Tag Archive for 'Native Americans'

Native Americans begin 272 mile walk/run to protest water theft scheme

Published on 05/11/2013 in management, water grabs and water rights. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

Walk Day 1-1

Retrieved from: DGR news service

“On Saturday, May 4, 2013, approximately 70 Native Americans representing the Confederated Tribes of the Goshute Reservation, Wells Colony, Elko/TeMoke Tribe, Battle Mountain and Yomba Shoshone along with Tribal members from the Northern Ute, Cheyenne-Arapaho, Navajo, Cherokee and non-natives begin a Walk/Run from Wells, Nevada towards Caliente, Nevada, a distance of approximately 272 miles.

“After a blessing and prayer for the water, the group began the long trek walking and running on U.S. 93 towards Ely, Nevada.

“The walk/run is to bring attention to the proposed Southern Nevada Water Authority’s (SNWA) proposed water theft from northeastern Nevada and for prayers to save the sacred water for the children not yet born, the animals, plants, protection of traditional medicine, traditional food and ceremonial places.

“Along the route willows will be planted with prayers for the water. Camp is set up each evening along the side of the road.”

Read more: DGR news service

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American Indians Join Fight for an Oklahoma Lake’s Flow

Published on 04/13/2011 in dams, lakes and water rights. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .

Retrieved from: NY Times

“Sardis Lake, a reservoir in southeastern Oklahoma young enough to have drowned saplings still poking through its surface and old enough to have become a renowned bass fishery, is not wanting for suitors.

“Oklahoma City and fast-growing suburbs like Edmond want to see the water flowing through their shower heads someday. So do the water masters of Tarrant County, Tex., 200 miles to the south, who are looking to supply new subdivisions around Fort Worth and are suing for access.

“Now another rival has arrived: the Choctaw and Chickasaw  tribes, who were exiled to southeastern Oklahoma 175 years ago and given land in the area.

“Gregory Pyle, chief of the Choctaw nation, said his tribe would sue to win some of the water if necessary. “All this water was controlled originally by the Indian tribes in this area,” Mr. Pyle said. “It is all Choctaw and Chickasaw water.”

“The tribes want the state to recognize them as joint owners. The issue has been increasingly on the minds of city planners in fast-developing cities as they contemplate the prospect of tapping other existing water sources.

“By midcentury, water is expected to loom as large as oil in the economic and political life of the country, as parties race to lock up supplies. As droughts exacerbated by climate change and by population growth expand in the Great Plains and the Southwest, Indian water rights loom as a largely unsettled — and unsettling — factor that could affect the price and availability of water to millions of homes and businesses.”

Read more: NY Times

sammykayed