News from Indian Country
Pge 6 Spilysy Tyvnoo January 22, 2004-
Pine-trees sacred to Washoe die in Nevada
CARSON Cm; Nov. (AP)
- For thousands of years,
American Indians carefully
tended stands of pinon pines in
Nevada. The Washoe people
would gather nuts in the Pine
Nut Mountains and use them
throughout the year to toast and
make powder, stews and salves.
Surviving climate changes,
stands of the odd-looking trees
with twisting branches and stiff
needles spread through the
West. But a recent phenomenon
THbe endorses presidential candidate
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) -Democratic
presidential hopeful
Wesley Clark won the endorse
ment Monday of an American
Indian tribe based in rival
Howard Dean's home state.
The Abenaki Nation at
Missiquoi, which has never en
dorsed a presidential candidate,
has about 4,000 members in
Vermont, about 2,000 in New
Hampshire and smaller numbers
in Maine, Massachusetts and
Quebec.
Leaders acknowledged their
decision was as much a state
ment against their former gov
ernor as for Clark.
"It's a give-and-take. We
need General Clark to get our
message out," said tribal histo
rian Frederick Wiseman.
As governor, Dean opposed
state and federal recognition for
the Abenaki, saying it could lead
to extensive legal battles over
land claims and might allow
Abenaki to build casinos in Ver
mont. But Chief April Rushlow said
the tribe is seeking recognition ;-f; New .Hampshire History, after touring the yogurt cora
for other benefits, including,';: promised tcjhelp protect histori- pany, which started as a two-
Kucinich vows to heal wounds
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) -Dennis
Kucinich presented the
spiritual leader of the Lakota
tribe with a ceremonial blanket
Sunday, saying that as president
he would work to heal wounds
between the government and
American Indians.
Kucinich, one of nine candi
dates seeking the Democratic
presidential nomination, met
with Arvol Looking Horse dur
ing a diversity celebration at a
downtown hotel, blocks from
where a Democratic debate was
to be held later in the evening.
"I pledge to you a presidency
that embraces the spirit of be
(
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has scientists concerned.
A few years ago, researchers
in several Western states started
noticing shorter needles on the
pines and black-powdery sub
stances around them.
Then the trees started dying.
"When you see those start
dying, they're beyond just dry,"
said Kelly Redmond, climatolo
gist with the Western Regional
Climate Center in Reno.
"They belong here. They're
adapted to dry conditions. When
scholarships to Vermont
schools.
"He didn't do anything for
our native people," she said of
Dean. "I hear him talk about
education, but our children can't
apply for scholarships ear
marked for Native Americans."
A spokesman for Dean said
no other governor worked as
closely with the Abenaki descen
dants as Dean did to promote
their economic progress, educa
tion and cultural development.
"The state of Vermont has
differed with Abenaki descen
dants based on concerns about
the prospect of bringing casino
style gambling to Vermont,"
Matthew Gardner said. "Gov
ernor Dean is personally op
posed to introducing gaming in
his home state, believing that it
would change the culture of
Vermont, but he respects and
will uphold the right of feder
ally recognized tribes to engage
in gaming where it is legal."
Clark, who joined the
Abenaki leaders at the Museum
ing of America long before it
was established as the United
States, but an America which
connects with the values of
Native Americans to the Mother
Earth," Kucinich told Looking
Horse.
The Ohio congressman said
he would work to heal the
breach that exists between the
government and American In
dians. "There is much so healing to
do," he said, noting their long
suffering at the hands of the
U.S. government.
Looking Horse, who gave a
blessing in his native language,
they start showing stress, they're
telling you there's more stress
than usual."
Tree experts are trying to
determine what is killing off
hundreds of pinons, the state
tree of Nevada.
"People are starting to very
much watch these patterns of
mortality," said Connie Millar,
research geneticist at the Insti
tute of Forest Genetics for the
U.S. Forest Service's Pacific
Southwest Research Station.
caljndian sites, promote inclu
siveness and provide more fed
eral help to tribes like the
Abenaki,
"Native Americans arc the
first Americans," he said. "I will
not let you down."
Dean has been endorsed by
former Cherokee Chief Wilma
Mankiller who leads his Na
tive American Advisor)' Coun
cil and by the chief executive
of Stonyfield Farm, the yogurt
company Clark visited earlier
Monday.
