Enbridge taps new approach for pipelines
An ongoing series: Growing use of ‘corporate social responsibility’ helps companies bypass tribal opposition
MARY ANNETTE PEMBER
APR 11, 2021

It’s the dead of winter in Minnesota, and the woman’s footsteps make a distinctive crunching sound as she walks down a snow-covered road.
She and others are conducting an Ojibwe pipe ceremony along the Mississippi River, offering a ground blessing and prayers for the safety and health of people working on Enbridge’s Line 3 pipeline project.
The pipe is loaded with tobacco, and people smudge themselves with burning sage.
The scene – a traditional ceremony considered sacred by Ojibwe – is captured on a video posted on Enbridge’s website as an example of the company’s commitment, respect and connection to Native peoples and the lands affected by the Line 3 project.
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Thousand-year-old Native American rock carvings have been vandalized in the Chattahoochee National Forest
By Leah Asmelash, CNN
Updated 4:31 PM ET, Tue April 6, 2021

(CNN)Thousand-year-old Native American petroglyphs, or rock carvings, in Georgia have been vandalized, the US Forest Service said Monday.
The petroglyphs in Track Rock Gap, located in the Chattahoochee National Forest, were carved by Creek and Cherokee people over 1,000 years ago, the Forest Service stated.
The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians is sad and frustrated to learn that Track Rock had been vandalized. These are special and rare sites," said the Tribal Heritage Preservation Office in a statement. "They are special sites for the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and for all people as part of the Heritage of this region. Whether through ignorance or malice -- the result is irreparable damage to a unique site that connects us directly to the people of the past."
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Let Native people decide regarding their traditional lands
Land conservationists and 21st-century colonialism
PEGGY BERRYHILL
APR 8, 2021

In light of the racial reckoning that is taking place in America and coming on the heels of the revelations about John Muir, I thought it was time to visit the role of land conservancy.
For the second time in five years, conservationists have helped two tribes in California regain some land. On the surface that sounds great – Native people getting their ancestral lands back. With all due respect, let’s look at how this played out in Sonoma County when then tribal Chairman Reno Franklin joined with the County of Sonoma and The Trust for Public Land.
The 688-acre parcel was described as being “gifted” back to the Kashia Tribe, but in actuality, it was sold by the Richardson family, who accepted an offer of $6 million dollars; $500,000 came from the tribe.
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