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First Copper River Salmon Arrive in Seattle

24,600 pounds of Chinook have arrived in Seattle.

05/17/2013 10:15:00

Sea-Tac Airport saw the first planeload of Copper River King Salmon from Cordova this morning [Friday may 17th] . It is the first of four Alaska Airlines flights scheduled to bring the prized Alaska Salmon to Seattle on Friday.

The first flight this morning brought a cargo of 24,600 pounds of Chinook destined for restaurants in the area.

The Copper River is projected to harvest approximately 19,800 King Salmon during the 2013 season, with a total Chinook run of 46,000 according to ADF&G. this is about 23,000 fish lower than the 70,000 fish that is the 14-year average.

The Copper River fishery began at 7 am on Thursday and remained open for 12 hours. Within 24 hours of the opening, fresh fish made their arrival in the Emerald City. The first of the year Kings are expected to bring about $30 per pound.

It was a former Alaskan fisherman, Jon Rowley, that brought the Copper River King Salmon craze to Seattle back in 1983. It was him and his razzle-dazzle marketing techniques that stirred the fervor for the fresh caught first Alaska Salmon of the year. It has grown larger and larger ever since and is now a much anticipated event in the city and an annual rite of Spring.

The Alaska Airlines pilots carried the first salmon, a 40-pound King to waiting chefs.

Tiger Woods to Join Notah Begay III for NB3 Foundation Challenge

By Leeanne Root, Indian Country Today Media Network

In announcing the field for the sixth annual Notah Begay III Foundation Challenge, Notah Begay III, the Navajo/San Felipe/Isleta four-time PGA Tour winner and Ray Halbritter, Oneida Nation representative and CEO of Nation Enterprises, parent company of Indian Country Today Media Network, saved the best for last.

Tiger Woods will join Begay on what they’ve dubbed Team USA on August 28 to raise money for health programs to benefit Native American youth.

Both Halbritter and Begay see the advantage of having a 78-time PGA Tour winner like Woods associated with the event.

“It really elevates the visibility,” Halbritter said during a press conference May 20.”

And while Begay said it’s always tough to get Woods because he’s in such high demand, he said Woods “understands the importance of what we’re trying to accomplish with our foundation and our initiatives and our programs and he’s such a big supporter of us.”

Team USA will also include Rickie Fowler, Navajo, who has competed in three previous NB3 Challenges and Bo Van Pelt, a PGA Tour veteran.

The four of them will be pitted against Team Asia and Team International in a combined best-ball format. Each team will have two pairs playing best-ball and the combined score of those two pairs will be the final score for that team.

Team Asia will feature eight-time PGA Tour winner K.J. Choi, PGA Tour veteran Charlie Wi, and two up and coming stars—2012 PGA Tour Rookie of the Year John Huh, the first person of Korean descent to win that honor, and James Hahn, who emerged on the scene last year.

Team International boasts players from Europe and South Africa including Lee Westwood, the former world No. 1 and 40-time professional winner, as well as 2011 Masters Champion Charl Schwartzel and Nicolas Colsaerts, who emerged as one of the stars from the winning European team from the 2012 Ryder Cup, and Henrik Stenson, 2009 Players champion.

The partnership between the Oneida Indian Nation and the foundation has raised more than $4 million in the past five years through the NB3 Challenge. And the exposure that partnership and other big names like Woods has brought the foundation has also helped the foundation obtain other important partnerships, like with Johns Hopkins University and more recently with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

“The event has allowed us to garner more exposure for our work and when you have world-class partners like the Turning Stone Resort and everything it represents… it sets a precedent for future partnerships,” Begay said. “We didn’t have Hopkins when we started, we didn’t have Robert Wood Johnson when we started. We had Chairman Halbritter and myself and an idea—an idea to showcase something that has never existed in Indian country before, a world-class event that can compete with any event in the world and that’s exactly what we have.”

The partnership with Johns Hopkins has allowed the NB3 Foundation to better its programming and make it more effective for the Native youth they serve. Johns Hopkins Center for American Indian Health conducted a two-year study evaluating the impact of NB3 soccer programs at San Felipe Pueblo in New Mexico and found the programs have a significant impact on the physical fitness of Native American children.

