Indian Reservation Research Articles

The economics of indigenous water claim settlements in the American West

The American West confronts the challenge of fulfilling indigenous claims to water within the context of increasingly scarce and variable water supplies. 170 of 226 American Indian reservations have unresolved water claims that potentially exceed the region’s hydrological capacity, generating uncertainty for tribes and off-reservation water users. To help resolve key uncertainties about dispute origins and outcomes, we construct a complete and novel dataset on Indian water settlements and reservation characteristics which we then analyze using a bargaining framework from economics. We find that rapid off-reservation population growth, water scarcity, and large anticipated water entitlements catalyze disputes. When more users are involved in the negotiations, transaction costs delay settlement, increasing water insecurity. We use our findings to predict allocations for 25 ongoing water right negotiations. These estimates help bound the uncertainty facing water managers throughout the American West.

The Indian Law Bombshell: McGirt v. Oklahoma

On July 9, 2020, the United States Supreme Court held by a 5-4 vote that the borders of the 1866 Muscogee (Creek) Nation reservation in Oklahoma remain intact. The decision landed like a bombshell. Overnight, the Creek Reservation was reaffirmed and recognized as covering three and a quarter million acres. The entire area is once again recognized as “Indian Country” as defined by federal law. One million Oklahomans discovered that they now live on an Indian reservation, including 400,000 people in the city of Tulsa. The United States, Oklahoma, and Oklahomans will now have to deal with numerous and complex issues involving Creek Nation jurisdiction over an enormously larger expanse of land and population than was previously assumed. This case has very significant and crucially important implications that will involve the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, other tribes in Oklahoma, and tribes across the country in future negotiations, lawsuits, and perhaps legislative efforts to address the issues that will arise. McGirt is probably the most significant Indian law case in well over one hundred years, and it will have serious repercussions for the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, Oklahoma, the United States, and other Indian nations located in that state and nationwide. In this Article, we examine McGirt in depth and we will then focus our attention on its future ramifications for the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, federal Indian law, the United States, Indian nations in Oklahoma, the state of Oklahoma, and Indian nations and peoples across the country.

Copper-rich “Halo” off Lake Superior’s Keweenaw Peninsula and how Mass Mill tailings dispersed onto tribal lands

Over a century ago, shoreline copper mills sluiced more than 64 million metric tonnes of tailings into Lake Superior, creating a “halo” around the Keweenaw Peninsula with a buried copper peak. Here we examine how tailings from one of the smaller mills (Mass Mill, 1902–1919) spread as a dual pulse across southern Keweenaw Bay and onto tribal L’Anse Indian Reservation lands. The fine (“slime clay”) fraction dispersed early and widely, whereas the coarse fraction (stamp sands) moved more slowly southward as a black sand beach deposit, leaving scattered residual patches. Beach stamp sands followed the path of sand eroding from Jacobsville Sandstone bluffs, mixing with natural sands and eventually adding onto Sand Point, at the mouth of L’Anse Bay. Dated sediment cores and a multi-elemental analysis of the buried Cu-rich peak in L’Anse Bay confirm a tailings origin. Copper concentrations are declining in the bay, yet copper fluxes remain elevated. The spatial and temporal studies underscore that enhanced sediment and copper fluxes around the Keweenaw Peninsula largely reflect historic mining releases. Mercury is correlated with copper, yet mercury concentrations and fluxes remain relatively low in Keweenaw Bay compared to nearby Superfund sites (Torch and Portage Lakes), perhaps reflecting the absence of smelters on Keweenaw Bay. Tribal efforts to remediate contamination are progressing, but are hindered by recent high water levels plus severe storms. The long-term repercussions of Mass Mill discharges caution against mine companies discharging even small amounts of tailings into coastal environments.

