Environmental
Sustainability and Repatriation
to be Explored During
Native American Days at UC San Diego

September 18, 2008

By Jan Jennings

Environmental sustainability on San Diego Reservations, a four-dimensional look at the repatriation of important cultural items to Native Americans, and the personal experiences of a tribal doctor will be featured during the 2008 California Native American Day Celebration at the University of California, San Diego. Events will run Sept. 26 to Nov. 7.

Also included will be a mini-film festival chronicling the Native American people’s experiences in the United States and a high school essay contest focusing on healthy living for Native Americans who “walk in two worlds.” All events are free and open to the public.

The Native American Day Kickoff will begin at 11:30 a.m. Sept. 26 in The Loft of the UCSD Price Center East. It will include an opening blessing by Kumeyaay elder Stan Rodriquez and welcoming remarks by UCSD Chancellor Marye Anne Fox.

Mike Connolly Miskwish of the Campo Band of the Kumeyaay Nation will give the keynote address, On Sacred Ground: Environmental Sustainability on San Diego Reservations. Connolly will discuss tribal work of environmental sustainability among the tribes in the San Diego region.

Specifically, Connolly will address wind power development for the Campo Kumeyaay Nation. Campo’s 25 square miles are situated at the crest of the Laguna Mountains about 60 miles east of San Diego. It currently hosts 25 two-megawatt turbines which supply enough power for approximately 30,000 homes and off set approximately 110,000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions per year.

“Campo still has considerable untapped wind energy potential, possibly as high as 300 megawatts,” says Connolly. Tapping into this resource will require conquering legal issues regarding the tribe, ownership possibilities, federal tax incentives, the transferability of tax-based incentives, and the like.

Connolly says the commercial wind development would go a long way toward leveling the current economic disparities among tribes. “More importantly,” he says, “the development of wind power and other renewable energy resources within Indian country offers the potential for tribal communities to achieve truly sustainable economic development.”

Following his address, Connolly will lead a workshop at 1:30 p.m. in the Price Center’s Gallery A highlighting the Campo tribe’s approach to environmental sustainability in wetlands restoration and energy generation and the opportunities and challenges this poses for native sovereignty.

Connolly is the chief executive of a private consulting firm, Laguna Resource Services, Inc., specializing in Native American projects such as energy project evaluation and support, water quality standards development, forest resource inventory assessment, and solid waste management plans. He is a councilman for the Campo Kumeyaay Nation, has served as director of the Campo Environmental Protection Agency and is the author of numerous articles, including Equity and Sustainable Development, Environmental Justice and Border Tribes, Reflections from the U.S.-Mexico Border, edited by Clough-Riquelme & Bringas Rabago, the Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies, UC San Diego.

The California Native American Day High School Writing Workshop will be held at 3:30 p.m. Oct. 8 at the Viejas Educational Center in Alpine. Writing tutors from UCSD will present writing tips. Deadline for participation in the California Native American Day High School Essay Contest is Oct. 31. Essay participants will write on:

As we walk in two worlds, we learn about the old and new ways. What does being healthy mean to you and your culture? How can Western and traditional medicine work together for healthy living?

Three winners, including a grand prize winner, will be named. Grand prize is $500.

On Oct. 13, Grave Injustice: UCSD Repatriation Teach-In will be presented from 5 to 7 p.m. in the Multi-Purpose Room of the Student Services Center. Four panelists will discuss issues surrounding the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA). NAGPRA, according to the National NAGPRA program, is a federal law defining a “process for museums and Federal agencies to return certain Native American cultural items to lineal descendants, culturally affiliated Indian tribes, and Native Hawaiian organizations.” If remains are found on federal land, the law states, they should be returned to the tribe with the closest cultural affiliation.

The Native American Film Festival will run from noon to 6 p.m. Oct. 17 at the Cross-Cultural Center. Films to be screened are In the Light of Reverence, Doe Boy, and The Business of Fancy Dancing. Hosting the three films will be Natchee Blu Barnd, a lecturer in American Indian Studies at Sacramento State University and the author of U.S. Colonialism and Indigenous Geographies. Barnd received his doctorate from UCSD’s Ethnic Studies Department.

Dan Calac, M.D., medical director of the Indian Health Council, Inc., (IHC) will speak on Pathways to Life Experience From a Tribal Doctor at 6 p.m. Nov. 7 in the Comunidad Room of the Cross-Cultural Center. IHC is a consortium of nine tribes – Inaja-Cosmit, La Jolla, Los Coyotes, Mesa Grande, Pala, Pauma, Rincon, San Pasqual, and Santa Ysabel – dedicated to the continual betterment of Indian health, wholeness, and well-being.

California Native American Day was established as an official state holiday by legislation passed in 1998. It recognizes the fourth Friday in September as the official Native American holiday, celebrated by all California schools. This is the third year UCSD is participating in the celebration. The UCSD celebration is designed to promote events that enhance the relationship between the San Diego tribal communities and UCSD students, faculty and staff.

Media Contact:
Jan Jennings, 858-822-1684
Pat JaCoby, 858-534-7404