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High Country News

High Country News

A nonprofit independent magazine of unblinking journalism that shines a light on all of the complexities of the West.

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HCN has covered the lands, wildlife and communities of the Western U.S. for more than 50 years. Get to know the West better by signing up to receive HCN’s on-the-ground reporting and investigations in your inbox.

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Indigenous Affairs

Posted inMay 1, 2023: Reemergence

Who gets a say in tribal treaty hunting?

by Taylar Dawn Stagner May 1, 2023January 24, 2024

In Wyoming, everybody wants influence over off-rez hunting — and nobody’s happy.

Bearded seal meat drying in the Inupiat village of Point Hope, Alaska.
Posted inMay 1, 2023: Reemergence

Where the first spring harvest relies on a still-frozen ocean

by Laureli Ivanoff May 1, 2023October 30, 2024

In coastal Western Alaska, wildlife and humans alike rely on good, thick ice.

Protesters demonstrate against a massive copper mine at Chi’chil Bildagoteel, also known as Oak Flat.
Posted inArticles

San Carlos Apache call for international intervention over copper mine at Oak Flat

by Kate Schimel April 26, 2023January 24, 2024

At the U.N., leaders describe the destruction of Indigenous sacred sites as a ‘major human rights violation.’

José Gregorio Díaz Mirabal, General Coordinator of the Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon Basin (COICA) speaks at the United Nations Permanent Forum of Indigenous Issues.
Posted inArticles

Free, prior and informed consent ‘is more than just a checklist’

by Sarah Sax April 21, 2023January 24, 2024

Avoiding a new wave of green colonialism is an urgent concern among attendees of the world’s largest gathering of Indigenous peoples.

“The American Buffalo” cinematographer Buddy Squires at Conata Ranches in Rapid City, South Dakota.
Posted inArticles

Ken Burns on ‘The American Buffalo’ and Indigenous histories

by Nick Martin April 21, 2023January 24, 2024

The prolific filmmaker discusses his latest project and his attempt to make space for Indigenous voices.

The Global Indigenous Youth Caucus — composed of Indigenous youth from all seven regions within the UN — drew huge applause on Tuesday at the UNPFII for their list of demands. Among them, they asked the General Assembly to create binding resolutions to address climate change.
Posted inArticles

Indigenous leaders: Planetary health and Indigenous health are interdependent

by Jenna Kunze April 19, 2023January 24, 2024

On day two of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, the climate crisis that Indigenous peoples are overwhelmingly expected to bear was highlighted.

Posted inArticles

What you need to know about the largest global gathering of Indigenous leaders

by Joseph Lee April 17, 2023January 24, 2024

The summit, beginning today, offers a rare opportunity to collaborate on stopping threats to Indigenous lands and lives.

Posted inArticles

The legacy of violence behind fortress conservation

by Gord Hill April 12, 2023June 5, 2024

An illustrated guide shows how some biodiversity preservation models evicted Indigenous communities from their homes.

Alanna Russell, of the Colorado River Tribes, at Ward Valley in February.
Posted inApril 1, 2023: The Path Forward

Tribal nations’ lasting victory in the Mojave Desert

by Anna V. Smith March 22, 2023January 24, 2024

Before Avi Kwa Ame became a national monument, there was the fight for Ward Valley.

Avi Kwa Ame is located on the eastern boundary of the recently announced national monument in Southern Nevada.
Posted inArticles

Avi Kwa Ame is now a national monument

by Anna V. Smith March 21, 2023January 24, 2024

Biden’s proclamation protects parts of the Mojave Desert in southern Nevada and includes tribal co-stewardship.

Posted inArticles

Q&A: The Diné worldviews in the SCOTUS water rights case Arizona v. Navajo Nation

by Anna V. Smith March 20, 2023January 24, 2024

What would it look like to interpret the treaties as tribes understood them?

Rain in the Red Desert. “There’s a lot of things out there that Indigenous people knew about,” Soldier Wolf said about the desert.
Posted inArticles

Bringing co-stewardship to Wyoming’s Red Desert

by Taylar Dawn Stagner March 13, 2023January 24, 2024

A Q&A with the Indigenous Land Alliance of Wyoming’s Yufna Soldier Wolf.

Posted inMarch 1, 2023: Moving Parts

Green colonialism is flooding the Pacific Northwest

by B. ‘Toastie’ Oaster February 28, 2023November 11, 2024

The Yakama Nation is fighting a pumped hydro storage development near Goldendale, Washington – but it’s just one of many.

Posted inArticles

Are the feds risking endangered salmon for fries and potato chips?

by B. ‘Toastie’ Oaster and Jake Bittle February 21, 2023January 24, 2024

Tribal nations say the decision to reduce water flow on the Klamath River “has more to do with potatoes than it does fish.”

Posted inFebruary 1, 2023: The Reveal

What does the nation’s commitment to tribal co-stewardship mean for public lands?

by Anna V. Smith February 1, 2023January 24, 2024

The Biden administration’s policies signal a shift in lands management, but a sea change is yet to come.

Posted inArticles

Montana’s anti-Indigenous politics aren’t going away

by Anna V. Smith January 31, 2023January 24, 2024

The now-dead proposal to ‘investigate’ reservations was neither the beginning or the end of combative attitudes towards tribal nations in the state.

Posted inJanuary 1, 2023: Ripple Effects

‘I’m not separate from the land, I’m a part of it’

by Emily Sullivan January 1, 2023January 24, 2024

#iamthewest: Giving voice to the people that make up communities in the region.

Posted inJanuary 1, 2023: Ripple Effects

Can dam removal save the Snake River?

by Hayley Austin and Anna V. Smith January 1, 2023January 24, 2024

See the river as the climate changes, development continues and consequences grow with inaction.

Posted inJanuary 1, 2023: Ripple Effects

What if Indigenous women ran controlled burns?

by B. ‘Toastie’ Oaster December 30, 2022January 24, 2024

The Karuk Tribe’s first-of-its-kind training seeks to extinguish hypermasculinity in firefighting culture.

Posted inArticles

A very merry Indigenous affairs year-in-review

by B. ‘Toastie’ Oaster December 27, 2022January 24, 2024

Take a look back at the changes in Indian Country over 2022.

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