. 20 at the age of 71. Her funeral was held Wednesday in the Fort Berthold Reservation community of White Shield.

Starr held a bachelor’s degree in education from the University of North Dakota. The tribe, which has members of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara, says she was one of only a handful of educators with the skills to teach the Sahnish, or Arikara, language.

Starr taught the language and culture to young people through school programs.

Gwen Florio

Tags: Arikara, Fort Berthold Reservation, Hidatsa, Mandan, Three Affiliated Tribes

Many of the nation’s Indian tribes could greatly improve their financial situation if allowed to develop the vast energy reserves on their reservations. But regulatory roadblocks stand in their way.

That was the message to the Senate Indian Affairs committee yesterday. Larry Levings, of North Dakota’s Three Affiliated Tribes – Mandan, Arikara and Hidatsa – told Congress that tribal elders who signed leases for development on their land will never see any earnings, according to this story in today’s New York Times story.

“The light to the west stretches across the horizon,” said Levings, referring to flares from wells on the oil- and gas-rich Bakken shale formation. “My elders see this day in and day out, but they say ‘Chairman, I signed my lease … but I’m never going to see royalties, I’m going to die before I see royalties.’ That’s our frustration.”

Levings, a board member of the Denver-based Council of Energy Resource Tribes, says regulatory snafus are keeping the tribes from tapping an estimated 4 billion barrels of reserves.

The group was in Washington to speak to legislation being developed by Committee Chairman Byron Dorgan (D, N.D.) and Vice Chairman John Barrasso (R, Wyo.) that would, among other things, streamline energy permitting for the nation’s 562 federally recognized American Indian tribes.

“American Indian energy resources, developed properly, can transform Indian economies and assist tribes in achieving real and lasting self determination,” Levings says.

The topic will be addressed at next month’s meeting in Tulsa of the Council of Energy Resource Tribes.

Gwen Florio

Tags: buffalo post, Council of Energy Resource Tribes, Energy, Fort Berthold Reservation, Native American news, Three Affiliated Tribes, U.S. Sen. Byron Dorgan, U.S. Sen. John Barrrasso

Fort Berthold questions refinery plan
An oil refinery proposed for the Fort Berthold Reservation in North Dakota would be the first of its kind built in the country in more than four decades. The refinery, to be built on Three Affiliated Tribes trust land, would use pre-refined oil from Canadian tar sands, making it non-air polluting, according to this Bismarck (N.D.) Tribune story. Tribal elder Tony Mandan favors the refinery – but with some qualifications. He wants the reservation’s own oil, not Canadian oil, refined there, and he wants environmental guarantees. “Jobs are not most important. Health is most important,” he says.

Foxwoods: “The wonder and the fall”
That’s the headline on this Boston Globe examination of the recent financial problems at the Mashantucket Western Pequot Tribal Nation’s Foxwoods casino. Foxwoods led the way to casino wealth for some tribes; now, it stands as testimony to these ominous financial times. “The casino helped bring this tribe together,” says Debbie Frankovitch, 55, a Pequot who has lived on the reservation all her life. “Now, the casino is a big embarrassment. It’s just a lot of greed.”

Fossils, birds, critters and … Indians?
Oh, we think not! And neither do Native American professors, students and others who spoke to the University of Michigan’s Exhibit Museum of Natural History about its dioramas, according to this Indian Country Today story. “We are living, breathing, contemporary human beings,” Margaret Noori, a professor of Ojibwe language and literature, reminded museum officials – who agreed. The dioramas depicting Indian people in ancient and colonial times, will be removed.

Museum refurbishes Ojibwe portraits
Here’s the counterpart to the University of Michigan museum story – this one’s from Minnesota. The Duluth News-Tribune reports here (registration required) that several Ojibwe-themed turn-of-the-century Eastman Johnson works maintained by the St. Louis County Historical Society have been refurbished, to the tune of $40,000. Exhibit curator Linda Grover says the turn-of-the-century portraits are treasured by area Native people. “They were drawn in a time right after the reservations had been established. It was a time of change and adjustment. Times were difficult in many ways.

Ground broken on new First Nations reserve in Canada
Also from Indian Country Today, here, the Tla-o-qui-aht First Nations people broke ground on a new reserve on the shores of the Pacific Ocean. Tla-o-qui-aht council member Elmer Frank calls it a “ground-breaking groundbreaking” as he explains that “it’s the first time the government of Canada has allowed lands to come out of a park, it’s the largest single funding Indian Affairs has ever done in the Pacific Region, and it returns a part of our homeland almost 100 years after it was taken from us.”

Gwen Florio

Tags: buffalo post, Eastman Johnson, First Nations, Fort Berthold Indian Reservation, Foxwoods, Mashantucket Western Pequot Tribal Nation, Native American news, Ojibwe, St. Louis County Historical Society, Three Affiliated Tribes, Tla-o-qui-aht First Nations, University of Michigan Exhibit Museum of Natural History

James McPherson of the Associated Press reports the latest wrinkle in the class-action lawsuit by Native American farmers against the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Here’s his story in its entirety:

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) – Tribal leaders and attorneys for American Indian farmers and ranchers plan to meet in North Dakota this week to discuss their class-action lawsuit against the U.S. Agriculture Department.

The lawsuit claims that the USDA’s Farm Service Agency denied or delayed loans for Indians. The attorneys and tribal leaders plan to meet Thursday in Bismarck.

Former Three Affiliated Tribes Chairman Tex Hall said many Indian farmers and ranchers have died or lost their operations since the lawsuit was filed in 2001. He said Indians hope that President Barack Obama’s administration will resolve the issue.

The USDA said Secretary Tom Vilsack is committed to addressing allegations of discrimination.

Gwen Florio

Tags: buffalo post, Native American news, Native farmers, Tex Hall, Three Affiliated Tribes, USDA