As federal environmental priorities shift, sovereign Native American nations have their own plans
- Written by Alyssa Kreikemeier, Assistant Professor of History, University of Idaho
Long before the large-scale Earth Day protests[1] on April 22, 1970 – often credited with spurring significant environmental protection legislation – Native Americans stewarded the environment. As sovereign nations, Native Americans have been able to protect land, water and air, including well beyond their own boundaries.
Their actions laid the groundwork for modern federal law and policy, including national legislation aimed at reducing pollution. Now the Trump administration is seeking to weaken some of those limits[2] and eliminate programs aimed at improving the environments in which marginalized people live and work[3].
As an environmental historian[4], I study how Native Americans have shaped environmental management. Tribal nations are the longest stewards of the lands today known as the United States. My work indicates not only that tribal nations contributed to the origins and evolution of modern environmental management on tribal and nontribal lands, but also that they are well poised to continue environmental management and scientific research regardless of U.S. government actions.
Environmental sovereignty
Native peoples stewarded and studied their environments for millennia before European colonization. Today, Native nations continue to use science, technology and Indigenous knowledge to benefit their own people and the broader population.
Their stewardship continues despite repeated and ongoing efforts to dispossess Native peoples. In 1953, Congress reversed centuries of federally recognizing tribal authority, passing a law that terminated tribal nations’ legal and political status[5] and federal obligations under treaties and legal precedents, including requirements to provide education and health care.
This termination policy subjected tribal nations and reservation lands to state jurisdiction and relocated at least 200,000 Native people[6] from tribal lands to urban centers[7].
A groundswell of Native American resistance captured national attention, including protests and tactics such as “fish-ins[8],” which involved fishing at traditional grounds guaranteed by treaties but not honored by land use at the time. Their efforts led federal courts to affirm the very rights[9] termination had sought to expunge.
Native nations regained federally recognized rights and political power[10] at the same time as the national environmental awakening. In fact, tribal nations exercised environmental sovereignty in ways that restored federal recognition and influenced broader U.S. environmental law and policy.
Air quality
In the 1960s, air pollution in America posed a serious health threat[11], with smog killing Americans on occasion[12] and harming their long-term health. Under the 1970 Clean Air Act amendments, the federal government set national standards for air quality and penalties for polluters.
As early as 1974, the Northern Cheyenne Tribe in southeastern Montana began monitoring its own air quality. Finding that its air was substantially cleaner than other areas of the country, the tribe used a new approach to push the Environmental Protection Agency to approve enhanced protections[13] beyond the minimum federal standards. The Northern Cheyenne wanted to prevent polluting industries from moving into locations with cleaner air that could be polluted without exceeding the federal limits. That protection was codified in the 1977 Clean Air Act amendments[14], which established legal protections and a process for communities to claim greater pollution protections nationwide.
In 1978, the Northern Cheyenne used their higher standards to limit pollution sources[15] on private land upwind of tribal lands, temporarily blocking the construction of two additional coal-fired power plants.
Within a decade, the Assiniboine and Sioux nations at Fort Peck and the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes also claimed enhanced air protection and developed air quality monitoring programs even before most state governments did[16]. Dozens of tribal nations have taken control of their air quality in the years since.
Waterways
Native nations also exercise sovereignty over waterways. In the Pacific Northwest, people whose ancestors have lived in the area for at least 16,000 years[18] have moved to protect themselves and their lands from the effects of massive hydropower projects.
The Columbia River Basin hydropower project[19], which began in the 1930s, now includes over 250 dams that together generate nearly half[20] of the United States’ hydropower. Its dams and associated development stretch from the Canadian Rockies to Southern California, with effects crossing dozens of Native nations as well as international and state boundaries[21]. The construction of the dams inundated multiple tribal nations’ lands and displaced thousands of Native people[22].
When four dams were built on the lower Snake River in Idaho in the 1960s, they inundated ancestral lands and fishing grounds of Columbia River Native Americans[23], including the Nez Perce Tribe. The dams decimated fish populations many tribes have long relied upon for both sustenance and cultural practices and destroyed ancient and culturally significant fishing sites, including Celilo Falls[24] near The Dalles, Oregon, which had been fished for at least 10,000 years.
Nez Perce scientists and environmental managers, working alongside other Northwest tribes, have documented the near extinction of numerous species of salmon and steelhead fish, despite federal, state and tribal agencies investing billions of dollars in hatchery programs[25] to boost fish populations. The Nez Perce Department of Fisheries Resources Management protects and restores aquatic ecosystems[26]. In collaboration with nearby communities, the tribe also restores significant areas of habitat on nontribal lands. That includes decommissioning many miles of logging roads, removing mine tailings and sowing tens of thousands of native plants[27].
The Nez Perce and other tribes advocate for the removal of those four dams[28] to restore salmon populations. They cite, among other evidence, a 2002 Army Corps of Engineers study that found removal was the most effective way[29] to meet the Endangered Species Act’s requirements to restore decimated fish populations[30].
