Issuu

WELCOME! Tsa ayu en ’sikite ! (E wouukohei ! (N A

astern

orthern

S hoshone )

rapaho )

JUNE 1-3, 2022 INTER-TRIBAL GATHERING EVENT PROGRAM

WELCOME TO THE 2022 WIND RIVER Dear Friend, This year marks the 150th anniversary of Yellowstone National Park. This important milestone is reason to both reflect on the history of this remarkable place and envision its future. Before the Yellowstone Park Protection Act was signed in 1872, the lands that became Yellowstone were inhabited by a vast array of Indigenous peoples. Today, close to 50 Tribes claim ancestral and current connections to the park. To honor our Indigenous ways of life practiced long before 1872, and explore how we can work together to create a brighter future, the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho Tribes of the Wind River Reservation, in partnership with Yellowstone National Park and the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, are gathering people together to commemorate the park’s anniversary while elevating the Tribal community’s voice in conserving and managing Yellowstone and other public lands. This Inter-Tribal Gathering aims to bring together Tribal elders, members, and young people from Yellowstone’s 49 affiliated Tribes, as well as non-profits, agency personnel, and the general public to honor, nourish, dance, heal, and celebrate Indigenous people.

INTER-TRIBAL GATHERING

This event acknowledges the dark history associated with the creation of the park. Indigenous people were killed and forcibly removed from the area to create Yellowstone, and these actions were not celebrated by the Tribal Community. What can be celebrated, however, is the fact that Indigenous people are still here despite the federal policy of assimilation in existence at that time. We are fortunate to have retained our lodges, ceremonies, healers, and medicines. And most importantly, our connection to Yellowstone National Park has continued to thrive. The Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho Nations welcome all people who want to come together and make a difference for Greater Yellowstone’s public lands and resources now and in the future. Your attendance helps us build a brighter future for all of us with ancestral and current connections to Yellowstone and America’s public lands. Thank you for joining us. ~John St. Clair, Chairman, Eastern Shoshone ~Jordan Dresser, Chairman, Northern Arapaho

KEY SPEAKERS Winona LaDuke

White Earth Nation | Activist Winona LaDuke is an Anishinaabekwe (Ojibwe) member of the White Earth Nation. She is an environmentalist, economist, author, and prominent Native American activist working to restore and preserve Indigenous cultures and lands. She has devoted her life to advocating for Indigenous homelands, natural resources, and cultural practices.

Cam Sholly

Yellowstone National Park Cameron (Cam) Sholly assumed duties as the superintendent of Yellowstone National Park in October of 2018. Yellowstone is one of the largest national park operations in the world spanning 2.2 million acres and receiving over 4 million visits each year. Cam is a third-generation park service manager and began his National Park Service career in 1990.

Faith Spotted Eagle

Yankton Sioux Nation | Activist Faith Spotted Eagle is a Native American activist and a fluent speaker of the Dakota Language. She is a member of the Ihanktonwan. She works in Native communities, schools, and with veterans on her model Healing from Red Rage. Faith is a trained mediator/peacemaker and incorporates traditional peacemaking with western approaches of peacemaking. Her priority is the preservation of good medicine of the Dakota Culture for the future.

AND PANELISTS Dr. Leroy Little Bear

Kainai First Nation Leroy Little Bear is a Blackfoot researcher, professor emeritus at the University of Lethbridge, founding member of Canada’s first Native American Studies Department, and recognized leader and advocate for First Nations education, rights, self-governance, language, and culture.

Charles “Chuck” Sams, III Director, National Park Service | Cayuse and Walla Walla Chuck Sams was sworn in as the 19th director of the National Park Service by Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland on December 16, 2021. For more than 25 years, he has worked in Tribal and state government and in the non-profit natural resource and conservation management field. Director Sams is an enrolled member of the Confederated Tribes of Umatilla Indian Reservation.

John Murray

Blackfeet Nation | Tribal Historic Preservation Officer John Murray is the Blackfeet Nation’s Tribal Historic Preservation Officer and long-term advocate for the protection of BadgerTwo Medicine, sacred Tribal land next to Glacier National Park. His tireless work for more than 30 years led to the area being permanently protected from oil and gas drilling, with the last two leases withdrawn in 2017.

