States that rely on water from the over-tapped Colorado River want the U.S. Supreme Court to block a lawsuit from the Navajo Nation that could upend how water is shared in the Western U.S.

The tribe doesn't have enough water and says that the federal government is at fault. Roughly a third of residents on the vast Navajo Nation don't have running water in their homes.

More than 150 years ago, the U.S. government and the tribe signed treaties that promised the tribe a "permanent home" — a promise the Navajo Nation says includes a sufficient supply of water. The tribe says the government broke its promise to ensure the tribe has enough water and that people are suffering as a result.

The federal government disputes that claim. And states, such as Arizona, California and Nevada, argue that more water for the Navajo Nation would cut into already scarce supplies for cities, agriculture and business growth.

The high court will hold oral arguments Monday in a case with critical implications for how water from the drought-stricken Colorado River is shared and the extent of the U.S. government's obligations to Native American tribes.

A win for the Navajo Nation won't directly result in more water for the roughly 175,000 people who live on the largest reservation in the U.S. But it's a piece of what has been a multi-faceted approach over decades to obtain a basic need.

Tina Becenti, a mother of five, made two or three short trips a day to her mom's house or a public water spot to haul water back home, filling several five-gallon buckets and liter-sized pickle jars. They filled slowly, sapping hours from her day. Her sons would sometimes help lift the heavy containers into her Nissan SUV that she'd drive carefully back home to avoid spills.

"Every drop really matters," Becenti said.

That water had to be heated then poured into a tub to bathe her young twin girls. Becenti's mother had running water, so her three older children would sometimes go there to shower. After a couple of years, Becenti finally got a large tank installed by the nonprofit DigDeep so she could use her sink.

DigDeep, which filed a legal brief in support of the Navajo Nation's case, has worked to help tribal members gain access to water as larger water-rights claims are pressed.

Extending water lines to the sparsely populated sections of the 69,000-square-kilometer reservation that spans three states is difficult and costly. But tribal officials say additional water supplies would help ease the burden and create equity.

"You drive to Flagstaff, you drive to Albuquerque, you drive to Phoenix, there is water everywhere, everything is green, everything is watered up," said Rex Kontz, deputy general manager of the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority. "You don't see that on Navajo."

The tribe primarily relies on groundwater to serve homes and businesses.

For decades, the Navajo Nation has fought for access to surface water, including the Colorado River and its tributaries, that it can pipe to more remote locations for homes, businesses and government offices.

It's a legal fight that resonates with tribes across the U.S., said Dylan Hedden-Nicely, the director of the Native American Law Program at the University of Idaho and an attorney representing tribal organizations that filed a brief in support of the Navajo Nation.

The Navajo Nation has reached settlements for water from the San Juan River in New Mexico and Utah. Both of those settlements draw from the Colorado River's Upper Basin.

The tribe has yet to reach agreement with Arizona and the federal government for water rights from the Colorado River in the Lower Basin that includes the states of California, Arizona and Nevada. It also has sought water from a tributary, the Little Colorado River, another major legal dispute that's playing out separately.

In the U.S Supreme Court case, the Navajo Nation wants the U.S. Department of the Interior to account for the tribe's needs in Arizona and come up with a plan to meet those needs.

A federal appeals court ruled the Navajo Nation's lawsuit could move forward, overturning a decision from a lower court.

Attorneys for the Navajo Nation base their claims on two treaties the tribe and the U.S. signed in 1849 and 1868. The latter allowed Navajos to return to their ancestral homelands in the Four Corners region after being forcibly marched to a desolate tract in eastern New Mexico.

The Navajo Nation wants the Supreme Court to find that those treaties guaranteed them enough water to sustain their homeland. And the tribe wants a chance to make its case before a lower federal court.

The federal government says it has helped the tribe get water from the Colorado River's tributaries, but no treaty or law forces officials to address the tribe's general water needs. The Interior Department declined to comment on the pending case.

