First Stewards Incorporates, Sends Resolution to Congress and President Obama

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Resolution 8 28

Ed Johnstone, Quinault Indian Nation fisheries policy representative, speaks from the heart about the cultural and spiritual importance of QIN homelands means to him.

(August 28, 2012) Climate change is occurring rapidly, creating an urgent need for the world to make use of indigenous ways of adapting and maintaining the resiliency that has served ancient coastal cultures for thousands of years.

That was the message delivered by representatives of most of the indigenous coastal people of the United States when they gathered last month in Washington, D.C., for the First Stewards Symposium, where their unified voices called for action on climate change.
The symposium was created to gather the voices and create a mechanism for the indigenous people of the United States to engage with governments, non-governmental agencies and others to help mitigate and adapt to climate change.

The very fabric of indigenous societies is threatened by the over-development of coastlines; alteration of freshwater streams and lakes; destruction of life-giving watersheds; destruction of reefs; and the decline of marine and terrestrial species. These have been exacerbated by climate change, creating astonishing changes in coastal natural systems that indigenous cultures are witnessing.

A resolution drafted by the newly incorporated First Stewards and sent to the U.S. Congress and President Obama requests formal recognition of the coastal indigenous people and their expertise in understanding and adapting to changes in their natural systems. The resolution asks for the federal government to “consult with our tribal governments and indigenous communities for guidance in all policies that affect our way of life and to support our management efforts, which will strengthen America’s resiliency and ability to adapt to climate change.”

“On our small islands in the Pacific, we indigenous Hawaiian, Samoan, Chamorro and Refaluwasch have survived for millennia by adhering to our ancestors’ wisdom of fashioning tools, thatching roofs and conserving resources in preparation of anticipated weather, both good and bad,” said Kitty Simonds, vice chairman of the First Stewards board of directors and Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council executive director. “Through its 2012 symposium and subsequent incorporation, the First Stewards of the Pacific Islands and the coastal and inland nations and tribes of North America have resolved to use our generational knowledge and the support of our youth, elders, friends and scientists to prepare our communities for the impacts of climate change, which are already evident in our oceans, glaciers, ice packs, estuaries, waterways and coastlines.”

The coastal tribes of Washington, which hosted the symposium, already see changes happening in their own villages. “Preparing for winter is an ages old principal,” said Micah McCarty, Makah tribal chairman and chairman of the First Stewards board of directors. “What we must prepare for now is staggering, but we must design regional and national pathways to create ways of working together to adapt to and reduce the speed of these changes. We can make a little more time to create these new strategies.”

In Alaska, many villages are out of time. Permafrost is no longer permanent in many places and will not support the infrastructure as it has for millennia. Melting sea ice has reduced the availability of food for animals and humans alike.

“Our vulnerable communities are being devastated by climate change in Alaska,” said Mike Williams, a member of the First Stewards board of directors, who hails from the Alaskan community of Akiak and is a member of the National Tribal Environmental Council executive committee. “We would like to see First Stewards work that will result in actions by Congress, and state and federal agencies for immediate assistance and relief.”
Simonds added,“E hume i ka malo, e ho`okala i ka ihe. We are girding our loincloth and sharpening our spears to undertake this project and are asking President Obama, the United States Congress and others to engage in sincere and earnest consultation with us, so our cultures, our peoples and our world can survive and thrive.”

A copy of the resolution can be found at www.firststewards.org
For more information, contact: Micah McCarty, chairman, First Stewards board of directors, Makah tribal chairman, (360) 645-2201; Kitty Simonds , vice chairman, First Stewards board of directors, Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council executive director, (808)522-8220.

First Stewards Resolution to Congress, President

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First Stewards Resolution July 20, 2012, signed
The First Stewards are now a 501(c)3 non-profit corporation and have elected officers and sent a resolution to Congress and President Obama.

