President Donald Trump angered many Native activists by moving to restart Dakota Access Pipeline construction. Thousands have protested the line, saying it could poison the Standing Rock Sioux’s water supply. They also see the move as an affront to tribal sovereignty.
But before Trump’s inauguration, his transition team met with Native leaders to ask what they wanted out of the new administration.
The meetings were billed as listening sessions with Trump’s Native American Coalition and included members of the president’s transition team.
The coalition, formed just before November’s election, is chaired by Republican U.S. Representative Markwayne Mullin, a member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma.
Jacqueline Pata of the Juneau-based Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska was among those at the western meeting. She’s executive director of the National Congress of American Indians and a board member of Sealaska, Southeast’s regional Native corporation.
“There are things in this administration’s agenda that we can find common ground on, like infrastructure development, like improving the economies of our communities,” Pata said. “But tribal leaders made it really clear tribes are governments and should be treated as such and respected as such.”
Pata said tribal leaders brought up health care, government contracting, education and resource extraction. That included opposition to the Dakota Access Pipeline.
“Tribal leaders said things like, ‘We’re not opposed to development,'” Pata said. “But we want to be able to make sure that we have a meaningful place and that our consent is part of the process of evaluating the permits that may affect our lands.”
Some leaders went into the mid-December meetings angered by reports that the coalition’s chairman wanted to take tribal lands out of tribal hands.
Tlingit-Haida Central Council’s Will Micklin, who also attended the meeting, said those reports were refuted.
“He assured me he had no intention of privatizing tribal lands,” Micklin said. “It was a misinterpretation of his desire to make productive the tribal estate, which are tribal lands.”
Micklin said an overriding issue was the future of Obamacare.
“We’re concerned that the repeal of the affordable health-care act not also repeal the Indian Health Care (Improvement) Act and not reduce funding for it from our other funding sources,” Micklin said.
Another issue to watch was land into trust. That allows tribal governments to transfer title to the federal government, which protects the land from taxation or seizure. Alaska Native tribes have just begun using the program.
Mark Trahant is a former University of Alaska journalism professor and a blogger on Native issues. He’s a member of the Shoshone-Bannock Tribe now teaching at the University of North Dakota.
“That was kind of evolving late in the Obama administration,” Trahant said. “And now, (if) organizations and tribes want to follow through they’re going to need some sort of mechanical side to make the process work. And whether or not resources are put into that by the administration, I think will be interesting to see.”
Changes in the state’s far north are also being watched by some Alaska Native leaders.
Trahant worries the new administration doesn’t know much about it, beyond the potential for oil and gas production. That’s especially since Trump and members of his administration question the human role in climate change.
“Even thinking about the United States as an arctic nation and a changing Artic nation and what does that mean and what are the policy implications,” Trahant said. “The Obama administration had pushed very hard on the environmental side of that. But now you may see things like more interest in shipping lanes and resource extraction and that sort of arctic issues.”
Trahant predicts tribes will have fewer problems with Ryan Zinke, Trump’s pick to lead the Interior Department. He said the former Montana congressman understands tribal sovereignty and other key issues.
“The person who’s been nominated for Interior secretary is an avid fisherman,” Trahant said. “And it least he understands the language of that and recognizes the importance of a healthy fishery, both as a food source and subsistence.”
Trump takes over from an administration that expanded relations with tribal governments and other Native groups. Each department had a Native liaison who reached out and addressed concerns.
Tlingit-Haida Central Council’s Pata is among those hoping that continues in some form. But they say Obama will be a hard act to follow.
“What made a big difference was President Obama went to Indian country and when he saw it, it compelled him,” Pata said. “I’m hoping that we do get high-level officials from the Trump administration into Indian country and they will fulfill their desire to bring some of their drive for economic opportunity to Indian country as well.”
While most attended the Trump team’s Native coalition meetings were encouraged by the interest, they know many of their concerns don’t mesh with the new administration’s goals.
That’s certainly the case with the Dakota pipeline.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story said that Jackie Pata is on the National Council of American Indians. It is actually the National Congress of American Indians.
Ed Schoenfeld is Regional News Director for CoastAlaska, a consortium of public radio stations in Ketchikan, Juneau, Sitka, Petersburg and Wrangell.
He primarily covers Southeast Alaska regional topics, including the state ferry system, transboundary mining, the Tongass National Forest and Native corporations and issues.
He has also worked as a manager, editor and reporter for the Juneau Empire newspaper and Juneau public radio station KTOO. He’s also reported for commercial station KINY in Juneau and public stations KPFA in Berkley, WYSO in Yellow Springs, Ohio, and WUHY in Philadelphia. He’s lived in Alaska since 1979 and is a contributor to Alaska Public Radio Network newscasts, the Northwest (Public Radio) News Network and National Native News. He is a board member of the Alaska Press Club. Originally from Cleveland, Ohio, he lives in Douglas.
