Toastie

Indigenous affairs reporter for High Country News
🪶 Chahta | they/them or whatev ⚧️

Stories: https://www.hcn.org/author/b-toastie-oaster/

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nprofile1qqsyvdraefhljdfq48gee2rjnpy48e27ldy5wq73z9gpwwpp8yerj9gprpmhxue69uhhyetvv9ujumt0d4hhxarj9ecxjmnt9k0dvx

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relay.momostr.pink

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Last Notes

2026-01-29 06:40:23 GMT

Today Oregon Public Broadcasting
invited me on to talk about the phrase "time immemorial," the anti-Indigeneity of the Clovis-first story, and why academia has suppressed a century of archaeological findings to maintain a false narrative about Native people. 🎙️
https://www.opb.org/article/2026/01/28/time-immemorial-meaning/
#Indigenous #Oregon

2026-01-12 22:21:01 GMT

Schools have long taught that humans populated North America around 12K yrs ago by crossing the Bering land bridge. This story supports settler colonialism, and contradicts #Indigenous stories, which offer memories of human habitation here during the last glacial maximum.
Also, the Bering land bridge story falls apart when you find out about the century of archaeological evidence academia has vigorously suppressed.
Read more in my new essay. 👇
https://www.hcn.org/issues/58-1/what-does-time-immemorial-really-mean/

2025-12-30 20:44:39 GMT

There’s a new book out about pretendians, 'Who Gets to be an Indian?', and I interviewed author
Dina Gilio-Whitaker about this minefield of a topic and why she chose it for her research. She says while she doesn’t want to be in the business of calling people out, people should expect to have to prove their claims of Native identity.
https://www.hcn.org/articles/we-need-to-talk-about-the-pretendians-in-our-midst/
#indigenous

2025-11-15 01:49:16 GMT

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➡️ The heavy metal feature, ICYMI: https://www.hcn.org/issues/57-11/heavy-metal-is-healing-teens-on-the-blackfeet-nation/

2025-11-15 01:48:32 GMT

If u 🫀 our heavy metal feature, u can take a peek behind the scenes bc i wrote u a reporter's notebook. 😉 🥰
https://www.hcn.org/articles/how-i-found-hope-while-reporting-on-a-metal-fest/
#Indigenous #Metal #Journalism #AmWriting

2025-11-07 21:05:42 GMT

I've never published anything so close to my heart. Hope ya love it.
https://www.hcn.org/issues/57-11/heavy-metal-is-healing-teens-on-the-blackfeet-nation/
#Indigenous #metal

2025-09-18 21:05:54 GMT

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Following this investigation, the Wenatchi-P’squosa people held a demonstration on Badger Mountain:
https://www.hcn.org/articles/wenatchi-psquosa-people-demonstrate-against-proposed-solar-project/

2025-09-18 20:31:49 GMT

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“'Meticulous' and 'compelling throughout,' judges said, this impressive investigation serves up a needed reminder of the risk that injustices of the fossil fuel era will be repeated in the clean energy transition. The story had immediate impact: In response to Oaster’s reporting, state officials reopened the project survey, and ultimately the development was put on hold to address Indigenous communities’ concerns."

2025-09-18 20:29:33 GMT

Thank you Covering Climate Now for recognizing our
HCN and @npub1qmg…s6k5 investigation into how solar developers can use for-profit archeologists to threaten or damage Indigenous cultures!
Full story: https://www.hcn.org/issues/56-2/energy-industry-washingtons-solar-permitting-leaves-tribal-resources-vulnerable-to-corporations/
Award winners: https://coveringclimatenow.org/projects/the-2025-ccnow-journalism-awards/

2025-03-04 20:39:39 GMT

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But you can read it online, too:
https://www.hcn.org/issues/57-3/the-true-cost-of-the-huckleberry-industry/

2025-03-04 20:38:57 GMT

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Since I couldn’t write the story myself, I asked my colleague Josephine if she was interested in picking it up. She’d previously written about huckleberries and had reported in Indigenous communities.
Yesterday, I got my print edition in the mail and finally got to read the feature on paper! I like to save the stories I’m most excited about for print, even if they’re already published online. It’s a special kind of reading pleasure. 🍵
https://assets.journa.host/media_attachments/files/114/106/079/155/895/804/original/ba1694613e65b077.jpeg
https://assets.journa.host/media_attachments/files/114/106/079/370/329/408/original/e412e7a08ce0584d.jpeg

2025-03-04 20:31:49 GMT

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That doesn’t stop white people from greedily obliterating these sacred, treaty-protected foodways! They’ve built a whole ass boutique industry around them, and roped in marginalized demographics to do the labor, of course. If you’ve visited or lived in the #PNW you’ve probably encountered huckleberry sodas, ice cream, CBD gummies, and so forth — all made out of stolen #Indigenous foods, probably picked by underpaid workers.

