A massive shake-up would shed senior staffers and state boundaries. Could it work?
Bureau of Indian Affairs
Posted inFebruary 5, 2018: Caught Between Crises
How a private company is bringing affordable houses to Indian Country
Decreased federal assistance has caused a dearth in affordable housing.
Posted inArticles
Reckoning with History: Interior’s legacy of bad behavior
Ryan Zinke isn’t the first Interior secretary to attract controversy.
Posted inArticles
Paiute Tribe elders navigate a faltering health care system
As federal funding dwindles, remote Nevada tribes struggle for access.
Posted inArticles
When federal health care falls short, tribes improvise
A growing number of tribes manage their own clinics and behavioral programs.
Posted inArticles
Northern California tribes face down massive wildfires
Some evacuees return home as clean-up begins and resources are stretched thin.
Posted inNovember 27, 2017: Profit and Politics
The Navajo Nation has a wild horse problem
The population is exploding, but the tribe doesn’t have funding to manage it.
Posted inArticles
What is the Bureau of Indian Affairs?
The Bureau of Indian Affairs was created in 1824 to help the federal government negotiate trade and treaties and ultimately assimilate Native Americans into the dominant white culture. Its modern mission is to promote tribal self-determination by working with the nation’s 566 federally recognized Indian tribes, providing support for education, courts, law enforcement and social […]
Posted inArticles
How will Medicaid cuts affect health care in Indian Country?
The U.S. government is poised to limit funding for Indian Health Services.
Posted inAugust 21, 2017: Rooftop Revolution
Under Trump, tribal land ownership is not a priority
Hearings and Interior statements signal a step back for tribes trying to acquire lands.
Posted inArticles
Health care debate will also impact jobs in Indian Country
Indian Health Service has become the largest employer for many tribes.
Posted inArticles
The Senate health care bill guts Indian Health Services
The bottom line: There will not be enough money.
Posted inArticles
Five ways Indian Country can challenge Trump’s policies
Practical pointers for resistance.
Posted inArticles
What Trump’s Interior Secretary pick could mean for tribes
Rep. Ryan Zinke has long listened to Montana tribes, but environmentalists say he tilts in favor of extractive industry.
Posted inAugust 8, 2016: Line of Descent
Columbia River ‘shadow tribes’ face a housing crisis
The feds have promised lodging at traditional fish camps — but haven’t delivered.
Posted inArticles
In Washington, the Nooksack 306 fight to stay in their tribe
An internecine battle rages over tribal membership and identity.
Posted inApril 4, 2016: A Land Divided
Can a legal victory make Indian Country whole again?
For over a century, federal law has split Native American land holdings into tiny pieces. A settlement unites some of the splinters, but at a steep cost.
Posted inArticles
Renewable energy on tribal lands stalls out
Is the Bureau of Indian Affairs delaying wind and solar projects?
Posted inGoat
Tribes now prosecute non-Native offenders, Alaska scrambles to catch up
“I am a Native American statistic. I am a survivor of sexual and physical violence.” So began a 2012 speech by Tulalip Tribes vice chairwoman Deborah Parker supporting the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). The man who abused Parker in the 1970s – as well as the men who raped her aunt a decade later […]
Posted inFebruary 4, 2013: Making Good on the Badlands
Will the Badlands become the first tribal national park?
Oglala Lakota leaders hope to transform their bombed-out Badlands and help lift the tribe out of poverty, but it won’t be easy.