“Basically, it’s called evidence-based programming, we make curriculum changes based upon the research and data that we’re compiling so we’re not moving the program in a direction because we feel like that’s the right thing to do,” Begay said. “We’re moving it in a direction because our evidence says it’s the right thing to do. It’s a better way to make our dollars work more effectively.”

Halbritter couldn’t be prouder to be partnered with Begay and his foundation.

“In many communities across Indian country parents are in danger of living longer than their children, which is a tragedy… We share Notah’s vision and appreciate his work to improve the lives of all American Indian youth,” he said. “We are taught culturally that all the things we have aren’t just for ourselves, they’re really for future generations so this is… exactly what we’re supposed to be doing. But not often do you get the opportunity to actually do it.”

The foundation works with Native youth to reduce the incidence of Type 2 diabetes and obesity. As Begay pointed out, “one in two of our Native American children will be classified as obese by the fourth grade and I think it goes up to six in ten will contract Type 2 diabetes in their lifetime.”

NB3 runs a number of soccer and golf programs that have benefitted more than 15,000 Native youth since the foundation’s beginning in 2005.

The NB3 Foundation Challenge will be held August 28 at Atunyote Golf Club in Verona, New York, which was named a 2012 Top 40 Best Casino Course by Golfweek, and Begay can see why. It’s one of his favorite courses.

“It’s gorgeous, there’s not a blade of grass out of place, the greens are always fast. It’s one of the premier golfing venues in the country. And I can always get a tee time,” he laughed.

Tickets to the 2013 NB3 Challenge are on sale now for $50 and can be purchased by contacting the Turning Stone Box Office at 315-361-SHOW.

Ray Halbritter, Oneida Nation representative and CEO of Nation Enterprises, parent company of Indian Country Today Media Network, and Notah Begay III, announce the 12-player field for the sixth annual NB3 Foundation Challenge. (Courtesy Oneida Indian Nation)

Supreme Court won’t take up Alaskan tribe’s suit against Exxon Mobil

By Jeremy P. Jacobs, E&E, ClimateWire

The Supreme Court yesterday declined to review a large climate change lawsuit brought by a Native Alaskan village against major energy producers.

The Native Village of Kivalina had asked the justices to take up a 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling last September that dismissed its lawsuit against Exxon Mobil Corp. and other producers.

Villagers had claimed that the companies’ operations were contributing to global warming, which in turn was eroding their land off the northwest coast of Alaska, about 70 miles north of the Arctic Circle.

Specifically, the villagers were seeking damages from the companies. The San Francisco-based 9th Circuit, however, ruled that the Clean Air Act and U.S. EPA regulations have jurisdiction over climate change issues.

The Village of Kivalina is a self-governing, federally recognized tribe of about 400 Inupiat Native Alaskans who live on a 6-mile barrier reef off the coast of Alaska.

In order to withstand winter storms and large waves, the village relies on sea ice that binds to its coastline. In recent years, villagers charged that the ice is forming later and melting sooner, leaving them exposed.

Further, the reef itself is eroding, and, in court documents, the village claimed its existence is deeply threatened.

The villagers attributed the change to global warming and pointed at greenhouse gases from energy production as the culprit. They sought damages under a common law nuisance claim.

Lower courts have ruled against the village on multiple occasions. A district court tossed out the case because the village couldn’t concretely detail how it had been harmed by the conduct of the companies.

Kewa Pueblo medicine man loses appeal in eagle killing case

Source: Indianz.com

A medicine man from Kewa Pueblo in New Mexico who pleaded guilty for killing a bald eagle and possessing bald eagle parts lost his case before the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Martin Aguilar admitted that he didn’t obtain a federal permit to take the eagle on the reservation. He also lacked a permit to possess eagle feathers that were found in his home.

Aguilar argued that federal agents entered and searched his home in violation of the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The 10th Circuit, however, said he allowed them to enter his home voluntarily.

Aguilar also argued that his prosecution under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act violated the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. The 10th Circuit, however, said a similar issue was already decided in a case involving a member of the Northern Arapaho Tribe of Wyoming.

