Alaska pleads for subsistence protection ..At White House conference: President Obama continued his government's historic dialogue with tribes during the second White House Tribal Nations Conference on Thursday, announcing support for a U.N. declaration on indigenous civil rights and arranging meetings between cabinet members and hundreds of tribal representatives.
The Washington, D.C., event gave the president a chance to tout his administration's Indian accomplishments in the past year, including the $3.4 billion settlement of the Cobell lawsuit and unprecedented efforts to improve life on reservations and Alaska villages.
Seven cabinet members attended the meeting in the main Interior building. Obama headlined the event with a speech that, like he did at last year's conference, recognized the long struggle faced by the country's first people.
"The truth is, for a long time, Native Americans were implicitly told that they had a choice to make," he said. "By virtue of the longstanding failure to tackle wrenching problems in Indian Country, it seemed as though you had to either abandon your heritage or accept a lesser lot in life; that there was no way to be a successful part of America and a proud Native American."
"But we know this is a false choice. To accept it is to believe that we can't and won't do better."
During the daylong event, Alaska tribes joined their Lower 48 counterparts in private breakout meetings with the cabinet members and other high-ranking officials. The two groups want help building local economies, stopping suicides, improving education and reducing high rates of illnesses such as diabetes.
Alaska Natives also voiced concern about their own unique issues, including increased protection for subsistence hunting and fishing rights and more controls to limit the pollock fishing industry from accidentally catching too many king salmon on the high seas.
Willie Kasayulie, from the village of Akiachak, hailed the support for the United Nations declaration.
The U.S. was one of four nations that had originally voted against the adoption of the declaration in 2007. Australia, New Zealand and Canada had reversed their stance. The U.S. was the last to fall in line.
"This is a tremendous move towards affirming the rights of America's first peoples," Kasayulie said in a written statement.
It recognizes that Natives and Indians possess important inherent rights, such as subsistence hunting and fishing.
The declaration is not legally binding, but it has both "moral and political force," according to a White House statement.
It's a tool tribal groups can use to show Congress and other lawmakers that their rights are supported by international law, Kasayulie said.
In separate speeches, Obama and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar ticked off examples of the administration's support for Indian Country and Alaska.
Billions of dollars have been put toward building new roads and water projects, improving access to broadband, renovating schools and enhancing training, with much of the cash coming from stimulus funds. More than 90 percent of the money went directly to tribes or to Buy Indian and commercial contractors who hire locally, Salazar said.
Other highlights:
• The administration has increased tribal homelands, boosted loan opportunities and opened the door for new rural energy projects.
• The signing of the Indian Health Care Improvement Act, which brings more money to the fight against diseases, such as diabetes, pneumonia, flu and tuberculosis, that plague Indians and Natives. Reducing the rates of those illnesses among Native Americans is a question of values, and "a test of who are as a nation," Obama said.
• The signing of the Tribal Law and Order Act, which provides more resources to fight crime, and drug and alcohol abuse on reservations and in Alaska.
• Cabinet members continue to develop a consultation policy, laying out how they'll communicate with tribes on matters pertaining to Indian Country and Alaska Natives. Obama kick-started the initiative at the first tribal nations conference last year.
• The Bureau of Indian Affairs had hired 144 youth in 2009, but boosted that number to more than 1,000 in 2010.
Also Thursday, Energy Secretary Steven Chu established an Office of Indian Energy Policy and Programs in his agency. The office will promote tribal energy development, said Salazar.
Alaskans were impressed with the continued attention.
"The whole meeting went well," said Marvin Kelly of Emmonak. "A lot of tribes from the whole nation gave their concerns and they heard from everybody about all kinds of problems we're having."
The conference included five breakout sessions focusing on topics that ranged from health care to economic development. Kelly attended the one on natural resources and energy, which included Chu, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, and other top officials.
Kelly called for protections of important subsistence foods like Yukon king salmon, whose numbers have struggled for several years, and a reduction of bycatch.
Charles Paukan of St. Mary's also addressed subsistence fishing rights in the meeting, noting the state of Alaska has shrunk fishing periods from round-the-clock opportunities to 36-hour openers, he said.
"We can't live with that," he said.
Ignacia Moreno, an assistant attorney general in the Environment and Natural Resources Division in the Justice Department, attended that breakout session and reported back to the tribes what she'd heard.
Protecting subsistence hunting and fishing and reducing bycatch was probably the top priority raised, she said.
"A lot of the issues made me think of the need to have the federal families talk with the state families," she said.
There were a lot of Alaskans in that room, she said. She also heard concerns about climate change and the effect it might have on seals, whales and other important subsistence foods.
"Someone said, 'Our oceans are our gardens,' and we heard you on that," she said.
Other ideas included an Alaska summit to focus on the unique issues Natives face, she said.
Obama and his officials seem to be listening, Paukan said.
"I'm very pleased with what he said and I'm glad to be here. It was touching for me," he said.
Frank Fox, from the village of Quinhagak, said in his breakout session that Alaska tribes need help combating drug runners and bootleggers. He said the village also needs a place to incarcerate criminals.
Marcie Sherer, from Bethel, attended the breakout session on economic development, which included three Cabinet secretaries, including Ray Lahood from the Department of Transportation.
Tribes need more money to develop economic opportunities, she said. They need to reduce crippling energy prices in villages, perhaps by creating more transportation options so fuel can be shipped in more cheaply.
One possible solution: Put more transportation dollars directly into the hands of tribes, rather than passing it through the state first, she said.
Charlie Brower of Barrow said he was impressed with the meeting but said actions speak louder than words. Time will reveal Obama's true commitment.
So far, said Salazar toward the close of the meeting, the Obama administration has turned the page in the nation's relationship with tribes. But it's still just a start.
"You don't undo 400 years of history in 18, 19 months, but under this president's commitment and leadership and the direction to his cabinet, we are well on our way," he said.
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