"We absolutely think they're entitled to water, but we don't think the lower Colorado River is the source," said Rita Maguire, the attorney representing states in the Lower Basin who oppose the tribe's claims.

If the Supreme Court sides with the Navajo Nation, other tribes might make similar demands, Maguire said.

Arizona, Nevada and California contend the Navajo Nation is making an end run around another Supreme Court case that divvied up water in the Colorado River's Lower Basin.

"The first question in front of the court now is: why is the lower court dealing with the issue at all?" said Grant Christensen, a federal Indian law expert and professor at Stetson University.

Even if the justices side with the Navajo Nation, the tribe wouldn't immediately get water. The case would go back to the U.S. District Court in Arizona, and rights to more water still could be years, if not, decades away. The Navajo Nation also could reach a settlement with Arizona and the federal government for rights to water from the Colorado River and funding to deliver it to tribal communities.

Tribal water rights often are tied to the date a reservation was established, which would give the Navajo Nation one of the highest priority rights to Colorado River water and could force conservation on others, said Hedden-Nicely of the University of Idaho.

Given the likelihood of a long road ahead, Kontz of the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority says many older Navajo won't live to see running water in their homes.

Becenti, the 42-year-old mother of five, remembers shedding tears of joy when running water finally was installed in her house and her family could use a flushable indoor toilet.

It was a relief to "go to the facility without having to worry about bugs, lizards, snakes," she said.

WASHINGTON — 

IRS staff cuts leave tribes struggling for answers

Tribal advocacy groups are expressing outrage over job cuts at the U.S. Internal Revenue Service’s Office of Indian Tribal Governments (ITG), the agency that guides federally recognized tribes on tax matters.

As Tribal Business News reports, tribal governments are tax exempt, but there are some exceptions. With fewer specialists on hand, tribes now face potential delays, less access to tax guidance and a steep learning curve as they grapple with ever-evolving tax codes.

Legal experts warn that this staffing cut weakens tribal representation within the IRS, just as recent tax code updates introduce new exemptions and credit opportunities for tribal businesses.

“Tribes will have less access,” says Telly Meier, a former ITG director, echoing widespread concern that the office is now “overwhelmed.”

Democratic Senator Michael Bennet called the decision “absurd” and warned that it benefits wealthy tax cheats at the expense of tribal nations. Meanwhile, 14 tribal advocacy groups have demanded ITG staff reinstatement, emphasizing the federal government’s legal obligation to uphold tribal treaties and trust responsibilities.

Read more:

Full Senate to consider 25 bills on tribal issues

The Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, chaired by Republican Lisa Murkowski and co-chaired by Democrat Brian Schatz, this week approved 25 bills aimed at addressing key issues facing Native American communities.

The bills focus on tribal land restoration, water rights, public health, economic development and justice for Indigenous people who are missing or have been killed.

Murkowski highlighted her support for legislation enhancing tribal forest management, expanding veterinary services to combat diseases in Native villages, and creating a commission to address the lasting trauma of Indian boarding schools.

Schatz emphasized the importance of boosting Native-led tourism through the NATIVE Act to promote cultural preservation and economic growth.

Among the bills up for full Senate approval are:

S. 105, the Wounded Knee Massacre Memorial and Sacred Site Act, directs the secretary of the interior to complete all actions necessary to place 40 acres of tribally purchased land at the Wounded Knee Massacre site into restricted-fee status to be held by the Oglala Sioux Tribe and the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe.

S. 390, the Bridging Agency Data Gaps and Ensuring Safety (BADGES) for Native Communities Act, would support the recruitment and retention of Bureau of Indian Affairs law enforcement officers, boost federal missing persons resources and give tribes and states tools to combat violence.

S. 761, a bill which would establish the Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Polices to further investigate the history of Indian boarding schools and their long-term effects on Native American survivors and descendants.