2025-03-04 20:31:01 GMT

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But commercialization of huckleberries was too fascinating to pass up. For example, did you know this food crop resists domestication? So white people haven’t been able to force it into European-style agricultural exploitation. The berry bushes rely on mid-elevation frosts, as well as prescribed burns, and refuse to grow on farms. Absolute legends. Love ya, huckleberries.

2025-03-04 20:29:47 GMT

A while back a source told me she was working on decommercializing huckleberries — a fascinating first food crop threatened by commercial overharvesting. I wanted to know more, but she said she wasn’t ready to talk to the press about it. I was also overloaded with other assignments (there are many, many underreported stories in Indian Country, and one reporter can only take on so much).

2024-12-19 18:13:17 GMT

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Audubon, the Yakama Nation and others are pushing for a new approach that requires consultation with tribes and local governments before projects are approved. Instead of having developers submit plans, tribal nations and local governments would establish “build-ready” sites — sites that are pre-vetted for clean energy buildout. “This would flip the current model from a developer-led process to one where the state is collaborating with tribes and local governments,” Bayard said.

2024-12-19 18:12:38 GMT

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The problem is the current permitting process: Tribal and public consultation do not happen until well after a project proposal is submitted. “At the end of the day, the Horse Heaven project really shines a light on how our current approach is not working,” said Trina Bayard, director of bird conservation for Audubon Washington.

2024-12-19 18:10:28 GMT

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Yakama Nation Tribal Chairman Gerald Lewis acknowledged that renewable energy is an important tool in solving the energy crisis but pointed out that it cannot come at the expense of tribal resources. “Tribes and the State of Washington can work together to define a new energy future for the State of Washington, but that collaborative journey must start with EFSEC and the Governor opening their eyes and hearts to more than just the energy developers’ interests in this State,” he wrote.

2024-12-19 18:03:29 GMT

YAKAMA NATION: this giant wind farm will trash cultural sites and important habitat.
WIND DEVELOPER: so what.
STATE PERMITTING AGENCY: them NDNs is right bestie, scale it down a bit.
YAKAMA: actually they should scale it down way more.
DEVELOPER: UR ALL AGAINST ME WAH WAH.
GOVERNOR INSLEE: settle down now, state, let the developer build what they want
YAKAMA NATION: THEN WHAT WAS THE POINT OF THE PERMITTING REVIEW?? C U IN COURT.
#Indigenous #Washington #Climate
https://www.hcn.org/articles/tribes-sue-after-massive-wind-farm-in-washington-gets-green-light/

2024-12-19 01:49:51 GMT

In 2016, a few white guys from #Oregon contacted leaders of the Fort McDermitt Tribal Council in northern #Nevada. They wanted to partner with the tribe to grow cannabis on tribal land.
They said the farm would be 100% owned by the tribe, would create much-needed jobs, generate money for tribal services like healthcare and education, and spur business in the remote area.
Tribal leaders signed on, but soon realized they'd entered a bad deal.
#Indigenous #Cannabis
https://www.hcn.org/articles/legal-weed-entrepreneurs-promised-a-windfall-from-tribal-lands-then-it-fell-apart/

2024-11-27 00:41:01 GMT

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It had:
-Three free meals a day for students and staff
-Bus service for families who couldn't afford public transit
-A curriculum that acknowledged slavery and #Indigenous people
-Students grouped by academic ability instead of age
"It was hard-ass work. But the reward was in the faces of those parents and grandparents and aunties and uncles. The faces of the staff. And most importantly, the lives of the children."

