The High Price of Not Planning For Disaster

In times of diminishing funding and strapped budgets, it may seem like good sense to postpone training. But when it comes to disaster preparedness, any money you invest now will pay off in the long run. Weather extremes may cause the next disaster on your reservation, pueblo or rancheria. Perhaps the disaster will be human-caused, or won't even be on your tribal land, but at a nearby power plant, international border or transportation route. It may affect your people, property and even your power and communications infrastructure. Identifying these risks now will help your tribe focus on how to address them successfully, should worst come to worst.

The expert Native trainers presenting our two-day course in February understand the challenges that tribal governments and organizations face, because we have lived in and served Indian Country our whole lives. We appreciate that you may be running operations on a shoestring, so we'll help you strategize how to work with all kinds of different partners to establish mutual aid agreements, develop preparedness grants or share resources. We have worked with American Indian and Alaska Natives from all over the country at the tribal and federal level, so we understand the intricacies of jurisdiction and due authority in every state.

If you are considering signing up for our Emergency Management and Public Safety for Tribal Officals course, but are hesitating because of the price, consider what some tribes struggled with last year, just from getting hit by Mother Nature:

• Flooding cost the pueblo of Santa Clara more than $11.2 million dollars
• Flooding from a single storm caused damage to structures throughout the Coleville Reservation
• Several eastern tribes sustained outages, flooding and damage to homes and property during Superstorm Sandy   
• A single wildfire on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation cost more than $3 million to fight; the tribe also spent $89,000 to fight a second fire
• The Crow Reservation spent $300,000 to fight two wildfires
• The Montana wildfires consumed homes, cattle and natural resources, including critical rangeland
• Drought dealt a crushing blow to the Pine Ridge Reservation as well as pueblos and reservations from California to Oklahoma; estimated losses to crops and livestock due to drought was $426 million in Oklahoma alone

The cost of disasters is often hard to calculate for years after the event, because sustained damage to the environment, watersheds, sacred sites and cultural institutions may take years to mitigate.  As Governor Walter Dasheno of Santa Clara Pueblo testified in 2011 to the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs:

Never again in our lifetime will we see our traditional and treasured homeland and spiritual sanctuary, the Santa Clara Canyon, as we have known it. It will take generations for our community and lands to recover from the devastation of this fire. But this is our only homeland; it is the place we have been entrusted with since time immemorial. While we intend to devote the resources we can to the healing of our land and the protection of our community we do not have the resources to do it alone.

We're not going to stop the weather, but we can help you ensure that your tribe, pueblo or rancheria has the resources and the partners it needs to face the future with confidence, no matter what comes.

Talking About the Weather

The numbers are in for 2012, and there is no arguing that it was a hot year for those of us in the lower 48. The shifting weather patterns are not just bringing hot days, although people in Oklahoma suffered through two of the hottest days in recorded history. Several states suffered devastating drought conditions, which brought wildfires to some tribes (in Montana, South Dakota, Washington and Arizona, for example) and caused widespread suffering for people and animals alike. Other events included massive outbreaks of tornados, a multi-state derecho, and of course, superstorm Sandy. 

Everyone knows you can talk about the weather all you want and it won't change a thing, but we're facing some serious weather, and by all indications, it's just going to get worse. What we can do is hope for the best and plan for the worst. Tribal officials from council members to department heads will all benefit from our upcoming training on Emergency Management and Public Safety for Tribal Officials. Native communities in the US are expected to be hit hardest by changing conditions, and it's up to us to be ready. In this two-day session, we will not only talk about proposed changes to the way tribes can get disaster relief, but help officials plan how to keep infrastructure intact and people safe, no matter what. To learn how better emergency management can protect your tribe's assets and heritage, read this moving testimony from the governor of Santa Clara Pueblo in New Mexico, recently devastated by the Las Conchas fire.

Feb 2013: Emergency Management and Public Safety For Tribal Officials Training

Many tribes these days are coming to grips with the fact that the damage a natural disaster can bring to a community doesn't stop when the emergency is over. Our Native trainers, and our partners at Risk and Rewards Management Group, have decades of experience with planning for disasters, establishing mutual aid agreements and mitigating the impact of a fire, drought, tornado, hurricane or winter storm on a tribal community.

The training will be held in Albuquerque, NM February 26-27, 2013.

Click here to learn more about this training opportunity.  Click here to register.

