Tribal Nations
Northern Cheyenne
The Journey Home
A Rare Renovation Brings Renewal
Stories by Mary Hudetz
Photos by Devin Wagner
The BIA's role oversight role in Indian Country adds a complicated step for Northern Cheyenne families who are pursuing homeownership on the reservation. Meanwhile, the BIA's Housing Improvement Program, which helps a few families a year here, may lose all federal funding.
Blackfeet
Embattled on the Blackfeet
Story by Daniel Person
Photos by Ryan Tahbo
William Westwolf Jr. and Zach Gervais died this winter on the Blackfeet Reservation. Many reservation residents lay blame for their deaths squarely on the Bureau of Indian Affairs, which oversees law enforcement on the reservation. Now, four years after the BIA took control of law enforcement from the tribe, some are questioning whether tribal control isn't the better answer.
Fort Peck
High and Dry
Breaking the Trust
Stories by Jessica Mayrer
Photos by Kristine Paulsen
Fort Peck Reservation farmers are struggling to hold onto their land. A crumbling BIA irrigation system adds to their challenges as many find it hard to get water to crops and others are charged for water they never use. Also at Fort Peck, one Indian farmer has fought a different kind of battle for his land, claiming that parts leased by the BIA to a white rancher were destroyed by overgrazing.
Little Shell
Landless no Longer
Story by Timothy Ratte
Photos by Tyler Wilson
The Little Shell Indians have been scattered across Montana since they were evicted from their tribal homelands more than a century ago. Now, these landless people have been granted a lease on a small piece of state land that gives them a place to call their own, as well as a much-needed foothold in their fight for federal recognition.
Rocky Boy's
A Pound of Prevention
Story by Amber Kuehn
Photos by Ashley McKee
A new health clinic on Rocky Boy's Reservation will aid the Chippewa Cree in encouraging tribal members to embrace preventive health care. But the clinic won't help the many diabetics who must travel off the reservation to undergo the dialysis they need in order to survive.
Crow
The Devil's Dandruff
Story by Jacob Baynham
Photos by Adam Sings In The Timber
Methamphetamine use is exploding on the Crow Reservation. With only 17 officers to patrol a reservation twice the size of Delaware, the Crow are fighting an uphill battle. The BIA has pooled resources with the tribe, the FBI, and other law enforcement agencies to create an anti-meth task force, but the challenges are formidable.
Fort Belknap
Redirecting Their Energy
Story by Alex Sakariassen
Photos by Russel Daniels
For decades, mineral development on the Fort Belknap Reservation has proven a disappointing venture. Gold mining has scarred the mountains and poisoned the waters. Exploratory oil wells lay abandoned, reclaimed by the reservation's vast prairie. But the BIA rekindled petroleum interest with a mineral rights auction in 2005. Now an Indian-owned company hopes to secure exploration rights on tribal tracts and take the lead in oil exploration on the reservation.