Supreme /Lower Court Decisions:   

No decisions relevant to Tribal food and agriculture were handed down at the time of publication.  

Tribal-Congressional News: 

Kansas tribal leaders eager to broaden access to traditional, technological health care – Kansas Reflector 

• Prairie Band Potawatomi Tribe member, Richard Adame, encouraged health officials on Monday to work with tribes to communicate specific information on the qualities of natural remedies that was lost to many people due to the rise and dominance of the pharmaceutical sector. 

• Misty Slater, chief of staff to the Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska, said, “The food-as-medicine pilot that the Iowa tribe is starting at the clinic … we do also mean things like medicinal teas and herbs. We have specifically created and preserved wild spaces for the foraging. And, for the wild plants, we have created codes to prevent overharvesting. If you get a permit to take these plants, you are going to share with elders who are not able to pick them.” 

In Alaska, Affordable Farms Are Hard To Find – Modern Farmer 

• IFAI Tribal Youth Summit alumni is mentioned in the story; “Nels Christensen plans to farm 40 acres of his family’s allotment land, 145 miles northeast of Fairbanks in the sovereign nation of Gwichyaa Zhee, also called Fort Yukon. Allotments are part of a federal program that requires Native Americans to ask for land back that the U.S. government originally took from them. Christensen dreams of returning to Fort Yukon to farm that land, yet he is hesitant to start in a place far from infrastructure and markets. Although he has gardened since childhood, he started farming one year ago, at age 21. He predicts it will be “difficult to have stability and prosper” in Fort Yukon at this early stage.” 

U of A Receives Tribal New Beginning Grant From USDA to Support Native American Students – University of Arkansas  

• The U.S. Department of Agriculture has awarded the U of A nearly $500,000 to support the Life from the Land Initiative to recruit and retain Native American students at the U of A. 
• The Life from the Land Initiative will engage leaders from Native American governments, starting with project partners from the Cherokee and Muscogee Nations, to better understand how to serve the needs of Native American students. 

UArizona experts suggest solutions to encourage food, water and economic security in a changing climate – University of Arizona News 

• Robert C. Robbins, president of the University of Arizona, established a commission to find solutions to the problems Arizona agriculture is facing due to the state’s fast changing climate, and the results are available in a new report. 
• Among the recommendations is an initiative to expand partnerships with the tribal agriculture community to learn from historical agricultural knowledge and exchange ideas. 

Farm Bill funds rural development and the federal food program – Navajo-Hopi Observer  

• One of the earliest federal funding laws is the Farm Bill. The original version of it was prepared and approved by Congress in 1933, only ten years after Native Americans were granted citizenship on their own territories, which was nearly a century ago. 
• The 2018 Farm Bill was the first to mention Tribe. “So the biggest one, and one of the easiest ones for Congress to make was just adding, ‘and tribes,’” said Carly Griffith Hotvedt, director of the Indigenous Food and Agriculture Initiative. “Anytime it said a ‘state may’ or an ‘organization may’ or a ‘business may,’ we want to make sure it said, ‘and tribes.’ Because historically, tribes have not been able to access some programs just because they weren’t delineated or designated as eligible.” 

Farming native fish in the Salish Sea can be done safely, responsibly – The Seattle Times 

• We are at a moment in human history when fact and science must shape our opinions on how we sustain humanity while fighting the climate crisis that threatens our very existence. Science tells us ocean farming of native fish is the most environmentally sustainable solution available to produce food for our world. 
• The Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe prides itself on our achievements protecting and sustaining our environment and salmon habitat, and we firmly believe that native species fish farming is our 21st-century opportunity to continue providing for our community while respecting and protecting our Salish Sea. 

US (CA): CDFA announces $11.67M urban agriculture grant program – Hortidaily 

• The California Department of Food and Agriculture’s Office of Farm to Fork has announced their new $11.67 million Urban Agriculture Grant Program (UAPG), a one-time, competitive grant to fund programs and projects that will enhance the viability of agriculture in urban areas across the State of California. The deadline for applications is October 23, 2023, at 5 p.m. PT. 