“We held that the Eagle Protection Act, and its attendant permitting process which allows for the taking of live eagles for religious purposes by members of federally recognized Indian tribes under certain circumstances, was the least restrictive means of furthering compelling governmental interests in protecting eagles and protecting the religion of federally recognized Indian tribes,” the 10th Circuit said in the unpublished opinion, referring to its 2008 decision in US v. Friday.

Turtle Talk has posted documents from the case, US v. Aguilar.

2013 Indian Child Welfare Training

Presented by the National Indian Child Welfare Association

NICWA is nationally known for its high quality and interactive trainings. We have new trainings starting next month! Using NICWA’s professional trainings are a great way to train your staff, give them the professional development they need and a chance to network with others. We offer 1.5 continuing education units for each Training Institute.

It’s not too late to attend our June event! Our host hotel will still honor our advertised room rate of $89 plus tax (based on availability). For more information please see our website at: http://www.nicwa.org/training/institutes/ .

June 5-6, 2013:

· Introduction to Tribal Child Welfare

· Positive Indian Parenting

August 20-21, 2013:

· NICWA’s Medicaid Toolkit: A Tool for Building and Expanding Upon Tribal Children’s Mental Health Delivery Systems

· Developing Professional and Organizational Capacity for Cultural Competence

September 9-12, 2013: Two Sets of series; you can take a series or just one workshop in the series.

· Indian Child Welfare Act Series

Understanding ICWA: September 9-10

Advanced Practice in ICWA: September 11-12

· In-Home Services Systems of Care Series

Overview of Tribal In-Home Services Systems of Care

Planning and Sustaining Tribal In-Home Services Systems of Care

Please let me know if you have any questions about NICWA events, Debra Clayton, 503-222-4044 x137 or debra@nicwa.org or www.nicwa.org

If you are interested in a group discount, please contact our new event manager, Lauren Shapiro at lauren@nicwa.org or call 503-222-4044 x118.

Indian Tribal Elders Hold Drum Ceremony Opposing Iron Mine

A ceremonial drum, made of elk skin and maple. Inspired by a dream had by Bad River Tribal Elder Bing Lemieux and Red Cliff Tribal Elder and Legend Teller Tony DePerry.Credit Rich Kremer / WPR News — A ceremonial drum, made of elk skin and maple. Inspired by a dream had by Bad River Tribal Elder Bing Lemieux and Red Cliff Tribal Elder and Legend Teller Tony DePerry.
Credit Rich Kremer / WPR News

By Rich Kremer

Mon May 20, 2013 On WPR.org

Native American tribal elders from Bad River and Red Cliff held a drum ceremony this weekend calling upon the spirits to offer guidance in their fight against a proposed iron mine in northern Wisconsin.

Deep in the woods along the Potato River, a small group of tribal elders, members and non-native people gather around a drum created to protect the Bad River community from the proposed iron mine in the Penokee Hills.

Surrounded by the smell of burning sage, Red Cliff Tribal Legend Teller Tony DePerry leads a prayer in his native tongue.

It was then time to sing, with DePerry ad-libbing songs he says are borrowed from the spirits.

“One of the things that I’ve been hearing — that the drum was talking about — is we’ve got to stop the ignorance, the disrespect, the dishonor and the displaying of ownership because you know, we don’t call it ownership, we call it sharing: we call this land our home.”

DePerry says with these ceremonies non-native people can experience how sacred nature is to them and why they fear how the mine might affect them.

Bad River Tribal Elder Bing Lemieux says the spirits told him in a dream to make this drum to protect his community from the mine.

“We were told to make this and this is how we fight now. We’re calling in more than us and we do have other people now who are beginning to think like us and wanting to take care of our environment rather than tear it up.”

Lemieux says he and other tribal people are disappointed with lawmakers in Madison for not listening to them.

And, while some will fight the mine through protest or civil disobedience, he says they’ll continue their resistance through education, prayer and song.

Oklahoma House panel approves American Indian Cultural Center and Museum funding

The Oklahoma House Joint Committee on Appropriations and Budget voted 13-10 to use tax revenue from Internet and out-of-state purchases to provide $40 million to help complete the American Indian Cultural Center and Museum. The measure still needs approval from the full House and Senate.

