Artwork stating 'Education Destroys Barriers', 'We Demand Treatment', and 'I Need A Chance'

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  • How decades of stopping forest fires made them worse

    Prescribed burning or controlled burning is an ancestral indigenous practice in which specific sections of a forest are burned. Controlled burning also happens naturally like when lightning strikes a forest. Controlled burning is good for a forest, it gets rid of dead areas, leads to healthier soil by clearing the ground, and minimizes the strength of large fires. However, due to U.S. laws that criminalized controlled burns the practice was discouraged in the U.S. Now, due to climate change and larger fires, prescribed burning is making a come back.

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  • Grassroots movements fight a broken system

    "Land defenders" from the Six Nations blocked a planned housing development on contested land by swiftly moving to occupy the site, even after a police raid in which nine protesters were arrested. In place of the now-canceled development, the community erected a dozen tiny homes and a communal kitchen. The protest serves as a model for another occupation by members of the Kanien’kehá:ka Nation at Kahnawake, whose 75-day holdout protests a planned 290-unit housing development on land that is subject to the nation's unresolved claim.

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  • Cases of missing trans people are rarely solved. A married pair of forensic genealogists is hoping to change that

    Trans Doe Task Force is a nonprofit project by two professional genetic genealogists that works to solve cold cases involving missing and murdered trans people. Trans people are at greater risk of violence. When their unidentified bodies are found, police are more likely to mishandle or neglect their cases. Using the tactics of genetic genealogy to turn a DNA sample into a link to known family members, and then narrowing the list of possible victims to the right one, TDTF has solved two cases out of 173 it has worked on. It also has worked with police agencies to change hearts and minds.

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  • How one town put politics aside to save itself from fire

    The Ashland Watershed Protection Project is a collaboration between the community, the Forest Service, and environmental activists. The community leads the process, with input from local Native American leaders, to clear brush and cut down trees for fire maintenance while minimizing forest destruction and preventing logging companies from profiting. Instead, a is in charge of determining which areas, trees, and brush should be cleared for fire safety.

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  • Why Herders Are Fronting the Battle to Save Cultural Heritage

    Herders in rural Mongolia are given financial compensation to help preserve cultural heritage by keeping watch over the country’s remote relics and burial sites. The historical sites hold a trove of information dating back thousands of years but their remote locations make preservation an arduous and expensive undertaking for the government.

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  • How Clayoquot Sound's War in the Woods transformed a region

    Tofino, a popular tourist destination in Clayoquot Sound, a region on the west coast of Vancouver Island, attracts about 600,000 annual visitors. The Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation and other Nuu-chah-nulth nations have created an eco-based tourism market. They are trying to restore the area after it was decimated by decades of logging in the area. The five central Nuu-chah-nulth First Nations took over tree-farm licenses and created Guardian programs, as well as restoration and monitoring projects. Tofino's tourism generated $250 million in profits, setting up a model that could be used by other First Nations.

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  • These Texas schools offer lessons on how to quickly catch up kids learning English during pandemic

    The International Newcomer Academy provides English language learning students with a learning environment where they can catch up on their language skills before moving on to regular campuses. Teachers at the academy are specifically trained to provide language support and teach in an understandable way through visuals, repetition, and communication.

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  • Mural-painting festival showcases Indigenous strength

    The Strong People, Strong Communities mural-painting festival highlights positive Indigenous stories. The project paired 11 young artists with 11 elders in six teams, each of which painted a mural with a distinct theme. The artists collaborated virtually on the designs and while some artists attended the festival to paint together others were produced digitally. The murals showcase the positive contributions of a diversity of Indigenous voices - including LGBTQ2S+, women, and youth – which helps them feel empowered and contributes to a sense of confidence in their cultural identities.

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  • Giving Voice: Service Transforms Life for Hearing Impaired

    The Mongolian Association of Sign Language Interpreters launched a free social media service that provides interpreters for people with hearing impairments. Using Facebook Messenger, the service allows clients to use video calls to talk with a sign language interpreter, who then reaches out to an institution or an individual on the client’s behalf. The initiative has six sign language interpreters and has fielded 3,543 calls. Interpreters help people get information and resolve problems, with most clients seeking assistance communicating with medical professionals and government welfare offices.

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  • Alaska Native identity 'weighs heavily' on friends and a future

    Defining and maintaining indigenous identity is an ongoing process for tribes who want to ensure a strong future. Various enrollment policies have worked for different tribes, from lineal descent to blood quantum requirements. Tribal leaders are trying to strike a balance between shrinking populations in some cases and the fear of sudden increases in enrollment, which could put “a strain on already scarce resources."

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