KEY SPEAKERS Dr. Shane Doyle

Apsáalooke Crow | National Parks Conservation Association Shane Doyle earned his doctorate in education from Montana State University and is an educational consultant and environmental advocate. He is also a research scientist, film producer, and performing artist. Working with National Parks Conservation Association, he helped lead the effort to install an Intertribal Teepee Village near Yellowstone National Park in 2022.

Judith LeBlanc

Caddo Nation of Oklahoma | Native Organizers Alliance Judith LeBlanc is an enrolled member of the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma and executive director of the Native Organizers Alliance. She leads a national Native training and organizing network which supports tribes, traditional societies, and grassroots community groups in urban and tribal communities.

Wes Martel

Eastern Shoshone | Greater Yellowstone Coalition Wes Martel has held several key roles in government and conservation on the Wind River Reservation. He has overseen Tribal programs and legislation related to water, taxation, energy, and environment, and helped adopt the Reservation’s Tribal Game Code. Today, he uses Traditional Ecological Knowledge and his extensive scientific background to conserve and protect Greater Yellowstone’s natural resources.

AND PANELISTS Jason Baldes

Eastern Shoshone | National Wildlife Federation Jason Baldes co-leads the Tribal Buffalo Initiative on the Wind River Reservation and is the Tribal buffalo program manager for the National Wildlife Federation. He works to restore bison back to homelands of Indigenous Tribes, like his own, as a way to reconnect and celebrate cultural ways, as well as heal from the atrocities of the past and present.

Lyla June Johnston

Navajo, Cheyenne, European Lyla June Johnston is an Indigenous public speaker, artist, scholar, and community organizer of Diné (Navajo), Tsétsêhéstâhese (Cheyenne), and European lineages from Taos, New Mexico. Her messages focus on Indigenous rights, supporting youth, traditional land stewardship practices, and healing inter-generational and inter-cultural trauma.

Scott Christensen

Executive Director, Greater Yellowstone Coalition Scott Christensen has led successful campaigns to protect Greater Yellowstone’s lands, waters, and wildlife since 2003. As executive director, he works with a talented and committed board and staff to forward all aspects of GYC’s inspiring mission, including a new program centered on Indigenous conservation priorities and partnerships.

AGENDA WEDNESDAY, JUNE 1 | 8:00 AM - 8:00 PM 8:00 AM | Breakfast | Spring Mountain Room

9:00 AM | Opening Ceremonies | Spring Mountain Room Honor Song, Northern Arapaho Eagle Drum Prayer, Arlen Shoyo, Eastern Shoshone Elder Color Guard, American Legion Richard Pogue Post #81

9:10 AM | Opening Remarks | Spring Mountain Room

Wes Martel, Sr. Wind River Conservation Associate, Greater Yellowstone Coalition Jordan Dresser, Chairman, Northern Arapaho John St. Clair, Chairman, Eastern Shoshone Scott Christensen, Executive Director, Greater Yellowstone Coalition Judith LeBlanc, Executive Director, Native Organizers Alliance, Caddo Nation of OK Harold Frazier, Chairman, Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe Chip Jenkins, Superintendent, Grand Teton National Park Cam Sholly, Superintendent, Yellowstone National Park Charles “Chuck” Sams III, Director, National Park Service, Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation

10:20 AM | Break 10:30 AM | Morning Presentation - Buffalo Treaty | Spring Mountain Room

The Buffalo Treaty was first signed in 2014 to recognize and promote the cultural importance of bison to Native American people and create an Inter-Tribal alliance to restore bison to 6.3 million acres of Tribal and federal lands. The Treaty was born out of the recognition that the loss of bison across the Great Plains has resulted in an immense loss of culture, including connection between Tribal youth and buffalo, diminished health of Native Americans, and a significant deterioration of grassland ecosystems. This presentation will explore how the Buffalo Treaty attempts to bring a unified voice among Native buffalo nations in partnership with governments, researchers, and conservation groups in order to achieve its vision. • Jason Baldes, National Wildlife Federation, Eastern Shoshone • Leroy Little Bear, Professor Emeritus University of Lethbridge, Kainai First Nation