See the full list of bills here:

Opinion: Returning federal lands to Native tribes a solution for better stewardship

Writing for Time magazine this week, Joe Whittle, a citizen of the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma, argues that giving federal public lands back to Native American tribes could help solve ongoing challenges in land management.

He holds that the Trump administration’s firing of thousands of federal land workers will have a severe impact on the environment and the way millions of Americans enjoy public lands and devastate local economies.

As a former backcountry wilderness ranger, Whittle believes Indigenous stewardship offers a stronger, more sustainable alternative, preventing corporate privatization while ensuring the public can still enjoy these lands.

His proposal aligns with the Land Back movement, which seeks to return land to Indigenous nations and apply traditional ecological knowledge — an approach based on taking only what is needed, preserving resources for future generations and maintaining ecological balance.

Whittle also suggests that long-standing treaty violations could be addressed by returning federal lands to Native tribes, offering a path toward justice while improving land management for all.

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UC tackles scholars’ false Indigenous claims

The University of California has launched an investigation into academics falsely claiming Native American heritage after several controversial cases emerged across multiple campuses.

UCLA professor Maylei Blackwell admitted her claimed Cherokee ancestry was false after allegations prompted research revealing her mother was white. Similar cases have surfaced at UC Riverside, Irvine, Berkeley and others of the UC system’s 10 campuses.

Critics say that so-called “pretendians’” false claims divert opportunities from authentic Native Americans and violate tribal sovereignty. As VOA reported previously, scholars who fake Native American identity often gain power to tell the public who Indigenous people are. Their publications can shape public understanding of Native communities and influence government policies affecting tribal members.

Read more:

WASHINGTON — 

Julian Brave NoiseCat up for an Oscar at Sunday’s Academy Awards

Secwepemc citizens of the Williams Lake First Nation in British Columbia will gather at Academy Award watch parties Sunday as Julian Brave NoiseCat vies for an Oscar for the documentary “Sugarcane.”

NoiseCat, a citizen of the Secwepemc Nation's Canim Lake Band, co-directed the film alongside American journalist and filmmaker Emily Kassie. The documentary investigates unmarked graves at St. Joseph's Mission School, exposing harrowing evidence of systematic rape, torture and infanticide.

Through conversations with survivors, “Sugarcane” highlights the lasting impact of the residential school system.

"We stood alongside our participants as they dug graves for their friends, searched for painful truths in the recesses of their memories, and mustered the courage to confront representatives of the Church," the directors said in a statement. "You can feel their hesitation … as they struggle to confront their deepest secrets and give voice to their shame."

For NoiseCat, the story is deeply personal. His father, Ed Archie NoiseCat, was born at St. Joseph's and abandoned as an infant atop the school's incinerator.

In one of the film's most haunting moments, a former student recounts watching from a hiding place as a crying baby was tossed into the flames. Ed Archie NoiseCat is believed to be the only child fathered by a Catholic priest at the school who survived.

This nomination marks the first time an Indigenous North American filmmaker has been recognized in this category by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Read about the full investigation here:

ProPublica update on NAGPRA compliance shows progress, but much work remains

Museums, universities and other agencies across the United States returned to tribes the remains of more than 10,300 Native American ancestors in 2024, the investigative nonprofit ProPublica reported this week as part of its ongoing investigation into compliance with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, or NAGPRA.

Passed in 1990, the law requires all federal and federally funded institutions to inventory, report and repatriate all Native American human remains and culturally or spiritually significant artifacts.

NAGPRA previously allowed institutions to retain artifacts whose tribal affiliation they could not determine. Rules updated in 2024 removed that provision and gave tribal historians and religious leaders a greater voice in determining where those items should go.

ProPublica reports that 60% of indigenous ancestral remains subject to NAGPRA have so far been repatriated, but at least 90,000 remain in nationwide collections.

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Native Americans Severely Underrepresented in Medical School Admissions

STAT News highlights a 22% drop in American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) medical school enrollment last year: Out of 21,000 acceptances nationwide, 201 were indigenous.