Taking a long view
Native Americans and tribal nations see environmental sovereignty as essential to their past, present and future[32].
In 2015, the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes became the first Native nation to take over a federal dam[33] when they purchased the Selis Ksanka Qlispe dam[34], operating on the Flathead River in Montana. Managed by a tribal corporation, the dam produces enough hydropower to supply 100,000 homes[35], bringing millions of dollars[36] to tribal coffers rather than enriching a corporation in Pennsylvania[37].
Over the decades, Native nations have partnered with federal agencies and used federal laws and funds to manage their environments. They have also built connections between tribes and nations across the continent.
For instance, the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission[38] coordinates and assists Columbia Basin tribes with environmental management and fishing rights. In northern New Mexico, the Indigenous women of Tewa Women United[39] work against the legacy and ongoing effects of nuclear research[40] affecting their homelands and communities from Los Alamos National Laboratory.
Across the U.S., the Indian Land Tenure Foundation[41] works with Native peoples to secure control of their homelands through land return and legal reforms, while Honor the Earth[42] organizes Indigenous peoples in North America and globally to advance social change rooted in Indigenous sovereignty through treaty organizing and advocacy.
Tribal governments have been hit hard by the shifts in federal priorities[43], including Trump administration funding cuts that have slowed scientific research[44], such as environmental monitoring and management on tribal lands.
Tribal governance takes a long view[45] based in Native peoples’ deep history with these lands. And their legal and political status as sovereign nations – backed by the U.S. Constitution[46], treaties[47], more than 120 Supreme Court rulings[48] and the plain text of federal laws[49] – puts Native nations in a strong position to continue their efforts, no matter which ways the federal winds blow.
References
- ^ large-scale Earth Day protests (www.bbc.com)
- ^ weaken some of those limits (theconversation.com)
- ^ marginalized people live and work (www.usatoday.com)
- ^ environmental historian (www.uidaho.edu)
- ^ terminated tribal nations’ legal and political status (www.archives.gov)
- ^ relocated at least 200,000 Native people (americanarchive.org)
- ^ tribal lands to urban centers (www.nebraskapress.unl.edu)
- ^ fish-ins (depts.washington.edu)
- ^ federal courts to affirm the very rights (www.sos.wa.gov)
- ^ federally recognized rights and political power (www.penguinrandomhouse.ca)
- ^ air pollution in America posed a serious health threat (www.nytimes.com)
- ^ killing Americans on occasion (www.smithsonianmag.com)
- ^ tribe used a new approach to push the Environmental Protection Agency to approve enhanced protections (www.hcn.org)
- ^ Clean Air Act amendments (www.epa.gov)
- ^ limit pollution sources (www.nytimes.com)
- ^ before most state governments did (www.ntaatribalair.org)
- ^ Russell Lee/Library of Congress via AP (newsroom.ap.org)
- ^ at least 16,000 years (www.pbs.org)
- ^ Columbia River Basin hydropower project (www.usbr.gov)
- ^ generate nearly half (www.eia.gov)
- ^ crossing dozens of Native nations as well as international and state boundaries (www.congress.gov)
- ^ displaced thousands of Native people (pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
- ^ inundated ancestral lands and fishing grounds of Columbia River Native Americans (www.nytimes.com)
- ^ Celilo Falls (www.nwcouncil.org)
- ^ billions of dollars in hatchery programs (www.opb.org)
- ^ protects and restores aquatic ecosystems (nezperce.org)
- ^ sowing tens of thousands of native plants (hwpi.harvard.edu)
- ^ advocate for the removal of those four dams (idahoconservation.org)
- ^ most effective way (www.nww.usace.army.mil)
- ^ restore decimated fish populations (idahocapitalsun.com)
- ^ AP Photo/Gillian Flaccus (newsroom.ap.org)
- ^ past, present and future (www.npr.org)
- ^ first Native nation to take over a federal dam (www.hcn.org)
- ^ Selis Ksanka Qlispe dam (www.montanasflatheadlake.com)
- ^ supply 100,000 homes (ictnews.org)
- ^ millions of dollars (www.charkoosta.com)
- ^ corporation in Pennsylvania (www.hcn.org)
- ^ Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission (critfc.org)
- ^ Tewa Women United (tewawomenunited.org)
- ^ nuclear research (www.news-bulletin.com)
- ^ the Indian Land Tenure Foundation (iltf.org)
- ^ Honor the Earth (www.honorearth.org)
- ^ shifts in federal priorities (www.nytimes.com)
- ^ slowed scientific research (atmos.earth)
- ^ Tribal governance takes a long view (vallencook.medium.com)
- ^ the U.S. Constitution (www.knaa.ks.gov)
- ^ treaties (treaties.okstate.edu)
- ^ 120 Supreme Court rulings (wwnorton.com)
- ^ plain text of federal laws (doi.org)
Authors: Alyssa Kreikemeier, Assistant Professor of History, University of Idaho