11:30 AM | Morning Keynote Address | Spring Mountain Room Winona LaDuke, Activist, Economist, and Author, White Earth Nation

Cultural Sensitivity Training for Agency Personnel | Hereford-Shoyo Room | 1:00 - 2:45 PM •

Faith Spotted Eagle, Activist, Yankton Sioux Nation

Break | 2:45 - 3:15 PM Tribal Sovereignty Training for Agency Personnel | Hereford-Shoyo Room | 3:15 - 5:15 PM •

Wes Martel, Sr. Wind River Conservation Associate, Greater Yellowstone Coalition

1:00 - 4:15 PM | Afternoon Panels (General Attendees Only) Buffalo in Yellowstone and Beyond | Blue Sky Room | 1:00 - 2:30 PM

Based on historical accounts, 30-60 million bison (buffalo) roamed the grasslands of North America from present-day Canada to northern Mexico. By 1902, only 23 wild bison remained. Their refuge was Yellowstone National Park. Through a century of conservation efforts, the bison population now approaches 5,500 in the park. This panel highlights efforts to restore Yellowstone bison to Tribal and federal lands for conservation and cultural purposes. • Jason Baldes, National Wildlife Federation, Eastern Shoshone • Shana Drimal, Sr. Wildlife Conservation Associate, Greater Yellowstone Coalition • Chris Geremia, Biologist, Yellowstone National Park • Leroy Little Bear, Professor Emeritus University of Lethbridge, Kainai First Nation • Robbie Magnan, Manager, Fort Peck Bison Quarantine • Jordan Thompson, Special Projects and Planning, Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes

AGENDA Tribal Historic Preservation Officers | Cottonwood Room | 1:00 - 2:30 PM

Tribal Historic Preservation Officers play an essential role in protecting culturally important traditions, rituals, customs, and sacred places that perpetuate Indigenous identity, resilience, and cultural endurance of a Tribe. This panel will illustrate how different Tribal Historic Preservation Officers and other Tribal cultural officers are connecting Tribal members to places like Yellowstone, other federal public lands, and Reservation landscapes to sustain the cultural heritage, health, and vitality of Native peoples. • Michael Blackwolf, Ft Belknap/Rocky Mountain Tribal Historic Preservation Officer • Valerie Grussing, National Tribal Historic Preservation Officer • Josh Mann, Eastern Shoshone Tribal Historic Preservation Officer • John Murray, Blackfeet Nation Tribal Historic Preservation Officer • Ben Ridgley, Northern Arapaho Tribal Historic Preservation Officer • Caroline Smith, Cultural Resources Coordinator, Shoshone-Bannock

2:30 - 2:45 PM | Break Water Protection and Climate Resilience | Blue Sky Room | 2:45 - 4:15 PM

Water is life, or as the Lakota say, “Mní wičhóni,” is a mantra most recently popularized, again, by protests from Standing Rock. The phrase speaks to the sustenance of water just as much as the sacredness of water. This panel will highlight efforts underway by both Indigenous and non-Tribal conservation leaders to protect biodiversity, water quality, and free-flowing rivers and support resilient watersheds in the face of climate change by blending traditional ecological knowledge with contemporary science and policy. • Monti Aguirre, Latin America Program Manager, International Rivers Network • Chad Colter, Shoshone Bannock Fish and Wildlife Director • Charles Wolf Drimal, Deputy Dir. of Conservation, Greater Yellowstone Coalition • Termaine Edmo, Climate Change Coordinator, Blackfeet Nation • Jordan Thompson, Special Projects and Planning, Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes

Tribal Leadership | Cottonwood Room | 2:45 - 4:15 PM

There are 49 Tribes with connections to Yellowstone National Park. Most of these Tribes still have a special and sacred relationship to the park. In order for this relationship to be respected it is essential for Tribal leaders to be able to collaborate and communicate with the National Park Service. For the Park Service and other federal agencies to understand Tribal concerns it is important for Tribal leadership to make policies and laws that will uphold the governmentto-government status and recognize the unique legal and political trust relationship that exists

