Goodshield Aguilar - Protecting the last Wild, Genetically Pure Buffalo

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This workshop will discuss the work being done by the Buffalo Field Campaign, and others, to protect the last wild, genetically pure buffalo in Yellowstone.

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Goodshield Aguilar is a wildlife advocate, musician, artist, filmmaker and green builder. He has dedicated his time and art to speaking on behalf of the last wild, genetically pure buffalo in Yellowstone, Montana from the senseless slaughter program conducted by the Montana department of livestock. He has worked extensively for the last 15 years with the Buffalo Field Campaign, a grass roots media organization that are a year round presence in Yellowstone and has also just recently taken over his Aunt Rosalie Little Thunder's (BFC co-founder) non-profit, Pte Oyate, a tribal outreach project to get more tribal voices involved in protecting our sacred relatives.

 

 

Yvette Collins - The Medicine Horse Way: The Indigenous Peoples of the Americas and their Traditional Horses

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Before colonization and for a period thereafter, horse medicine or the concept of “Spirit Horse Medicine,” played an important role within many Indigenous societies and cultures throughout the Americas. Today, this concept is often represented in paintings, drawings, and Native arts and crafts. Yet few people have had the opportunity to experience how it worked between their Ancestors and this four-legged relative. This workshop will discuss “Horse Medicine,” share examples of the type of healing that can occur as a result, and highlight how it is being utilized once again to help heal The People. This workshop will be offered in a talking circle format, and we will have horses present to help with the teaching process. Participants will be encouraged to share their own stories and to ask any questions they may have regarding this topic.

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Yvette J. Collin is of Cheyenne, Arapaho, Comanche, and Mayan descent on her mother's side, and Nakota, Cherokee, Choctaw and Scottish descent on her father's side. Mrs. Collin is a doctoral candidate and a Fellow at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. Her research is focused on the historical, traditional, and spiritual relationships between the Indigenous Peoples of the Americas and the horse. Her family founded Sacred Way Sanctuary (www.sacredwaysanctuary.org), which is located in Florence, Alabama. They have spent years tracing the oral history and spiritual practices of many of the Native American Peoples with regard to their traditional horse, and gathering representatives of what is left of these endangered creatures for preservation. She is a wife, a mother of five children, and a grandmother.  Mrs. Collin received her B.A. from The Johns Hopkins University (Writing Seminars), and a Joint M.A. from New York University (Journalism and Latin American Caribbean Studies.)  She is appreciative to have been the recipient of numerous Fellowships. She is an award-winning journalist, and has held various executive positions at non-profit institutions around the United States. She practices her People’s traditional ways, and strives each day to follow in the footsteps of her ancestors.  Mrs. Collin has presented her research at academic conferences around the world. 

 

Lisa Heth  - Finding your God Given Destiny

 

This workshop is about finding your Purpose! How do we know what our purpose is in life is? The Creator did not create us to live a life of misery, pain and suffering. We all have a purpose, destiny and gifts. We need to learn how to recognize and use them.  Our website is www.wiconiwawokiya.org and a facebook page which is Wiconi-Wawokiya.INC

 

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Ms. Lisa Heth has worked in the field of domestic violence, sexual assault and child abuse for over 23 years. Ms. Heth has been a strong advocate for women and children on the Crow Creek and Lower Brule reservations in South Dakota and is the executive director for Wiconi Wawokiya, Inc.  (Helping Families) which operates two domestic violence shelters, one on the Crow Creek reservation and the other one located in Sioux Falls, SD, a transitional housing program and a resource center and is a the founder of the Children’s Safe Place (children’s advocacy center) located adjacent to Project Safe Shelter. Ms. Heth received the 2015 OVC National Crime Victims’ Service Award, Bonnie Heavy Runner Victim Advocacy Award in 2012 and in 2010 received the Carol Maicki Advocacy Award from the SD Coalition Ending Domestic and Sexual Violence and in 1998 received the SD US Attorney’s Victims’ Rights Appreciation Award.   Ms. Heth was appointed in 2002 to 2012 by the Governor of SD to the SD CASA and served as the co-chair of the South Dakota Coalition Ending Domestic & Sexual Violence from 1999 to 2001, 2010-2011 & 2013. Ms. Heth served as the Chair for the Native Women's Society of The Great Plains from 2011 to 2013, which is a tribal coalition and serves over 20 tribes.  Ms. Heth is one of the co-founding members of the Native American Children Alliance (NACA) and former Chair. Ms. Heth is a member of the Lower Brule Lakota Tribe and is married to Robert Heth who is a member of the Crow Creek Dakota Tribe.   Ms. Heth has three children, two step-children and seven grandchildren.

 

Linda Black Elk – An Introduction to Edible and Medicinal Plants

 

Join ethnobotanist Linda Black Elk as she leads walks around Elk Creek and the surrounding prairie to identify local plants and discuss their edible and medicinal uses. Linda will also demonstrate how simple it is to make a beautiful salve out of local plants, and some participants will be able to take a sample home!

 

Linda Black Elk (Catawba Nation) is an ethnobotanist specializing in teaching and learning about culturally important plants and their uses as food and medicine. Linda works to build ways of thinking that will promote food sovereignty and the use of traditional medicines in our everyday lives. Linda has written articles for numerous publications and is the author of the recently published “Watoto Unyutapi,” which is a field guide to edible wild plants of the Dakota people. Along with being a mother to three Lakota boys.

 

 

Lilias Jones Jarding – Uranium Mining in the Black Hills

 

This workshop will cover current methods of uranium mining, plans to mine radioactive uranium in the Black Hills near sacred sites, and how people have stopped -- and can stop -- uranium mining. 

