Native American Program News
August
2008
“Working Effectively with Tribal Governments” Online Training Launched
Photo: (From left ) ACHP Native American Program Coordinator Valerie Hauser; ACHP Chairman John L. Nau, III; Native American Program Specialist Monique Fordham; NCAI President Joe Garcia and Prairie Band of Potawatomi Chairman Steve Ortiz
Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP) Chairman John L. Nau, III participated in the launch of a new online training course designed to equip federal employees with important information they need to know for their work with tribal governments. The training course, entitled “Working Effectively with Tribal Governments,” was unveiled at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 31, 2008. Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne was joined by Secretary of Indian Affairs Carl Artman; Janet Creighton, deputy assistant to the President and director of Intergovernmental Affairs, and Joe Garcia (Ohkay Owingeh), president of the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) in opening the event.
After a demonstration of the training, Nau spoke about the potential of the training to greatly improve the quality and effectiveness of interactions between federal employees and tribal governments.
The training course was created by the Federal Employee/Workforce Native Education and Training (FEWNET) group, a sub-working group of the Indian Affairs Executive Working Group (IAEWG). FEWNET was formed in January 2007 to address how to best improve federal consultation and collaboration with Indian tribes. Numerous agencies contributed to the development of this program. Its completion coincided with President George W. Bush’s 2007 Presidential Proclamation of November as National Native American Heritage Month, which includes a reference to online training.
ACHP Native American Program Specialist Monique Fordham (Abenaki) played a prominent role in the development of the training. “It was great that the ACHP was able to be so intimately involved in the creation of this unprecedented training program,” Fordham said. “Prior to this, there was no single source available to all federal employees for this essential information. Federal employees working with tribes must know the key concepts and concerns, the historic background, and the legal framework that pertain to the unique relationship Indian tribes have with the federal government. This course provides that information in an accessible format, and the feedback we have received so far from both tribal members and federal employees has been overwhelmingly positive.”
The course, which takes about an hour to complete, is available at www.golearn.gov and is free until April 30, 2008. After that date, users will need to pay a fee directly to GoLearn, the federal government portal for e-training, in order to take the course.
Native Interests Represented on Panel
Brian Patterson, council member of the Oneida Indian Nation and chairman of the United South and Eastern Tribes, has been chosen to serve on an expert panel to examine the structure of the federal historic preservation program.
This panel stems from one of the recommendations from the Preserve America Summit of 2006. Panel members were chosen by the co-chairs of the Preserve America Steering Committee--John L. Nau, III, chairman of the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, and Lynn Scarlett, deputy secretary of the Department of the Interior. The panel will meet May 8 to begin its work.
In addition to Patterson, the panel members are the following: Susan Barnes, vice chairman, Advisory Council on Historic Preservation and president and chief executive officer, The Landmark Group of Companies; Philip Grone, former deputy undersecretary of defense for installations and environment, Department of Defense; Dan Jordan, president, The Thomas Jefferson Foundation and trustee, National Trust for Historic Preservation; Frank G. Matero, professor of architecture and chair of the graduate program in historic preservation, University of Pennsylvania; Richard Moe, president, National Trust for Historic Preservation; David Morgan, former Kentucky State Historic Preservation Officer and project panel member, National Academy of Public Administration; Joseph P. Riley, Jr., mayor of Charleston, South Carolina; Jay D. Vogt, South Dakota State Historic Preservation Officer and president,
National Conference of State Historic Preservation Officers; and Doug Wheeler, partner, Hogan & Hartson.
ACHP Represented at ATNI Winter Conference
Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP) Executive Director John Fowler was an invited speaker at the Winter Conference of the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians (ATNI) that was held in Yakima, Washington on Jan. 24, 2008. Fowler delivered a presentation on how tribal participation in the Preserve America initiative can provide support to the growing area of tribal heritage tourism. “Meeting to discuss these issues is an important first step in developing a strong working relationship between ATNI and the ACHP,” Fowler said.
NAAG Member Receives U.S. Forest Service Award
Kelly Jackson-Golly, tribal member and Tribal Historic Preservation Officer for the Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians and a member of the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation’s Native American Advisory Group (NAAG), was recently honored with the U.S. Forest Service’s “Connecting Citizens to the Land, Indigenous Earth Walker Award.” Jackson-Golly received the award in recognition of her assistance to the Forest Service in the 2007 acquisition of the 240-acre area known as Indian Farms by the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest in northern Wisconsin.
This historic parcel is now listed in the National Register of Historic Places and was inhabited by Potawatomi and Ojibwe peoples from the late 1800s until the early 1900s. The Forest Service acquistion was the culminiation of more than 25 years of efforts to protect the historic property, and of long and complex negotiations among the parcel’s owners, tribal governments and the Trust for Public Land. For more information on the history and protection of Indian Farms, visit http://ssrs.r9.fs.fed.us/stories/regmap.php?pkey=3784.
Heritage Tourism and Historic Landscapes Discussed at USET Impact Week
Heritage Tourism
The Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP) participated in a presentation on heritage tourism made to the United South and Eastern Tribes (USET) Commercial Law, Legislation and Economic Development Committee. The meeting took place on Feb. 12, 2008 during USET’s Impact Week Meeting in Arlington, Virginia. Participants in the presentation included Ron Anzalone, director, ACHP Office of Preservation Initiatives; Ron Erdmann, Office of Travel and Tourism Industries, Department of Commerce and Kay Bills (Osage), director, Office of Native American Business Development, Department of Commerce/Minority Business Development Agency.
The presenters shared their agencies’ perspectives on the economic potential that heritage tourism holds for Indian country, including the interest many international tourists have in Native American cultures. Anzalone also provided information about the Preserve America initiative and explained how it can help support the development of tribal tourism. New guidance and a special application form designed to clarify requirements for Preserve America Community designation for Indian tribes is now available online in PDF and Microsoft Word formats.
Bills solicited interest in a special pilot training workshop focused on tribal business development and tourism that will be sponsored and developed by the Departments of the Interior and Commerce, in partnership with Dartmouth University. Several of the tribes represented on the committee expressed interest in participating in such training. Bills can be reached at kbills@mbda.gov.
Historic Landscapes
Historic Preservation Specialist Nancy Brown spoke before USET’s Culture and Heritage Committee on Feb. 13, 2008 about the documentation of cultural landscapes. The focus was to familiarize the group with the process that the National Park Service (NPS) has developed to document these sites. The presentation provided an opportunity to consider what such documentation might offer to Indian tribes working with federal agencies to identify tribal cultural landscapes.
NPS defines a cultural landscape as a geographic area (including both cultural and natural resources and the wildlife or domestic animals therein), associated with a historic event, activity, or person or exhibiting other cultural or aesthetic values. Brown reviewed the cultural landscape types used by NPS and the process of documenting and evaluating the character-defining features, such as spatial organization and land patterns; topography; vegetation; circulation; water features; and structures, site furnishings, and objects. By using a methodical approach to how it looks at cultural landscapes, NPS has created a way to assess them for their significance and integrity, and thus determine their eligibility for the National Register of Historic Places.
ACHP, DOI, EPA and NAAG Collaborate on Training
Reid Nelson, an assistant director for the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP) Office of Federal Agency Programs, served as co-instructor in a training hosted by the Department of the Interior Indian Affairs Office of Facilities, Environmental and Cultural Resources, in Albuquerque, New Mexico Feb. 25-27, 2008.
The training, which covered the National Environmental Policy Act and the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA), was organized by Don Sutherland, Indian Affairs federal preservation officer. Sutherland and Nelson were joined by Edward Fairbanks from the Environmental Protection Agency and Arden Kucate, Zuni Pueblo councilman and vice chairman of the ACHP’s Native American Advisory Group (NAAG). The audience was composed largely of employees of the Indian Affairs Office of Facilities, Management and Construction.
