SYRACUSE, N.Y. - New York environmental groups are teaming up to blend Indigenous knowledge of the land with Western scientific knowledge to strengthen local conservation practices, and restore justice to Native American communities.

The Nature Conservancy donated $800,000 to support its four-year project with the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment at State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry. Neil Patterson Jr., the center's assistant director and a citizen of the Tuscarora Nation, said Indigenous peoples' approach to the environment had been dismissed by some Western scientists. He's optimistic that it's now being acknowledged in local conservation efforts that also will help combat the climate emergency.

"It's really amazing that larger society is looking at the care and sort of reciprocal responsibilities that Indigenous people have with the natural world," he said, "and figuring out that there are some answers in there for our current predicament."

A 2019 U.N. report found that lands managed by Indigenous peoples are declining less rapidly than other lands, because of their stewardship practices. It said at least 25% of the world's land is owned, managed, used or occupied by Indigenous peoples, including about 35% of natural areas that are formally protected.

Peg Olsen, director of The Nature Conservancy in New York, said a core part of the collaboration is getting Indigenous peoples' input on where they want the pilot project to begin, along with new framing of conservancy preserves.

"A partnership with the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment, and Indigenous communities is a pathway to restoring Indigenous people's engagement to these homelands," she said. "So, what we're envisioning with this 're-story-ation' project is to create a new narrative around these lands."

She said this could include anything from renaming preserves with Native languages to territorial acknowledgments, to educational materials that describe Indigenous history and values.

Patterson said he's grateful for allies who are willing to acknowledge the effects of colonization on Indigenous people, and is eager to see what comes next in this state of recovery.

"Folks often talk about reconciliation, certainly in Canada and other parts of the world," he said. "Certainly for the Haudenosaunee people, we're just interested in determining our own future and co-existing together on this planet with settler society."

The road to voting rights for Native Americans has been long, but advocates for indigenous people hope to build on the momentum they've seen in recent years to get more people to the polls.

Native Americans were not granted U.S. citizenship until 1924.

Keaton Sunchild, political director for the group Western Native Voice in Montana, said even as citizens, and with Constitutional amendments ensuring everyone's right to vote, Native Americans struggled to cast their ballots. They faced Jim Crow-style barriers similar to those aimed at Black Americans, such as poll taxes and literacy tests, until the Voting Rights Act of 1965. He said even after the civil-rights legislation, there are still obstacles.

"It was a slow process," Sunchild observed. "There were hurdles along the way and even now there's still barriers and whatnot. Maybe they're not as overt as they were in the beginning, but there's certainly still some challenges to getting folks to the ballot box."

Sunchild pointed out recent legislation in Montana will make voting more difficult for Native Americans. For instance, Native Americans used same-day voter registration more than other groups, but it was curtailed by lawmakers in the 2021 session. They also utilize ballot collecting because voting sites often are far from home and mail service can be unpredictable, but it was limited by lawmakers last year.

He emphasized the recent drawing of Montana's congressional districts also will limit Native Americans' influence on elections.

However, Sunchild noted voter turnout is on the rise, with 63% voting in 2018 and 66% in 2020. His organization is stressing the importance of the 2022 election, which is not a presidential election year but will contain candidates with influence over the state.

"They're making the decisions that impact us on a local level," Sunchild stated. "And so, midterms often allow us to have a full slate of candidates where we're voting on nothing but candidates that are going to actually make a difference."

Indigenous people still are dealing with racist narratives as well. Sunchild said even state lawmakers have questioned why tribal members have the right to vote, and it can make it uncomfortable to speak up about voting rights.

However, the Native American voting bloc has changed recent elections. Sunchild said his group leans on the fact it took a long time for Native Americans to gain the right to vote when they are encouraging people to the polls.

"It's going to take consistent participation from everybody that's already registered," Sunchild urged. "And it's going to take new people coming into the equation, but if we can do that, then ultimately we can make a difference, and we will make a difference. But we need all of us, and it's going to be a team effort."

Wyoming will appeal a recent district court decision affirming Crow tribal hunting rights granted under treaties signed in the 19th century, rights recently affirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Dan Lewerenz, staff attorney for the Native American Rights Fund, said tribal leaders were very clear about maintaining hunting rights before they agreed to move into a reservation on just a portion of lands they had occupied for centuries.

"The Crow tribe made a deal, and they gave up millions and millions of acres of their traditional lands," Lewerenz explained. "And one of the things that they specifically negotiated for: We need to be able to hunt, throughout our lands, even if we're going to give most of those lands up. And that was part of the deal."

Wyoming has refused to recognize treaty hunting rights for more than a century. But in 2019, a case involving Clayvin Herrera of the Crow Tribe, prosecuted for hunting elk in the Bighorn National Forest, made its way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Citing previous lower-court rulings, Wyoming argued the state needed to enforce hunting laws for conservation purposes. The state also claimed national forest lands were occupied, and therefore subject to hunting regulations.

Lewerenz pointed out the conservation landscape has changed dramatically since the lower court rulings 25 years ago, with elk numbers now strong. He added the term "occupied" at the time of the treaty is not equivalent to the federal government creating a national forest.

"And the Supreme Court said no, you've got that all wrong," Lewerenz recounted. "Occupied would have meant settled, people living there, working there. And the national forest laws actually prevent that; you can't build a home in a national forest, you can't live there."

Lewerenz noted Wyoming's ongoing prosecution of tribal hunters has created a chilling effect. If members want to exercise an important right to feed their family, they put themselves at significant risk.

"The act of hunting has spiritual and cultural significance for Crow Indians," Lewerenz asserted. "Elk have spiritual and cultural significance, and provide a primary source of food for a number of people on the Crow Reservation."

ROSEBUD, Neb. -- A lawsuit accusing a Nebraska school district of violating a Lakota family's First Amendment rights and unlawful racial discrimination is headed to court.

The suit was filed after a school employee cut two girls' hair during school lice checks, even after the parents raised concerns.

Rose Godinez, interim legal director for the ACLU of Nebraska, the group representing the family associated with the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, explained hair is considered a sacred symbol that should only be cut by specific people under certain conditions.

"The family explicitly told the school district to stop cutting the students' hair, because it violated their beliefs," Godinez explained. "And despite their pleas, the school district continued to cut the two girls' hair multiple times."

A federal judge recently rejected the Cody Kilgore Unified School District's qualified immunity defense, which shields public officials from liability, clearing the way for the case to proceed to trial.

School officials have claimed educators were simply doing their job protecting public health. The school's written head-lice policy includes no mention of cutting hair.

Godinez noted even though school employees were on clear notice their actions violated students' religious beliefs, the policy was only applied to Native American students. She added the events also brought back historic trauma for the family, when Native American children were forced to assimilate in boarding schools.

"That has been very heavy for them, but they have remained strong in seeking justice not only for their two daughters but also for all Native American students in our schools right now," Godinez stressed.

The judge dismissed a claim the students' due-process protections were violated, but wrote claims focused on free exercise of religion and racial discrimination should move forward. Godinez acknowledged she is looking forward to arguing the case in court, because she believes all students have a right to live true to their beliefs and cultures at school.