Upcoming Training Opportunity: Drugs of Abuse

Learn to recognize the signs of methamphetamine use, prescription drug and over the counter drug abuse, synthetic drug use or heroin use in tribal housing. In addition to identification, participants will learn effective abatement strategies.

Click on the link to learn more about our upcoming training in Scottsdale, AZ. This two day, interactive program is free for Indian Tribe or Tribal Housing Authority employees. Any other participants can register for $50. Click here to register online.

Prescription Drug Take-Back Day Saturday, September 29

Coming To A Site Near You

The best way not to become a party to prescription drug abuse is to avoid having drugs in the house that are unused or expired. Prescription and over the counter drugs should never be flushed or put down the drain, to avoid contaminating the water supply. Instead, they must be disposed of in an environmentally safe manner.

To make disposing of unused drugs easier, the DEA will be accepting any pills or liquids you have lying around your house, between 10 am and 2 pm on Monday, September 29. To find the nearest collection site, go to the DEA website to search by your zip code. You can also call 1-800-882-9539 for more information about the program.

Preparation Is Key When Disaster Strikes

Recent wildfires throughout Indian Country recently reminded us that by the time you start smelling smoke, it's too late to make your plan, get a kit together of things you may need for a few days, and make a safe escape. Check out this recent article in Indian Country Today for some tips on what you can do to prepare for this season's hazards.

Dangers of Rural Law Enforcement

Walter Lamar  honoring fallen officers
BIA Officer Memorial in Artesia, NM. 2012 

Every officer working on a reservation or in a rural area understands how dangerous the work can be. Understaffing leads to long shifts and poor backup; long distances and bad roads contribute to a disproportionate number of vehicular accidents. Recognizing a need to improve officer safety and survival, Lamar Associates/ Indian Country Training is partnering with Narrowgate Security Agency (NGSA) to provide a dynamic, three-day training course that includes two days of live fire exercises.

Did you know:
An officer is killed in Indian Country on an average of every 20 months.
Indian Country officers are more than 36 times more likely to be assaulted in the line of duty than Department of Homeland Security officers.
Indian Country officers are assaulted at twice the national rate.
60% of Federal officer assaults occur in western states.
43% of officer deaths are the result of gunfire and 35% are result from vehicular accidents (including vehicle assault and accidents during pursuit).
BIA police are victims of almost one-third of assault cases against Federal officers.
Nearly 93% of Indian Country officers know their assailant.

Officer Safety in Indian Country

On May 3, I joined Ted Quasula, Retired Director, and Darren Cruzan, current Director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs  law enforcement to honor the many heros who have given their lives to protect Indian County. The memorial at the FLETC center in Roswell now has nearly 100 names.

Being a cop in Indian Country is hard and dangerous work and can affect a person's mental health and in turn their physical health. Join us online and onsite for a series of Officer Safety training events.

Start with a free webinar on Officer Safety and Wellness to learn the basics. Then sign up for our three-day Officer Survival and Wellness Training training at Santa Ana Pueblo. This three day course involves one day of classroom instruction and two full days on the live fire range and training simulator. Participants will return back to their departments with practical experience utilizing skills learned in various situational contexts.

The Ever-Changing Jurisdictional Maze

A bill is making its way through the Washington state legislature right now that creates a procedure to for tribes to request jurisdiction over civil and criminal matters, including delinquency, truancy and adoption. On the flip side, the New Mexico Supreme Court just restricted tribes' sovereign immunity when it comes to casino liquor sales.

Anyone who has worked in Indian Country justice knows figuring out authority and responsibility in any given case can be a challenge. Often the laws were confusing to begin with and the jurisdictional landscape keeps changing through court and legislative actions. To help you get a grip on who has jurisdiction when, Indian Country Training instructor Joseph Rosen is offering a terrific webinar on April 5th on Criminal Jurisdiction in Indian Country under TLOA. Don't miss this participatory and interactive course- you won't even have to leave your desk to take it.

Keeping Your Loved Ones Safe

Indian Country Today just published this insightful commentary by Steve Juneau, CEO of Indian Country Training. Not only does it offer some useful resources to prevent child abuse, domestic abuse and elder abuse but he shares some good news about the White Earth Police department, who have received funding to launch a "power of positive living" program for the tribe's children. We think this is a great step towards keeping kids on a path to avoid drugs and gangs.