H1N1 swine flu in 52 states and territories, Indian Country cases emerge

by Terri Hansen
Environment and Science Reporter

Update June 5: The H1N1 flu has reached 52 states and territories, claiming 27 lives. IHS epidemiologist Dr. John Redd reported 35 confirmed and 13 probable cases across Indian Country May 25. Arizona Pima County Health Dept confirmed one death in Pinal County. Adults over age 60 may have immunity due to previous exposure or vaccination against a similar strain, and those born before 1957 may carry some pre-existing immunity.

May 6: The much talked about Influenza A/H1N1 virus, a never-before-seen, rapidly spreading swine flu strain has so far spared most of Indian Country. The Tohono O’odham Nation in the Arizona Sonora Desert reported four cases, all children, and all are recovering.

There are eight more probable cases in Pima County, Ariz., and 20 suspected cases elsewhere. A suspected case that closed a tribal campus at the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde in Oregon was not the H1N1 strain.

The Havasupai Tribe, whose village in the Grand Canyon flooded last August, put off reopening to June 1, disappointing hundreds of would-be visitors. “We’re a small isolated community,” said vice-chairman Matthew Putesoy. “People come from all over the world to visit and even though we’ve lost our economy, we couldn’t take the risk.”

The U.S. has declared a state of emergency, and health officials say flu cases are likely to grow in coming days. The World Health Organization alert level remains at Phase 5, a strong indication that a pandemic is imminent and the time to implement planned mitigation measures is short. The WHO is warning against over-confidence, although most cases of the flu have been mild. A pandemic means world wide, and is not an indication of the severity of illness.

Dr. John Redd, branch chief of the IHS Division of Epidemiology, said the IHS is responding aggressively. “I’ve been on the job for 11 or 12 days,” he said. “We activated our emergency coordination center early on, and all of the tribes have put their emergency response plans into action. We feel the response has gone very well.”

Non-IHS medical providers are coordinating with state and local governments to provide services, Dr. Julia Wong, a physician with the Portland, Ore., Native American Rehabilitation Association said.

Its impact on non-federally recognized Indian nations could be harder. “We are on our own,” said Jennifer Lagergren of the Chinook Nation, a non-federally recognized tribe in Washington State. She worries if the flu virus does reach them, it will spread fast. “We live more close together with each other, with our children, our elders.”

Chief Albert Naquin of the non-recognized Isle de Jean Charles Band in Louisiana said tribal leaders attended a state funded class last year to learn what actions to take in a pandemic flu. But without grant monies the tribe cannot implement those procedures. “I pray this is just a scare to us, and that no life is lost because of this flu,” Naquin said.

Flu experts are struggling to predict how dangerous this new strain will be. During the swine flu threat of 1976, government programs rushed to vaccinate nearly 25 percent of the population. Only 200 came down with the flu but 500 people developed Guillian-Barre syndrome, a rare neurological disorder that causes temporary paralysis; 25 died. It cost the government their credibility, and millions of dollars in damages.

But memories of the 1918 Spanish flu – that affected Native Americans and Alaskan Natives especially hard – is a harrowing reminder that novel strains of human-to-human transmissible swine flu can turn into human plagues. This new swine flu strain lacks the genes that made the 1918 pandemic so deadly, the CDC has said.

Nor is this flu particularly virulent. CDC spokesperson Karen Hunter said, “It’s just that it’s a new strain and the human population hasn’t built up a resistance.” She said 36,000 deaths a year are flu-caused and the CDC is not expecting this flu to exceed that. There are concerns this strain could mutate and return in a more virulent strain the fall.

Mexican authorities noticed higher than usual number of respiratory illnesses in mid-March. In early April the CDC was investigating cases in California and Texas. They made their official announcement April 24. As of this report, the flu had spread to 38 states, and 21 countries. The U.S. has had two deaths, in Texas.

Newsweek is reporting that in 2005 a Wisconsin teenager who butchered pigs came down with an H1N1 swine flu virus, the first part of an evolutionary tree that has led to this current strain, which has evolved in a quadruple strain of human, bird and two types of swine virus. But even though this is pig virus, eating pork won’t give it to you.