2024-11-27 00:37:59 GMT

Oakland's Panther School was an elementary school started and run by the Black Panther party from 1972-1982.
"The school was community based, child centered, tuition free, parent friendly and we paid special attention to children whose families had trouble with clothing and food."
#California #SFBA #oakland #Education
https://www.kqed.org/news/12014210/how-the-black-panthers-shaped-u-s-schools

2024-11-26 23:44:40 GMT

A former Boston Globe & Reuters reporter who is now homeless gives a gutting, beautifully written, and clear-eyed firsthand account of what it's like to be homeless in America right now.
This is the best article you'll read today, easily. The ending is chilling.
#LongReads #Journalism #News #AmWriting #Housing #Homelessness
https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a62875397/homelessness-in-america/?src=longreads

2024-11-05 18:56:08 GMT

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To follow the Native vote today, watch ICT's live coverage here:
#Indigenous #USPol #Election2024
https://youtu.be/ZPKWIdoVniw

2024-11-05 18:53:12 GMT

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Republicans, on the other hand, seem to be overlooking Native voters almost entirely. Project 2025 barely mentions tribes, a miscalculation that shows how the right underestimates Indigenous sovereignty, tribes’ legal rights and political power, according to one expert.
https://www.hcn.org/articles/what-project-2025-has-to-say-about-indigenous-affairs/

2024-11-05 18:52:38 GMT

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Nevertheless, Natives tend to vote Democrat, and the Native vote sometimes gets credit for swinging the 2020 election for Biden. It could swing this election, too, and Democrats know that.
https://www.hcn.org/articles/indigenous-affairs-how-indigenous-voters-swung-the-2020-election/

2024-11-05 18:51:12 GMT

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Native voters are one of the least partisan voting blocs. When you think and plan according to a seven generation timeline, white hand wringing over US elections every few years can be amusing. We were here before America, the saying goes, and we'll be here long after.
https://ictnews.org/politics/a-century-after-native-americans-got-the-right-to-vote-they-could-put-trump-or-harris-over-the-top-

2024-11-05 18:50:42 GMT

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Whether or not you consent to be governed, their reasoning goes, voting is a tool you can use to choose your opponent, in an effort to create better conditions under which to organize for actual liberation.

2024-11-05 18:50:23 GMT

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Benally rejected voting as a form of consent to be governed. Voting, he reasoned, is maintaining our own colonization.
But other Natives in political spaces question the assumption that voting is an expression of consent, viewing it instead as a tactic.
https://ndncollective.org/voting-like-a-radical-and-honoring-the-complexities-of-organizing-for-justice/

2024-11-05 18:49:41 GMT

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And not all Natives want to vote. Some argue that the two US parties are virtually indistinguishable on Indigenous issues like resource extraction. Diné anarchist Klee Benally wrote that "no matter who you vote for, settler colonialism wins."
https://detritusbooks.com/products/no-spiritual-surrender-indigenous-anarchy-in-defense-of-the-sacred

2024-11-05 18:49:06 GMT

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It took decades for all 50 states to actually recognize the voting rights that supposedly came with US citizenship, and even now Native communities face rampant voter suppression and obstacles to participation.
https://azmirror.com/2024/07/31/my-firsthand-experience-with-the-unique-barriers-to-voting-that-face-indigenous-arizonans/

2024-11-05 18:48:33 GMT

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The ICA was part of a greater campaign of assimilation that followed America's failed military genocide of the Indigenous peoples of North America.
The Haudenosaunee Confederacy rejected imposed US citizenship as treasonous, and even now considers it a violation of international law.

2024-11-05 18:48:13 GMT

Native history shows that the right to vote can actually be a defeat instead of a victory.
This election year is also the centennial of the Indian Citizenship Act, which made #Indigenous people US citizens (sometimes against their wills), with theoretical voting rights.
#USPol #Election2024
https://www.hcn.org/issues/56-10/the-native-vote-dilemma/

2024-10-24 22:59:23 GMT

BREAKING: President Biden plans to apologize tomorrow for the federal Indian boarding school system
#Indigenous #USPol #News
https://www.hcn.org/articles/president-biden-to-apologize-for-federal-indian-boarding-schools/

2024-09-27 15:16:14 GMT

Reporting on Indigenous issues can be uniquely challenging because western journalism puts a premium on transparency --- but sometimes I see and hear things the public is not supposed to know.
Here's a behind the scenes look at the green colonialism reporting I've been doing with HCN and ProPublica.
#Indigenous #Journalism #GreenColonialism #AmWriting
https://www.hcn.org/issues/56-10/how-do-you-describe-a-sacred-site-without-describing-it/

2024-09-16 20:06:55 GMT

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“It’s going to have to take the general public to get up in arms over it and say, ‘This is just morally wrong,’” said Stainbrook. “We haven’t gotten to that point where enough people are standing up and saying that.”
Meanwhile, some states, like #Utah, are firmly resistant.
Read the bombshell investigation (with interactive data sets!) by Grist and HCN here: https://www.hcn.org/articles/states-own-lands-on-reservations-to-use-them-tribes-have-to-pay/
Or get the cliffs notes version with five key takeaways here: https://www.hcn.org/articles/5-takeaways-from-our-investigation-into-state-trust-lands-on-reservations/

