Climate Change Brings Collapsing Stilts and Hungry Bears to Little Diomede Island - Voice of America - VOA News

Climate Change Brings Collapsing Stilts and Hungry Bears to Little Diomede Island

Native Americans

Last month, Native Alaskans on Little Diomede Island awoke to see their city office collapsing into the community school next door.

For the Ingalikmiut people [Inupiat] in the Bering Strait, halfway between Siberia and the Alaska mainland, this was the latest crushing evidence of the impact of climate change in the Arctic.

“Looking at the timber and the wood timbers [stilts] that had supported the office building, we didn’t find them to be deteriorating,” explained Sean McKnight, who was part of an inspection team from the Nome-based tribal consortium Kawerak Inc. “Basically, the permafrost is degrading, so building foundations are sinking and sliding.”

Inspectors discovered that several other buildings have also begun to shift downhill.

“Our opinion is that this is going to affect every building in Diomede,” McKnight said.

So, how will Diomeders cope?

“These people have been living here for thousands of years,” McKnight told VOA. “They’re adaptive. They’re resourceful. When they have a problem, they just fix it. This is their home. They have no choice.”

Living on stilts

The city of Diomede, population about 86, consists of three dozen buildings on stilts on the lower slope of an almost vertical cliff. There is a washeteria, where residents shower and do laundry, a health clinic, a small store and a helipad.

In past winters, community members used bulldozers to carve a runway into the ice offshore. This allowed planes to deliver food and supplies. Today, the ice offshore is all new — that is, ice that has not been able to survive a summer melt season.

“The last time we had an ice runway for essential air service was 2014, and that was only for two weeks I believe,” says Diomede tribal coordinator Frances “Sistuq” Ozenna. “Today, we have chopper services year-round. They fly passengers on Mondays, and on Wednesdays, they do mail runs. But the weather always interferes."

And that can lead to critical shortages of food, medicine and supplies.

“You have to reserve as much as you can, just in case it takes a while for us to get any services to Diomede,” Ozenna told VOA.

That means the tribe must rely more on traditional methods of subsistence, harvesting wild greens, berries or potatoes in spring and seasonal hunting of migrating marine mammals, including walrus and seals.

If the ice is thick enough to cross, that is.

“Food security for Diomede, I think it's always going to be an issue, because we have limitations in transportation and hunting equipment,” Ozenna says. “You have to know how to survive Diomede. It can get pretty frustrating.”

Undercover predators

In recent years, climate change has introduced a new threat to Diomeders: polar bears, the largest land carnivores on Earth.

Unlike other bear species, polar bears do not hibernate in winter but travel far with the ice in search of seals. Normally at this time of year, they would be far out on the ice, away from human settlements.

But as their habitat melts, they can end up stranded on land.

“You never know when they’re going to come in,” Ozenna said. “They're most likely to come in at nighttime or during a blizzard, when things are obscured.”

School children are particularly vulnerable, which is why Diomede men will get up early, grab their rifles and patrol the streets, on the lookout for hungry bears.

Diomeder Brendon Ozenna captured this video of a polar bear and her cub attempting to access the community school on November 5, 2021.

After the buildings collapsed, Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy issued a disaster declaration for Diomede that makes state resources available to help rebuild the city office.

For now, the school’s 22 students have switched to distance learning until after the Christmas holidays.

This, it would seem, is a blessing in disguise — over the past two weeks alone, Ozenna says she has seen three polar bears lurking around town looking for their next meal.

More than 1,000 kilometers northeast of Diomede on Alaska's northern coast, VOA's Natasha Mozgovaya reports on permafrost and polar bears in the city of Kaktovik.

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NM Extends Ban on Oil and Gas Leasing Around Area Sacred to Native Americans

New oil and natural gas leasing will be prohibited on state land surrounding Chaco Culture National Historical Park, an area sacred to Native Americans, for the next 20 years under an executive order by New Mexico Land Commissioner Stephanie Garcia Richard.

Wednesday's order extends a temporary moratorium that she put in place when she took office in 2019. It covers more than 293 square kilometers of state trust land in what is a sprawling checkerboard of private, state, federal and tribal holdings in northwestern New Mexico.

The U.S. government last year adopted its own 20-year moratorium on new oil, gas and mineral leasing around Chaco, following a push by pueblos and other Southwestern tribal nations that have cultural ties to the high desert region.

Garcia Richard said during a virtual meeting Thursday with Native American leaders and advocates that the goal is to stop the encroachment of development on Chaco and the tens of thousands of acres beyond the park's boundaries that have yet to be surveyed.

"The greater Chaco landscape is one of the most special places in the world, and it would be foolish not to do everything in our power to protect it," she said in a statement following the meeting.