Flu is caused by airborne spread of droplets, and everyday actions, such as avoiding contact with someone who is sick can keep you from getting it. The symptoms of this flu are usually fever, cough, sore throat, headaches or muscle aches, fatigue, and occasionally vomiting and diarrhea. If you or someone in your family has symptoms, call your medical provider for additional instructions. Young children may not have typical symptoms, but may show signs of low activity and have difficulty breathing.

The CDC and IHS is asking that those with any respiratory illness stay home from work or school to avoid spreading infection to others. Smart actions can protect you and your family: washing hands thoroughly and frequently with soap or using an alcohol-based hand sanitizer, practicing social distancing – keeping a distance between you and those who are sick, and using disposable tissues or sneezing into your elbow to keep from sending germs airborne.

Two anti-viral medications, Tamiflu and Relenza, are effective treatments for those with serious illness if used early. Most cases of this flu are mild, and do not need medical attention. Some clinics and emergency rooms cannot handle the number of patients seeking diagnosis and treatment, and say it’s putting heart attack and trauma patients at risk. They ask that you assess your situation, and make wise choices.

The IHS maintains their own stockpile of the anti-viral drugs, Redd said. If those supplies deplete then medical facilities will receive anti-viral drugs from the Strategic National Stockpile.

The U.S. Education Department said school closures have affected well over 500,000 children. Health officials are changing their school closure policy, keeping schools open but keeping sick kids home so schools don’t become infected. Messages have gone out to employers by different organizations, asking them to understand when parents have to stay home.

Whatever you call this flu, you don't want to get it

by Terri Hansen

Environment and Science Reporter

The mouthful H1N1, or “swine flu” that everyone is talking about is spreading to states throughout the United States. But the fact that there have been no reported cases in Indian Country “speaks to our efforts” to address the issue head on, a spokeswoman for the Indian Health Service said.

The key word here is reported – there may be cases in Indian Country, but none were reported as of late afternoon April 30.

IHS and tribal leaders have mobilized and are coordinating efforts with federal and state public health departments and emergency service offices to ensure rapid influenza tests and cultures are in place along with adequate supplies of anti-viral medications, and early surveillance, said the spokeswoman, who asked she not be identified. Other calls to IHS offices were not returned.

H1N1 is an influenza A virus that can cause a range of symptoms, usually fever, cough, sore throat, headaches and muscle aches, fatigue, and occasionally vomiting and diarrhea. So far most of those infected have had mild disease, but some have had more severe illness, and there has been one death. Some groups, such as pregnant women and young children or those with chronic conditions may be at higher risk.

The current flu has not grown into pandemic proportions, but a Phase 5 alert by the World Health Organization has prompted concern that a pandemic is imminent. The U.S. has declared a public health emergency, as are a growing number of states.

Yet Karen Hunter, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control says this current flu isn’t particularly virulent. “It’s just that it’s a new strain, and the human population hasn’t built up a resistance.”

But pandemics are caused by new flu strains. Hunter says 36,000 deaths are caused by the flu in any given year, “and the CDC is not expecting this flu to exceed that.”

There is confusion about whether this virus, originally said to be of swine, bird, and human origin, is only swine, as is now claimed. U.S. Agricultural Secretary Tom Vilsack said as of April 28 there is no indication that any pig from the United States has been affected. And whether or not this is a pig virus, eating pork won’t give it to you.

Flu is caused by airborne spread of droplets, and everyday actions, such as avoiding contact with someone with the disease, can keep you from catching it. While there’s no need for panic, families need to take sensible precautions.

Seek medical care if you or someone in your family shows symptoms of the flu. Young children may not have typical symptoms, but may show signs of low activity and have difficulty breathing.

The CDC recommends you stay home when you are sick, wash your hands frequently with soap or detergents, keep a six foot distance from people who may be sick, and use tissues or sneeze into your elbow to prevent airborne spread by droplets.

The CDC (www.cdc.gov/swineflu) and the federal government’s consolidated pandemic influenza web site (http://www.pandemicflu.gov/) are good sources of information about pandemic flu. Those without access to a computer can call the CDC’s toll-free hotline: 1-800-CDCinfo (1-800-232-4636). The number for the hearing impaired is 1-888-232-6348.

Worst natural disasters to strike tribes in 2008

PHOTO: Picher, Okla.