2024-09-16 20:05:32 GMT

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“It's out-and-out land theft,” said Minnesota State Sen. Mary Kunesh, a descendant of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. “We do need our non-Native communities to stand up and speak the truth as they see it when it comes to returning the lands, and any kind of compensation, back to the tribes.”
But ultimately, return of on-rez state trust lands would be up to Congress.
#LandBack

2024-09-16 20:02:48 GMT

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In some cases, tribes actually have to lease back their own reservation lands from the state.
Leasing these lands probably costs less than fighting to get them back.
“Is it wrong? Is it fundamentally wrong to have to lease what should be your own land? Yes,” said Cris Stainbrook, president of the Indian Land Tenure Foundation. “But the reality of the situation is, the chances of having the federal or state governments return it is low.”

2024-09-16 20:00:37 GMT

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(Spoiler: the state probably leases them out for fossil fuel extraction, timber, mining, cattle grazing, etc.)
State trust lands on reservations fund public services like libraries and schools.
In theory, tribal nations have access to such public resources, but that isn’t always really the case. For example, public schools primarily serve non-Indigenous people.
Tribes in Minnesota do not receive revenue from state trust lands on their reservations, nor do tribal schools.
https://assets.journa.host/media_attachments/files/113/149/000/728/986/817/original/1757b30ffedb31a4.webp

2024-09-16 19:57:41 GMT

A new investigation by HCN and @npub1pzp…etfp reveals how much tribal reservation land is actually owned by states.
On the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe’s reservation in #Minnesota, for example, the tribe owns only about 5% of the reservation, the state owns about 17%. There’s a whole ass database about this now so you can look up your rez and see where state owned parcels are, and what the state uses them for.
#Indigenous
https://www.hcn.org/articles/states-own-lands-on-reservations-to-use-them-tribes-have-to-pay/

2024-09-12 17:58:12 GMT

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Part of the reason the CEI hub is so vulnerable is that the dumbass colonizers who built #Portland erected the NW industrial neighborhood on a buried, paved-over lake, after they had some KKK rampages there, and a hot air balloon party.
(If you know #pdx, St. Helens Rd follows the contour of the disappeared lake.)
The soil will liquify when the big one hits.
https://www.streetroots.org/news/2021/06/09/digging-industrial-nw-portland-s-twisted-past-effort-save-its-future

2024-09-12 17:54:38 GMT

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The Cascadia subduction zone unleashes a major quake roughly every 300-500 years. The last one was around 1700, so we're due. Scientists agree that it's coming, we just don't know exactly where the quake will hit hardest --- or when it will strike.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/where-the-pacific-northwest-rsquo-s-ldquo-big-one-rdquo-is-more-likely-to-strike/

2024-09-12 17:52:20 GMT

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Despite the risk, the city of #PDX has doubled down on expanding fossil fuel infrastructure at the hub, engaging an on-again-off-again situationship with a Texas fossil fuels company called Zenith, who has lobbied hard in Oregon to expand the CEI hub.

2024-09-12 17:46:07 GMT

90% of liquid fuel in #Oregon arrives through an industrial neighborhood in NW #Portland. This neighborhood is a mashup of rickety, aging fuel tanks, pipeline terminals from refineries, and tanker cars carrying fuel away.
If/when an earthquake hits, this critical energy infrastructure hub, just north of downtown, will likely dump 193.7 million gallons of oil into the Willammette and Columbia Rivers --- potentially the worst environmental disaster in US history.
https://www.hcn.org/issues/56-9/preventing-the-next-fukushima/

2024-09-07 19:01:31 GMT

My rez is next. FERC is reviewing an application for a pumped hydro storage facility in Choctaw Nation. Tribal council voted unanimously to oppose it, out of both environmental and cultural concerns.
Council has not been given enough info to determine specific impacts, but are surveying widely in the proposed project's general area. So far they've identified 36 historic archaeological sites, incl 14 Choctaw cemeteries.
#GreenColonialism #Indigenous #Climate
https://www.choctawnation.com/biskinik/news/choctaw-nation-opposes-hydropower-project-to-protect-natural-resources-and-sovereignty/

2024-09-06 16:34:58 GMT

When land artist Michael Heizer began working on 'City,' his 1.5 mile long concrete and rock sculpture in rural #Nevada, it was 1970. Few Americans had a problem with building a monument in the middle of the desert. But in 2022, when it was complete, 'City' debuted into a different world: a greater understanding of #Indigenous genocide and colonialism stoked criticism of the work’s sociopolitical context and questions about its own message concerning land.
#LongReads
https://www.hcn.org/issues/what-to-make-of-land-art-in-the-era-of-landback/

2024-09-03 22:21:06 GMT

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Context that people sometimes miss: the destruction of Indigenous foodways (like salmon runs) forces reliance on grocery stores and therefore assimilation into capitalism.

