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| Ashleigh Wolf, Roni Ires, Mati Tofa, Patty Limerick, and Merv Tano after what as hopefully, an evening of meaningful conversation . |
Boulder, February 2, 2006. The Center of the American West, at the University of Colorado at Boulder, is one of the region's most creative and innovative organizations in identifying and addressing such crucial issues as multiculturalism, community building, fire policy, and land, water, and energy use. The Center brings together, for meaningful conversation and interaction, people as diverse as the American West itself.
Altlhough they can't attest to the meaningfulness of the conversations, Merv Tano (Filipino, Puerto Rican, Chinese, Hawaiian) from Hawai'i, Ashleigh Wolf (Cayuse) from the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, and Matalena Tofa (Samoan) from Aotearoa certainly added to the diversity at an evening of take-out Chinese food and conversation with staff and students of the Center of the American West at Patty Limerick's home in Boulder.
Dr. Limerick, professor of history at the University of Colorado and the chairman of the board of the Center of the American West invited the Institute staff to talk about the Institute's work and about our sense of the important issues confronting Indian tribes and other indigenous peoples. The wide-ranging conversation touched on the need for legal scholars and historians to not only look to the past as precendent for current challenges facing Indian tribes, but also as a roadmap to shape the legal, social, cultural, and political realities that anticipate future challenges. Asked about the planned Interim Spent Fuel Storage Facility on Goshute lands in Utah, Tano stated that the injustice, if any, was not in the siting of the facility on Indian lands, but in the perpetuation of the old paradigm whereby tribes are passive recipients of royalties or rents instead of active partners in the enterprise.
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| Jeanne, Mati, and Ashleigh in front of Devil's Food, a neighborhood eatery where we had our farewell nosh with Mati |
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| Mati at work in Pendleton. |
Denver, February 26, 2006. Matalena (Mati) Tofa is back home in Aotearoa after a three-month internship with the International Institute for Indigenous Resource Management. From her report, which follow, you will see that her's was a typically busy Institute internship with loads of reading, writing, and good conversation with a wide range of people from academia, industry, government, non-governmental organizations, and especially from Indian tribes and tribal organizations. Click here for her internship paper lest you think Institute internships are only about skiing, snowshoeing, and rodeo.
Matalena Tofa Internship Report
My internship with the IIIRM provided me a wonderful opportunity to develop my research skills and learn about and experience America. Working at the Institute allowed me much research freedom, and the chance to meet many academics, governmental and private sector energy and environmental experts at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Metcalf & Eddy, Westmoreland Coal Company, and Distributed Generation Systems; and professionals working on indigenous issues in America such as the Council of Energy Resource Tribes. The Institute also has an amazing library, which stores a wealth of material regarding indigenous peoples, politics and philosophy. During my time at the Institute I was able to work with legal experts and a fellow intern all of whom were excellent for discussing my research and ideas with. Many thanks also to Merv and Jeanne for answering my many questions about American legal and governmental systems.
One of the highlights of my internship was a trip to the Umatilla Indian Reservation in Oregon with Ashleigh Wolf – another intern at the Institute. This trip allowed me to see the practical applications of my research – such as renewable energy investments by Indian tribes. As part of my research I spent time with cultural leaders within the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR) and at the CTUIR cultural institute (Tamastslikt). While in Oregon I stayed on the reservation with a family who generously shared their time and culture with me and I also got to visit many of the scenic features in the area, such as Wallowa Lake and to work alongside the CTUIR Departments of Natural Resources and Science and Engineering.
Denver was also an exciting city to explore. The bus service is affordable and reliable, and the light rail is also very efficient. Downtown Denver has many coffee houses and stores – and the many Mexican restaurants, bars and stores throughout Denver were of particular interest to me. While in Denver I had the opportunity to see rodeo and hockey for the first time – both of which were something of an American cultural experience for me! I also went snowshoeing and skiing, which was a lot of fun even though I truly cannot ski.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed my internship, my time in Denver and this chance to experience American culture. Thank you to Merv and Jeanne and all the people who support the Institute for this opportunity to live and research in America.
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Dean Suagee entertains Institute staff with satire and a 12-string guitar. |
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Dean Suagee; Ashleigh Wolf, Institute Intern, and Merv Tano, Institute President. |
Denver, March 9, 2006. Dean Suagee of the Washington, DC Indian law firm, Hobbs, Straus, Dean & Walker, visited the Institute for an evening of take-out Chinese food and talk of training on cultural resources management, energy, and environmental protection in Indian country with Institute staff.
On the cultural resources management front the discussions focused on the ways tribal CRM training can move beyond the traditional Section 106 focus to incorporate more information on intangible heritage, such as songs, stories, and dance, and the strategies by which tribes can integrate intangible heritage into their cultural resources management programs. There was agreement that UNESCO's intangible heritage programs such as the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity and Living Human Treasures are worthy of emulation after adapting them to fit unique tribal circumstances.
The energy discussions were wide-ranging. Chief among the items discussed was the need for tribes to enact zoning, land use, and building codes required to promote energy conservation and energy efficiency and encourage the widespread installation of distributed energy systems. The congressional Office of Technology Assessment which closed up shop in 1995 was remembered fondly as was the now defunct Community Leaders Network of the Department of Energy's Office of Science and Technology. There was agreement that the need for a similar independent, objective tribal institution that can help tribes analyze the complex impacts that emerging energy and environmental technologies can have on a wide range of tribal social, cultural, political, environmental and other interests remains unmet. Merv Tano suggested that a partnership of the National Tribal Environmental Council, Council of Energy Resource Tribes, and the Energy & Environmental Research Center at the University of North Dakota would bring together most, if not all, the necessary ingredients to do the job.