• The UAGP program is designed to support projects that enhance urban agriculture, or the cultivation, processing, and distribution of agricultural products in urban settings, including things like inground small plot cultivation, raised beds, vertical production, warehouse farms, mushroom growing, urban forestry and tree care, community gardens, rooftop farms, hydroponic, aeroponic, and aquaponic facilities, and other innovations. Applicants may apply to one of the two tracks described below. 

Chico State secures large grant to research effects of climate change on ag – Chico Enterprise-Record  

• Chico State’s Center for Regenerative Agriculture and Resilient Systems — a program based at the University Farm, off Hegan Lane south of Chico — will research the effects of climate change on agriculture, thanks to a $6 million grant, the university announced in a press release Wednesday. 
• The Modoc Nation partnership will allow the university to promote its climate goals with tribal lands in the state’s northern regions, according to the release. 

Minnesota Tribe Sets Enforceable Rules To Safeguard Wild Rice and Water Supply – Great Lakes Now 

• As enormous grain farms, industrial-sized dairies, and hog facilities start to encircle the White Earth Band’s 829,440-acre reservation close to the North Dakota border, their way of life is being threatened. 
• All of Minnesota’s farming counties have recorded damaging nutrient pollution caused by agricultural operations, which also result in significant groundwater withdrawals for livestock and irrigation. 
• In response, the White Earth Nation is putting in place a number of enforced, obligatory pollution control and water conservation measures that go against the conventional wisdom of voluntary practices that the federal government and states have supported for the past 50 years. 

Colorado River Indian Tribes chair speaks at Mesa food and agriculture forum – KJZZ 

• Amelia Flores, the chairwoman of the Colorado River Indian Tribes, traveled almost 170 miles on Tuesday to the Mesa Convention Center to attend the Arizona Good Food Forum and Expo. 

• Speaking on behalf of her constituents, Flores expressed that tribal farmers aren’t always respected. “We see them out there working and we wonder why aren’t they in other fields, but that’s their calling, is to be farmers,” she said. 

Northern Cheyenne plant education event aims to grow community connections at Sheridan Food Forest – Wyoming Public Media 

• Northern Cheyenne tribal members Linwood Tall Bull and his son Randall know a thing or two about plants – the father and son duo are ethnobotanists and educators from Chief Dull Knife Community College on the Cheyenne Reservation in Montana. The pair will share stories and traditional uses of Indigenous plants at the Sheridan Food Forest on Thursday, August 31st. 

Klamath Tribes raise concerns for public health near toxic algae bloom – KOBI-TV NBC5 / KOTI-TV NBC2 

• The Oregon Health Authority has issued a recreational use advisory for the lake due to a toxic level of cyanobacteria in the water. 
• The lake has been a significant point for the tribe for many generations, providing an ecosystem for many culturally significant plants and animals. “We’ve been screaming for a long time that you cannot poison the local environment without also poisoning people,” said Tribal Chairman Clayton Dumont Jr. 

South Dakota Mines Launches New Center for Sustainable Solutions – Newscenter1 

• A brand-new transdisciplinary Center for Sustainable Solutions has been established by South Dakota Mines. The facility will serve as a focal point for research and development in a variety of areas related to sustainability, such as water quality, emerging pollutants, agriculture, infrastructure, carbon capture, biofuels, bioplastics, environmental stewardship, and others. 
• The center will help serve the needs of a wide range of partners, from assisting the Department of Defense (DoD) in mitigating emerging contaminants to working closely with Tribal nations to ensure water quality to providing new tools for agricultural producers to increase yield to helping build resilient infrastructure that survives extreme weather to improving the management and capture of carbon emissions for a range of industries. 

Cherokee awaits seat in US House – ICT News 

• It has been a long wait, and everyone is still waiting, but at some point – to fulfill federal treaty obligations – the U.S. House of Representatives will seat Kim Teehee as delegate for the Cherokee Nation. 
• As a delegate, Teehee will not have the same powers as the elected representatives from the various states. She cannot participate in a floor vote in the chamber, but otherwise may take part in most other House procedures.