2024-09-03 20:59:59 GMT

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"Republicans fish, and Democrats fish, too. We need to come together to find solutions... We’re from rural communities, rural America, tribal people. Sometimes we’re less concerned about the politics."
---Phil Rigdon, superintendent of the Natural Resources Department at the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation

2024-09-03 17:26:09 GMT

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Tribal leaders I spoke to said Interior's report is the culmination of decades of tribal work, relationship building with non-tribal municipalities, litigation, and cooperative agreements. And it’s just a step. Hopefully the report opens the way for federal actions that can walk back some of the harms of the dams.
You can read their thoughts here:
https://www.hcn.org/issues/56-9/what-tribal-leaders-think-about-interiors-dams-report/

2024-09-03 17:25:32 GMT

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I wanted to know what tribal leaders thought about the report. Is this a federal virtue signal? Could it lead to meaningful action?
So I reached out to all nine Columbia basin tribes mentioned in the report. Three got back to me.

2024-09-03 17:24:22 GMT

In June, the federal government admitted to the ongoing harms of dams on the Columbia River. It was a historic first.
This came in the form of a Department of Interior report called "Historic and Ongoing Impacts of Federal Dams on the Columbia River Basin Tribes.” It acknowledges that not only are the basin’s dams obliterating salmon, they’ve also wreaked havoc on #Indigenous economies, health, environmental conditions, and spiritual practices.
Here's the report:
https://www.doi.gov/media/document/tribal-circumstances-analysis

2024-08-29 17:33:01 GMT

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Video of the Klamath running free:
https://x.com/SaveCaliSalmon/status/1828980452151222611

2024-08-29 17:31:49 GMT

As of yesterday, the Klamath River is flowing freely for the first time in a century (via press release in my inbox).
More info:
https://ictnews.org/news/after-100-years-salmon-will-swim-the-klamath

2024-08-15 21:54:16 GMT

OPB invited me into the studio today to talk about Badger Mountain and why the solar developer has paused operations there.
#Indigenous #PNW #Oregon #Washington
https://www.opb.org/article/2024/08/14/avangrid-solar-project-eastern-washington/

2024-08-12 16:02:27 GMT

Earlier this year HCN and ProPublica investigated a solar development threatening tribal cultural resources on Badger Mountain in Eastern #Washington.
Today's news: the solar developer, Avangrid Renewables, has paused permitting operations on Badger Mountain in part to reevaluate tribal input.
#Indigenous #GreenColonialism #PNW #Climate #RenewableEnergy
https://www.hcn.org/articles/washington-solar-project-paused-amid-concern-about-indigenous-sites/

2024-08-11 23:29:02 GMT

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Before the Columbia River was first dammed in the 1940s, it was clear and clean enough to drink, an #Indigenous elder told me. And according to a recent DOI report, you could catch tons of fish per day (the report says 10 tons, but my fact checker could only verify 3 tons) at places like Kettle Falls. Damming, along with other colonization tactics, put an end to all that.

2024-08-06 21:28:06 GMT

After a 3 year investigation, the federal government has acknowledged that it invested $23.3B (adjusted) in a boarding school system to break up #Indigenous families and communities, and destroy language and culture.
The report suggests that the US should invest that same amount of money in family reunification, language revitalization, and Indian education to help repair the havoc wreaked by 400 schools from 1871 to 1969, which killed at least 973 children.
https://www.npr.org/2024/07/30/nx-s1-5051912/interior-dept-report-indian-boarding-schools

2024-08-01 19:38:45 GMT

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Some extra crazy facts about the Hanford Site: the place was huge. It took 48,000 workers to build it, and they all needed places to sleep, eat, and gallavant in the off hours.
For a time, it was the largest US voting precinct, with the world's biggest general delivery post office.
And it took ungodly amounts of crappy American food to keep people fueled:
https://assets.journa.host/media_attachments/files/112/888/438/214/779/211/original/cb74cf52768b72c2.jpg