Nelson offered a presentation on the NHPA’s Section 106 review process with an emphasis on the role of Indian tribes in consultation. Kucate discussed the role of NAAG in the work of the ACHP and tribal consultation issues in general.
Nelson and Sutherland were joined on Feb. 28 by Valerie Hauser, the ACHP’s Native American Program coordinator, for a meeting with archaeologists from each of the 12 regions of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Topics ranged from specifics about the Section 106 review process to general recommendations for training and outreach.
Update on Indian Affairs Executive Working Group Activities
In February 2006, a new interagency group, the Indian Affairs Executive Working Group (IAEWG), was established to explore ways to improve federal agency consultation with Indian tribes and delivery of services to tribes. The scope of issues includes health care, education, law enforcement and cultural and natural resources.
IAEWG members (representatives from most federal agencies) meet monthly to report on progress with ongoing initiatives and provide updates on pressing issues in Indian Country. Valerie Hauser, Native American Program coordinator and Monique Fordham, Native American Program specialist, have represented the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP) on the IAEWG since its inception.
Recent successes of the IAEWG include participation in the National Native American Economic Policy Summit and the development of the new online training course, “Working Effectively with Indian Tribal Governments.”
In recent months, leaders from two prominent Native organizations have made presentations to the IAEWG, providing the group with updates on major issues facing Indian Country.
United South and Eastern Tribes (USET)
USET President Brian Patterson (Oneida) addressed the IAEWG on Feb. 27, 2008. Patterson opened his presentation by referencing the significance of the Two Row Wampum Treaty, which memorialized the concept of the sovereignty of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois Confederacy) in relation to early colonial governments. Patterson then provided an overview of issues of concern to USET’s 25 member nations, including the need for sufficient congressional support for economic development, health care, education, housing and public safety. In addition, Patterson, who has worked closely with the ACHP on historic preservation issues, stressed to the working group that more needs to be done to preserve Native sacred sites.
Indian Land Tenure Foundation
On March 26, Indian Land Tenure Foundation President Chris Stainbrook (Lakota) gave a presentation to the IAEWG about the challenges created by the fractionalization of Indian lands. His organization’s mission is to ensure that lands within the original boundaries of every reservation (and other areas where tribes retain aboriginal interest) are in Indian ownership and management. Stainbrook explained how federal allotment policies in the 1800s broke up tribal lands into individually owned parcels. Because successive generations received undivided interests in those parcels, cases exist today in which a single parcel has hundreds of owners. This situation presents unsustainable management costs for the Bureau of Indian Affairs and weakens tribal interests in, and benefits from, these lands.
The Indian Land Tenure Foundation supports a variety of strategies to help remedy this situation, including estate planning and reacquisition of tribal lands. The foundation also emphasizes that tribal ownership is an integral component in the preservation of cultural traditions and the protection of sacred sites.
Office of Hawaiian Affairs Radio Show Features ACHP
Valerie Hauser, Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP) Native American Program coordinator, and Susan Glimcher, ACHP director of the Office of Communications, Education and Outreach, were featured guests on Nā Ōiwi Ōlino, the morning talk radio show of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA). Radio host Brickwood Galuteria interviewed Hauser, Glimcher and Martha Ross, bureau chief, OHA Washington, D.C.
The show’s title “Nā Ōiwi Ōlino,” means “people seeking wisdom,” a name given to OHA by noted kupuna (elder) Malia Craver. The program introduced listeners to the ACHP and its work in Hawai‘i. “It was a wonderful opportunity for the ACHP to reach out and inform listeners about how they can protect places of importance to them and to let them know that the ACHP is here to help,” Hauser said.
The ACHP and OHA are exploring ways in which the ACHP can expand its outreach to Native Hawaiians through OHA’s other media outlets.
The program’s target audience is the Native Hawaiian community. Nā Ōiwi Ōlino airs weekdays from 7 to 9 a.m. HST on KKNE 940 AM on Oahu, and, once a month, broadcasts live from OHA’s Washington, D.C. bureau. The program is also streamed live on the Internet at www.am940hawaii.com. Archived shows are available from the Web site as well.
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