Summary : Recently, at Vermont Law School’s annual Solutions Conference, a panel discussion highlighted the need for a stronger indigenous voice in natural resource management. The three speakers came from vastly different cultural and professional backgrounds, but all three agreed that local, state, and federal resource managers have repeatedly ignored indigenous concerns. Currently, indigenous peoples are making progress and some have secured a meaningful role in resource management decisions. However, they still have a long way to go. Environmental issues still disproportionately affect indigenous communities and economic development interests often force indigenous concerns to the sidelines.

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By Scott Lake

On Friday, March 28, Vermont Law School (VLS) held a panel discussion, revealing  the need for a stronger indigenous voice in natural resource policy. Three individuals who work on behalf of indigenous communities spoke about environmental threats to native peoples and cultures. In all three cases, native communities are struggling to maintain their cultural independence in the face of resource mismanagement, pollution, and governmental indifference.

While resource management decisions attempt to balance costs and benefits, indigenous people often bear a disproportionate share of the costs. Moreover, indigenous views on the connection between people, land, water, and wildlife often conflict with state and federal resource policy.

N. Bruce Duthu, a professor at Dartmouth College and a member of the Houma people of southern Louisiana, spoke of his tribe’s struggle to hold onto their lands and maintain their livelihoods. The Houma are rapidly loosing their lands to subsidence and erosion. The Mississippi River—now channelized by miles of dikes, levees, and canals – no longer deposits the sediment needed to replenish the Houma lands. And, according to Duthu, climate change is making matters worse. Flooding is more common and storms are more severe. Simultaneously, the fisheries on which the Houma people traditionally depend are dying. Young Houma men, who once trained to be fisherman, now go to work in the oil industry.  This is largely responsible for the collapse of the coastal fishery. Therefore, the Houma people have a “love-hate relationship” with oil.  Because the Houma people are not a federally recognized tribe, they are forced to rely on the State of Louisiana to stand up to oil interest on their behalf.  This rarely happens since the oil industry plays such a large role in state politics.  In fact one state legislator has suggested Louisiana replace the pelican on its state flag with the Texaco star.

In Washington State, Larry Campbell, a member of the Swinomish tribe, is working to protect salmon fisheries. The Swinomish and other Western Washington tribes traditionally depended on pacific salmon for sustenance and they considered themselves wealthy when salmon were plentiful. But now, with many salmon runs in danger of extinction, the tribes are struggling to assert their right to fish under numerous treaties with the United States. According to Campbell, the right to fish implies an obligation to protect and preserve the salmon. Campbell and other tribal leaders have finally secured a promise of meaningful consultation from State officials. But all too often, Campbell says, non-tribal economic development interests win in both the legislature and the courts.

Finally, Chris Amato, an attorney for EarthJustice, spoke to the VLS audience about the environmental challenges facing the Onondaga people of New York State. According to legend, Onondaga lake, near present-day Syracuse, is the birthplace of the Six Nations—also known as the Iroquois Confederacy. Today, however, the lake is a superfund site. Amato is working with the Onondaga to solve this and other problems by invoking federal anti-pollution laws. Amato works with environmental statutes—such as the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act – that allow tribes to interact with federal regulators as sovereign governments. The tribes have successfully utilized these laws to address “egregious abuses of process” by regulatory agencies. Because the Onondaga’s efforts, and others, tribes are beginning to play a meaningful role in environmental decision-making.

The tragedy is that the original inhabitants of the United States went so long without a voice in natural resource management. To many indigenous peoples, natural resources —such as lakes, forests, and fish—hold cultural and spiritual significance. The fact that indigenous peoples—like the Houma, the Swinomish, and the Onondaga—are often excluded from resource management decisions reveals a gigantic blind spot in environmental policy.

Natural resource planning often proceeds from the premise that managers ought to seek the “highest use” of any given resource. But, as this indigenous rights panel pointed out, the definition of “highest use” is open for debate. Too often, management decisions accommodate only economic interests. However, as Duthu, Campbell, and Amato pointed out, economic development goals often overlook the cultural and spiritual values of indigenous peoples. Management decisions also tend to sacrifice the long-term well-being of indigenous communities for the sake of short-term economic gain. Native peoples should share in land-management decisions on a level equal to federal regulators and state governments.

Scott Lake is a second-year student at Vermont Law School. He will graduate in Spring 2015 with JD and MELP degrees. He is also VJEL’s incoming Senior Article Editor. Before coming to Vermont Law School, Scott lived in Boise, Idaho, where he worked strange, low-paying jobs with peculiar people and played a lot of guitar. He also worked summers as a wildland firefighter with the U.S. Forest Service. He vehemently insists that Idaho has more to offer than potatoes, but so far, we don’t believe him. After graduation, he plans to practice public interest environmental law in the Pacific Northwest, where he hopes to protect wilderness and wildlife from pollution, exploitation, and the Idaho legislature.

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