Jordan urges tribal members to ‘participate’

LAPWAI — Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate Paulette Jordan told the Nez Perce General Council on Thursday that the world is going through a great awakening and people are asking where are the indigenous voices in Congress and in the White House.

“We’re fighting a real war for racial justice, environmental justice and real justice,” Jordan said. “We are peacekeepers and we are warriors in keeping that peace.”

Jordan, who recently won the Democratic primary with about 86 percent of the vote, faces two-term incumbent Sen. Jim Risch in the November general election.

Jordan told the general council that Risch is against Native American sovereignty and against the environment, but she asked for everyone’s help to win in November.

“Stand with me and participate,” Jordan said. “Regardless of how white Idaho may be, it is people of color that are not standing up for themselves. Imagine if they voted. Our story needs to be known.”

Jordan asked everyone to contact their friends and family and get them to vote.

“It will be the first time that a Native American woman can be elected to the U.S. Senate,” Jordan said. “It will require every single one of us. Our children’s future depends on it.”

Nez Perce Tribal Executive Committee Chairman Shannon Wheeler talked about the difficulties the tribe has had in dealing with the Trump administration. Wheeler made it clear that the tribe maintained open communication and good relationships with its regional federal partners, but that adverse decisions are being made in Washington, D.C., that threaten the “life sources” of the tribe and its sovereignty.

In response, the tribe is attempting to get consultation with the Environmental Protection Agency in Washington, but has thus far been unsuccessful.

“We have to defend these life sources, we have to meet with these decision makers,” Wheeler said. “We feel the EPA administration has been dodging us.”

At issue are water concerns because of the Lewiston Orchards Irrigation District taking water from creeks that feed Lapwai Creek, and the Trump administration’s lowering standards for the environment, he said.

“We serve a lot of Nez Perce tribal people, but there are still a lot of people we aren’t reaching,” Wheeler said. “We need to identify purpose and place for all. This seems like a complex problem, but if we look at it from our perspective it becomes less tangled.”

Wheeler told the General Council that only the Nimiipuu can place value into their resources such as huckleberries, salmon, elk, deer, roots and medicines.

“We don’t utilize these things in our lives anymore because these things have been devalued,” Wheeler said. “We can place that value back into ourselves, back into our resources.”

Wheeler then asked how that can be done when capitalism, monarchies and western expansion changed the Nimiipuu.

“We will never catch up in that system, we will always be down here,” Wheeler said as he encouraged the tribe to elect leaders as agents of change, put currency into huckleberries, camas, salmon, elk and song makers “so we have a more balanced people.”

“We’re trying to look together into the future together for a better future, a healthier future where we depend on ourselves,” Wheeler said. “So that we get to the point where we need to get.”

NPTEC Treasurer Casey Mitchell told the General Council the tribe has $176 million in cash and investments. The government’s budget is $78 million, made up of $23 million funded by the tribe and $55 million in grants and contracts. The tribe received $14.5 million from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. Tribe members will be receiving surveys asking how the pandemic has affected them, which will help the NPTEC determine how to spend the CARES Act funds, which have a deadline of Dec. 30.

Nimiipuu Health Medical Director R. Kim Hartwig provided an update on the tribe’s response to the pandemic. She advised that people should keep their other vaccinations up to date, educate themselves about COVID-19 and situations like long-term care, and to expect change.

Nimiipuu Health has tested 221 people for COVID-19, with 203 of them testing negative. There were 18 people who tested positive, Hartwig said.

Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forest Supervisor Cheryl Probert, Nez Perce Tribe Liaison Christine Bradbury and Nez Perce National Historical Park Superintendent Mike Gauthier were the final group to speak at Thursday’s General Council. Gauthier announced he was leaving his post for a position in California, but that his time here has been “life changing” and a “tremendous honor.”

Questions from tribal members focused on why there are not more tribal members working at the park or with the Forest Service, and about the level of logging planned on the national forest.

Gauthier agreed the National Park Service workforce needed to be more diversified and encouraged members of the tribe to apply for an internship program to gain the qualifications for federal jobs, because it seems like a person needs to have a federal job in order to get a federal job, he said.

Probert said she continues to ask how the Forest Service can do a better job employing tribal members in the Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forest.

Probert said that 3 million of the 4 million acres in the national forest she supervises are either roadless areas or designated wilderness where timber is not harvested. She said each year the Forest Service harvests timber on about 3,000 acres.

“We look at the vegetation that you use and try to make sure they are available over the entire system,” Probert said, responding to a question about who gave the Forest Service the right to clear cut areas of the forest important to tribal members. “This is a dynamic system, these things change over time. We’ve made a lot of these changes based on interactions with the tribe.”

“We have a lot of trees in the mid-seral stage, a lot of insects and disease,” Probert said, and explained that her agency plans to reforest with species more resilient to climate change. She added that her agency also considers the economic components in its projects, as well as reducing fire fuels and wildlife improvement.

Wells may be contacted at mwells@lmtribune.com or (208) 848-2275.