AGENDA between Tribes and the United States. Tribal leaders will discuss views on how to expand inclusion and consultation on public lands. • Harold Frazier, Chairman, Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe • Gerald Gray, Chairman, Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians • Nate Small, Council Member, Fort Hall Business Council • John St. Clair, Chairman, Eastern Shoshone

4:15 - 6:00 PM | Break 6:00 - 8:00 PM | Dinner and Wind River Dancers | Spring Mountain Room

TO SEE A LARGER MAP, VISIT GREATERYELLOWSTONE.ORG/YELLOWSTONETRIBALMAP

What does it mean for the federal government to honor its relationship with Tribes and uphold trust and treaty responsibilities? As the Department of Interior is committed to strengthening Tribal sovereignty and self-governance, consultation is seen as the cornerstone of Federal Indian policy. This panel will address what Tribal-Federal consultation looks like in practice, including successes, challenges, and opportunities for improvement. • Robyn Blackburn, Environmental Scientist, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services • Chip Jenkins, Superintendent, Grand Teton National Park • Charles “Chuck” Sams III, Director of the National Park Service, Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation • Cam Sholly, Superintendent, Yellowstone National Park

Tribal Water Rights and Tribal Code | Blue Sky Room B | 9:00 - 10:30 AM

Despite the Treaty signing era between Tribes and the U.S. government in the 1800s, Indian reserved water rights were only first recognized by a 1908 U.S. Supreme Court case in Winters v. United States. Under the Winters doctrine, when Congress reserves land for Tribal reservations, Congress also reserves water sufficient to fulfill the purpose of the reservation. But even with Winters doctrine, backed by a system that should recognize senior water rights through prior appropriations, the quantity of water associated with Tribal reserved water rights and the purpose of their use has been challenged time and again, often through state litigation as a result of the McCarran Amendment. This panel will examine the creation of Indian reserved water rights under the Winters doctrine, discuss how Tribal water rights have been challenged through litigation such as the Bighorn Adjudication in Wyoming, and analyze the merits of Tribal Water Codes. • Wes Martel, Sr. Wind River Conservation Associate, Greater Yellowstone Coalition • Orville St. Clair, Eastern Shoshone Water Resources Council Board

Restoring Shoshone Ancestral Foods Gathering | Cottonwood Room | 9:00 - 10:30 AM

Despite great loss in gathering and consumption of traditional foods among Indigenous communities, food sovereignty offers great hope for reclaiming and preserving knowledge while animating Tribal sovereignty. The Restoring Shoshone Ancestral Food Gathering (RSAFG)

AGENDA is a community group leading grassroots efforts on the Wind River Reservation to reclaim Shoshone ancestral foods and promote food sovereignty while simultaneously enacting and affirming land, water, and hunting rights promised in the 1868 Fort Bridger Treaty. The story of the RSAFG promotes equitable, decolonized, and community empowered methods of reclaiming Indigenous foods by sharing three of RSAFG’s acts of decolonization: 1) enacting Treaty rights through gathering traditional plants, 2) demanding equitable partnerships in community-based research, and 3) sharing the story through layered narratives. Join this presentation to listen to group members share stories about gathering plants for food and medicine on ancestral Shoshone lands. • Mike Garvin, RSAFG member, Eastern Shoshone • Jill Keith, Assistant Professor, University of Wyoming, RSAFG member • Caroline Mills, RSAFG member, Eastern Shoshone • John Mionczynski, Biologist and Ethnobotanist, RSAFG member • L’Dawn Olsen, Equity and Inclusion Specialist, Wyoming Coalition Against Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault, RSAFG member