RESOLUTION of the First Stewards
Coastal Peoples Address Climate Change Symposium
National Museum of the American Indian
Washington, DC, on July 20, 2012

Whereas, we, the indigenous peoples, were and are the First Stewards of the lands
and waters of North America, Alaska and the Pacific Islands, having lived in
these areas millennia before the establishment of the United States;
Whereas, about 300 First Stewards and others convened July 17 to 20, 2012, at the
Smithsonian’s National Museum of American Indian, Washington, DC, at the
First Stewards: Coastal Peoples Address Climate Change Symposium;

Whereas, the Symposium reemphasized the First Stewards’ awareness of the
interconnectedness of the clouds, forest, valleys, land, streams, fishponds, sea,
lakes, canyons and other elements of the natural and spiritual world, and the
use of their expertise and methodologies to assure responsible stewardship
of them;

Whereas, the First Stewards have experienced changes, including the deterioration
of their culture, language, values and land tenures systems, that have resulted
in over?development of the coastlines, alteration of freshwater streams and
lakes, destruction of life?giving watersheds, decimation of reefs, and the
decline of marine and terrestrial species;

Whereas, these changes to the natural world have been exacerbated by climate
change and jeopardize the very fabric of indigenous societies;

Whereas, the First Stewards from the West Coast have witnessed that the glaciers
nourishing our rivers and spirits have retreated and disappeared; that
changes in ocean acidity and hypoxia jeopardize the marine ecosystems,
which support our culture, health and economies; that weather events are
more frequently severe and unpredictable; and that our Treaties and inherent
rights are at risk due to the inability of regulatory agencies to meet their trust
responsibilities to sustainably manage resources, in consultation with Native
Americans, that support our cultures’ resilience to climate change;

Whereas, the First Stewards from Alaska found that the very land on which our
communities are built is increasingly compromised and eroding; our animals
and fish are increasingly diseased and displaced; and our northern waters are
facing expanded resource development and vessel traffic; and that these
changes to our air, lands, waters, and ice are endangering our subsistence
way of life and consequently, our cultures, languages, and health;

Whereas, the First Stewards from the Pacific Islands are facing invasive species,
erosion, changing rainfall, intensified typhoons/hurricanes, tsunamis/tidal
waves, and warming of the ocean, air and land, as well as regulations that do not
reflect indigenous expertise and consequently have unforeseen impacts on the
environment and our culture;

Whereas, the First Stewards representatives from the Great Lakes, East Coast and
Gulf of Mexico noted environmental concerns regarding the disastrous oil spill
in the Gulf of Mexico and cultural concerns regarding the disappearance of
sacred plants and found that their climate change adaptation plans including
restoration efforts, such as dam removal, and traditional management
methods, such as prescribed burning, are being obstructed by local, state and
federal attempts to define them and limit their native rights;

Therefore Be It Resolved, that the First Stewards call on the United States
government to formally recognize us and our expertise and to consult with our
tribal governments and indigenous communities for guidance in all policies that
affect our way of life and to support our management efforts, which will
strengthen America’s resiliency and ability to adapt to climate change, and that
this resolution be sent to the President of the United States and appropriate
Congressional committees and government agencies; and

Be It Further Resolved, that First Stewards become incorporated in order to organize
future symposia and to effectively act upon our resolutions.
Micah McCarty (West Coast Region) Kitty Simonds (Pacific Islands Region)
Mike Williams (Alaska Region) Jeff Mears (Great Lakes, East Coast,
Gulf of Mexico Region)

Witnesses: Hold on to Traditions

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“I’ve seen, I’ve heard, I’ve felt, I can’t turn away,” said Kalei Nu`uhiwa, an official witness for the First Stewards climate symposium that wrapped up Friday.

She was one of four witnesses whose duty it was to listen to every panel, listen to all the questions and comments, and ensure that what was learned from the symposium will be carried forward.

“We’re all here wanting to be heard, wanting to have a say,” she said. “To be able to tell our stories is spiritually uplifting.”

“Native people are the litmus paper for the world. We still subsist off our own lands. We’re still dependent on the health of our ecosystems. We heard that in every panel’s discussion. We still live by the seasonality of fish, sea mammals, birds, berries – it’s not a choice.”

The four witnesses, Clarita Lefthand Begay, Ted Herrera, Nelson Kanuk, and Nu’uhiwa, are creating a report that includes 65 recommendations for the future, she said.

Herrera gave his time for speaking to a woman from Louisiana, the deputy chief of a tribe that lives on the Gulf of Mexico. “I watch TV news and every five minutes there’s a BP commercial saying how well the Gulf of Mexico is doing, that it’s clean, it’s healthy. But it’s not,” he said.

“It’s not clean,” the young woman said. “The oil is still out there, ruining our fish and shrimp. I’m a shrimper with my dad and it’s been a year since we’ve gone fishing.”

“These are motivations for us to act,” witness Clarita Begay said. “If we’re going to survive, we have to do something, we have to do something now.”