Medical education leaders Dr. Donald Warne and Dr. Mary Owen express concern that indigenous physicians have remained less than 1% of all U.S. doctors for decades. At this rate, it would take more than a century for the number of Native American physicians to reach parity with their percentage of the overall population.

STAT reporting partly blames inflation, which has driven up medical school costs. The COVID pandemic had a disproportionate impact on Native communities, where limited broadband access meant many students were unable to study remotely.

Compounding matters is the 2023 Supreme Court ruling ending affirmative action in college enrollment. Leaders in Native American medical education emphasize that AI/AN is primarily a political classification for enrolled members of federally recognized tribes protected by treaty rights, so that they should not have been affected by the ruling against race-based admissions policies.

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Oklahoma tribe fights for control of former boarding school site in Kansas

The Shawnee Tribe wants ownership of the site of a former Native American boarding school, with Shawnee Chief Ben Barnes telling Kansas lawmakers that it was “built on Shawnee lands by Shawnee hands and using Shawnee funds.”

The Kansas Historical Society, the city of Fairway, and the local nonprofit that now runs the Shawnee Indian Manual Labor School all oppose the transfer, citing concerns over historical preservation.

The school opened in 1839 and included children from 22 tribes, mostly Shawnee and Delaware. Records show that at least five children died there in the 1850s. The school closed in 1862 and was later used as barracks for Union soldiers and as a stop on the Oregon, California and Santa Fe trails.

Read more:

WASHINGTON — 

Native American tribes report federal funding delays

Some Native American tribes are having difficulties accessing funds for essential services following delays surrounding a temporary White House freeze on thousands of federal programs pending the new administration’s review.

Public Law 93-638, the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act, is the vehicle through which tribes contract with the federal government to manage most health and education programs that were operated by the government before 1975.

While funds for 638 contracts are now unfrozen, some tribes reported having problems accessing the funding online.

"Tribal nations have candidly shared with me that at first, [online] funding portals were frozen. Even after they opened, funding requests went unanswered for days and weeks,” Sault Ste. Marie tribal council member Aaron Payment told VOA.

The former first vice president of the National Congress of American Indians said tribes remain uncertain about the stability of funding for community health, education and nutrition.

"As it is, we are far underfunded despite our having prepaid for every penny with the nearly 2 billion acres of land that made this country great," Payment said.

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Federal cuts force layoffs at Native American colleges

The Board of Regents of Haskell Indian Nations University is asking Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to waive staff reductions that would cut nearly 40 employees across teaching, IT and administrative departments.

“Haskell is an important part of the federal government’s commitment to enhancing the quality of life for Indian people,” the board’s letter reads in part.

Haskell in Kansas and Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute (SIPI) in New Mexico are both facing challenges in the new administration’s budget cuts, with Southwestern Indian Polytechnic losing 20 employees.

Those reductions leave 80 staff for 200 students at the New Mexico school and 125 staff for nearly 900 students at Haskell.

"It's affecting Native American students because at the end of the day, it's our generation of students who are going to be contributing to tomorrow's society," SIPI staff member Luke Gibson (Navajo) told Alburquerque's KOB TV. "If we don't invest in Native American education today, how will be useful to our own communities when we want to?"

While the Indian Health Service saw some layoffs temporarily reversed, there has been no similar relief for those universities. Haskell administrators told students that efforts are underway to maintain operations despite lower staffing.

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Supporters celebrate Leonard Peltier’s homecoming

Native American activist Leonard Peltier returned to the Turtle Mountain Reservation in Belcourt, North Dakota, Tuesday after 49 years in federal prison.

U.S. President Joe Biden commuted Peltier’s sentence last month in one of the last acts of his presidency.