 

Lilias Jones Jarding is a long-time activist and researcher who has a history of opposing uranium mining and other unsafe nuclear projects.  She has a Ph.D. in Political Science with an emphasis on Environmental Policy from Colorado State University.  Currently, she teaches at a tribal college in South Dakota.  

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For more information go to: www.bhcleanwateralliance.org

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Leroy Comes Last - Men and Women Helping Women to take back their Power

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President of the Native American Church Of Ft.Peck Indian Reservation. State Charter Number #DO61294

 Currently serving a apprenticeship to become a traditional Medicine Man. Serving my apprenticeship through my Navajo hunka brother Francis Nez who belongs to the Dine Medicine's Association Inc. Diagnostition Lic.#D.P.D.-0009,HataaliiLic.#DC-0030.

Certified Male Batterer Facilitator. This is about learning of the root cause of the oppression and violence towards women and children. You will learn of his story of violence towards them.

 Certified Firestarter for White Bison. A nationally known and endorsed model for the recovery from alcohol and drugs. We use the Medicine wheel teachings and the 12 step program for recovery.

 A Lakota Horse Whisperer. I use the medicine of the horse to help people to get well in any areas of their being to get well.

Delegate from Ft. Peck Indian Reservation to sit on the Black Hills Sioux Nation Treaty Council to uphold and protect our 1851 and 1868 Ft. Laramie treaty rights.

Road Chief for the Native American Church.

Lakota oral history keeper from Ft. Peck.

Certified Cultural Counselor. This is the way our indigenous tribal people counseled people when things go wrong.

Internationally known Speaker.

Inipi Leader.

Ceremonial dancer.

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Jennifer Baker - Unlocking Silent Stories

 

Jennifer Baker will share information and short films from the international nonprofit Unlocking Silent Histories (USH).  USH is an organization that supports indigenous youth learning opportunities that lead to critical and creative media expression, amplifying their voices and identities, and honoring their cultural and linguistic heritages through film and other media.  USH facilitates indigenous youth in critical discussions about culture, history, and indigenous representation in the media and provides tools and knowledge to enable these youth to creating their own media projects including short documentary films.  Some of these youth-created films will be showcased at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) in NYC while the Unity concert is happening, and again the following week at the NMAI in D.C.  USH has worked with indigenous youth in Guatemala and is currently expanding into the United States, with a new projects underway with the Lumbee Tribe in North Carolina and plans to further extend opportunities into Indian Country in the States.  Anyone interested in bringing the program into their community (or otherwise interested in USH) is encouraged to attend the workshop.

 

Jennifer Baker is an attorney based in Colorado who has been practicing Indian law for nine years. In addition to her legal practice, Jennifer has spent significant time in South Dakota working with several tribes and communities in the fights against the Keystone and Dakota Access pipelines. Through her extensive work in Indian country, Jennifer has developed an appreciation for the importance of culture, language, and history in indigenous communities. In 2015, Jennifer joined the Board of Directors for Unlocking Silent Histories, a nonprofit that works with youth in different indigenous communities to provide them with the skills and tools to create documentaries. These young people explore environmental, cultural, and historical subjects that appeal to them through filmmaking, creating timeless works that can be shared both within the community and outside the community as a tool to educate the public about issues that matter to them.

Jennifer grew up in Oklahoma and graduated from the University of Oklahoma College of Law in 2007 with a Certificate in Federal Indian Law. Following graduation, Jennifer spent three years working in and around Dinétah (the Navajo Nation) at DNA-People’s Legal Services, Inc., a nonprofit legal services provider. Jennifer relocated to Colorado in 2010 to work as an Associate Attorney with the firm Smith, Shelton and Ragona, LLC. In July of 2014, Jennifer joined the firm Fredericks Peebles & Morgan, LLC, as a Senior Associate. Jennifer’s practice areas include federal Indian law, tribal law and governance, tribal court and federal court litigation, environmental law, administrative law, and legislation and code drafting.

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Bob Gough -  Straw Bale Construction for S.A.F.E homes

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This workshop will provide an introduction to the concept of SAFE Homes -- Sustainable, Affordable, Future-proof and Energy Efficient.  SAFE Homes were designed to be built by community members using local materials with construction and operating costs below that of comparable sized conventional homes and yet out-perform those homes in terms of durability, in-door air quality and energy efficiency.  Strawbale homes are low-embedded energy, high performance buildings that have proven to be resistant to high winds, tornados, earthquakes and fire – more resilient in a changing Western climate.

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Bob Gough, Intertribal Council On Utility Policy Secretary, co-chaired the national Native Peoples Climate Workshops, participated in several Kyoto Protocol COPs as part of the Indigenous Peoples delegation, and contributed to the National Climate Assessment for the Great Plains and the Indigenous Peoples chapters. Bob contracted with the Wind Powering Native America Initiative, served on the WGA's Clean and Diversified Energy Advisory Committee, and co-directs the Intertribal COUP initiatives in building tribal sustainable homeland economies based upon efficiency (straw bale housing) and renewable energy (wind, solar and geothermal).  The COUP plan for 1,000 megawatts of intertribal wind in S.D. was recognized with the inaugural World Clean Energy Award for Courage, in Basel, Switzerland and recently announced as a Clinton Global Initiative commitment.  He currently serves as a visitor on climate issues to UCAR/NCAR, where he has co-convened Rising Voices of Indigenous Peoples in the Global Climate Conversation 1 & 2.

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