Cordelia Hooee, the lieutenant governor of Zuni Pueblo, called it a historic day. She said tribal leaders throughout the region continue to pray for more permanent protections through congressional action.

"Chaco Canyon and the greater Chaco region play an important role in the history, religion and culture of the Zuni people and other pueblo people as well," she said. "Our shared cultural landscapes must be protected into perpetuity, for our survival as Indigenous people is tied to them."

The tribal significance of Chaco is evident in songs, prayers and oral histories, and pueblo leaders said some people still make pilgrimages to the area, which includes desert plains, rolling hills dotted with piñon and juniper and sandstone canyons carved by eons of wind and water erosion.

A World Heritage site, Chaco Culture National Historical Park is thought to be the center of what was once a hub of Indigenous civilization. Within park boundaries are the towering remains of stone structures built centuries ago by the region's first inhabitants, and ancient roads and related sites are scattered further out.

The executive order follows a tribal summit in Washington last week at which federal officials vowed to continue consultation efforts to ensure Native American leaders have more of a seat at the table when land management decisions affect culturally significant areas. New guidance for federal agencies also was recently published to help with the effort.

The New Mexico State Land Office is not required to have formal consultations with tribes, but agency officials said they have been working with tribal leaders over the last five years and hope to craft a formal policy that can be used by future administrations.

The pueblos recently completed an ethnographic study of the region for the U.S. Interior Department that they hope can be used for decision-making at the federal level.

Native American News Roundup Dec. 3-9, 2023

Tribal leaders and top administration officials convene in nation’s capital

The White House hosted its third annual Tribal Nations Summit this week as part of its goals of strengthening nation-to-nation relationships and boosting tribal sovereignty.

It was a chance for the Biden administration to showcase investments in Indian Country in 2023 and to look forward — President Joe Biden’s 2024 budget request includes $32.6 billion to support the Indian Health Service, tribal public safety, housing, education and more.

During his address to tribal leaders on Wednesday, Biden noted some challenges tribes face in getting federal funds.

“Today, there are still too many hoops to jump through … too many strings attached, and too many inefficiencies in the process,” he said, announcing an executive order to reform the tribal funding process.

“It requires federal agencies to streamline grant applications, to co-manage federal programs, to eliminate heavy-handed reporting requirements,” Biden said. “It gives tribes more autonomy to make your own decisions.”

The administration has set up an Access to Capital Clearinghouse online, a “one-stop-shop” of all federal funding opportunities.

The order requires federal agencies to assess all funding gaps and shortages, come up with strategies to make up for unmet needs and report annually on their progress.

The order also secures the first-ever advance appropriations for the Indian Health Service so that it can continue providing health care services to tribes during government shutdowns or other funding lapses.

The administration also announced more than 190 co-stewardship agreements with tribes, which are meant to give them greater say in the management of federal lands, waters and resources.

These include the first-ever agreement with the Commerce Department, more than 70 agreements with the Interior Department and more than 120 co-management and co-management agreements with the Agriculture Department.

Park Service, Interior to study Impact of the 1934 Indian Reorganization Act

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland told the summit that the National Park Service will collaborate with tribes across the U.S. to conduct a new study focused on the Indian Reorganization Period.

“Native American history is American history, and it should be told by Indigenous peoples. The stories we share inform not just our present but the future world we will pass on to the next generation of leaders. They help define us,” Haaland said. “I am grateful that the National Park Service will work closely on this study with Native communities to ensure that their stories, perspectives and Indigenous knowledge are a key part of this work.”

Congress passed the Indian Reorganization Act (IRA) in 1934, ostensibly to improve conditions among Native Americans. It put an end to the land allotment and forced assimilation policies of the past. It offered tribes incentives to replace traditional governments with U.S. styles of governance, supervised by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Of the 263 tribes that voted on the IRA, 71 rejected it and 192 accepted it. Rifts between “Old Dealers” and “New Dealers” continue to play out on some reservations today.

Biden backs Haudenosaunee bid for the Olympics

During his speech to tribal leaders, President Biden backed allowing the Haudenosaunee Confederacy’s lacrosse team to compete in the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.

The Haudenosaunee are a confederacy of six Indigenous nations — the Cayuga, Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Seneca and Tuscarora — who are credited with inventing the game which the Mohawk call Tewaarathon, or “little brother of war.”

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) in October voted to bring lacrosse back to the Games, and the Haudenosaunee want to compete under the flag of the confederacy.

“Their ancestors invented the game,” said Biden. “They perfected it for a millennia. Their circumstances are unique, and they should be granted an exception to field their own team at the Olympics.”

They face a hurdle, however.