“He is now 80 years old, suffers from severe health ailments, and has spent the majority of his life (nearly half a century) in prison,” Biden said in a January 20 statement. “This commutation will enable Mr. Peltier to spend his remaining days in home confinement but will not pardon him for his underlying crimes.”

Peltier, who is Anishinaabe and Dakota, was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of two federal agents during a 1975 standoff on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. He was given two consecutive life sentences.

Peltier supporters say he was framed. Federal law enforcement remains convinced of his guilt, with then-FBI Director Christopher Wray urging Biden “in the strongest terms possible” against granting Peltier clemency.

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South Dakota Senate says no to mandatory Native studies in public schools

South Dakota lawmakers have rejected a bill that would have required the state’s public schools to teach Native American content known as “Oceti Sakowin Essential Understandings.”

“Oceti Sakowin” translates as “People of Seven Council Fires,” an alliance of seven nations that were once known as the Great Sioux Nation.

The curriculum was developed over 10 years as a framework for cultural exchange in South Dakota, where Dakota, Lakota and Nakota tribes are spread out among nine reservations.

Currently, teaching Native American history is optional in South Dakota, with educators reporting that more than half of the state’s teachers already include it in their lesson plans.

Governor Larry Rhoden this week signed a bill requiring all certified teachers to take a course in South Dakota Native American studies.

Read more:

WASHINGTON — 

U.S. President Donald Trump wants Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to come up with a plan to grant the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina what he calls “long overdue” federal recognition, fulfilling a campaign promise he made last September.

Federal recognition acknowledges a tribe’s historic existence and its modern status as a “nation within a nation” entitled to govern itself and receive federal benefits, including health care, housing and education.

Historically, tribes were recognized through treaties or laws or presidential orders or court decisions. In 1978, the Department of the Interior standardized those procedures, allowing recognition through the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Congress or a federal court ruling.

Those standards require tribes to demonstrate continuous political autonomy since the 19th century, and members must document descendance from historical tribe members.

The process is time-consuming and expensive, often requiring assistance from historians, genealogists and attorneys. Historic records, if they ever existed, may be lost or destroyed.

The 1978 rules, updated in 1994, also state that tribes previously denied cannot reapply.

‘Gray eyes’

Over time, the Lumbee have been linked to several historic tribes, including the Cheraw, Tuscarora and even Siouan tribes.

“One tribal name or a single cultural origin is insufficient to explain Lumbee history, because Lumbee ancestors belonged to many of the dozens of nations that lived in a 44,000-square-mile territory,” writes Lumbee historian Malinda Maynor Lowery. “The names of these diverse communities varied depending on where the people lived and on what Europeans wrote down about them.”

In 1584, English explorer Arthur Barlowe noted that some Indian children on Roanoke Island had “very fine auburn and chestnut coloured hair.”

Three years later, England established a small colony on the island. The governor left for England to gather supplies. When he returned, no one was there. There were two clues: the word "CROATOAN" carved into a fence post and "CRO" on a tree. This gave rise to the theory that they had been taken in by Croatan Indians.

In the early 1700s, Hatteras Indians at Roanoke, as the Croatans were now called, told English explorer John Lawson that they descended from those vanished settlers. They also had “gray eyes,” which Lawson believed confirmed their mixed heritage.

“They tell us, that several of their ancestors were white people, and could talk in a book [read], as we do, the truth of which is confirmed by gray eyes being found frequently amongst these Indians, and no others,” Lawson wrote.

Enduring names

The 1790 federal Census recorded family names found among the Lumbee today and classified them as “all other free persons.”

In 1835, North Carolina banned voting in state elections for anyone who had a Black, mixed-race or biracial ancestor within the past four generations, and the state amended its constitution to segregate Black and white children into separate public schools.

“As the lines between ‘white’ and ‘colored’ hardened in North Carolina … Indians resolved that non-Indians must recognize their distinct identity,” Lowery wrote.