Checklist of vascular plants for Wind River Indian Reservation (USA) high-elevation basins: ecological drivers of community assemblages

Background and aims – Native American reservations in the United States provide biodiversity critical for conservation and ecosystem functions. Unfortunately, botanical inventories are less common for reservations than other land jurisdictions. Such ecological importance and needs are apparent for the Wind River Indian Reservation (WRIR), the 7th largest reservation in the US (>890,000 ha) that is shared by the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho.Material and methods – A botanical study for two WRIR high-elevation basins (Saint Lawrence Basin (SLB) and Paradise Basin (PB)) to (1) reconcile a 1960 plant list, and (2) quantify plant communities ecologically was conducted. In 2017, 106 monitoring sites were established to quantify species presence. Across basins, 231 total vascular plant taxa (221 to species and 10 to genus) were identified, or > 3× more plant species than noted in the 1960 list. In SLB, 222 plant taxa (213 to species and 9 to genus) were identified and in PB 98 plant taxa (90 to species and 8 to genus) were identified. In 2018, sites were re-sampled to quantify species abundance, soil pH, organic matter, soil nutrients, CEC, salts, and texture. Key results – Slope and elevation explained species distributions in the topography ordination and soil organic matter, pH, texture, P, and K explained species distributions in the soil ordination. Eleven exotic species, and one rare endemic species were documented with implications for empowering tribal management. Using a classification approach followed by an indicator species analysis and fidelity (Phi) assessment, we identified 14 unique plant communities and related these to 6 alliances and 7 associations across 6 macrogroups from the US National Vegetation Classification database. These indicator species of communities included sedges (Carex aquatilus), grasses (Pseudoroegneria spicata, Elymus elymoides, Achnatherum lettermanii, Elymus trachycaulus subsp. trachycaulus, Poa glauca subsp. rupicola), forbs (Polygonum bistortoides, Balsamorhiza incana, Castilleja flava), shrubs (Artemisia tridentata, Betula glandulosa, Dasiphora fruticosa subsp. floribunda) and trees (Pinus contorta).Conclusion – The plant taxa, plant communities, and ecological drivers documented in this study will enhance tribal and federal monitoring of these high-elevation WRIR basins.

Review: Pierre Koenig: A View from the Archive, by Neil Jackson

Review: <i>Pierre Koenig: A View from the Archive</i>, by Neil Jackson

Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) and Ethnobotany for Wind River Reservation Rangelands

The need to affirm and revitalize cultural knowledge of native plant communities is impera-tive for Indigenous people. This ethnobotanical study documents Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) structured from an Indigenous paradigm by exploring the connection be-tween plants collected in two high-elevation basins and tribal members on the Wind River Indian Reservation (WRIR). We sought to qualitatively understand the plant resources by looking through the lens of Indigenous language and perspectives. Existing names of the ba-sin plants in both the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho languages were compiled through an ethnobotanical literature review, seven in-person interviews with Eastern Sho-shone and Northern Arapaho tribal members, and attendance at language workshops. We documented 53 Eastern Shoshone and 44 Northern Arapaho plant names, respectively. His-torical impacts of past Federal Indian policy eras have shaped TEK as it currently exists within tribal communities. Both tribes used and had Indigenous names for Northern sweetgrass (Hierochloe hirta ssp. hirta), bitterroot (Lewisia rediviva), junipers (Juniperus ssp.), and bear-berry or Kinnikinnick (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi). The resiliency of TEK is attributed to the perse-verance of Indigenous people continuing to practice and teach traditions. The historical con-text specific to both the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho tribes and their languages are important for enhancing our current understanding of the ethnobotanical TEK of plants on the WRIR. Recognizing the value of ethnobotanical TEK and incorporating it into natural resource management plans and decisions can bridge diverse perspectives on land use for meaningful collaboration with tribal communities.

School Nutrition Policies and Practices on an American Indian Reservation: Research and Policy Considerations.

Navajo (Diné) and other American Indian children are more affected by overweight and obesity than their U.S. counterparts. In this descriptive study, the authors combined a socioecological and Navajo cultural framework to analyze the various factors that influence food choices available to children in schools. The Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 updated nutrition standards for school meals and all other foods and beverages sold in schools. Some studies have shown that improved nutrition standards were not favorably received by students and school food programs. To better understand these broader trends in a Navajo context, the researcher administered in-person surveys to 6 principals and 14 food service workers from a sample of 6 schools and performed on-site observations of two schools. Data were analyzed using a combination of descriptive statistics, matrix analysis, and thematic analysis techniques. Results showed that schools were offering more healthy food options in school lunches and that some schools were still serving unhealthy foods, such as pizza, tater tots, and French fries. Classroom and fundraising events provided other sources for low-nutrient foods and beverages. Participants had mixed responses about the updated nutrition standards, and food waste of healthy foods was a major concern. This study proposes opportunities for nurses to engage in research and advance stronger policies that increase healthy food options and limit access to less healthy foods.