“Only national Olympic committees recognized by the IOC can enter teams for the Olympic Games,” the IOC said in an emailed statement to The New York Times.

Cambridge to honor city’s original occupants

In 2024, Cambridge, Massachusetts, plans to erect 70 new street signs with Massachusett-language translations of numbered streets.

The plan was proposed by Sage Carbone, a Cambridge resident with Italian and Native ancestry.

“There are no streets named after Native people in Cambridge,” Carbone told Boston Public Radio. “To my knowledge, there are no squares commemorating Indigenous people. There are no distinctive markers of the historical nature.”

The plan was approved in December 2021 as part of the city’s $180,000 African American & Indigenous Peoples Historical Reckoning Project, which also looks to restore and expand the existing African American Heritage Trail in Cambridge.

Cherokee Nation Chief Speaks to VOA on US Promises, Progress

President Joe Biden convened a two-day summit Wednesday with the heads of more than 300 tribal groups, saying his administration is committed to writing “a new and better chapter of history” for the more than 570 Native American communities in the United States by making it easier for them to access federal funding.

Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. of the Cherokee Nation, one of the largest Indigenous tribes in the United States, spoke to VOA about those efforts and also some of the themes of Native history that are in the forefront today.

This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.

VOA: What are your goals for your half-million citizens at this summit?

Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr.: It’s to press the administration on meeting America's commitment but also learn more about what their plans are. ... The most important thing for the Cherokee Nation, I think — and all tribes — is the efficient deployment of resources, and then allowing tribes to decide how to use those resources. So, a more efficient, streamlined process in terms of getting funding out.

VOA: The Biden administration says it will release at this summit a report card of sorts. What’s your assessment of how the administration has succeeded and where it could do better?

Hoskin: I think overall, it's been very, very positive. ... The bipartisan infrastructure deal has been important for the Cherokee Nation. The American Rescue Plan has enabled us to do things that may seem small to the rest of the world, like putting a cell tower in a community that didn't have cellphone access, by improving water systems.

VOA: Any criticism?

Hoskin: To the extent that it's criticism: The federal government's a big ship, it's tough to steer. What I have seen over the years is, you get a new administration in, it takes a while for the relationships to be built up, for executive orders on consultation to translate down to agencies.

VOA: President Biden has not made — publicly, at least — any sort of land acknowledgment statement. Is that something you seek?

Hoskin: Reminding the country that there were aboriginal people here before anyone ever heard of the United States, I think that's important. But I think in terms of what tribal citizens want to see, and what tribal leaders want to see is access to land, control of resources, more land placed into trust for the benefit of Native Americans.

VOA: The current war between Israel and Hamas is also about land. Do you have any advice for President Biden, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas during this very tense moment?

Hoskin: I do think there are some parallels. You're talking about people who say that they've been on the land from time immemorial. That's what we Cherokees say, and we have a history of being dispossessed from our land. I would just remind people that there's a way to balance rights. I think we're trying to do that in the United States in terms of Indian Country versus the rest of the country. We haven't perfected it, but I think we're making some progress. So, all I would say is the respect and dignity that every human being deserves ought to be on display anytime you're having these sorts of situations. That’s a difficult sentiment to express in the midst of some real difficulties.

VOA: Adversaries of the U.S. have weaponized the well-documented suffering of Native Americans, saying the U.S. doesn't have the moral high ground on the world stage.

Hoskin: Certainly it would be accurate to say the United States has an appalling record towards Indigenous peoples. Is it perfect now? No, it's not. But we're making progress. I mean, think about what's happened on the world stage. In Australia, that country just rejected the recognition of aboriginal people. In the United States, we have federal recognition. ... We do have a foundation upon which we built a great deal. And so, to those critics of the United States, I would say, come to the Cherokee Nation and look at what we're doing, leading in things like health care and lifting up people economically. It's not perhaps the picture that has been painted by some of these regimes.

VOA: I believe you knew [former Cherokee chief] Wilma Mankiller very well. Talk a bit about her.

Hoskin: Anybody in the world who cares about human rights, the dignity of everybody, civil rights, they should get to know her. ... She reminded us of who we are and what we always had in us, which was the ability to govern ourselves, to protect ourselves, to understand we have this common history and destiny. She reminded us that we were Cherokee after generations of being suppressed and a bit beaten down. So, she lifted us up. The fact that there's a Barbie doll that depicts her, that there's a quarter from the United States Mint — that shows what a powerful person she was.

VOA: How do you feel about not being consulted on the Barbie doll?

Hoskin: Well, I think it's disrespect on the part of Mattel, but I will also tell you that they very quickly understood that, and we're engaging. So, I think that overall, I appreciate Mattel depicting Wilma Mankiller, the great Cherokee chief. On balance, this is a good thing.

