cultural resources – Turtle Talk

MSU ILPC Conference — Treaty Waters at Risk: Tribal Sovereignty and the Line 5 Challenge in the Great Lakes — April 17, 2026

Join us at MSU Law for Treaty Waters at Risk: Tribal Sovereignty and the Line 5 Challenge in the Great Lakes, a one-day conference on Friday, April 17, 2026, examining the legal and environmental stakes of energy infrastructure in treaty-protected waters.

Featuring a keynote by Whitney Gravelle, MSU Law and ILPC alumna and President of the Bay Mills Indian Community, the program brings together leading voices to discuss treaty rights, co-management, and the ongoing Line 5 conflicts at Bad River and the Straits of Mackinac.

Native America Calling Show on Line 5 TODAY

March 23, 2026Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here:

Tribes in Michigan oppose Enbridge the Line 5 oil pipeline replacement plan, arguing the environmental risks to their traditional waters far outweigh any benefits. The proposal to replace the 70-year-old pipeline that currently runs through Michigan and Wisconsin has faced many legal challenges over the years. Now, the U.S. Supreme Court will decide whether the state or federal government should have say over how the project proceeds. The decision could set a precedent on how much power tribes and states have in regulating fossil fuel development. We’ll speak with tribal leaders, Native legal scholars, and others about what’s next for the ongoing Line 5 pipeline legal battle.

GUESTS

Wenona Singel (Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa), associate professor of law at Michigan State University College of Law and associate director of the Indigenous Law and Policy Center

Elizabeth Arbuckle (Bad River), chairwoman of the Bad River Tribe

Melissa Kay, Tribal Water Institute fellow at the Native American Rights Fund

SCOTUS Emergency Petition Materials in Oak Flat Land Transfer Stay Request

March 19, 2026Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here are the materials in Lopez v. United States:

Application.pdf Download

NCAI Amicus Brief.pdf Download

Opposition.pdf Download

Reply.pdf Download

Ninth Circuit Rejects Effort to Force Injunction Against Transfer of Oak Flat to Mining Company

March 16, 2026Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here is the lead opinion in Arizona Mining Reform Coalition v. United States Forest Service. A partial dissent is forthcoming.

Selected briefs are here.

Tribal Nations Granted Intervention to Protect Chuckwalla Homelands

March 9, 2026Matthew Campbell

On March 3, 2026, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan granted the Tribal Nations’ motion to intervene in Torongo v. Burgum, the case that threatens the long-sought designation of the Chuckwalla National Monument.

In August 2025, five Tribal Nations — the Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indians, the Fort Yuma Quechan Indian Tribe, the Chemeheuvi Indian Tribe, the Colorado River Indian Tribes, and the Morongo Band of Mission Indians — filed a motion to intervene to protect Chuckwalla’s national monument status.

Learn more about Tribal Nations’ advocacy for their homelands in the Chuckwalla region.

Berry Creek Rancheria Sues California to Enjoin Application of OSHA

March 6, 2026Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here is the complaint in Berry Creek Rancheria of Maidu Indians of California v. Lowry (E.D. Cal.):

1 Complaint.pdf Download

UNDRIP Tribal Implementation Project Talk on Oak Flat on Dec. 16, 2025

December 10, 2025Matthew L.M. Fletcher

The Implementation Project will be hosting the next TIP Quarterly Meeting on December 16, 2025 from 12:00-1:30 PM (Mountain Time).

“UN Declaration in Action: International and Domestic Strategies to Protect the Apache Sacred Site of Oak Flat” will feature Mr. Alex Ritchie, San Carlos Apache Tribe Attorney General. Join us to explore the ongoing efforts to defend Oak Flat and the role the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoplesplays in shaping these strategies. This webinar will offer valuable insights for anyone interested in Indigenous rights, cultural preservation, or Tribal advocacy. Moderated by TIP Co-Directors: Prof. Kristen Carpenter and Ms. Sue Noe.

WaPo on Oak Flat: “A land fight pits a sacred Apache tradition against a copper mine”

December 9, 2025Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here.

An excerpt:

Oak Flat sits on one of North America’s largest undeveloped deposits of copper. The mineral is used in dozens of items, including smartphones, electric vehicles and solar panels. The company Resolution Copper believes there are 20 million tons of copper under Oak Flat that could supply up to one-quarter of the U.S. copper demand over 40 years. At today’s prices, experts say that much copper would be worth about $200 billion. The company asserts it will create more than a thousand jobs in an area with high unemployment.

Mining Oak Flat, however, would eventually transform the landscape, creating what geologists say would be a vast crater. To prevent this, the tribe and other opponents of the mine have filed multiple lawsuits and tried unsuccessfully to get one of the cases heard before the U.S. Supreme Court. A federal appeals court will hold a hearing for several of the suits in early January.

“If they take Oak Flat, they destroy our religion and who we are,” said Vanessa Nosie, an archaeology aide for the San Carlos Apache Tribe who also helps her father lead a nonprofit fighting the mine. Lozen, she added, is “dancing to carry the fight for all we’re trying to save.”

As the singers drummed in the downpour, Lozen pounded her ceremonial cane into the muddy ground. Thunder rumbled in the distance, and she faltered for a moment.

A woman in the crowd whooped. Another onlooker yelled, “Go, Lozen!” She pulled her shoulders back, lifted her head and looked straight ahead to the sprawling landscape of cacti and Emory oaks that give the region its name.

She kept dancing.

Alex Pearl on NAGPRA

November 18, 2025Matthew L.M. Fletcher

M. Alexander Pearl has published “Corporeal Property and the Limits of NAGPRA” in the Fordham Law Review.

Here is an excerpt:

The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act represents a pivotal but incomplete legislative effort to confront the enduring legacy of colonialism in the United States. NAGPRA addresses a specific and deeply troubling consequence of colonialism: the unlawful appropriation of Native American ancestors and cultural items by federal and federally funded institutions. Although it lays a critical foundation for repatriation and a sense of cultural justice, NAGPRA’s effectiveness is constrained by its grounding in Western legal traditions—especially its emphasis on corporeal, material property. To redress a wider range of harms suffered by Native communities, we must look beyond the statute’s current framework and embrace an expanded understanding of property, one that includes intangible rights based
in cultural harms and rights.