By Michael McNutt

Published: May 20, 2013 in newsok.com

Passage of a measure that would provide funding to help complete the American Indian Cultural Center and Museum in downtown Oklahoma City would be the last state assistance sought for construction costs, a state official overseeing the project pledged Monday to a special budget committee.

“There’ll never be another dime asked from here on the construction of the American Indian Cultural Center,” said Blake Wade, executive director of the Native American Cultural and Educational Authority, which would oversee the museum.

The House Joint Committee on Appropriations and Budget voted 13-10 to use tax revenue from Internet and out-of-state purchases to provide $40 million to help complete the project. The state funds will match $40 million in pledges from individuals, businesses, American Indian tribes and the city of Oklahoma City, Wade said.

The measure, Senate Bill 1132, now goes to the House Calendar Committee, which will determine whether it gets a hearing in the House. The measure must pass the House of Representatives and the Senate. A Senate special budget committee passed the measure Thursday, the first time information about the proposal became public.

Rep. Jason Nelson, a committee member, said legislators and taxpayers could be skeptical about Wade’s assurance. The idea for the center started 19 years ago. The project has benefited from three previous state bond issues totaling $63 million, as well as $14.5 million in federal funding and $4.9 million and 250 acres of land from Oklahoma City.

“It could be a tough sell,” said Nelson, R-Oklahoma City.

Wade, who started work on the project two years ago, said the agency has a new director, and the agency’s governing board is getting new members.

All 39 federally recognized tribes in Oklahoma now are behind the project, he said.

Wade, who led efforts to raise money for the state Capitol dome more than 10 years ago, said he heard similar skepticism about that project.

“No one liked the Capitol dome, but once we got it up and got it on, it is the greatest thing that I think has happened as far as our morale,” he said. “The same will be true of the American Indian Cultural Center … I promise you if you like the dome, you’re going to love the American Indian Cultural Center.”

SB 1132 would provide $40 million to help finish the center, which has been mothballed since last year when lawmakers failed to approve additional bond funds to help complete it. Under the measure, $15 million from use taxes would be diverted from gross revenue in the 2015 fiscal year, which begins July 1, 2014, followed by $15 million in the 2016 fiscal year. A final apportionment of $10 million would be made in the 2017 fiscal year.

Use taxes are paid on out-of-state purchases and online purchases in lieu of sales taxes. Projections for the upcoming fiscal year indicate the use tax will raise about $244 million, said Rep. Tom Newell, R-Seminole, the committee’s vice chairman. Most of the money raised by the tax goes for education and tourism expenses.

Wade said those making the $40 million in pledges will stand behind their offer if the state provides a matching amount. He told committee members the donors see SB 1132 as a commitment from the state, even though it will be more than a year before state money actually is available for the project.

House Democratic leadership issued a statement that pay raises for correctional officers, state troopers and state employees should come before the American Indian Cultural Center and Museum and the Oklahoma Museum of Popular Culture, which is planned in Tulsa. Rep. Joe Dorman, D-Rush Springs, was the only Democrat on the committee to vote for the measure.

Tornadoes Slice Through Midwest, Threatening Indian Country

Source: Indian Country Today Media Network

Tornadoes cut swathes of destruction through Indian country last week and over the weekend, and on Monday May 20 the midsection of the U.S. was bracing for more.

A half-mile-wide “hurricane” that hit just outside Oklahoma City on Sunday afternoon May 19 was part of the same extreme weather system, Reuters reported. The system stretched from north Texas to Minnesota, with 500,000 square miles and 55 million people in its path, CNN reported.

“You could be killed if not underground or in a tornado shelter,” the National Weather Service said in an advisory on Sunday afternoon, as reported by Reuters. “Complete destruction of neighborhoods, businesses and vehicles will occur. Flying debris will be deadly to people and animals.”

The Oklahoma state health department reported at least 21 injuries, according to The Oklahoman. The main damage over the weekend leveled homes in the area of Carney, Bethel Acres and Norman, The Oklahoman reported. It overturned tractor-trailers on Interstate 40 near Shawnee and damaging roofs and trees in southeast Edmond and leveled a mobile-home park.