10:30 - 10:40 AM | Break Tribal Elders | Blue Sky Room | 10:40 - 11:50 AM

For Indigenous cultures, elders are valued as keepers of wisdom, mentors, teachers, as well as intergenerational transmitters of cultural knowledge. Elders serve an important role as community leaders and are expected to be involved in decision making as they balance traditional and contemporary living. This panel gives the microphone to Tribal elders to share their perspective on reciprocity, traditional ecological knowledge, and reigniting past, present, and future connections of Native peoples to lands, waters, and wildlife. • William C’Hair, Northern Arapaho Elder • Chief Arvol Looking Horse, 19th Generation Keeper of the Sacred White Buffalo Calf Pipe • John Murray, Tribal Historic Preservation Officer, Blackfeet Nation • Faith Spotted Eagle, Activist, Yankton Sioux Nation • Ina Tillman, Eastern Shoshone Elder

AGENDA Food Sovereignty | Cottonwood Room | 10:40 - 11:50 AM

Agricultural disputes due to inadequate or inhibited access to food are common on Native American reservations. Indigenous people suffer disproportionately from food insecurity compared to other communities. This panel will describe the value of Indigenous initiatives to protect and preserve local food resources and how Native communities are approaching food sovereignty in today’s age. • Rose Bear Don’t Walk, Bitterroot, Salish, Crow Ethnobotanist, Doctoral Student • Crystal C’Bearing, Deputy Director, N. Arapaho Tribal Historic Preservation Office • Lyla June Johnston, Indigenous Musician, Public Speaker, Doctoral Student, and Community Organizer, Diné, Tsétsêhéstâhese, and European Lineages • Winona LaDuke, Activist, Economist, and Author, White Earth Nation

While today’s federal public lands are the result of the removal and exclusion of Tribes from their traditional territories, Indigenous cultural connections to many of these landscapes remain strongly in place. The ability to exercise Treaty rights, a shift in federal Indian policy, and renewed attention to the longstanding federal trust obligations toward Tribes under the Biden Administration have sparked new thinking around better integrating Tribes into management of federal land, water, and wildlife. This panel will discuss new ideas around Tribal co-management and cooperation with federal land agencies. • Susan Johnson, Region Tribal Relationships Program Manager, Forest Service • John Murray, Tribal Hisoric Preservation Officer, Blackfeet Nation • Chip Jenkins, Superintendent, Grand Teton National Park • Cam Sholly, Superintendent, Yellowsotne National Park

Indigenous Women’s Leadership | Cottonwood Room | 1:00 - 2:00 PM

For many Indigenous peoples, the matriarchal and cultural responsibilities of women play an especially significant role in protecting and nurturing the well-being of the community and surrounding ecosystem. This panel focuses on how matriarchy and Indigenous ways contribute to the work and leadership of society. It will examine the societal roles that Indigenous women play and how these responsibilities are crucially important within their homelands. • Lyla June Johnston, Indigenous Musician, Public Speaker, Doctoral Student, and

AGENDA • • •

Community Organizer, Diné, Tsétsêhéstâhese, and European Lineages Andi Lebeau, WY House District 33 Representative, Northern Arapaho Judith LeBlanc, Exec. Director, Native Organizers Alliance, Caddo Nation of OK Ruth Miller, Climate Justice Director, Native Movement

2:00 - 2:10 PM | Break Increasing Indigenous Presence on Public Lands | Blue Sky Room | 2:10 - 3:20 PM

The 150th Anniversary of Yellowstone National Park marks a time for paying tribute to the park’s past, commemorating its international importance, and planning for a future that balances the complexities of our time with the cultural and ecological significance of this place. Now more than ever before, the National Park Service is committed to acknowledging and honoring Indigenous relationships—both ancient and contemporary—to the land we now call Yellowstone National Park. This panel will showcase work that is being done, people who are part of the solution, and ideas for the future that may be transferable to other national parks and federal public lands. • Nolan Brown, Historic Researcher, Shoshone-Bannock Tribes • Shane Doyle, National Parks Conservation Association, Apsáalooke Crow • Megan Kohli, Grand Teton National Park Youth Program Manager • Cam Sholly, Superintendent, Yellowstone National Park • Lynette St. Clair, Indian Education Director, Fort Washakie School

