On March 21, the Apache Stronghold group made their case “en banc” in front of a full panel of 11 judges at the Richard H. Chambers U.S. Court of Appeals in Pasadena, California, to save Oak Flat (Chi’chil Bildagoteel in Apache) from becoming a two-mile-wide, 1,100-foot-deep crater due to the copper-mining interests of foreign-owned mining […]

Students in the Salt River Elementary School Eagles Club recently visited the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community Garden to learn from Garden Coordinator Stetson Mendoza about how to plant squash and cook traditional foods. Fifth- and sixth-graders took home seeds, mulch and soil to plant the squash, and they even tried a fresh salad and […]

With a proclamation on March 21, U.S. President Joe Biden established the Avi Kwa Ame (spelled “Vii Kwame” in Piipaash) National Monument, located in Clark County, Nevada, near Laughlin. The site is culturally significant to the Piipaash and is central to Yuman culture. The monument is considered reserved federal land, and it includes Spirit Mountain […]

For over 90 years, the Pueblo Grande Museum and Archaeological Park has been in continuous operation in Phoenix. The name of the museum, however, has now changed to better reflect the site’s cultural history and association with the ancestors of the O’odham, the Huhugam. After many consultation meetings with the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community […]

On March 22, U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola (Yupik; D-AK) and U.S. Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-SD) introduced the bipartisan Tribal Firearm Access Act in their effort to classify tribal IDs as eligible identification documents for the purposes of transferring a firearm. U.S. Senator Markwayne Mullin (Cherokee Nation citizen; R-OK) introduced the companion bill in the Senate […]

On January 25, the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community Tribal Council voted to open a 30-day public comment period on proposed ordinances regarding drug and drug-related crimes, including provisions for the legalization of recreational marijuana use in the Community. At the time, Council wanted to have something tangible that the Community membership could look at […]

On Saturday, March 18, the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community Cultural Resources Department held the 2023 Tortilla Festival at the Huhugam Ki: Museum. (The word “tortilla” is cemait in O’odham and modiily in Piipaash.) The first tortilla festival in the Community was held in 2019, but the event then was put on hold for the […]

On March 18 at the Scottsdale Civic Center Memorial Lawn, a new permanent memorial wall called the Scottsdale Memorial for the Fallen was unveiled to remember Scottsdale-area residents, including Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community and Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation veterans, who gave their lives in military service to the nation. The memorial is a project […]