Implementing safety toolkit on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation, Montana

Indian Reservations have suffered from high crash rates that lead to fatal and incapacitating injuries for years. Among numerous issues, resource gap, rustic nature of the reservations, cross jurisdictional issues, and scarce crash data, act as obstacles in an effort to reduce the number of these fatal and serious crashes. Numerous organizations have recognized the importance of addressing issues on Indian reservations and improving roadway safety. Wyoming Technology Transfer Center / Local Technical Assistance Program (WYT2/LTAP) center developed a safety toolkit for tribal communities to ascertain high-risk crash locations and determine the low-cost safety improvement countermeasures. This safety toolkit acts as a guideline providing information, field examples, and resources in key topic areas to improve roadway safety through the use of the five-step methodology from Wyoming Rural Road Safety Program. These steps included compiling and crash data analysis, level I field evaluation, combined ranking, level II field evaluation, and benefit-cost analysis. In this study, the safety toolkit was implemented on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation (FPIR), Montana, to provide the tribes with a real-life example. This study reveals that low- cost safety countermeasures have significant impacts in reducing the number of fatal and serious injury crashes on the FPIR. This methodology with slight modification can be applied to other Indian reservations or similar entities to improve roadway safety.

Millennial-Scale Climate and Human Drivers of Environmental Change and Fire Activity in a Dry, Mixed-Conifer Forest of Northwestern Montana

Warmer temperatures and longer fire seasons are promoting larger, and in some cases, more severe fires in low- and mid-elevation, dry mixed-conifer forests of the Northern Rocky Mountains. Long-term historical fire conditions and human influence on past fire activity are not well understood for these topographically and biophysically heterogeneous forests. We developed reconstructions of millennial-scale fire activity, vegetation change, and human presence at Black Lake, a small closed-basin lake on the Flathead Indian Reservation in the Mission Valley, northwestern Montana, USA. Fossil pollen, charcoal, and biomarkers associated with human presence were used to evaluate the interaction between climate variability, fire activity, vegetation change and human activity for the past seven thousand years. Multi-proxy comparisons suggest climate variability acted as the primary control on fire activity and vegetation change from the early Holocene until the late Holocene when records suggest fire activity and climate variability decoupled. Specific biomarkers (5β-stanols including coprostanol and epi-coprostanol) associated with human presence indicate humans were present within the Black Lake watershed for thousands of years, although the inferred intensity of human presence was highly variable. A strong relationship between climate variability and fire activity during the early and mid-Holocene weakens during the last few thousand years, suggesting possible increased influence of humans in mediating fire activity in recent millennia. Human-set fires during the cooler and wetter late Holocene may have been aimed at maintaining important cultural resources associated with the heterogeneous mosaic of mixed conifer forests within the Black Lake watershed. The paleoenvironmental reconstruction at Black Lake provides one of the first independent records of human presence in the NRM, and suggests humans were present within the Black Lake watershed for over 7000 years. Further research is needed to evaluate the evidence for this continuous presence and the possible role that people played in shaping fire regimes and vegetation within low- to mid-elevation mixed-conifer ecosystems of the NRM.

Northeastern Montana range pastures maintaining distinct American bison herds yield different trace metal availability and intestinal parasite infections in the American Bison on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation

BackgroundThe Fort Peck Reservation tribes maintain two distinct bison herds on different pastures in Montana which includes a cultural herd (purebred) and a business herd (contains beef genes). The different pastures housing the herds have different Animal Unit Months (AMU) ratings (a measurement of forage/acre per adult animal) with the cultural herd pasture having a higher rating. With the limited grazing opportunities, it has been discovered that many of these bison have serious health problems related to malnutrition which can cause lower birth rates. Previous studies indicate metals such as copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn) are necessary for proper health and birthrates. In addition, poor calving rates in apparently healthy bison with adequate protein in diet might simply be from the different metal deficiencies.HypothesisDecreased absorption of Cu and Zn are due to increased absorption of selenium and molybdenum. These deficiencies along with parasitic infections are causing health problems both bison herds on the Fort Peck Reservation.MethodsWe successively isolated liver and fecal samples from euthanized bison to test for toxic and essential trace minerals, and to probe for present parasites in the gastrointestinal tracts. Ova were counted using light microscopes from intestinal fecal matter obtained from the bison.ResultsMineral imbalances were detected as elevated molybdenum (Mo) in both herds. Elevated Mo can deplete liver copper (Cu). Deficient levels of Cu, manganese (Mn) and Zn were evident in both herds. On average cultural animals had Cu levels on of 7.75 ppm, well below the suggested range of 75 ppm while the business herd liver Cu content was averaged to be even lower at 4.33 ppm. Additionally, Mn was found to be deficient in the cultural herd (2.1 ppm where 3.0 ppm is normal) but not in the business herd. Zn was deficient in both herds at 28 ppm where 100 ppm is normal. Also, we determined that bison in both herds were either free of internal parasites or had low burdens of infestation. Seven business herd and 15 cultural herd fecal present in the cultural herd, none in the business herd. We believe health problems from malnutrition contribute to decreased weights and birthrates of the bison on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation samples were analyzed. The business herd had samples that exhibited undetectable ova or parasites per gram of feces while the cultural herd samples had low levels of Strongyle type ova (0.4–7.78 ova/gram of feces). Three of the cultural herd samples in additionally had Trichuris sp. (0.4 ova/gram), Nematodirus (0.2–0.67 ova/gram), and/or Coccidia (0.6 ova/gram).ConclusionsMalabsorption of nutrients is caused by increased absorption of selenium and molybdenum but not infections from parasites in the Bison digestive tract.Support or Funding InformationFunded by the USDA

Bannock (Fort Hall, Idaho)

Bannock (Fort Hall, Idaho)

Promoting First Relationships®: Implementing a Home Visiting Research Program in Two American Indian Communities.

Few, if any, home visiting programs for children under the age of three have been culturally adapted for American Indian reservation settings. We recently adapted one such program: Promoting First Relationships®. To culturally adapt Promoting First Relationships® while maintaining program fidelity, we used a community-based participatory approach to elicit input from two American Indian partners. University-based researchers, reservation-based Native project staff, and Native tribal liaisons conducted collaborative meetings, conference calls, and focus groups to adapt Promoting First Relationships® to reflect local community needs and values. Working closely with onsite Native project staff, being flexible and open to suggestions, and attending to the logistical needs of the community are imperative to developing and implementing adaptations. Several adaptations were made based on the collaboration between researchers and Native project staff. Collaboration is critical for adapting programs so they can be tested in ways that respect both American Indian culture and research needs.

Occurrence of contaminants of emerging concern in aquatic ecosystems utilized by Minnesota tribal communities

Pharmaceuticals, personal care products, hormones, and other chemicals lacking water quality standards are frequently found in surface water. While evidence is growing that these contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) – those previously unknown, unrecognized, or unregulated – can affect the behavior and reproduction of fish and wildlife, little is known about the distribution of these chemicals in rural, tribal areas. Therefore, we surveyed the presence of CECs in water, sediment, and subsistence fish species across various waterbodies, categorized as undeveloped (i.e., no human development along shorelines), developed (i.e., human development along shorelines), and wastewater effluent-impacted (i.e., contain effluence from wastewater treatment plants), within the Grand Portage Indian Reservation and 1854 Ceded Territory in northeastern Minnesota, U.S.A. Overall, in 28 sites across three years (2016–2018), 117 of the 158 compounds tested were detected in at least one form of medium (i.e., water, sediment, or fish). CECs were detected most frequently at wastewater effluent-impacted sites, with up to 83 chemicals detected in one such lake, while as many as 17 were detected in an undeveloped lake. Although there was no statistically significant difference between the number of CECs present in developed versus undeveloped lakes, a range of 3–17 CECs were detected across these locations. Twenty-two CECs were detected in developed and undeveloped sites that were not detected in wastewater effluent-impacted sites. The detection of CECs in remote, undeveloped locations, where subsistence fish are harvested, raises scientific questions about the safety and security of subsistence foods for indigenous communities. Further investigation is warranted so that science-based solutions to reduce chemical risks to aquatic life and people can be developed locally and be informative for indigenous communities elsewhere.

