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Date: Mon, 7 Feb 2000 13:38:07 -0800
To: Recipient List Suppressed:;
From: Native Americas Journal <bfw2@cornell.edu>
Subject: The Great Plains: A Decade of Drought and Blizzard

The following article is provided from Native Americas' special-issue
on "Global Warming, Climate Change and Native Lands." Published by
the Akwe:kon Press at Cornell University's American Indian Program,
Native Americas Journal keeps you informed of issues and events that
impact indigenous communities throughout the hemisphere. You can find
more information on this topic, as well as how to subscribe to Native
Americas on our website at http://nativeamericas.aip.cornell.edu.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

The Great Plains: A Decade of Drought and Blizzard
 By Patrick Spears/Native Americas Journal
© Copyright 2000

The Great Plains has undergone dramatic ecological shifts many times
throughout the life of the Earth. Changes may occur yet again on the
Great Plains because of climate change, this time accelerated by the
forces of humanity. Plains tribes are now searching for ways to adapt
to anticipated climate changes and to devise a plan that will ensure
their survival.

The Great Plains stretch across the middle third of the United States
from Canada to Mexico. Land-extensive agriculture is the primary land
use, with more than 90 percent of the land in farms and ranches and
75 percent under cultivation. The five major production systems are
range livestock, crop fallow, groundwater irrigation (aquifer
dependent), river valley irrigation (snowmelt dependent) and confined
livestock feeding. Water resources are scarce and underground
resources are being depleted before they can be replenished. Water
resources are a special concern to tribes because of aboriginal water
rights and external development.

Agricultural land leases are the primary source of income for many
Plains tribes. Extreme climate variability, including droughts and
blizzards, over two or three years can seriously affect tribal
economies through crop, livestock and income losses from Native and
non-Native operators.

Autumn snows, and late winter and early spring blizzards and ice
storms pose a great risk to communities. In 1997, Arctic cold,
mountainous snowdrifts and ice paralyzed northern Plains reservations
for weeks. More than 160,000 cattle perished in the spring
blizzards-a 100-year occurrence in meteorological terms. All power
was lost on many reservations and propane gas for generators was
rationed and sold at skyrocketing prices. In many places water pipes
froze and methane gas backed up in homes, creating health risks.

The hardest hit reservations were the Cheyenne River, Standing Rock,
Ft. Berthold, and Spirit Lake reservations in the Dakotas. In the
subsequent spring, the community of Wakpala on the Standing Rock
Reservation was evacuated because of flooding from rapid snowmelt and
runoff. Five other reservations in North Dakota also were affected
when many tribal members returned home due to flood evacuations in
the city of Grand Forks. This taxed already stressed tribal
government services, themselves coping with the effects of blizzards
and flooding.

In the past 10 years, droughts, blizzards and flooding have prompted
six national disaster declarations in the Dakotas. Summer temperature
increases and severe weather events have created health risks for the
elderly and children, and have created additional demands for energy
and health care, thus increasing costs for tribes with already
depressed economies. South Dakota has consistently claimed seven of
the poorest counties in the U.S. over the past 20 years.

Higher temperatures often have led to drought conditions resulting in
the loss of plant cover and soil erosion. Cultivation of non-native
plants, reduction of biodiversity and river-valley floods have
severely reduced the Native medicinal plant populations. Further
climate variability and change could wipe out already endangered
medicine plants, which will affect Native health. The most noticeable
changes are expected to occur where the prairies meet the woodlands,
with the loss of some broadleaf species and the wildlife habitat that
they support. However, some scientists speculate that with the
reduction of non-native plants, native grasses and plants that have
remained dormant for years may spring up, thus sparking the return of
certain Native medicines.

Although some resources may be threatened, reduced or completely
extinguished as a result of climate change, other resources on the
Great Plains will remain unaffected. Wind is one such resource. The
wind resources on the Great Plains alone can generate 75 percent of
the energy needs of the United States. Plains tribes can play a
critical role in developing the resources and infrastructure to help
make the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy such as
wind.

The tribes of the Great Plains have endured many challenges and
changes in the social, political and cultural landscape surrounding
them. Tribes must now find ways to sustain themselves in the event of
further ecological changes so that they may continue to live and
thrive on the Great Plains.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Patrick Spears, a former planner and tribal chairman of the Lower
Brule Sioux Tribe, is the president of the Intertribal Council on
Utility Policy (COUP), and served as the co-chair of the Native
Peoples/Native Homelands Climate Change Workshop.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------
 

"Nowhere else will you be able to find such powerful-knowledge filled writing."
-Wilma Mankiller, Editorial Board Member of Native Americas Journal

Native Americas Journal
Akwe:kon Press
American Indian Program
Cornell University
450 Caldwell Hall
Ithaca, NY 14853-2602

Tel.    (607) 255-4308
Subs.   (800) 9-NATIVE
Fax.    (607) 255-0185
Email.  nativeamericas@cornell.edu

Native Americas Journal
        http://nativeamericas.aip.cornell.edu

American Indian Program
        http://www.aip.cornell.edu

                **Help us put Native Americas in your library.**
          Please request that your local libraries subscribe to
Native Americas.

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