Tagged: Wind River Indian Reservation

Substance abuse is a concern for most school districts across the country, but on the Wind River Indian Reservation, it’s a red flag for especially high crime and suicide rates. Tribes have been trying – with mixed success – to keep kids from abusing alcohol and tobacco… But a new program from the Eastern Shoshone Department of Juvenile Services is working to train a league of student mentors to help their peers avoid risky behaviors. Wyoming Public Radio’s Rebecca Martinez filed this report.

A new project on the Wind River Indian Reservation seeks to reduce diabetes rates by helping tribal families grow their own vegetables. More than 11% of the people on the reservation have diabetes.

The project is a collaboration between community health groups on the reservation, and the University of Wyoming.

Virginia Sutter with Blue Mountain Associates is one of the leaders of the project. She says diabetes rates are high because tribal members have very different diets than they have historically.

Native American tribes need to make sure they are protecting their natural resources. Eastern Shoshone Business Council member Wes Martel, from the Wind River Indian Reservation, spoke during a University of Wyoming American Indian Studies program this week. Martel said tribes need to be more careful about the kinds of contracts they enter into for energy development. He added that water is the new gold but very few tribes are taking real steps to secure this resource.  

After 16 years of legal proceedings, US Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has approved the final settlement of the Cobell class action law suit. Native Americans sued the federal government over mismanagement of tribal royalties and land, which has been held in trust by the federal government since the 1800s. The suit accused the government of mismanaging $150 billion in royalties, but the settlement is for $3.4 billion. Wind River Reservation in central Wyoming has 6,000-8,000 beneficiaries. 

The Northern Arapaho general tribal election, which was supposed to take place today, has been postponed to December.

First, the tribe will conduct a new primary later this month. The original primary election’s results have been voided because Arapaho Business Council members said one candidate, Kim Harja, should not have been on the ballot. Harja is supposed to sit out until 2016 because she was previously dismissed from the Council.

A public meeting today will present preliminary results of an Environmental Health Initiative study being conducted on Wind River Indian Reservation. The Rocky Mountain Tribal Epidemiology Center initiative aims to assess environmental risks on the reservation, and develop remediation strategies. Communities on the Wind River Reservation complained of high cancer rates. Folo Akintan directs the Epidemiology Center and says they distributed surveys on the reservation and in communities immediately surrounding it, and reviewed national and local data going back up to fifty years.

The Tribal Energy Development and Self-Determination Act Amendments of 2012 have passed the Senate Indian Affairs Committee. The Act aims to simplify and expedite the process of leasing for energy development on tribal land. U.S. Senator John Barrasso introduced it last October.  

A Northern Arapaho man has lost another bid to challenge his conviction in the beating death of his infant daughter.

Andrew John Yellowbear Jr. is serving a life sentence in the death of 22-month-old Marcela Hope Yellowbear in 2004.

He had argued Wyoming lacked authority to prosecute him because the area of Riverton where Marcela died was legally part of the Wind River Indian Reservation. The U.S. Supreme Court earlier this year declined to consider that argument.