Grassroots to Governance | Cottonwood Room | 2:10 - 3:20 PM

In Tribal communities, elders play an essential role in initiating policy ideas that protect water and land. With the blessing and guidance of elders, the general council can support initiatives that then ask Tribal government leaders to codify as code. In a progression of grassroots to governance engagement, this presentation will look at the ongoing attempts by Yankton Sioux leaders to create a Tribal Water Code to protect water quality, designate biospheres of critical cultural plant importance, and breathe life into their Treaties. • Wes Martel, Sr. Wind River Conservation Associate, Greater Yellowstone Coalition • Faith Spotted Eagle, Activitst, Yankton Sioux

3:20 - 3:30 | Break

AGENDA Tribal Conservation Approaches on Federal Lands | Blue Sky Room | 3:30 - 4:30 PM

The vast majority of federal lands are carved out of the ancestral homelands of Tribal nations. Despite physical removal and displacement from these traditional territories, Tribal nations’ cultural connections to these places have never been extinguished. Tribal nations and their citizens continue to exercise Treaty rights to hunt, fish, and gather on federal lands, and continue to access federal lands to pray, conduct ceremonies, visit burial sites, and gather plants for traditional purposes. Federal land management laws fail to protect the rights and interests of Tribal nations with a historic connection to, or Treaty or other reserved rights on, public land. Further, despite being sovereign nations, Tribal governments are not even afforded by law the same rights as state and local governments regarding federal land management. Tribal nations and their partners are urging Congress to update federal land laws to ensure that Tribal governments are afforded the respect and rights due them as sovereign nations, and to increase protection for federal lands that contain Tribal cultural sites. This panel will feature Tribal and other leaders advancing these ideas and will include an update on these important efforts in Congress. • Chad Colter, Shoshone-Bannock Fish and Wildlife Director • Shane Doyle, National Parks Conservation Association, Apsáalooke Crow • Paul Spitler, Senior Legislative Policy Manager, The Wilderness Society

Indian Education for All | Cottonwood Room | 3:30 - 4:30 PM

Montana and Wyoming have enacted legislative policy that requires state educational institutions to teach American Indian Education in classrooms. The intent is to recognize the unique cultural heritage of Native Americans and commit to preserving Indigenous cultural heritage. Every Montanan and Wyomingite, whether Indian or non-Indian, is encouraged to learn about the distinct and unique heritage of American Indians in a culturally responsible manner. This panel will examine the state of American Indian Education and how it connects to federal public lands with cultural significance such as Yellowstone. • Rob Black, Native American Liasion, Wyoming Department of Education • Andi Lebeau, WY House District 33 Representative, Northern Arapaho • Iva Moss-Redman, Educator, Northern Arapaho • Lynette St. Clair, Indian Education Director, Fort Washakie School

4:30 - 6:00 | Break

AGENDA 6:00 - 8:00 | Dinner and Films | Spring Mountain Room Film | River of Return, Sammy and Jessica Matsa Film | Tribal Waters, Darren Calhoun, Teton Gravity Research

Winona LaDuke, Activist, Economist, and Author, White Earth Nation

10:00 AM | Closing Speakers | Spring Mountain Room

Leroy Little Bear, Professor Emeritus University of Lethbridge, Kainai First Nation Gerald Gray, Chairman, Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians Cam Sholly, Superintendent, Yellowstone National Park John St. Clair, Chairman, Eastern Shoshone Jordan Dresser, Chairman, Northern Arapaho Wes Martel, Sr. Wind River Conservation Associate, Greater Yellowstone Coalition Faith Spotted Eagle, Activist, Yankton Sioux Nation

11:20 AM | Closing Ceremony | Spring Mountain Room Prayer, Nelson White, Northern Arapaho Pipe Keeper

11:30 AM | Buffalo Treaty Signing, Marie-Eve Marchand | Spring Mountain Room

KEEP IN TOUCH AND LEARN MORE: YELLOWSTONETRIBES.ORG

THE WIND RIVER INTER-TRIBAL GATHERING IS HOSTED BY THE EASTERN SHOSHONE AND NORTHERN ARAPAHO TRIBES WITH THE GREATER YELLOWSTONE COALITION

AN ENORMOUS THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS