Indigenous groups and organizations have been working for decades to protect the health of their communities and the environment. Here are some organizations that you can support to help ensure we leave a better world for all to enjoy.
Support Organizations with an Educational Focus
American Indian College Fund The American Indian College Fund transforms Indian higher education by funding and creating awareness of the unique, community-based accredited tribal colleges and universities, offering students access to knowledge, skills, and cultural values which enhance their communities and the country as a whole.
Center for Native Peoples and the Environment This organization combines traditional ecological knowledge of indigenous people and scientific ecological knowledge and serves as a bridge between traditional ecological knowledge and western scientific approaches.
Earth Justice Earth Justice has been the legal backbone for thousands of organizations, large and small. They pursue three key goals to secure a just, flourishing world: natural spaces and wildlife, healthy communities, and clean energy and climate change.
Four Worlds International Institute An internationally recognized leader in holistic human, community and economic development because of the Institute’s unique focus on the importance of culture and spirituality in all elements of development.
Homeland: Four Portraits of Native Action A documentary film and moving tribute to the power of grassroots organizing. Homeland, produced byKatahdin Foundation, Inc., is a call-to-action against the current dismantling of thirty years of environmental laws.
Honor the Earth This organization's mission is to create awareness and support for Native environmental issues and develop needed financial and political resources for the survival of sustainable Native communities using music, the arts, the media, and Indigenous wisdom to ask people to recognize our joint dependency on the Earth and be a voice for those not heard.
Idle No More Idle No More one of the largest Indigenous mass movements in Canadian history. Their vision is to call on all people to join in a peaceful revolution, to honour Indigenous sovereignty, and to protect the land and water.
The Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN) An alliance of Indigenous Peoples whose shared mission is to protect the sacredness of Earth Mother from contamination & exploitation by respecting and adhering to indigenous knowledge and natural law.
Native Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) A diverse and multifaceted cultural and educational enterprise, the National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) is an active and visible component of the Smithsonian Institution, the world's largest museum complex.
National Coalition of Native American Language Schools and Programs The Coalition of Native American Language Schools and Programs (the Coalition) serves to bring together schools and programs taught through Native American languages under the provisions of the federal Native American Languages Act of 1990 (NALA).
POC Online Classroom (POC) An online classroom that curates resources by, for, and about marginalized communities and social justice with the goals of education, personal empowerment, and political engagement.
Sacred Land Film Project This non-profit organization has the following goals: to educate the public on environmental problems in Native American communities; to explore the values and historical experiences that Native Americans bring to bear on environmental issues; and to promote conservation measures that respect Native American land and resource rights.
Teaching History Teachinghistory.org is designed to help K–12 history teachers access resources and materials to improve U.S. history education in the classroom.
Support Organizations Fighting the Dakota Access Pipeline
The Dakota Access Pipeline is a 1,200 mile pipeline estimated to cost over $3.7 billion to be used to move over 400,000 barrels of crude oil a day across four states. The construction of this site is north of the Sioux tribe's reservation, and many argue that land was taken illegally in an 1868 treaty. Native Americans argue that the government approved the pipeline construction without consulting them, a requirement under US law.
Camp of the Sacred Stones The Sacred Stone Camp is a cultural camp near the northeastern border of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation. The camp is dedicated to the preservation of Dakota, Lakota, and Nakota cultural traditions, calling for international emergency actions to disrupt business as usual and unleash a global intersectional resistance to fossil fuels and fascism.
#NoDAPL A centralized online esource to stay current on infomration and actions you can take to make in an impact in the fight against the Dakota Access Pipeline
Oceti Sakwowin Camp Oceti Sakowin Camp is a unified encampment of Water Protectors dedicated to protect their land and water against the Dakota Access Pipeline, assuring the welfare of all people by honoring human rights, treaties, agreements, and cultures.
Learn more about the Water Protectors fighting against the Dakota Access Pipeline.
Support Organizations Fighting to Protect or Restore Fishing Rights
Klamath River Dam The Klamath River basin has been an important resource to Native American fisherman and farmers for decades until it was dammed by PacificCorp in at the start of the 20th century. Native tribes of the Klamath have fought to return the river to its natural state, and together with the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations and river advocacy groups have fought to get the dams removed.
Klamath Basin Crisis An online resource that provides a space for voices of the Klamath River Basin. Resources for farmers, ranchers, miners, loggers, Indians and fishermen.
- Removal of Klamath Dams Would Be Largest River Restoration in U.S. History
- Klamath River Removal Corporation
- This Will Be the Biggest Dam-Removal Project in History
- Klamath River dam removal deal signed by top federal, state officials
- Native Americans and environmentalists campaign to remove Klamath Basin Dam, 2004-2010
Fishing rights Hunting and fishing rights were one of the few rights protected under were critically important to Native American tribes. Fish and wildlife were a primary source of food and trade goods, and tribes based their own seasonal movements on fish migrations. In addition, fish and wildlife played a central role in the spiritual and cultural framework of Native American life.
- A Resource Divided
- Native American Rights - Hunting And Fishing Rights - Court, Tribes, Indian, and Tribe
- The Fish-in Protests at Franks Landing
Support Organizations Fighting to Protect or Restore Treaty Rights
Treaty rights Treaty rights are determined by agreements between the United States goverment and Native American tribes.
- Treaty: Promises between governements
- Treaty Rights and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
- Old Treaties and New Alliances Empower Native Americans
- Native Americans Are Fighting a New but Familiar Battle at Standing Rock
- On Understanding Indigenous Leadership and Treaty Rights
- Tribal Sovereignty
- Crow Official Fights for Treaty Rights to Hunt Elk
