Avangrid Renewables said they plan to review comments from tribal nations and private landowners.
B. ‘Toastie’ Oaster
B. ‘Toastie’ Oaster (they/them) is an award-winning journalist and a staff writer for High Country News writing from the Pacific Northwest. They’re a citizen of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. Email them at b.toastie@hcn.org or submit a letter to the editor.
Follow @toastie@journa.host
Posted inAugust 2024: In the Wake of the Floods
Indigenous celebration of Hanford remembers the site before nuclear contamination
At the fourth annual Hanford Journey, Yakama Nation youth, elders and scientists share stories about a land that is a part of them.
Posted inJuly 2024
In green energy boom, one federal agency made the Yakama Nation an offer they had to refuse
Federal rules and a lack of protection for sacred places left the Indigenous nation with an impossible choice.
Posted inArticles
A wildflower is teaching the non-Native public about food sovereignty
Oregon’s third Camas Festival highlights the joys and responsibilities of tending the iconic northwestern plant.
Posted inMay 2024: A River Returns
Art without the mask of Native identity
Multidisciplinary artist Nizhonniya Austin talks about authenticity, trust fund pottery hipsters, and her role as Cara in ‘The Curse.’
Posted inArticles
Wildlife habitat and tribal cultures threatened by Washington’s largest wind farm
The newly approved renewable energy project is planned across an eco-corridor and ceremonial sites.
Posted inArticles
Wenatchi-P’squosa people demonstrate against proposed solar project
The Badger Mountain development in eastern Washington threatens heritage foodways on sacred lands.
Posted inJanuary 11, 2024: The Creatures in Our Midst
Washington’s solar permitting leaves tribal resources vulnerable to corporations
Tribal officials say the process threatens cultural resources and what remains of healthy Indigenous foodways.
Posted inJanuary 1, 2024: January 2024
How 3 Indigenous women are leading the way on climate change
These experts bring knowledge and justice to the climate conversation.
Posted inArticles
Dispatch from the scaffolds: Native fishing culture on the Columbia River
An Indigenous fisherman describes how to hook a salmon, the meaning of life and his faithful dog Sturg.
Posted inMarch 1, 2023: Moving Parts
Green colonialism is flooding the Pacific Northwest
The Yakama Nation is fighting a pumped hydro storage development near Goldendale, Washington – but it’s just one of many.
Posted inArticles
Are the feds risking endangered salmon for fries and potato chips?
Tribal nations say the decision to reduce water flow on the Klamath River “has more to do with potatoes than it does fish.”
Posted inJanuary 1, 2023: Ripple Effects
What if Indigenous women ran controlled burns?
The Karuk Tribe’s first-of-its-kind training seeks to extinguish hypermasculinity in firefighting culture.
Posted inArticles
A very merry Indigenous affairs year-in-review
Take a look back at the changes in Indian Country over 2022.
Posted inArticles
An Indigenous Affairs reporter reviews ‘Alaska Daily’
Will the show stop its whiteness from sabotaging its own premise?
Posted inArticles
The Klamath dams are coming down
Today, FERC ordered PacifiCorp to surrender the dam license, the final hurdle after 20 years of studies and advocacy.
Posted inNovember 1, 2022: The Futures of Conservation
From dominance to stewardship: Chuck Sams’ Indigenous approach to the NPS
The first Native national parks director talks tribal co-management, historical accuracy, harassment, and the fallacy of “wilderness.”
Posted inOctober 1, 2022: Making Refuge
Pacific lamprey’s ancient agreement with tribes is the future of conservation
Despite dams, drowned waterfalls and industrial degradation, the practice of eeling persists.
Posted inArticles
Salmon are nosing at the riverbanks trying to escape the Klamath River
As dam removal inches into view, fish have to survive increasingly compounding calamities.
Posted inSeptember 1, 2022: Going Under
Questions about the LandBack movement, answered
Number one: Why are Indians spray-painting my Starbucks?