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The article focuses on case study that explored the decision-making process of the Alaska Native-owned and -operated village corporation of Gwichyaa Zhee Corp.'s wood-to-energy project as a form of Indigenous knowledge that is tied to the actions of self-determination. Topics discussed include benefits when Indigenous communities prioritize traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) in local, capacity-building projects, and overview of the Fort Yukon study site's geography, climate and environment.

The collective nations of the Haudenosaunee are governed by their shared ancestral knowledge of creation. This storied knowledge tells of an intellectual relationship with corn that has been cultivated by the Haudenosaunee through generations and represents core values that are built into community resilience, for the benefit of future generations. The Oneida, members of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, have been committed to this relationship since the beginning of time. The Oneida Nation of Wisconsin has been shaping resilience in the context of struggle, to work toward sovereign community food systems. This particular Oneida community has been geographically divided from all other Haudenosaunee nations, and even from its members own Oneida kin, for nearly 200 years; however, this community was able to re-establish its relationship with corn after years of disconnect. Oneida Nation community-driven projects in Wisconsin have reshaped and enhanced the connection to corn, which places them at the forefront of the Indigenous food sovereignty movement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most agricultural activities on Indian lands have been under the control of non-Indian managers since the reservation era began in the 1800s. Despite federal trust obligations dating back to the late 1700s, there has been little involvement by U.S. Cooperative Extension. Federally funded programs created to enhance tribal farming and ranching operations continue to be marginalized and severely underfunded. The Federally Recognized Tribal Extension Program (FRTEP) is tasked with supporting American Indians through scientific, economic, agricultural, and traditional information to solve local problems. FRTEP serves 19 reservation communities with an annual fluctuating budget of approximately US$3 million, which is nationally competitive. Recent litigation offers an opportunity for FRTEP to grow, serve as a catalyst for change, and energize economic stimulation. FRTEP also offers a potential model for community-based agricultural and food programs nationwide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The General Allotment Act of 1887, also known as the Dawes Act, established the legal basis for the United States government to break up remaining tribally-owned reservation lands in the U.S. by allotting individual parcels to tribal members and selling the remaining "surplus." This research explores the processes involved in mapping these historical allotments and describes a method to automatically generate spatial data of allotments. A custom geographic information systems (GIS) tool was created that takes tabular based allotment land descriptions and digital Public Land Survey (PLSS) databases to automatically generate spatial and attribute data of those land parcels. The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe of North and South Dakota was used as the initial study area to test the mapping technique, which resulted in successfully auto-mapping over 99.1% of allotted lands on the reservation, including the smallest aliquot parcels. This GIS technique can be used to map any tribal lands or reservation with allotment data available, and currently it can be used to map over 120 individual reservations using publicly available data from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]