Beyond Numbers, Colors, and Animals: Strengthening Lakota/Dakota Teaching on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation

In 2006 the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe took on efforts to improve Lakota/Dakota language teaching in K-12 schools. These efforts have included collaborating with the Lakota Language Consortium to create classroom materials and language-learning resources, partnering with Sitting Bull College to develop various language-teaching and language-learning programs for adults, and coordinating among the K-12 schools on the reservation to ensure students receive better Lakota/Dakota language instruction. While the efforts to improve language education in K-12 schools have not achieved the kinds of proficiency-based results originally anticipated, they have enhanced the way Lakota/Dakota is taught and have instigated significant changes in how Lakota/Dakota language learning is conceived of in the community. Based on data from participant observation and interviews with program directors and teachers, this article provides a bird's-eye view of these efforts, which have formed the beginning of Standing Rock's recent, and growing, Indigenous language revitalization movement.

Irrigation Investment on an American Indian Reservation

American Indian reservations have low incomes and high rates of poverty relative to adjacent communities, and the income gap appears to be even larger for Indian farmers. We examine the extent to which a lack of access to capital might explain these differences using irrigation systems as a proxy for on‐farm investment around the Uintah‐Ouray Indian Reservation in eastern Utah. Uintah land is held in trust by the US government, and farmers on this land face significant barriers to acquiring capital to invest in irrigation equipment and infrastructure. We use the boundaries from a 1905 land allotment as a natural experiment, employing both sharp and fuzzy regression discontinuity designs to explore whether agricultural land use, irrigation levels, irrigation investment, and crop choice differ across the boundary. The original allocation provided similar land in the immediate neighborhood around its borders, and our results suggest that today tribal trust land is farmed and irrigated at rates similar to adjacent land. However, conditional on being irrigated, tribal trust land is around thirty‐two percentage points less likely to utilize capital‐intensive sprinkler irrigation, and up to ten percentage points less likely to grow high‐value crops. Trust ownership, which is characterized by cumbersome bureaucratic processes, limits on agricultural lease flexibility, and the inability to use land as collateral to acquire loans, is a likely explanation for the observed differences.

Reconciliation and Cultural Genocide: A Critique of Liberal Multicultural Strategies of Innocence

AbstractThe aim of this article is to interrogate the concept of cultural genocide. The primary context examined is the Government of Canada's recent attempt at reconciliation through the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Drawing on the work of Audra Simpson (Mohawk), Glen Sean Coulthard (Yellowknives Dene), Kyle Powys Whyte (Potawatomi), Stephanie Lumsden (Hupa), and Luana Ross (Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, located at Flathead Indian Reservation in Montana), I argue that cultural genocide, like cultural rights, is depoliticized, thus limiting the political impact these concepts can invoke. Following Sylvia Wynter, I also argue that the aims of “truth and reconciliation” can sometimes serve to resituate the power of a liberal multicultural settler state, rather than seek systemic changes that would properly address the present-day implications of the residential school system. Finally, I argue that genocide and culture need to be repoliticized in order to support Indigenous futurity and sovereignty.

Beyond Numbers, Colors, and Animals: Strengthening Lakota/Dakota Teaching on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation

In 2006 the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe took on efforts to improve Lakota/Dakota language teaching in K-12 schools. These efforts have included collaborating with the Lakota Language Consortium to create classroom materials and language-learning resources, partnering with Sitting Bull College to develop various language-teaching and language-learning programs for adults, and coordinating among the K-12 schools on the reservation to ensure students receive better Lakota/Dakota language instruction. While the efforts to improve language education in K-12 schools have not achieved the kinds of proficiency-based results originally anticipated, they have enhanced the way Lakota/Dakota is taught and have instigated significant changes in how Lakota/Dakota language learning is conceived of in the community. Based on data from participant observation and interviews with program directors and teachers, this article provides a bird's-eye view of these efforts, which have formed the beginning of Standing Rock's recent, and growing, Indigenous language revitalization movement.

Interest in Illicit Purchase of Cigarettes Under a Very Low Nicotine Content Product Standard.

