Wind River Reservation

Nine Democratic Presidential hopefuls and one independent candidate are gathered in Sioux City, Iowa for the Frank Lemere Native American Presidential Forum. Many Native voters are watching closely from the Wind River Reservation.

A new book details the hard-won battle fought by tribal leaders on the Wind River Reservation to open their own high school.

The Wind River Inter-Tribal Council welcomed U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse to the Reservation on Wednesday to discuss global climate change.

Northern Arapaho Tribal Industries has secured $4.1 million in federal funding to expand broadband access on the Wind River Reservation over the next decade.

The Wind River Wellness Court stopped operating after the reservation's joint Business Council disbanded in 2014. But officials from the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho Tribes say funding from the state of Wyoming and Bureau of Indian Affairs could help get it back up-and-running as early as this summer.

A panel discussion, called "The Work To Be Done: Women of the Wind River Reservation Speak Their Minds," will offer different perspectives on the joys and challenges of Indigenous Womanhood in Wyoming.

The five panelists are students, activists, lawmakers, authors, and leaders in their communities. They will share their experiences and expertise at the Riverton Branch Library on Tuesday, July 23.

Tribal liaisons, members of law enforcement, and the state Attorney General will convene for the first time on Wednesday, July 24, to study the issue of Missing and Murdered Indigenous People.

Riverton Representative Andi Clifford held a town hall meeting at the Lander Public Library on Saturday. She spoke to a crowd of around 30 people, many of them Lander residents, about the challenges of being a Northern Arapaho woman in the Wyoming State Legislature.

Powwow season on the Wind River Reservation kicks off this weekend with the 60th annual Eastern Shoshone Indian Days. This year, for the first time, visitors will have access to WiFi at the event.

A failure in oversight by the Bureau of Indian Affairs permitted the Northern Arapaho and Eastern Shoshone tribes to misspend $6.2 million in federal funds between 2013 and 2015. 

Central Wyoming College and the Northern Arapaho Business Council have reached an agreement to begin offering college courses on the Wind River Reservation.

Wyoming Public Media will receive funding from Report for America to support a full-time reporter based near the Wind River Reservation and covering the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapahoe populations.

Willard Gould, member of the Arapahoe Business Council and the Northern Arapahoe Language Commission. Willard's work has been in substance abuse counseling, domestic violence and family services. 

For the third year in a row, students from seven schools on the Wind River Reservation traveled to the Bridger-Teton National Forest to learn outdoor education. But this year fifth graders got some added instruction from tribal elders.

Advocates for the Wind River tribes say they were relieved to hear that Wyoming Governor Matt Mead vetoed a bill that would have given stiff fines and jail time to protesters that blocked access to or damaged infrastructure like oil and gas facilities. 

Two-days before Christmas, 400 holiday baskets filled with turkey, cranberry, stuffing, and pie were given to elders on the Wind River Reservation.

The snow falling on the Wind River Reservation did not stop a group of community members from delivering the holiday baskets. Stephen Fasthorse helped organize the event with the help of community members, the Wind River Casino and the Northern Arapaho Tribe.

“Embracing the Elders is a grassroots group that wanted to find a way to show appreciation for the elderly people on the Wind River Reservation,” Fasthorse said.

Last February, the 10th Circuit Court ruled that the city of Riverton is not inside the Wind River Reservation boundaries, prompting the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho tribes to ask for another hearing. This week, the court rejected that request. Wind River Native Advocacy Center board chair Sergio Maldonado said the next step for the dispute is the U.S. Supreme Court.

The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, the National Wildlife Federation and the Eastern Shoshone Tribe invited participants to witness the release of ten more bison south of Pilot Butte on the Wind River Reservation.

Jola Lebeau, an Eastern Shoshone tribal member, said a prayer before the release of the ten bison.

“Grandfather Creator you see us here, we are standing here with the sun to the east, that gateway of love. We thank you for this beautiful day and that the buffalo that came here from Montana, that they will love living here upon our lands,”Lebeau said.

A group of Native American high schoolers visiting the University of Wyoming for a recruitment program walked out of the production of a theater performance last week during a recruitment program event.

Incoming American Indian Director Angela Jaime attended the play as a coordinator for the Native American Summer Institute. She said she and the 40 students were shocked when the musical comedy The Fantasticks took a sudden turn midway through.

The Weatherization Assistance Program is currently seeking applications from enrolled Northern Arapaho members who are homeowners living on the reservation. The program helps low income homeowners save on utility bills.

Tribes across the United States have weatherization programs, but here in Wyoming, the Northern Arapaho Tribe is one out of only three tribal communities who receive funds from the Department of Energy.

This past week, the Wyoming Department of Education held listening sessions at tribal schools to see how the state can better serve Native American families. Rob Black, social studies consultant with the WDE and liaison to the Native American community, said students on the reservation are a vulnerable population. Graduation rates and achievement levels there lag behind non-native communities.

Black said before addressing specific issues the WDE wanted to open up dialogue.

Both tribes on the Wind River Reservation have submitted letters of support for the Standing Rock Sioux in the Dakotas. That tribe is protesting the development of an oil pipeline under the Missouri River, their main water source.

Two Wyoming groups have started a petition urging lawmakers to pass a hate crimes bill in the state.

Hate crime laws impose tougher penalties on criminals who target their victims because of things like the victim's race or religion. Wyoming is one of just five states that does not have one.

The Wind River Native Advocacy Center and Wyoming Association of Churches are gathering signatures. They say their efforts are in response to the July shooting of two Northern Arapaho men by a white Riverton parks employee at a local detox center. One man was killed in that attack.

Central Wyoming College is home to the state’s only Film & TV program. This summer, that program will become a full-fledged production company to put together a pilot for a crime drama set and shot on and around the Wind River Reservation.

The show will be called “Wind River,” and will star several professional actors from the Riverton area as well as Reservation locals.

This week, Riverton will host a conference on how to save the native languages of indigenous peoples across the globe. It’s the first time in its 22 year history that the “Stabilizing Indigenous Languages” symposium has been held in Wyoming. Last year it took place in Hawaii.

Linguist Andrew Cowell from the University of Colorado says indigenous speakers are expected to come from all over the world to discuss new strategies for rescuing dying languages.