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The Grizzly Treaty
The most iconic being in Yellowstone was in danger of being killed, gutted, and skinned for a rug or trophy mount in the most iconic landscape in America. Both the being, the grizzly, and the land the grizzly imbues are sacred to tribal nations. These killing fields are a matrix of ancient tribal sacred and ceremonial sites.
Through years of tremendous hard work, tribe to tribe, in government offices, and through multiple successful campaigns like 'Not In Our Name' and of course,
'The Grizzly, A Treaty of Cooperation, Cultural Restoration and Revitalization' we prevailed.
Sacred grizzly bears now remain protected, and so too does the land on which they walk.
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READ HERE about the Grizzly Treaty, and the work done to save grizzlies from trophy hunting.
Learn about the most-signed treaty in tribal history, that provides the alternative to trophy hunting and "gun sight grizzly management," and promises "cultural, economic and environmental revitalization" for tribal nations.
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The articles below do a great job of explaining the tribal significance of grizzly bears, how the campaigns and lawsuit prevailed over the US government who had energy leases they wanted to enact in the Yellowstone area (but could not whilever the land was protected for the Great Bear)
TRIBES PREVAIL IN DEFENDING THE SACRED:
JUDGE RULES TO REINSTATE PROTECTIONS FOR THE GRIZZLY
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TRIBAL WITNESSES EMPHASIZE SPIRITUAL & CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE
OF GRIZZLY BEARS, CHAMPION GRIJALVA BILL TO GUARANTEE TRIBAL INPUT ON GRIZZLY MANAGEMENT
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" THAT BEARS ARE IMPORTANT CLAN SYMBOLS to the Red Lake Nation of Chippewa makes the killing of any bear on the reservation, whether cub or adult, repulsive."
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"That bears are important clan symbols to the Red Lake Nation of Chippewa makes the
killing of any bear on the reservation, whether cub or adult, repulsive."
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Tribal Submissions
Click on any document below to see the tribal submissions made to the State of Wyoming, Wyoming Game and Fish Commission, and Wyoming Game and Fish Department opposing Wyoming's proposed grizzly trophy in Greater Yellowstone, which scheduled to begin September 1, but thwarted by court action by tribes. The next stage in the fight will be to battle their States' appeals in court, and to stop Congresswoman Liz Cheney and her republican cohorts from attempting to delist grizzlies legislatively, whether in the open, or under the table. She has already tried to attach a rider to another bill that would have allowed her Big Energy friends access to the leases which currently are obscured to them by the presence of sacred grizzlies.
The State of Wyoming's planned hunt was upon lands comprised of tribal ancestral and treaty territory, defined by myriad sacred and historic sites to over thirty sovereign tribal nations.​
2. Rocky Mountain Tribal Leaders Council submission to the Wyoming Game & Fish Commission.
3. Great Sioux Nation submission: Wyoming Grizzly Hunt-Public Comment.
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9. Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs letter to Governor Matt Mead of Wyoming re-treaty violations, abrogation of UNDRIP, etc.
Visit www.piikaninationtreaty.com to learn about the most-signed treaty in tribal history, that provides the alternative to trophy hunting and "gun sight grizzly management," and promises "cultural, economic and environmental revitalization" for tribal nations.
"This issue matters to all Indigenous people . . .
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. . . we are the people of the land. Wherever we are upon our Mother Earth, we feel the pain from the desecration of the sacred. We feel the multigenerational trauma from the continuation of colonial doctrines, the continuing violations of what rights, laws, and protections exist for us in this dominant society that marginalizes us in neocolonial bondage. Show me a man who wants to trophy kill the Great Bear, and I will show you a man with no soul. When you look at this issue, the treatment of Indigenous people since contact stares back at you.”
Deputy-Chief Councilor Dennis Simmons -
(Kgiabar of the Nyoongar Boodjara, Western Australia).
