Tribal nations say the decision to reduce water flow on the Klamath River “has more to do with potatoes than it does fish.”
B. ‘Toastie’ Oaster
B. ‘Toastie’ Oaster (they/them) is an award-winning journalist and a staff writer for High Country News writing from the Pacific Northwest. They’re a citizen of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. Email them at b.toastie@hcn.org or submit a letter to the editor.
Follow @toastie@journa.host
Posted inJanuary 1, 2023: Ripple Effects
What if Indigenous women ran controlled burns?
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
Take a look back at the changes in Indian Country over 2022.
Posted inArticles
An Indigenous Affairs reporter reviews ‘Alaska Daily’
Will the show stop its whiteness from sabotaging its own premise?
Posted inArticles
The Klamath dams are coming down
Today, FERC ordered PacifiCorp to surrender the dam license, the final hurdle after 20 years of studies and advocacy.
Posted inNovember 1, 2022: The Futures of Conservation
From dominance to stewardship: Chuck Sams’ Indigenous approach to the NPS
The first Native national parks director talks tribal co-management, historical accuracy, harassment, and the fallacy of “wilderness.”
Posted inOctober 1, 2022: Making Refuge
Pacific lamprey’s ancient agreement with tribes is the future of conservation
Despite dams, drowned waterfalls and industrial degradation, the practice of eeling persists.
Posted inArticles
Salmon are nosing at the riverbanks trying to escape the Klamath River
As dam removal inches into view, fish have to survive increasingly compounding calamities.
Posted inSeptember 1, 2022: Going Under
Questions about the LandBack movement, answered
Number one: Why are Indians spray-painting my Starbucks?
Posted inArticles
Wildfire kills Klamath fish: ‘Everything that’s in there is dead.’
Landslides of ash have poisoned tens of thousands of fish in the already-imperiled river.
Posted inArticles
What Indigenous leaders think about co-managing Bears Ears with the feds
Native advocates share their hopes and relief after decades of fighting for their ancestral lands.
Posted inJuly 1, 2022: Living with Rivers
Why can’t the public access the West’s biggest waterfall?
Willamette Falls used to be a public place of laughter and sharing. It could be again, if painful politics don’t eclipse revitalization efforts.
Posted inArticles
New study finds DDT in California condors
Chemicals dumped in the 1970s are still seeping into the food chain. But the Yurok Tribe is confident their birds will be OK.
Posted inJune 1, 2022: A Legacy of Weapons and War
The Yurok Tribe is bringing condors home to Northern California skies
Hunters, dairy farmers, utility operators, loggers, government agents and conservationists have all supported the tribe in helping North America’s largest land-based birds.
Posted inArticles
Duwamish Tribe sues Interior in federal court, alleging sex discrimination
After decades of back-and-forth with federal authorities, the matrilineal descendants of Chief Seattle want federal recognition, once and for all.
Posted inMay 1, 2022: New Ways of Seeing the West
How place names impact the way we see landscape
Western landscapes and their names are stratified with personal memories, ancestral teachings, mythic events and colonial disturbances.
Posted inArticles
‘This is what reconciliation work can look like’
A researcher explains why she’s using settler-colonial methods to interrogate settler-colonialism in national parks.
Posted inArticles
Interior is pushing states to replace derogatory place names with colonial ones
In Washington, 18 place names with the ‘sq—’ slur are being changed to names like ‘Columbia.’ State officials say that’s not good enough.
Posted inArticles
Congress meets with Native leaders to discuss co-management of federal lands
Staving off attempts by Republican officials to talk about Russia, tribal leaders spent the morning in D.C. highlighting the benefits of co-management plans and tribal sovereignty.
Posted inArticles
Missing map by William Clark turns up with an unflattering revelation
The historian who found the map says it exposes an ‘aggressive’ colonizer.