Conditions may have improved, but Native American tribes in South Dakota say they're still reeling from the recent blizzard that left many stranded without vital resources. That's prompted renewed calls for improved aid to make it through future weather events.

The storm cut off roads to areas such as the Pine Ridge reservation, forcing some residents to burn clothing and furniture to stay warm. State Sen. Troy Heinert, D-Mission, a member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, said the conditions there were extremely dangerous, too. He said tribes already have limited resources and can only do so much to prepare.

"Considerable investments in roads and bridges and equipment," he said, "manpower is going to be needed if we're going to continue to have storms like this."

He called on local, state and federal leaders to ensure infrastructure needs and emergency planning for tribal areas receive priority. In response to the current storm, Gov. Kristi Noem ordered expanded National Guard missions to help affected tribes, including hauling firewood from the Black Hills.

Heinert said that assistance was a huge help, but noted that residents are still having trouble getting to their livestock. Tribal governments have their own emergency preparedness plans, but often lack enough snow-removal equipment to prevent snowdrifts from swallowing up fields, as well as surrounding roads.

"What we found down here in Rosebud is we had no place to put the snow," he said. "There was so much and it was so deep, and it was so heavy."

Because first responders had trouble reaching homes, Heinert and other local leaders said, a 12-year-old boy died after suffering a medical emergency. Because of term limits, Heinert won't be back in office in the new legislative session, but he said he will continue to serve as a voice for remote tribal areas in need of additional support.

Indigenous leaders are traveling through the Northwest to highlight the plight of dwindling fish populations in the region.

The All Our Relations Journey is in Lewiston today and Saturday to call for the removal of four lower Snake River dams that are a barrier to salmon migration. Julian Matthews, a coordinator for Nimiipuu Protecting the Environment, will speak at the event and said saving the endangered salmon in Idaho waters is crucial for tribes.

"We don't want to go out and catch a couple of fish, man," he said. "This is a treaty right as per our agreement, and we want the U.S. government to hold up their end of it. And if the salmon go extinct, then they're not."

The journey started in Olympia earlier this week and is at Hells Gate State Park in Lewiston today and Saturday. It will be in Seattle on Sunday.

Matthews said abundant salmon populations also ensure orcas on the West Coast are fed. He explained that the term "journey" refers to humans' shared connection with the environment.

"We're looking at all our relations as the orcas, salmon, people, forests and living things being connected," he said. "So we're all related."

The campaign is traveling with an eight-foot steel sculpture created by the Lummi Nation in Northwest Washington. It's urging the Biden administration and Congress to protect and restore the region's endangered fish populations.


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Little Priest Tribal College in Winnebago says its student body and campus are growing - and so are its options for people to study in STEM fields.

Little Priest has always offered some health and science courses, but college Vice President of Finance and Operations Mark Vasina said the two-year school is also creating pathways to higher education for its graduates.

It has transfer agreements with several area colleges - in many cases, with free tuition for getting a bachelor's degree - including Wayne State in Wayne, Nebraska, and Briarcliff University in Sioux City, Iowa.

Vasina said one Briarcliff agreement allows Little Priest health-science grads to earn a nursing degree in two years, tuition free.

"Here on the reservation, we have the Twelve Clans Hospital, and they have a constant need - as all over the country - for nurses," said Vasina. "But they also need other lab technicians, and people who are trained in science and technology applications."

This month, Little Priest broke ground on a 12,000 square foot science building. In addition to government agencies, the reservation is home to Ho-Chunk Farms, which employs some of the school's diversified ag students.

Vasina says Little Priest is helping to build a skilled workforce in an area where employers sometimes struggle to fill positions because of the town's small size and distance from metropolitan areas.

An ongoing issue on the Winnebago reservation is water quality, because of excessive mineral content and other contaminants. Vasina pointed to water monitoring as another local need for STEM-trained individuals.

"We also have our EPA," said Vasina. "We have water testing, we have our Department of Natural Resources - all of these programs are starving for qualified individuals who are trained in modern lab techniques."

And Little Priest offers dual-enrollment courses at three area high schools, which Vasina said is one way they generate interest and promote readiness in potential future students.

"We're reaching backwards into the high school and middle school," said Vasina, "as well as forward to the four-year schools, so that students can recognize that coming here leads them into something even greater and better beyond."

The college celebrated its 25th anniversary this month and is seeing record enrollment. Since summer 2020, tuition has been free for all students.

Today is National Voter Registration Day, and in Montana, Indigenous advocates are working to register people and get out the vote.

As part of its civic engagement initiative, Western Native Voice is encouraging Indigenous Americans to register to vote and cast a ballot in the next election ... and they are doing it via a drive-through voter registration effort in Billings.

Adam Beaves-Fisher, deputy director of government and political relations for Western Native Voice, is strongly encouraging Indigenous people to register, get involved in the democratic process and continue to be engaged, contrary to what has happened in the past.

"Native Americans have been disenfranchised from the process historically, as well as voting in lower rates," Beaves-Fisher explained. "We're really making sure that we're creating that tradition across our communities: not only voting, but being engaged in the civic process."

The event takes place in the Western Native Voice office parking lots on 25th Street West in Billings. It starts at 11 a.m. and runs until 7 p.m.

Beaves-Fisher pointed out staying involved in the process is important for every American voter, but especially so for Indigenous people who face unique barriers when it comes to casting a ballot. He added it has become increasingly important for Native Americans to have a louder voice in the democratic process because of the barriers they have faced in the past.

"Some of the real barriers are just life in rural Montana," Beaves-Fisher observed. "When you have consolidated polling locations, uneven registration hours or voting hours, changing laws about the process creates a lot of confusion for every voter."

Today's drive-through event will feature a variety of voter-related activities, including updating voter registration information, signing up for mail-in voting and first-time voter registration.