“As indigenous people, we have to understand our own stories on a really deep level. They have instructions on how we’re supposed to be human. We have to listen to the fish and the plants—what they tell us is the keys for our survival. We have to use the United Nation’s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People.”

“As a youth, I’ve learned so much,” said Nelson Kanuk, 17, from Alaska. “I’ve learned more about how all indigenous people are related now, because of these problems we’re facing today.”

“I heard from all the panels about unity, the need for us to unify, to be together to solve this issue. If we can’t slow or stop this big problem we’re facing, we’re going to have to find a way to work together to adapt.“

He also spoke of the need for leadership, and to link that leadership with intergenerational binding. “As youth, we have so much to learn from our elders, especially the traditional knowledge—we need the wisdom from our elders. We need the strength of empowerment from our ancestors. They survived so much, over so many millennia they adapted and survived. Now we have to survive big changes in just a few years. It’s important for us to remember our roots, where we came from, and who we are. That’s why we need our elders. Without their light we are walking in the darkness.”

“Hold on to your traditions,” said Kalei Nu`uhiwa. “It’s going to be a big ride.”

Get Mad and Get Involved

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Ann Marie Chischilly, a Navajo Nation member, advocates for using anger to motivate involvement in climate change solutions.

“I want my son to say I went to Washington, D.C. and started a climate change revolution,” said Ann Marie Chischilly, a Navajo Nation tribal member. “Get mad! Get motivated and get involved.”

Chischilly , who coordinates the Institute for Tribal Environmental Professional’s work with Northern Arizona University and tribes and federal and state agencies, was a member of the Looking Forward panel for the First Stewards symposium on climate change.

“It has been good to validate these many stories of pain and not having anyone say ‘that didn’t happen,” said Chischilly. “That’s the beginning of healing and allows us to move forward and take action.” She said it was important to use the anger to speak up in all government forums and to teach children about climate change so the action continues.

“The United States is looking to us for answers,” said Terry Williams, Tulalip tribal member and commissioner of the tribe’s Treaty Rights office. “When they destroyed so many of these natural systems, they didn’t record what was there. Now they are coming to us for help.”

Williams said it was important to retain ownership of traditional knowledge. “We need to tie ourselves into these strategies and not just hand over our knowledge,” Williams said. “We can be the leadership that is missing in this crisis.”

International engagement with the native cultures of the world is important to make the voices of tribal people louder and harder to ignore, said Gina Cosentino, of the Nature Conservancy. Cosentino is responsible for integrating a human rights-based approach to conservation to achieve sustainable livelihoods and benefits to indigenous and tribal peoples and other communal problems.

“We can be a part of the solution,” said Pualele Penehuro “Pene” Lefales. Lefales is the manager of the International Affairs Office with the Meteorological Service of New Zealand Ltd. ”We must no longer portray ourselves as just victims of climate change, but show that we have a lot to offer.”

You can watch this panel on a webcast at www.firststewards.org.

Bring Indigenous Voices and Knowledge to Adaptation Planning

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John Daigle,a member of the Penobscot Indian Nation, located in Maine and a professor, talked about the threats to native species and what native people bring to climate change problem solving.

John Daigle, a member of the Penobscot Indian Nation, located in Maine, learned to weave baskets of brown ash as a child, taught by his basketmaker grandparents. He was the first in his family to attend college, and basketmaking and basket selling helped support his family for generations.

Now those brown ash, central to the life and economy of the Wabanaki people, are under threat from climate change, compounded by the invasive emerald ash borer. Warmer conditions mean the range where the brown ash thrives will move north. Within 100 years, the most favorable conditions will be found north of the border, in Canada. “What are the implications?” Daigle asked attendees at the First Stewards climate symposium. “One hundred years is not a long time.”

Daigle was part of a panel representing indigenous people from the Great Lakes, East Coast, and Gulf of Mexico.

Bringing the voice and knowledge of indigenous people into efforts to address these kinds of threats is essential, Daigle said.

The emerald ash borer arrived in Detroit in the mid-90s and was identified as a threat to ash trees by 2002, he said. It spread like wildfire from Michigan into surrounding states. Basketmakers in Maine heard about the threat through their networks of basketmakers, and alerted researchers that this was a coming threat for Maine.

The Maine Indian Basketmakers Alliance is now part of the Cooperative Emerald Ash Borer Project, along state and federal agencies, and the University of Maine.

