Arontius of Bygelswade

.....There is a Pagan Journal to which I subscribe that had a snippet of an article mentioning Native American Tribes restoring their homelands. TBT's home tribe was mentioned specifically. The original article came from National Geographic. I'll follow the trail back to the original once I get home, but thought TBT might be interested in this little bit...

"Restoring Native Lands: The latest issue of National Geographic Magazine has a fascinating feature on how several Native American Tribes are reversing years of environmental abuse on their ancestral homes, restoring the lands that were once taken from them.

“In 1979 the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of Montana became the first in the nation to set aside tribal land—92,000 acres of the Flathead Reservation’s mountains and meadows—as wilderness. Since then, the Nez Perce have acquired 16,286 acres of ancestral lands in northeast Oregon that they will manage solely to benefit fish and wildlife. The Assiniboine and Sioux tribes in northeastern Montana are working to bring back bison on the Fort Peck Reservation. In Minnesota the Chippewa, or Ojibwa, have restored a ravaged walleye population at Red Lake. And on the Fort Apache Reservation in Arizona the threatened Apache trout is finding a new home, and the forest is now managed with ecology, not just lumber, in mind.”

There has been much talk lately on how Pagans can be leaders and agents of change regarding our current environmental problems, perhaps the quiet good stewardship of these tribal nations can become a model for our own modest lands. An ethic of responsibility and interconnectedness."

.....Maybe it is time for the Native Americans to take control of the United States government? I doubt they could do any worse than the establishment. Although I speak in general terms, I'm sure there are plenty of BAD examples of how NOT to be a Native American as well.

.....Aaron / Arontius.