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Often when Native nations assert their treaty rights and sovereignty, they are confronted with a backlash from their neighbors, who are fearful of losing control of the natural resources. Yet, when both groups are faced with an outside threat to their common environment-such as mines, dams, or an oil pipeline-these communities have unexpectedly joined together to protect the resources. Some regions of the United States with the most intense conflicts were transformed into areas with the deepest cooperation between tribes and local farmers, ranchers, and fishers to defend sacred land and water.
Unlikely Alliances explores this evolution from conflict to cooperation through place-based case studies in the Pacific Northwest, Great Basin, Northern Plains, and Great Lakes regions during the 1970s through the 2010s. These case studies suggest that a deep love of place can begin to overcome even the bitterest divides.
List of contents
Introduction
Part One | Running Upstream
1. Fish Wars and Co-Management: Western Washington
2. Water Wars and Breaching Dams: Northwest Plateau
Part Two | Militarizing Lands and Skies
3. Military Projects and Environmental Racism: Nevada and Southern Wisconsin
Part Three | Keeping It in the Ground
4. Resource Wars and Sharing Sacred Lands: Montana and South Dakota
5. Fossil Fuel Shipping and Blocking: Northern Plains and Pacific Northwest
Part Four | Agreeing on the Water
6. Fishing and Exclusion: Northern Wisconsin
7. Mining and Inclusion: Northern Wisconsin
Conclusion
About the author
Zoltán Grossman is professor of geography and Native studies at The Evergreen State College. He is a longtime community organizer and coeditor of
Asserting Native Resilience: Pacific Rim Indigenous Nations Face the Climate Crisis. Find out more at https://sites.evergreen.edu/unlikelyalliances.