Indian Country Today

By Terri C. Hansen, Correspondent

The winds of destruction lived up to their name this year, as the deadliest of the natural disasters to strike the country’s tribal nations – uprooting trees, roofs and sometimes, entire homes, costing tribal lives. The Federal Emergency Management Agency declared disasters for an unprecedented number of tribal nations, and counties with large Native populations this year.

In July, Hurricane Dolly severe flooded parts of New Mexico’s Mescalero Apache Reservation. “Major fires in the spring burned the underbrush so the waters just flooded through washing out our bridges, roads, homes,” said the tribe’s transportation planning manager Frances Cochise.

Hurricane Gustav made landfall on the Louisiana bayou Sept. 1 just 30 miles of the Chitimacha Tribe of Louisiana before roaring through the United Houma Nation with high winds and tornado activity and leaving behind wind damage and severe flooding, as well as damage to the Poarch Band of Creek Indians in Alabama.

Two weeks later Hurricane Ike struck tribal nations with savagery, causing heavy wind damage and severe flooding to Louisiana’s Pointe-au-Chien, and Beloxi-Chitimacha, and United Houma Nation – tribal communities already stricken by 2005 Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. With Ike came the year’s first hurricane-caused death, when a 16-year-old Houma tribal member drowned trying to escape his home. In Texas, Ike damaged areas of the Alabama-Coushatta Tribe.

Tornados pounded Oklahoma’s tribal nations March 31, leaving a swathe of wind damage and flooding. Severe storms continued to produce tornados across Ark., Texas, Miss., Ga., and Okla. the first part of April. A dizzying dance of tornados, high winds, and flooding continued at month’s end, striking Wis. and Maine tribal communities others part of the north central and northeastern United States.

Nothing is left of Picher, Okla., whose 800 residents fled for good following a deadly tornado that swept across northeast Okla. and southwest Miss. May 10. The federal government finally agreed to buy out and relocate residents of the town, already one of the most toxic areas in the country from waste left behind by mining companies. “Our communities got hurt, so we felt very strongly that we should pitch in and help the people who lost their homes, property, and who are dealing with the loss of loved ones who died in this tragedy,” said a Quapaw Tribal statement.

On July 7, a violent tornado ripped through the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians’ reservation in N.D. “There were no warnings,” said tribal news reporter Logan Davis. “Martin Peltier actually saw the twister moving towards him through the treetops. He wound up with a crushed pelvis and tailbone when the twister tore his house off and buried him beneath the rubble.” The tornado damaged more than 50 homes in the already poverty-stricken area, and destroyed 12.

Iowa’s Sac and Fox Tribe of the Mississippi “lost some 25 homes, commercial and ceremonial buildings but thankfully, no lives” to the flooding that hit the Midwest in June, said tribal media coordinator Denise Davenport. Other flood-hit states were Ill., Ind., Mich., Minn., Miss., and Wis.
The remote village of Supai deep in the Grand Canyon, home to 400 Havasupai tribal members, suffered severe damage when heavy rains Aug. 17 produced floodwaters that broke through the earthen Redlands Dam and sent water rushing through their village. The ensuing damage forced the tribe to close visitor access to the village, campground, and trails to their famed waterfalls until Spring 2009. Telephone service to the tribe was out until Dec. 22, when the tribe was found still in a state of emergency. “Right now there’s no power,” tribal chair Don Watahomigie said. “The power lines are broken up top of the canyon. They run our wells, everything.”

The year ended with a series of robust winter storms from Maine to Oregon, with heavy rains, snow, sleet and ice across the country. Last June the Bush Administration’s U.S. Climate Change Science Program concluded that climate change is fueling extreme weather events: “With continued global warming, heat waves and heavy downpours are very likely to further increase in frequency and intensity … more frequent droughts of greater severity. Hurricane wind speeds, rainfall intensity, and storm surge levels likely to increase. The strongest cold season storms are likely to become more frequent, with stronger winds and more extreme wave heights.”

Tribes around the country are meeting the challenges of climate change by hosting a number of climate change, adaptation, and energy conferences and meetings in 2008. For more information, visit http://www.tribalclimate.org/.

Klamath Tribes set to regain 90,000 acres of homeland

By Terri C. Hansen
Environment and Science Writer

CHILOQUIN, Ore. – It’s a new chapter in the history of the landless Klamath Tribes in southern Oregon. They’re buying back part of their lost reservation – and with that returns their tradition of caring for and being nurtured by their native land.

