This Week in Native American News (12/4/2020): National Parks, Short Films, & Supporting Native Art
December 4, 2020
The Ioway Tribe is creating the largest tribal national park in the US
The Ioway (or Iowa) Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska is creating largest tribal national park in the US. The park will be used for hiking, camping and bird-watching. But most importantly, it will protect the land for future generations of tribal members of the Ioway Nation, and preserve the stories and heritage of its people.
The 440-acre park will sit on the Kansas and Nebraska border, overlooking the Missouri River just south of Rulo. It's the second tribal national park to be created in the US, and the largest, following the creation of Frog Bay National Park in Wisconsin in 2011. The land is part of the Rulo Bluffs Preserve — part deciduous forest, part Great Plains prairie. It's an ecological gem; providing an excellent habitat for migrating songbirds, and a nesting habitat for forest birds like woodpeckers and warblers.
Read the Full Story Here
Creating water out of thin air in the Navajo Nation
The tribe's water scarcity is a bigger issue during the COVID-19 pandemic, when people have to wash their hands and sanitize more frequently.
The West is in a drought that’s only getting worse, and drought is an even bigger problem in places that have uneven access to water to start with. In the Navajo Nation, in the southwestern U.S., many homes have no running water at all. The tribe is working with the startup Source, which makes Hydropanels — solar-powered panels that pull water vapor from the air and condense it into clean drinking water.
I spoke with Milton Tso, president of the Cameron chapter in the Navajo Nation, where one family got Source panels this summer. He described the water they make.
Read or Listen to the Full Story Here
This Christmas: Shop Native
Alaska Native business owners invite you to shop small this holiday season
Supporting small businesses during this holiday season not only keeps the money in the community, but it also helps keep food on a neighbor’s tables, helps friends pay the rent, and keeps kids in extracurricular activities.
According to the United Nations, although Indigenous Peoples make up only 5% of the global population but they account for about 15% of the world’s lowest incomes.
In honor of National Native American Heritage month, we are featuring several Alaska Native owned small businesses on Small Business Saturday.
(Click on the link above for Indigenous business websites)
Also: Market featuring Native American artwork opens in Scottsdale
It’s hard to fit all the news in a little space.
To read all of this week's news, visit the LIM Magazine.
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