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The case had the potential to overturn decades of hard-fought legal battles to protect traditional fishing rights in rural Alaska, but in the end, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals sided with the federal government in its lawsuit against the state to protect those rights.
As KNBA’s Rhonda McBride tells us, the win is a major victory for tribes.
This summer, for the first time in a long time, smokehouses along the Kuskokwim River were filled with bright red salmon.
“We have no other choice but to prepare for hard winters, and it has been very difficult for us to meet our annual subsistence needs for the last 10 years.”
Mike Williams serves on the Kuskokwim River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission, which joined the federal lawsuit against the state.
“As a fisherman in these hard times, I was very pleased on the Ninth Circuit decision.”
The federal appeals court affirmed the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA), a law Congress passed in 1980 that gives rural residents, who are mostly Alaska Natives, top priority to harvest the salmon.
The court says the state broke that law 2021 when it ignored restrictions that federal managers imposed to save a struggling salmon run – and subsistence protections an Athabascan elder named Katie John had won in numerous court battles.
The crux of the problem remains the state’s constitution, which doesn’t allow for a rural priority.
Alaska attorney general Treg Taylor says he’s disappointed in the decision, but not surprised. In a statement, he said the case would need to be decided at the “highest level” yet stopped short of saying whether the state planned to appeal this case to the U.S. Supreme Court.
And that has Joe Nelson, the co-chair of the Alaska Federation of Natives, worried there could be litigation ahead.
“This is going to be another chapter in the story that’s going to continue.”
Although this case involved one river, Nelson says there is so much at stake for all Alaska Natives.
The Gila River Governance Center located in the tribal capital of Sacaton. (Photo: Gabriel Pietrorazio / KJZZ)
A youth curfew aimed at reducing violent crime in the Gila River Indian Community in Arizona, has been in place since late February.
As KJZZ’s Gabriel Pietrorazio reports, the curfew will now be in effect through the end of this year.
It marks the fourth time the curfew has been extended. In this latest executive order, Gov. Stephen Roe Lewis wrote that the tribe south of Phoenix saw a decline in crime between June and August.
But concerns over threats to public safety still remain, with Gov. Lewis adding that “emergency action gives us stronger, more flexible tools to prevent violence and disorder before it starts.”
Leaders are even considering banishment as a solution.
The tribe is surveying its membership about a draft ordinance to banish its own members who are convicted of committing violent crimes on the nearly 600-square-mile reservation.
(Courtesy Native American Rights Fund)
The Spirit Lake Nation, the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians, and Native voters are formally asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review their case involving Native voting rights in North Dakota, in the court’s upcoming term.
They filed a petition Tuesday.
According to attorneys, the plaintiffs have been fighting for fair representation for Native American voters since 2022.
Opponents of Line 5 held a press conference before an Ashland, Wisc. hearing held by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 2024. (Courtesy Clean Wisconsin)
Public statements and expert testimony in the Line 5 reroute begin Wednesday in Madison, Wisc.
Enbridge Energy plans to build a new 41-mile segment of its pipeline.
Tribal and environmental groups are among those in opposition raising environmental concerns.
Supporters are pointing to jobs and an economic boost.
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