The Klamath, Modoc and Yahooskin peoples who make up the Klamath Tribes, entered into an option agreement Dec. 18 to purchase the 90,000-acre Mazama Forest in south central Oregon near their tribal home of Chiloquin.

The forest was part of 1.2 million acres reserved for them in an 1864 treaty, but liquidated by Congress in 1954 during the now repudiated policies of the Termination Era. The tribe regained federal recognition in 1968 – but not their reservation.

"People have asked me, what will you do to get the land back? And I’ve told them, ‘whatever it takes,’" said Klamath tribal chairman Joe Kirk. "And now I’m excited." Two years ago the tribe asked the national conservation organization Trust for Public Lands for help in buying their land back. "They really beat the streets for us," said Kirk.

"The land is important to this wrongly terminated tribal nation," said Charles F. Sams, III, director of TPL’s Tribal and Native Lands Program. "It’s a major achievement in their long struggle back to cultural independence and economic self-reliance." The tribe plans to take ownership of the land this fall.

Not only will land provide the tribe with financial stability, "it’s a significant part of our spiritual and cultural identity," Kirk said. "There are culturally sensitive areas to take care of, that hopefully have not been lost to past activities."

The federal government will pay $21 million to cover part of the cost of the land, as part of the $1 billion Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement, which includes the agreement last summer to remove four hydroelectric dams on the Klamath River, blamed for destroying salmon runs in the river and in the Pacific Ocean.

A handful of locals in the rural communities of the Klamath Basin don’t much like the plan. "Why should the taxpayers foot the bill to buy land to establish a separate country for the Klamath Tribes? Isn’t this fostering separatism, apartheid and racism?" asked a letter to the editor signed "we in the Basin Alliance."

And last August the group, who calls itself the Klamath Basin Alliance, Inc., placed a display ad in the local paper asking readers to sign a form that would reject the land agreement. The ad, which didn’t list any groups or people who make up the "Alliance," argued that the Klamath Tribes sold their reservation as "willing sellers," and they’ll get 92,000 acres of land bought with "taxpayer money."

But the ad was deceiving. The federal government is paying about two-thirds the cost of the yet to be appraised land. The Klamath Tribes is responsible for the rest.

In treaties with the United States, the Klamath peoples ceded 18 million acres of prime timber and farmland for guarantees in perpetuity of their sovereignty, a 2.2 million acre reservation, the protection of their natural resources, and social services that included health care, education, and housing.

By 1953, the tribe was nearly at an economic par with mainstream society. Tribal members didn’t receive land payments when they were terminated; instead they were paid for the value of the ponderosa pine on the land. The loss of land and social services for the tribe following termination is estimated well in excess of $200 million.

Racism and bigotry is hard for Kirk to understand. "I think we should maintain our identities, and emphasize our commonalties," he said. The tribe is looking to foster good will among the tribes’ non-supporters. "The tribe is the fourth largest employer in the county. It has a rippling effect. Say if our casino closed, folks working for the Pepsi plant would lose their jobs."

The tribe has developed a forest restoration and management plan for the Mazama Forest that will be a cornerstone for their economic development. Improving the health of the forest is a priority.

"Portions of the land have been over-harvested, and some hasn’t been managed well at all," Kirk said. The tribe plans to manage the forest in an environmentally sound manner to provide a steady supply of timber to their tribal enterprises planned at the tribes’ Giiwas Green Enterprise Park, 25 miles from Chiloquin.

Yakama Nation buys Lyle Point, ending decades-long struggle over fishing rights

By Terri C. Hansen
High Country News

LYLE, WASHINGTON

On maps it is called Lyle Point, but to tribal fishing people it has always been Nanainmi Waki Uulktt, “the place where the wind blows from two directions.”

The rocky promontory overlooks the confluence of the Klickitat and Columbia rivers, providing spectacular views of the Columbia River Gorge as it cuts through the Cascade Range. To the west, Oregon’s Mount Hood stands sentinel over magnificent canyon walls rising to 4,000 feet above the river.

The gorge was the center of trade for tribes from the Plains to the Pacific. Lyle Point was home to a Cascade and Klickitat village, and provided an important fishery and meeting place for over 10,000 years. But like many tribal lands in the Northwest, it was lost when white immigrants moved to the area in the mid-1800s. The drowning of Celilo Falls, another traditional tribal fishing place, under the waters of The Dalles Dam 50 years ago was a further blow. Now, at least one of those lost fishing grounds will be restored to the tribes that once depended on it. On May 8, the Yakama Nation announced the $2.4 million acquisition of Lyle Point from the Trust for Public Land, ending a long-simmering battle with would-be developers.

“This is a great day for the Yakamas — to get the land returned back for access to our fishing right areas,” announced Yakama Tribal Council Chairwoman Lavina Washines. “The younger generation will continue to exercise their Creator-given right to our very important salmon.”

The same winds that made Lyle Point a primary salmon-drying area for thousands of years also made it a world-class windsurfing mecca in the late 1980s. Klickitat County approved a 33-lot subdivision in 1992, threatening to turn the area into a gated community.

Yakama Margaret Saluskin was the first to raise the alarm about the subdivision plans. One day while she was drying salmon that her husband, Douglas, caught at Lyle Point, she noticed bulldozers carving the first roads into the promontory. Protests by tribal members and environmentalists swiftly ensued. When vandals destroyed a fishing scaffold at the point, the protesters began a nine-month encampment on the site. The tribe’s access to traditional scaffold fishing, protected by the Treaty of 1855, was at stake, Saluskin said.

Conservation groups joined the protest, saying Lyle Point was a resting place for bald eagles. The Trust for Public Land, a nonprofit specializing in conservation of real estate, began negotiations to purchase Lyle Point and held discussions with tribal members about ways to protect and manage the sacred site.

By 2002, the trust had purchased most of the lots, paving the way for conveyance to the Yakama. But tribal councils could not reach a consensus until the current administration, led by Washines, accomplished the acquisition.

Word spread like wildfire among Columbia River tribal peoples when the land deal finally became official. Nearly 200 tribal members and their supporters gathered at the point on May 15 to celebrate their long-awaited victory.

“Today marks the return and protection of sacred land,” said Charles F. Sams III, director of the trust’s Tribal and Native Lands Program and a member of the Cocopah, Payuse and Assinoboine Sioux tribes. “My grandfather took me up and down the river and showed me what we had lost. He told me I had a responsibility to the People, and to the salmon, to ensure their existence so they would continue to feed the People.”

Some visibly struggled to maintain composure as memories were brought to life. “We fought for this,” Cascade Chief Wilbur Slockish said. “It almost came to actual blows! So they can recreate? Make money, and windsurf? It was because we were standing in the way of economic progress. Progress.”

He brought out a chuckle when he told the crowd, “Progress always involves our homes, our cemeteries, our fishing grounds. There would have been coffee shops, cheese shops, wine tasting here.”

In 1945, Nisqually Billy Frank Jr. was arrested at age 14 for illegal fishing, starting a fight with the state of Washington that culminated in the 1974 Boldt decision affirming tribal fishing rights as reserved in treaties with the United States. “When I started singing today, I started thinking about all my partners,” he said. “All the good times here. All the bad times.” He paused in reflection. “I’m happy to be here to witness this great occasion. It feels good.”

Even as the tribes and the Trust for Public Land celebrate, the nearby town remains divided. There are those who still hope to see Lyle Point developed. “We need the tax basis for schools and fire departments and so forth,” resident Don Smith said. Others, like Pam Essling, support the return of the land to the Yakama. “We honor the historical, cultural and spiritual significance of this place,” she said. “We’re here to congratulate the Yakama people for reacquiring their land to preserve, protect and enhance their cultural and natural resources for all people. It can be a place for healing old wounds and misunderstanding.”

The purchase of Lyle Point ensures that thousands of years of tradition will continue along the river. Supporters from nearby communities will continue to be invited to tribal gatherings and feasts, Yakama leaders say, aiding cultural understanding and reconciliation.

After those who’d gathered finished a dinner of salmon and dried venison, Margaret Saluskin, who had fought so long and so hard, said with a peaceful smile, “Whatever you had in your hearts and minds for saving this land where the wind blows two ways, I want to thank you.”

© High Country News 2007