Paramedics searched for victims buried under houses of rubble on Sunday night, while Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin declared a state of emergency for 16 counties: Caddo, Cleveland, Comanche, Creek, Garfield, Grant, Greer, Kiowa, Lincoln, Logan, McClain, Okfuskee, Oklahoma, Pawnee, Payne and Pottawatomie. Damaged communities included Bethel Acres, Carney, Edmond, Little Axe, Norman, Shawnee and Wellston.

The Red Cross has set up shelters in Carney, Shawnee and Little Axe, spokesman Ken Garcia told The Oklahoman. The storms touched down not only in Oklahoma but also in Kansas and Iowa, “part of a massive, northeastward-moving storm system that stretched from Texas to Minnesota,” the Associated Press reported. They came right on the heels of devastating tornadoes that hit the town of Granbury in Texas, near Fort Worth and Dallas, earlier in the week.

The weekend’s system involved at least four distinct tornadoes in central Oklahoma, the AP said. The one near Shawnee destroyed most of the mobile home park.

ICTMN is still awaiting news from tribes whose members may have been in the storms’ path.

County Council votes to seek Reardon’s replacement

Likely nominees are: Sheriff John Lovick of Mill Creek; state Rep. John McCoy, D-Tulalip; and Everett attorney Todd Nichols

By Noah Haglund and Scott North, The Herald

EVERETT — Weary of waiting for Aaron Reardon to submit paperwork formalizing his plans to resign as Snohomish County executive, the County Council voted 4-0 on Monday to start the process of identifying his replacement.

The council took the step to ensure a timely transition for the next executive to assume office, County Council Chairwoman Stephanie Wright said.

The council hopes to begin interviewing candidates by June 3.

“I think that it’s important that we end the speculation and confusion about the process,” Councilman Dave Somers said.

“We have to do the business of the people of Snohomish County,” added Councilman Brian Sullivan. “We represent over 700,000 constituents.”

Reardon in late February announced plans to step down May 31, promising to assist in a smooth transition for his successor.

Aside from sending out a Feb. 21 press release containing the text of his resignation speech in front of business leaders in Everett, Reardon did not provide any other written notice.

That left other county leaders in limbo. By law the County Council is required to pick Reardon’s replacement. He never answered a May 2 letter from the council asking him to submit a more formal, written resignation.

The motion approved on Monday points to Reardon’s February speech as his notice to the council, noting Wright was in the audience that morning.

The county council “wishes to formally accept the Executive’s (Feb. 21) tendered resignation,” the motion reads.

Reardon’s spokesman, Christopher Schwarzen, said there was “nothing that has prevented the Democratic Party or the County Council from putting together a list of three names as required by law.

“There is nothing in the County Charter or state law that requires a letter of resignation,” Schwarzen wrote. “People want to suggest that this office has held up the process, but that is not true.”

That differs from what Reardon said in March, when asked about the uncertainty surrounding his resignation. “I plan on sending a letter as required,” he wrote in an email to The Herald.

Reardon’s resignation announcement came a day after the County Council voted to strip him of authority to manage the county’s public records and computer system. The council also called for an independent investigation, now being pursued by the King County Sheriff’s Office, into evidence linking two people then on Reardon’s staff to a series of anonymous public records requests, attack websites and other activities targeting people considered the executive’s political rivals.

As The Herald reported Feb. 14, those on the receiving end believed they were being subjected to attempts at harassment and surveillance.

Because Reardon is a Democrat in a partisan elected office, the law says it’s up to Snohomish County Democrats to pick three nominees to replace him. The county party’s central committee will forward the names to the County Council. The council then has 60 days to agree on a successor. If that proves impossible the choice would fall to Gov. Jay Inslee. In the meantime, the county charter says that the deputy executive under Reardon, Gary Haakenson, would assume the responsibilities of the county’s top elected job.

Some in the community had urged Reardon to leave office earlier, giving voters a chance this fall to weigh in on his replacement. With filing already closed for this fall election, that option has passed. That means the person appointed to be the next county executive will serve unchallenged at least into November 2014, when results are certified in a special election expected next year.

An election for a full, four-year term is expected in 2015.

Snohomish County Democratic party leaders have scheduled a formal vote to nominate three candidates for the executive appointment at the Everett Labor Temple on June 1.