Focusing on working women,
Clark told employees he would
increase penalties for gender
based discrimination, raise the
minimum wage and support
families through a variety of
proposals.
Clark also proposes raising
the minimum wage to $7 an
hour over seven years, expand
ing the Family and Medical
Leave Act to smaller companies
and increasing funding for child
care.
Clark spoke to the workers
said America needs a president
who will honor the original in
tent of the Constitution.
"We need a person who can
make a difference and bring
peace and honor back to Mother
Earth," he said.
Looking Horse, of the Eagle
Butte, S.D.-based Cheyenne
River Sioux Tribe, is the 19th
Generation Keeper of the Sa
cred White Buffalo Pipe of the
Lakota, Dakota and Nakota
nations.
A diverse crowd of about
100 people, spanning all ages and
ethnic groups, crowded into the
hotel meeting room.
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Kb .at m
"We're looking at a rcgionwide
phenomenon."
In one grove south of
Gardnerville along U.S. 395, as
many as 20 percent of the trees
have died in the past few years.
Scientists investigating the
tree deaths are focusing on the
effects of a four-year drought
that has gripped northern Ne
vada and neighboring states.
With a decent snowpack and
recent wet storms, the area
could finally see some relief this
man, five cow business in 1983
and has become the nation's
third-largest yogurt brand with
annual sales of approximately
$150 million.
During his visit he suggested
the company look into creating
a shelf-stable yogurt that could
be served to soldiers and tried
the company's newest product,
"Moo-la-la," a premium organic
yogurt.
"It doesn't make me want to
put crumbly things in it," he said
after polishing off a carton of
White Chocolate Raspberry. "I
like yogurt the way it is."
Fort Hall officials reach MOA
to bolster economic development
FORT HALL, Idaho (AP) -Power
County and Shoshone
Bannock tribal officials have
signed a memorandum, agree
ing they will work together for
economic development.
The two government entities
will meet quarterly to discuss
issues including economic op
portunities and planning and
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year, experts say.
"We're off to a good start
here," said Douglas LeComte,
drought specialist with the Na
tional ( kcanic and Atmospheric
Association Climate Prediction
Center in Washington, DC. "If
it continues, it will make a sig
nificant difference."
Snow water-content readings
in the mountains around the
Carson-Walker watersheds are
showing 125 percent to 150
percent of normal, LeComte
said, The area could still take a
turn and end up like the past
four years, though, with warmer
weather and below-normal pre
cipitation predicted for the next
few weeks.
The region has seen the same
pattern in the past few years with
decent storms easing the
drought, only to be thwarted by
the heat and dryness of late
spring and summer.
The pinon pine population
also has fluctuated because of
human and climatic conditions.
Scientists can track the tree's
presence in central Nevada as
far back as 5,000 years. Research
indicates it reached its northern
most limit at Pyramid Lake only
200 years ago.
zoning. The FMC Corp. site, an
idled phosphorus plant west of
Pocatello, is on the docket, tribal
officials said.
The site, which employed a
significant number of tribal
members, is both in Power
County and on the Fort Hall
Indian reservation.
The agreement is not the first
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Ideal climate conditions of
summer moisture and warmer
winters allowed the climate-sensitive
pinons to flourish in the
dry, rocky soils of the northern
parts of the state for 200 years.
Eighty-five percent of the trees
in this area began growing from
1825 to 1850, researchers in
Reno estimate.
Scientists with the US Forest
Service in Reno will monitor
pinons south of Gardnerville to
determine the long-term effects
of changes in climate on tree
mortality of both single-needle
pinon and Utah junipers.
Peter Wigand, a professor of
geography and researcher in
Reno, said the tree deaths might
be cyclical for a species still try
ing to establish itself in the north.
One of the problems is finding
out whether global warming is
adding to the problems, Wigand
said.
"What we're seeing with all
this die-off is cyclical adjust
ment," he said. "We're looking
at a species at its northernmost
boundary. We could turn
around; the summer should get
wetter and warmer, With that,
it could just as easily re-expand."
between Power County and the
tribes.
Two years ago, the groups
signed a memorandum of un
derstanding concerning law en
forcement jurisdiction for traf
fic offenses on the reservation.
That agreement was renewed
this year. '
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