Other panelists were Natalie Michelle, Penobscot and Passamaquoddy and a graduate student at University of Maine; Jeff Mears, Jeff Mears, Environmental Area Manager, Oneida Tribe of Indians of Wisconsin; and Seth Moore, Director of Biology and Environment, Grand Portage Band ofChippewa. The panel was organized and moderated by Ciro LoPinto, District Conservationist, Natural Resources Conservation Service, US Department of Agriculture

You can watch the panel webcast here: http://firststewards.org/videos/day-3/

Indigenous People Have Much to Teach About Adapting

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Lino Olopai, from the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands, opens the Pacific Islands panel with a traditional dance.

“A native system adapts to climate change. It’s based on observation and we must implement our observations,” said native Hawaiian Paulokaleioku Timothy Bailey.

Bailey, a manager for Haleakala National Park in Hawaii, was one of the representatives on the Pacific Islands panel of the First Stewards climate change symposium.

The panel represented a people who collectively live on U.S. commonwealth or states approximately equal to the size of the state of Maryland. But where they live also includes an ocean area that is 50 percent of the United States exclusive economic zone.

Along with the native Hawaiians, other indigenous cultures are the Chamorro, Samoan and Refaluwasch people.

“Small changes have big impacts on little islands,” said Ufagafa Ray Tulafono., director of American Samoa Department of Marine and Wildlife Resources. Samoan people have seen the depletion of some fish resources and experienced a terrible typhoon that underscored the importance of food security.

Since that typhoon, an unusual lull in typhoons has occurred in Guam where the annual typhoon has been replaced by 11 years of no typhoons, said Joseph Artero-Cameron, president of the department of Chamorro Affairs, Guam. But rains at unusual times are causing native fruits such as the mango to rot from a fungus previously unknown. Too much rain at the wrong time also overwhelms stormwater systems, suffusing waters around the islands with oils and chemicals from modern living.

The threats these islands face are new and occurring faster than before, but preserving the native ability to adapt is key to preserving the cultures of indigenous people.

“Native stewardship is based on observation,” Bailey said.“That’s how we become great stewards. That’s how we learn to adapt by observing and understanding the threat. The answers are all around us.”

You can watch a webcast of the panel at www.firststewards.org.

Indigenous People Testify to Senate on Climate Change

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The U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs held oversight hearing on the “Impacts of Environmental Changes on Treaty Rights, Traditional Lifestyles, and Tribal Homelands” on July 19. The purpose of the hearing was to examine the disproportionate impact that climate changes have on tribal homelands and the resources available to mitigate and adapt to the changing environment. Several people attending the First Stewards climate change symposium attended and testified.

Alaskans see the land beneath their feet disappearing

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Mike Williams is an Iditarod racer, a subsistence hunter, a veteran of the US Army and chief of the Yupiit Nation. He’s also a wellness counselor in the rural village of Akiak, where he lives. The village, like many in Alaska, is losing ground to erosion as the permafrost melts and storms surge due to climate change.

Williams is the moderator for the panel of Alaskans who came to testify at First Stewards climate symposium being held at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian. They represented rural villages from the coasts and interior of Alaska, all of which are under threat.

Akiak has lost the regional hospital and staff housing that dates back to the 1900s, Williams said. Even more devastating was the loss of the cemetery. Workers from the village spent a whole summer relocating the remains of ancestors to higher ground. Williams said he spent a lot of time talking with people from his village about their anxiety and grief as they worked with the remains.

Symposium attendees also heard from Sen. Mark Begich, D-AK, who said he has first-hand experience with climate change. He told about a photo of himself as a child, sitting in front of a big glacier calving behind him. Recently he took his young son to the same place, and took the same picture – but there was no glacier, only snow-capped mountains in the distance.

Other members of the Alaska panel were:  Erin Dougherty, an attorney for the Native American Rights Fund; Stanley Tom, from Newtok, a village that is in the process of relocating ot higher ground; Stanley Tocktoo, from Shishmare; and Pat Plentikoff, from St. George.

You can read more about them at http://firststewards.org/, and also see a webcast of the panel.

Pictures from Wednesday’s Symposium

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Vi Riebe, Hoh tribal member, talks to Lillian Rivas’ mother off camera while the 10-year-old weaves a cedar bracelet as demonstrated by Riebe and her daughter, Judy Cathers.


Regional panels for the First Stewards Symposium began today as well as the children’s activities shared by the indigenous people who attended. An album of these pictures is here.  You can watch webcasts of the First Stewards symposium at www.firststewards.org.