VOA: What does it mean to you to be an American?

Hoskin: I think a lot about this. I can go back a few generations to my ancestors who signed up to fight for this country in World War I and World War II — while within their living memory, there was a great deal of oppression and atrocities by this country to their own people. But in terms of the principles of what we want for this country, like freedom and opportunity for everyone, if we aspire to that, that's something we all share. And so for me, that's what it means to be an American.

VOA: How do you feel about public holidays like Columbus Day and Thanksgiving?

Hoskin: Columbus Day is abhorrent. [Christopher Columbus is] demonstrably somebody who engaged in great atrocities towards Native peoples. ... There's plenty to celebrate in American history without celebrating and misstating what he did. In terms of Thanksgiving, I think it's become for the Cherokee people something that we just celebrate in terms of what unites humanity, which is giving thanks for what we have and trying to do better.

VOA: Anything else you'd like to tell our audience? We broadcast in 48 languages. Would you like to say something in your language?

Hoskin: Sure. I'd say “osiyo,” which is “hello” in Cherokee. And “donadagohvi,” which is ”we will see each other again.” We don't say goodbye. We just look forward to seeing people again. I look forward to seeing you again.

VOA: And I look forward to seeing you again.

What Mattel Got Right — and Wrong — in Designing the Wilma Mankiller Barbie

Members of the Cherokee Nation were delighted last month when the Mattel toy company released a special edition Barbie honoring the tribe’s first female principal chief, women’s advocate Wilma Mankiller.

“She truly exemplifies leadership, culture and equality and we applaud Mattel for commemorating her in the ‘Barbie Inspiring Women Series,’” Cherokee principal chief Chuck Hoskin said in a statement.

Not long after the doll was shipped, Cherokee buyers began complaining that Mattel had not done its homework.

Some said the doll’s skin tone was too dark, implying an effort to make the doll look more “Indian.”

The Cherokee have always been well-known for their traditional basketry styles, but the doll's basket is patterned after traditional English baskets.

She wears a tear dress (pronounced tare), the official dress of Cherokee Nation women, but she is not wearing any jewelry.

“Chief Mankiller was well known for her tribal necklaces,” Cherokee researcher David Cornsilk told VOA via Facebook. “And in addition to being the first female chief of a major U.S. tribe and first woman chief of the Cherokee Nation, she was the first woman to wear our traditional gorget necklace, a powerful symbol of leadership.”

The gorget is a crescent-shaped metal plate that the British military gifted to 18th Century tribal chiefs as a reward for loyalty and a symbol of authority. They are still worn by Cherokee chiefs today.

Missing, too, Cornsilk and others say, are the traditional pucker-toe moccasins, always worn with official dress.

Perhaps the most glaring error is on the doll’s package, which features the Great Seal of the Cherokee Nation.

“The word ‘Cherokee’ should be ᏣᎳᎩ but is written as ᏣᏔᎩ,” Cornsilk said.

Which, translated, reads: “The Chicken Nation.”

A Google search shows the mistake may have come from an image posted on Wikipedia that was created in 2013 by a now-retired contributor. It, too, reads, “Chicken.”

A note beneath the faulty seal challenges its “factual accuracy.”

Mattel spokesperson Devin Tucker told the Associated Press that the company is aware of the problem and is “discussing options.”

Mankiller’s daughter corrects the record

Mankiller’s only surviving child, Felicia Olaya, was disappointed that she was left out of the Barbie design process, just as she says she was with a 25-cent coin the U.S. Mint released in 2022.

“Just like when the quarter came out, neither my sister, who was living at that time, nor I knew anything about it,” she told VOA. “We found out about it secondhand or on social media.”

“And then this happens. And there've been a few other small events that have happened over the years that we didn't know about until they were done,” she added.

Mattel says it worked with Mankiller's husband, Charlie Soap, and his production partner Kristina Kiehl. Neither Soap nor Kiehl responded to messages left by the AP.

Olaya is less critical of the doll itself than some others in the Cherokee Nation.

“It's a doll. It’s not supposed to be an exact portrait of my mom,” she said.

She would change the doll's eye color, something not easily detectable in photos.

“Her eyes weren’t brown. They were hazel,” she said. “And yes, my mom was a jewelry person. She wore clay or cornseed bead necklaces a lot, so, I would have added those.”

She does credit Mattel with getting it right on the shoes.

“Some people say she should have been wearing pucker moccasins. Well, my mom never wore them,” Olaya said, explaining that Mankiller suffered from chronic foot pain after a near-fatal car accident in 1979.

“She either wore flip flops or the kind of shoes the doll is wearing, like diabetics’ shoes.”