In 1885, North Carolina recognized the Lumbee as “Croatan” Indians and created separate schools for them. Shortly after, 54 members identifying themselves as Croatan Indians and “remnants” of the lost colony petitioned Congress for aid to educate more than 1,100 of the tribe’s children.

The Indian Affairs commissioner turned them down, saying he could barely afford to support the tribes already recognized, let alone the Croatans.

The tribe renamed itself “Lumbee,” after the nearby Lumber River, in 1952. In 1956, Congress passed Public Law 570, acknowledging the tribe as a mix of colonial and coastal-Indian blood but denying them federal benefits.

In the 1990s, the Interior Department again rejected the Lumbee’s petition, citing insufficient proof of cultural, political or genealogical ties to a specific historic tribe. Despite failed bills, the House passed the Lumbee Fairness Act in December 2024, which, if approved by the Senate, would grant federal recognition and benefits.

The Interior Department released an update to the acknowledgment process, allowing certain tribes that were previously denied the opportunity to reapply for recognition. That was set to take effect this week but has been postponed to March 21.

Congress 'not equipped'

North Carolina’s federally recognized Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI) has long opposed Lumbee recognition.

“The Lumbee cannot even specify which historical tribe they descend from, and recent research has underscored the dangers of legislative recognition without proper verification,” EBCI principal chief Michell Hicks said in a December 2024 statement. “Allowing this bill [the Lumbee Fairness Act] to pass would harm tribal nations across the country by creating a shortcut to recognition that diminishes the sacrifices of tribes who have fought for years to protect their identity.”

Former EBCI chief Richard Sneed told VOA in 2022, “Congress is not equipped to do the necessary research to determine whether or not a group is a historic tribe or not. The process was created for that purpose.”

In an emailed statement, Lumbee tribal chairman John L. Lowery expressed cautious optimism that the Lumbee Fairness Act would pass.

“Our critics are sad individuals who use racist propaganda to discredit us while ignoring the struggles of other minorities in America,” he told VOA. “As Indigenous people, we are the minority of the minority here in the United States, and our critics are trying to erase the memories of our ancestors, and we will not let that happen!”

Fifty-six thousand people identified as Lumbee in the 2020 U.S. Census. If recognized, they would be the largest acknowledged tribe east of the Mississippi River.

WASHINGTON — 

Native American groups this week expressed concern that some of U.S. President Donald Trump’s executive orders could challenge tribal sovereignty and Native citizenship.

Executive orders signed on Jan. 20 crack down on illegal immigration to the U.S. and mobilize federal law enforcement agencies and the U.S. military to stop, question and detain undocumented immigrants to achieve “complete control” of the southern border.

Navajo spokesperson Crystaline Curley told CNN that tribal citizens were being caught up in immigration sweeps, although she did not give a number. A Navajo citizen reported she had been questioned during an office raid in Scottsdale, Arizona, but was released after presenting her Certificate of Degree of Indian Blood.

Border czar Tom Homan told reporters Thursday that immigration enforcement operations are now focusing on criminal migrants, but “as the aperture opens up beyond criminals, you are going to see more arrests. I’ve made it clear: If you are in the country illegally, you are not off the table.”

In a statement to Newsweek, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said its agents may encounter U.S. citizens during raids and will request identification to confirm their identities.

Tribes nationwide are encouraging members to carry tribal identification cards and Certificates of Degree of Indian Blood, which are issued by the Bureau of Indian Affairs and document a person's degree of Indian ancestry within a specific federally recognized tribe.

Some Natives worry US citizenship under federal scrutiny

A federal judge in Seattle, Washington, in January blocked Trump’s executive order denying automatic U.S. citizenship to babies born after Feb. 19, 2025, unless they have at least one parent who is either a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident. The order was paused indefinitely this week by a federal judge in Maryland.

That case was closely watched by Native Americans because U.S. Justice Department lawyers cited the Civil Rights Act of 1866, which excluded "Indians not taxed" from citizenship, and an 1880 Supreme Court decision that Native Americans were not birthright citizens. That 1880 decision centered on a Native American man in Nebraska who the court ruled owed allegiance to his tribe and was not a birthright citizen with the right to vote.

