Northern Arapaho Tribe

The new liaison positions will serve as the face of communication when it comes to working with local, state and federal partners and agencies on the issue.

The Wyoming Legislature is considering two bills about sales taxes on the Wind River Reservation. One would return improperly collected online sales taxes to the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho Tribes, and the other codifies that the state does not collect sales tax from non-tribal members on reservation land.

People who vandalize petroglyphs, pictographs and historical inscriptions would be fined under a bill recently passed by the state Senate. The measure also sets aside funding to survey, document and model all known pictographs and petroglyphs on state land in Wyoming.

An oil company claims it’s not responsible for plugging oil wells on the Wind River Reservation and is taking that claim to federal court.

A University of Wisconsin researcher came across the fossils, still preserved in their burrows, on BLM land near Dubois. He returned there over the years, eventually partnering with the Eastern Shoshone Tribe to bring local middle school students and elders to the site.

Democrats in the U.S. Senate said they had issues with the Wyoming federal delegation’s supposed lack of consultation with the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho tribes about the conveyance. Barrasso said he spoke with both tribes as early as February, but the Wind River Inter-Tribal Council released a resolution this month insisting neither tribe was consulted.

Members of the Northern Arapaho Business Council, Northern Arapaho Tribal Committee and Northern Arapaho Economic Development Commission took their oaths of office at a ceremony in Arapahoe last Friday.

Last year, U.S. Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) and U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman (R-WY) filed bills that would transfer the Pilot Butte Power Plant to a non-tribal irrigation district so it can be used to generate power for Fremont County. The defunct plant sits on the Wind River Reservation. Tribal residents say they were never consulted about the transfer, and that they oppose it.

The Northern Arapaho Tribe is holding its general election on Nov. 21. Twelve people are competing for all six seats on the Northern Arapaho Business Council.

More than 200 items recently made their way back to the Northern Arapaho Tribe. Toys, beaded moccasins and traditional dresses received a motorcycle and police escort on part of their journey from Casper to the Wind River Reservation for a homecoming celebration. They were held by the Episcopal Church for the past 80 years.