Both Dean and Merv have been working with and providing training to tribal and federal agencies on NEPA for over twenty years, it was only natural that most of the environmental protection discussions centered on the National Environmental Policy Act. Dean's past work has emphasized the "NEPA process" while Merv has focused on the strategic application of NEPA as the centerpiece of a more comprehensive tribal-federal agency consultation process. There was agreement that tribes needed training on both "arms" of NEPA and that some collaborative efforts to provide that training was in order. There was also agreement that tribes need to understand how the move to apply adaptive management techniques for federal projects will affect tribal interests and institutions. This is an arena ripe for research, training, and capacity building.
The evening concluded with a Dean Suagee mini-concert of his songs satirizing politics and the state of Indian law. Click here for the lyrics of Legal Warriors' Redemption Song.
Copenhagen, March 10, 2006. The world famous star Paul McCartney is being misused in a campaign against traditional Greenlandic seal hunting, claims the President of the Greenlandic Inuits, Aqqaluk Lynge. In Europe several parliaments are working on proposals to stop the import of Greenlandic seal skins.
The background for this is that animal activists have disseminated information on the killing of baby seals in Canada and linked these killings to Greenland. Baby seals are not killed in Greenland.
Aqqaluk Lynge thinks that McCartney has allowed himself to be used by organisations which has not given him the true facts on the conditions of seal hunting in the Arctic, writes a Norwegian government body, news magazine ‘Ny Tid'.
“Paul McCartney and other Europeans and European governments which threaten a ban on the import of Greenlandic seal skins, ought to focus on what this matter is really about, that is helping Greenlanders and other Inuits in the north against extreme animal rights organisations. “These are organisations that use any opportunity to malign our hunting and our way of making use of the nature we live in”, says Aqqaluk Lynge to ‘Ny Tid'.
There is, amongst other things, no tradition for killing new born seals in Greenland. The Inuits use the skin, bones, meat and offal of the seal.
“Unfortunately Sir Paul is not aware that over 90 per cent of what he says is pure nonsense,” says Aqqaluk Lynge to the news magazine. (From Daily news, an electronic newsletter of the Nordic Council).
Christchurch, Aotearoa, March 20, 2006. Mark A. Calamia, an associate of the International Institute for Indigenous Resource Management is completing research and writing at the Macmillan Brown Centre for Pacific Studies at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch where he has been working as a visiting Research Scholar. He is writing-up the results of his 1998-2000 field research in Fiji for a professional peer-reviewed publication. Two of his papers are currently under review and another will soon be published. His research has focused on the institutional basis for the development of community-based marine protected areas where indigenous peoples in Fiji still maintain traditional entitlement to fishing rights to customary fishing grounds. He also is examining Fijian foreshore and seabed governance and management issues surrounding indigenous customary rights to subsistence fishing, marine-oriented tourism, and community-based marine protected areas. Dr. Calamia has been meeting with Maori representatives to discuss their ideas on marine resource conservation in New Zealand . Additionally, he is completing a law course on the Treaty of Waitangi and the Foreshore and Seabed Act.
15th Annual Land Use Conference
March 9-10, 2006
Rocky Mountain Land Use Institute
University of Denver Sturm College of Law
2255 East Evans Avenue
Denver, CO 80208
Online registration at www.law.du.edu/rmlui.
For more information call Nora Brandon 303-871-6319.
Workshop on Preparing for the Environmental, Political, Cultural, Economic, and other Implications of Energy Development in Indian Country
International Institute for Indigenous Resource Management, Council of Energy Resource Tribes, and National Tribal Environmental Council
22-23 March 2006
Radisson Hotel Denver Stapleton Plaza
3333 Quebec Street
Denver, CO 80207
Click here for agenda and registration information.
Call 303-733-0481 for more information.
Cohen's Handbook: Treatise or Brief
The American Indian Law Center; University of New Mexico School of Law; Arizona State University School of Law; and University of Connecticut School of Law
April 8, 2006
University of New Mexico School of Law
Albuquerque, NM
Call 505-277-0405 or click here for more information.
National Tribal Environmental Council
13th National Conference
May 1-5, 2006
Temecula, California
Click here for registration information.
Council of Energy Resource Tribes Conference
Energy Efficiency in Tribal Communities: Maximizing Our Potential
May 9-10, 2006
Radisson Hotel-Denver Stapleton Plaza
Denver, CO
Click here for on-line registration.
Call 303-282-7576 for more information.
DNA Fingerprinting & Civil Liberties: A National Symposium
American Society of Law, Medicine & Ethics
May 11-13, 2006
Boston Park Plaza Hotel
Boston, MA
Click here for registration information and forms.
Call 617-262-4990 for more information.
Hawaiian Business Conference & Economic Expo
Presented by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs
May 18 & 19, 2006
Hawaii Convention Center
Honolulu, HI
Call 808-956-5083 or e-mail pace@hawaii.edu for more information.
Click here for on-line registration.
Sovereignty Symposium XIX
May 31-June 1, 2006
Renaissance Hotel
Cox Business Services Center
Oklahoma City, OK
Call Julie Rorie at 405-521-2450 for more information.
Brownfields 2006: Revolution in Redevelopment
November 13-15, 2006
Boston Convention and Exhibition Center
415 Summer Street
Boston, MA 02210
Click here for registration information and forms.
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