Biden hosts tribal nations summit
President says the goal is a greater role for Native Americans
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Wednesday pledged to give American Indians a stronger voice in federal affairs, promising at the first in-person summit on tribal affairs in six years that he will bolster tribal consultations, inclusion of Indigenous knowledge in decision-making and funding for communities struggling with the impacts of climate change.
Biden spoke on the opening day of the two-day White House Tribal Nations Summit to representatives from hundreds of American Indianand Alaska Native tribes, reiterating and announcing a series of new commitments. The summit coincided with National Native American Heritage Month, which is celebrated in November
The Biden administration said its goal is to build on previous progress and create opportunities for lasting change in Indian Country, which isn’t guaranteed without codified laws and regulations.
“Administrations can bring in their priorities, but they shouldn’t be telling us who have lived here since the beginning of time how to manage our resources, which resources we can even access,” said Richard Peterson, president of the Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska. “These are things that are inherent in our sovereignty.”
Among the pledges from the Biden administration is to establish uniform standards for federal agencies to consult with tribes and go beyond a “check the box” exercise, finalize a 10-year plan to revitalize Native languages and strengthen tribal rights such as hunting and fishing that are outlined in existing treaties.
On climate change, Biden said $135 million in federal money is going to 11 tribal communities in Alaska, Arizona, California, Louisiana, Maine and Washington to help plan for, and relocate to safe ground because of, climate-related environmental threats.
“There are tribal communities at risk of being washed away,” he told summit participants. “It’s devastating.”
A 2020 study from the Interior Department found that $5 billion would be needed over the next 50 years to relocate tribal communities and Alaska Native villages at risk of severe infrastructure damage due to coastal erosion and extreme weather events.
On health care, Biden reiterated a commitment for $9.1 billion for the Indian Health Service, which provides health care for federally recognized tribes, and to make the funding mandatory.
Whether Congress will act on that and other tribal issues is another matter.
Federal agencies in the Biden administration have been creating tribal advisory councils and reimaging tribal consultation policies with a goal of garnering consensus among tribes. Some of the more significant commitments from the Biden administration involve incorporating Indigenous knowledge and practices into decision-making and federal research.
The Commerce Department is the latest federal agency to sign on to an effort to work with tribes to co-manage public resources, such as water and fisheries. The Agriculture Department and the Interior Department have signed 20 co-stewardship agreements with tribes, and an additional 60 are under review, the administration said.
The tribal nations summit wasn’t held during then-President Donald Trump’s administration. The Biden administration held one virtually last year as the coronavirus pandemic ravaged the U.S. and highlighted deepening and long-standing inequities in tribal communities.
Both administrations signed off on legislation that infused much-needed funding into Indian Country to help address health care, lost revenue, housing, internet access and other needs. The 574 federally recognized tribes in the U.S. received a combined $20 billion in American Rescue Plan Act money under the Biden administration.
SPIRIT MOUNTAIN IN NEVADA
Biden also told tribal leaders on Wednesday that he intends to designate an area considered sacred by area American Indians in southern Nevada as a new national monument.
“When it comes to Spirit Mountain and the surrounding ridges and canyons, I’m committed to protecting this sacred place that is central to the creation story of so many tribes that are here today,” Biden said during a speech at the White House National Tribal Nations Summit.
The site, to be designated Avi Kwa Ame (Ah-VEE’ kwa-meh) National Monument, would encompass a rugged and dry triangular-shaped area roughly from Arizona and the Colorado River to California and the Mojave National Preserve. The area is mostly undeveloped landscape dotted with Joshua trees and bighorn sheep migration routes.
The designation is not final, but the president’s announcement was hailed by American Indian tribal representatives, members of Nevada’s congressional delegation and conservationists.
Spirit Mountain, northwest of Laughlin, is the tallest in the surrounding Newberry Mountains. It was called “Avi Kwa Ame” by the Fort Mojave Indian Tribe and listed in 1999 on the National Register of Historic Places as a place sacred to tribes.
The peak, at 5,642 feet, is already within a 52-square-mile wilderness area overseen by the federal Bureau of Land Management and National Park Service.
A broad coalition of tribes and conservation groups has advocated for years to widen the protected area, which includes Walking Box Ranch, a Spanish Colonial Revival house that once belonged to 1920s-era Hollywood actors Clara Bow and Rex Bell. That site also is on the national historic register.