“Clearly the council’s motion today expedites our process,” said Richard Wright, the chairman of Snohomish County Democrats and the husband of Stephanie Wright.

The likely nominees are: Sheriff John Lovick of Mill Creek; state Rep. John McCoy, D-Tulalip; and Everett attorney Todd Nichols, a longtime Democratic Party leader at the state and county level. Lovick is said to have locked up support from a majority of local Democrats.

“While clearly there’s a frontrunner in this group, I think this is a good group of nominees,” Richard Wright said.

County Councilman Dave Gossett was on vacation Monday and did not cast a vote in the Reardon resolution.

Inslee signs $8.7 billion transportation budget

By Rachel La Corte, Associated Press

OLYMPIA — Gov. Jay Inslee signed off on an $8.7 billion transportation budget Monday that puts money toward maintaining state roadways and continues spending on existing big-ticket projects.

But he vetoed some sections, including a proposal to spend $81 million planning a replacement bridge that would extend Interstate 5 over the Columbia River.

“There is no wisdom in expending these funds if the state of Washington does not contribute adequate funding to actually build the bridge,” he said before vetoing the section. “We all need to understand a central fact. This project needs to be funded this year. There is no other option.”

The effort to replace the bridge connecting Portland with Vancouver, Wash., has encountered obstacles in the predominantly Republican Washington state Senate, where several members are opposed to the Columbia River Crossing proposal in its current form. They say it is too low and should not include light rail transit, and are concerned about costs.

The $3.4 billion project would include two new double-decker bridges with five travel lanes in each direction — up from three — and space for pedestrians, bicyclists and light-rail trains. Oregon and Washington are each responsible for $450 million, with the federal government and toll revenue paying the rest. Oregon has already approved its portion, but if Washington state does not, the federal match will fall through.

House Transportation Committee Chairwoman Judy Clibborn, D-Mercer Island, said that veto “makes perfect sense to me.”

“Until we have a revenue package, we don’t really know if we’ll need that money,” she said.

Including the bridge planning money, Inslee vetoed a dozen sections of the transportation budget Monday, including a provision for an audit of State Route 520 that Inslee said duplicated work already being done, and a study of guardrails that Inslee said no funding was available for.

The budget does continue funding for the Alaskan Way Viaduct tunnel project in Seattle, a replacement bridge for State Route 520 over Lake Washington and high-occupancy lanes on Interstate 5 in Tacoma.

Inslee said the budget “makes key investments in our transportation system to keep people and goods moving safely and smoothly throughout the state.”

Earlier in the day, Inslee spoke at a rally in support of a funding package for transportation projects.

House Democrats support a proposal to raise the gas tax by 10 cents per gallon to help maintain existing roads, as well as to fund a handful of pending big-ticket projects, but the plan faces skepticism from the Senate majority.

The tax would provide money for connecting State Routes 167 and 509 to Interstate 5, the North Spokane Corridor and the $450 million needed for Washington’s share of the Columbia River Crossing Project.

Washington lawmakers are in the midst of a special legislative session to address a projected deficit of more than $1.2 billion in the next two-year state operating budget, plus a court-ordered increase in funding for the state’s education system, but Inslee has said that transportation funding must be addressed as well.

Most of the $81 million that had been allocated toward the Columbia River Crossing in the transportation budget would have been withheld until the U.S. Coast Guard looked at how the project design would hamper river traffic and navigation.

Sen. Ann Rivers, a Republican from La Center who has been a critic of the current bridge project, said that she was disappointed by the governor’s veto of that section.

“The Legislature worked really hard to give the governor an option, and he just took it off the table,” she said. “We’ve always said we want a project that works.”

Inslee said that the veto of the funding money for the Columbia River Crossing shouldn’t “be taken at all that we can’t move forward.”

“It would be foolish to turn down $850 million in federal money when they recognize we’re going to end up paying more for this project if we don’t do it this year,” Inslee said. “Washington taxpayers will have to shell out more tax dollars to deal with this bridge if we don’t take this option that is available to us today.”

Rivers debated the notion that the federal money was a sure thing.

“I’m not willing to stake the future of our general fund on these major projects,” she said. “I think we have to proceed thoughtfully and thoroughly. Right now we’re operating on a wing and a prayer.”