2024-08-01 19:17:58 GMT

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Jim’s cleanup efforts now extend into future generations. The Yakama Nation is sending youth to Los Alamos, #NewMexico, (another site in the Manhattan Project) to learn about their toxic inheritance, and hiring interns to work on tribal cleanup efforts. I spoke to one such intern, Josephine Buck, who’s trying to ensure that federal cleanup activities respect and preserve important cultural sites.  
You can read the story here:  
https://www.hcn.org/issues/56-8/indigenous-celebration-of-hanford-remembers-the-site-before-nuclear-contamination/

2024-08-01 19:16:57 GMT

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Tribal nations are pushing government agencies (namely the Department of Energy) to let them inform and participate in cleanup efforts. Right now they’re only allowed to issue public comments on federal cleanup plans (and even that is more influence than they used to get).  
Yakama’s efforts began with an elder named Russell Jim, who’s no longer with us. But he’s a wonderful speaker and you can listen to interviews with him here: 
https://ahf.nuclearmuseum.org/voices/oral-histories/russell-jims-interview/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ru0chuKQe6I

2024-08-01 19:14:59 GMT

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The event is also a chance to help educate the youth about generations-long cleanup efforts.  
Above ground, the sagebrush steppe here is remarkably pristine—because Americans can’t build here anymore. But underground, the soil and groundwater are poisoned with massive plumes of toxic chemicals and radioactive isotopes.
You can explore these crazy fucked up plumes here: https://trac.pnnl.gov/
https://assets.journa.host/media_attachments/files/112/888/350/453/900/055/original/cd16eeb20539eab3.jpg
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2024-08-01 19:11:09 GMT

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But that’s not why I went to the Hanford Site. I went because every year the Yakama Nation visits the site for a cultural event they call Hanford Journey.
  See, for thousands of years, this wasn’t the Hanford Site. It was a winter camp, a hunting site, and a place of #Indigenous ceremony. Yakama folks remember it that way, and come out here to keep that memory alive.
https://assets.journa.host/media_attachments/files/112/888/332/873/063/082/original/791f296af7a7f06f.jpg
https://assets.journa.host/media_attachments/files/112/888/334/735/449/295/original/ac46ef65f6792627.jpg
https://assets.journa.host/media_attachments/files/112/888/335/201/072/589/original/c5bfec524f5753df.jpg

2024-08-01 19:05:24 GMT

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Here are some more photos from inside the B Reactor.
https://assets.journa.host/media_attachments/files/112/888/305/719/501/549/original/cf1f0421e20f5f2a.jpg
https://assets.journa.host/media_attachments/files/112/888/307/151/003/299/original/716137ea7185f1ef.jpg
https://assets.journa.host/media_attachments/files/112/888/308/912/274/426/original/f14204bb6bb88f02.jpg
https://assets.journa.host/media_attachments/files/112/888/312/618/226/750/original/62b4e897959948c9.jpg

2024-08-01 18:59:30 GMT

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I signed up for a tour offered by the Department of Energy, wondering how close to the infamous B Reactor we’d be able to get.
Turns out they just let you wander around inside! 😳 😬 ☢️ PS the tour is free and open to the public! So hey, if you wanna poke around in a decommissioned nuclear reactor… ya can! 
https://assets.journa.host/media_attachments/files/112/888/241/739/778/091/original/e894492d58585ea4.jpg
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2024-08-01 18:43:01 GMT

In June I went out to the Hanford Site in #Washington---often called the most contaminated place in the Western Hemisphere. It’s also Umatilla, Yakama, Nez Perce and Wanapum ancestral lands.
This site was part of the secretive Manhattan Project during WWII and the Cold War. The world’s first industrial-scale nuclear reactor, called the B Reactor, still stands here. The B Reactor produced the plutonium that went in the bomb code named “Fat Man,” which the US dropped unnecessarily on Nagasaki.
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2024-08-01 00:38:24 GMT

A Colville elder once described to me the beginning of #GreenColonialism in the #PNW as the construction of the Grand Coulee Dam in the early 1940s. The dam silenced Kettle Falls, a legacy fishery, and drowned villages and burial sites around it.
It also halted salmon returns.
He said first they took the salmon, and now they're coming for our roots with solar fields, and even taking the last thing we have---the wind. All in the name of renewable energy.
#Indigenous
https://news.mongabay.com/2024/07/a-tribe-once-declared-extinct-help-reintroduce-salmon-to-the-columbia-river/