Just slightly off topic, but the way the Bureau of Indian Affairs (mis)manages Indian lands is criminally negligent. They are by charter supposed to manage it for the benefit of the tribes living there, they instead manage it for the companies that extract coal, uranium, other precious things and allow the owners a pittance – occasionally.
Drive onto a reservation and see the condition of native housing: It’s not just the poverty of the inhabitants, it’s the requirement that the occupants get permission to perform even basic home maintenance. And that permission is months to years in the processing.
I don’t know about that. Kat and I went rafting on the Colorado River through Grand Canyon a couple of years ago. The rafting tours were conducted by the Hualapai tribe, who, I was surprised to find, have exclusive rights to the Gorge. No one but them can use it for any purpose whatsoever, and they won’t allow any commercial development (including mining of any kind, even by themselves, for their own benefit). Rafting is it for them, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they stop that at some tine.
In 1969, I read a book entitled The Man Who Walked Through Time, by Colin Fletcher. It was an account of his solo hike from one end of Grand Canyon National Park to the other, all within the Gorge. I was a big time outdoorsman at the time, and wanted to repeat his experience. In preparation, I corresponded with Fletcher often, and am really thankful for his advice and help – though my full hike never took place.
But at that time, the Hualapai had no jurisdiction over anything. It was all US Park Service. I would never have been allowed to do Fletcher’s hike under USPS jurisdiction, which had tightened considerably. But apparently, the Hualapai had gone on the offensive politically, and gone from a dying tribe to one in control of Grand Canyon’s Gorge – Rim to River. I have wondered since whether they would allow me to replicate Fletcher’s hike. I’d kinda like to find out…
Mixed feelings here as the state I live in might not protect the rights of the people to do certain activities on state lands and some lands under federal control provides a buffer.
Just slightly off topic, but the way the Bureau of Indian Affairs (mis)manages Indian lands is criminally negligent. They are by charter supposed to manage it for the benefit of the tribes living there, they instead manage it for the companies that extract coal, uranium, other precious things and allow the owners a pittance – occasionally.
Drive onto a reservation and see the condition of native housing: It’s not just the poverty of the inhabitants, it’s the requirement that the occupants get permission to perform even basic home maintenance. And that permission is months to years in the processing.
I don’t know about that. Kat and I went rafting on the Colorado River through Grand Canyon a couple of years ago. The rafting tours were conducted by the Hualapai tribe, who, I was surprised to find, have exclusive rights to the Gorge. No one but them can use it for any purpose whatsoever, and they won’t allow any commercial development (including mining of any kind, even by themselves, for their own benefit). Rafting is it for them, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they stop that at some tine.
In 1969, I read a book entitled The Man Who Walked Through Time, by Colin Fletcher. It was an account of his solo hike from one end of Grand Canyon National Park to the other, all within the Gorge. I was a big time outdoorsman at the time, and wanted to repeat his experience. In preparation, I corresponded with Fletcher often, and am really thankful for his advice and help – though my full hike never took place.
But at that time, the Hualapai had no jurisdiction over anything. It was all US Park Service. I would never have been allowed to do Fletcher’s hike under USPS jurisdiction, which had tightened considerably. But apparently, the Hualapai had gone on the offensive politically, and gone from a dying tribe to one in control of Grand Canyon’s Gorge – Rim to River. I have wondered since whether they would allow me to replicate Fletcher’s hike. I’d kinda like to find out…
Mixed feelings here as the state I live in might not protect the rights of the people to do certain activities on state lands and some lands under federal control provides a buffer.