Tag Archives: First Stewards

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)

Coastal Tribes Convene to Tackle Climate Change

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Symposium at Smithsonian will bring together indigenous and Western knowledge

On Washington’s rugged Pacific coast, the Quinault Indian Nation has depended on salmon for thousands of years. But the glaciers that feed the Quinault and Queets Rivers and sustain these salmon populations are in retreat because of climate change, threatening the very survival of the salmon.

In Alaska, native villages are pulling up stakes and moving to new ground as the permafrost beneath them melts and erodes due to warming global temperatures.

In the U.S. Pacific Islands rainfall and stream levels are decreasing while storm intensity, sea level, and atmospheric and oceanic temperatures are on the rise. Communities are threatened by the resulting decline in underwater aquifers and increases in land-based pollution, coral bleaching, fire risk, hillside and shoreline erosion, and altered fish abundance and distribution.

All around the United States, coastal indigenous people are confronted with loss of food, loss of land, loss of a way of life due to global climate change. But they are working to adapt, as they’ve adapted to changing conditions for millennia.

Coastal indigenous people, led by the Hoh, Makah, and Quileute Tribes and the Quinault Indian Nation tribes located in Washington state, will host the inaugural First Stewards symposium, to be held July 17-20 in Washington, D.C. This national event will examine the impact of climate change on indigenous coastal cultures and explore solutions based on millennia of traditional ecological knowledge.

Hundreds of native leaders, witnesses and climate scientists will join policy-makers and non-government organizations for groundbreaking dialogue in what is planned to be an annual meeting at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian.

Regional panels will share climate adaptation strategies from coastal and island ecosystems nationwide where Indian Country, Alaskan Natives and indigenous U.S. Pacific Islanders are at the forefront, creating an incubator for climate change solutions. Tribal regulatory environments allow for demonstrations of solutions to pressing needs, such as renewable energy and adaptation strategies for villages.

The symposium is a partnership between the tribal and Pacific Island indigenous communities with scientists and governmental and non-governmental organizations including the National Congress of American Indians, NOAA Office of National Marine Sanctuaries and National Marine Fisheries Service, Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian, The Nature Conservancy, and Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council. Other partners include American Native Renewables; EA Engineering, Science, and Technology; Salmon Defense, Uncas Consulting Services; and United South and Eastern Tribes.

For more information, visit www.firststewards.org.

Contacts: Debbie Preston, Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission, dpreston@nwifc.org (360) 780-1295; Robin Stanton, The Nature Conservancy, rstanton@tnc.org, (425)478-5641