SignificanceThe US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is considering a very low nicotine content (VLNC) product standard to substantially reduce nicotine in cigarettes. We examined whether learning about a potential VLNC standard increased smokers’ interest in illicit purchases of cigarettes with regular nicotine content if such a standard were adopted.MethodsParticipants were a national convenience sample of 1712 US adult smokers. In an online experiment, we randomly assigned smokers to view information about a new VLNC standard (experimental condition) or no information (control condition). The experimental condition explained that a VLNC standard would remove 95% of the nicotine in cigarettes and would require stores to only sell VLNC cigarettes. Then, the survey assessed smokers’ interest in purchasing regular cigarettes from three illicit sources.ResultsSmokers who learned about the VLNC standard were more likely to be very or extremely interested in purchasing regular cigarettes illicitly from a Web site compared to smokers in the control group (24% vs. 16%, p < .001). They were also more interested in illicitly buying cigarettes from a street vendor (19% vs. 13%, p < .001) and a store on an Indian reservation (28% vs. 22%, p < .05), compared to the control. The impact of learning about the VLNC standard on interest in illicit purchases did not differ by smoking frequency or current e-cigarette use.ConclusionsA VLNC standard could increase smokers’ interest in illicit purchases of regular nicotine cigarettes. To prevent VLNC-induced illicit trade from undermining public health, FDA should consider proven measures such as track and trace for these products.ImplicationsLittle is known about how a VLNC cigarette standard would affect consumer interest in regular content cigarettes purchased from illicit sources (eg, the Internet). We found that smokers informed about a potential VLNC product standard had greater interest in illicit cigarette purchases, compared to controls. This suggests the importance of proactive measures accompanying a VLNC standard, such as track-and-trace cigarette packaging regulations and communication campaigns, in order to maximize the standard’s public health impact.

Whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis) growth and defense in response to mountain pine beetle outbreaks

Whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis) is a critical forest species of Northern Rocky Mountain upper subalpine ecosystems, yet little is known about the physiological response of whitebark pine to disturbance (e.g. fire, bark beetles, and pathogens) across a range of diverse environmental gradients. Resin-based defenses have long been recognized as the primary mechanism by which conifers respond to attack by bark beetles and pathogens and several studies have linked resin duct properties to survivorship during periods of increased beetle activity. However, to our knowledge, no studies have compared axial resin ducts in the secondary xylem of whitebark pine across pairs of living and dead whitebark pine trees to better understand survivorship following multiple disturbances including mountain pine beetle and white pine blister rust. We found a clear distinction in growth and defense characteristics between live and dead whitebark pine. Across our study sites on the Flathead Indian Reservation in northwestern Montana, live whitebark pine produced larger resin ducts with a greater annual investment in resin-based defenses than whitebark pine that died. Resin duct size, duct area, and relative duct area were all greater in live whitebark pine (by 56%, 48%, and 57%, respectively) and these were the most important variables influencing whitebark pine survivorship. In contrast, whitebark pine that had died grew faster over time (22% larger ring widths) than their live counterparts and also produced more resin duct structures (20% more ducts on average). Whitebark pine at our study sites exhibit differing strategies in the allocation of resources toward growth and defense, with the majority of survivors of recent disturbance investing more in defensive structures than growth. Our results support the idea that maintaining genetic variability and the associated suite of differing physiological traits promotes diverse response strategies to a complex array of biophysical and biological stressors that might leave a species vulnerable to extinction across its range.

Contribution of Wild Foods to Diet, Food Security, and Cultural Values Amidst Climate Change

Wild foods are recognized to contribute to diet and food security through enhancing the availability of local, diverse, and nonmarket food sources. We investigated the contribution of wild foods to diet, food security, and cultural identity in a Native American[1] community in the context of climate change. Structured interviews were conducted with low-income residents of the Flathead Indian Reser­vation[2] in Northwestern Montana who participate in the federal Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations, also known by participants as ‘Commodities.’ Responses to structured questions were analyzed for frequency, and open-ended responses were coded and analyzed to identify prevalent themes. Our analysis indicated that half of participants were food insecure. Approximately 28% of participants engaged in at least one wild food procurement activity, including hunting, fishing, and harvesting. On average, participants who engaged in one or more wild food procure­ment activities were more food secure than those who did not. Results highlight the multidimen­sional valuation of wild foods by participants including taste, freshness, nutritional quality, being a traditional community practice, and providing a sense of self-sufficiency. Climate change is per­ceived by participants to be adversely impacting wild food systems due to increased variability in seasonality and precipitation and increased inci­dences of wild fire. Findings point to the need for community-based strategies to strengthen wild food knowledge toward enhancing food sover­eignty in Native American communities, in the context of climate change. [1] The term ‘Native American’ was determined to be the preferred term for referencing the Native American community in this study, based on consultation from our community advisory board. [2] The term ‘Flathead Indian Reservation’ was determined to be the preferred term for referencing the location in which this study was held, based on consultation from our community advisory board. See the press release for this article.