The Indian Citizenship Act of 1924 granted citizenship to all Native Americans born in the United States.

Native groups, fearing funding freeze, remind White House of its federal obligations

Native American tribal groups wrote the new president about actions that could freeze or mislabel tribal funding.

“Our unique political and legal relationship with the United States is rooted in our inherent sovereignty and recognized in the U.S. Constitution, in treaties, and is carried out by many federal laws and policies,” the Feb. 2 letter reads.

The letter calls on the Trump administration to respect tribal nations as political entities, continue direct consultations, ensure federal workforce changes don’t disrupt services and keep tribal-focused offices in federal agencies.

It specifically warns against treating tribal programs as general diversity or environmental initiatives and invites government officials and Congress to discuss these issues further.

Interior secretary Burgum sworn in, stresses commitment to tribes

Doug Burgum was sworn in as secretary of the Interior Department on Jan. 31. He thanked Trump and stressed his history of working with Native American tribes during his tenure as North Dakota governor.

“In North Dakota, we share geography with five sovereign tribal nations. The current partnership is historically strong because we prioritized tribal engagement through mutual respect, open communication, collaboration and a sincere willingness to listen,” Burgum said. “At Interior, we will strengthen our commitment to enhancing the quality of life, promoting economic opportunities and empowering our tribal partners through those principles.”

Burgum has the support of several tribal leaders, including Mark N. Fox, who chairs the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation in North Dakota; Chuck Hoskin Jr., principal chief of the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma; and Bobby Gonzalez, chair of the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma.

Burgum on Monday hit the ground running with a series of orders advancing Trump’s energy agenda.

Secretarial order 3417 directs all Department of the Interior bureaus and offices to create a 15-day plan detailing how they can speed up energy resource development, from initial identification through production, transportation and export. The directive pays special attention to federal lands, the Outer Continental Shelf and specific regions that include the West Coast, Northeast and Alaska.

Secretarial Order 3418 calls for a 15-day review of public lands that the Biden administration withdrew from resource extraction, including national monuments of historic, cultural and spiritual importance to tribes.

“Among the sites most at risk are Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments in Utah,” Indian Country Today reported this week, noting that Grand Staircase-Escalante holds large coal reserves, and the Bears Ears area has uranium.

Read more:

Navajo nominated as DOI Indian Affairs Secretary

The National Congress of American Indians this week supported the White House nomination of Navajo citizen William “Billy” Kirkland III to serve as the Interior Department’s assistant secretary of Indian Affairs. If confirmed, he would head the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

"NCAI looks forward to engaging with Kirkland upon his confirmation to protect and further strengthen the government-to-government relationship and advance policy priorities that support Tribal Nations," said a statement from NCAI President Mark Macarro. "We remain committed to working in partnership with the Department of the Interior to uphold tribal sovereignty."

Native American media note that the nomination, as cited in the Congressional Record, lists the position as “Assistant Secretary of the Interior vice [“in place of”] Bryan Todd Newland, resigned."

Previously, the position was called “Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs.”

Kirkland’s nomination has been referred to the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs.

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Defense Department: Identity months ‘erode camaraderie’

The U.S. Defense Department this week issued a policy banning the use of official resources or work hours to host cultural heritage celebrations. These include National American Indian Heritage Month and Asian American and Pacific Islander Month.

“Our unity and purpose are instrumental to meeting the Department's warfighting mission,” the directive reads. “Efforts to divide the force — to put one group ahead of another — erode camaraderie and threaten mission execution.”

While official events are no longer permitted during work hours, service members may still attend such events unofficially during their personal time.

“We are proud of our warriors and their history, but we will focus on the character of their service instead of their immutable characteristics,” the new policy states.

Read the directive here: