I'm particularly glad that one of these endeavors - the Indigenous Reconstruction Project - is the product of feedback the NPS heard directly from THPOs. The THPO community has always been good about making their voices heard, and I am grateful for the difference that outspokenness is making and honored to be able to help put THPOs' feedback into action.

Thank you for all you do to protect culturally important places that perpetuate Native identity, resilience, and cultural endurance, and to empower Tribal preservation leaders.

Valerie J. Grussing, PhD
NATHPO Executive Director
valerie@nathpo.org | 202-628-8476

The National Association of Tribal Historic Preservation Officers (NATHPO) is currently seeking to fill a 3-year opening for a skilled professional in both the realms of geospatial and general application/database development for the Land Area & Name Directory (LAND) Project. The full description is attached as well as on our website. Understanding the locations of Tribally important places and resources is essential to their preservation and consideration during emergency response activities and planning for infrastructure, energy, and broadband development – including NHPA Section 106 reviews. And Tribes are the only people who can provide that information, as appropriate.

This project will create a geospatial platform for information on Tribal cultural resource contacts and areas of interest. It will be driven by Tribes in its design, decision making, and data population. It will improve both protection of Native places and efficiency of required project reviews (please see the website for additional information). The person to fill this position will be responsible for crafting both LAND's underlying database and the application through which users will interact with the database, so the preferred candidate must be technically competent and have a good understanding of user interface (UI) and user experience (UX) design.

Candidates must apply to NATHPO Executive Director, Valerie Grussing (valerie@nathpo.org), and Operations Director, Melissa Madrigal (melissa@nathpo.org), via email by September 13 , 2024. Please provide a portfolio of projects when submitting your resume.

In May 2024, The National Park Service, National Historic Landmarks program, through a cooperative agreement with NATHPO, engaged a cultural resources consultant to support the Indian Boarding Schools National Historic Landmarks Program in developing a nationwide historic context for future designation applications of Indian Boarding Schools and completing an Indian Boarding School National Historic Landmarks (NHL) nomination for the Stewart Indian School in Nevada. After a nation-wide search, NATHPO engaged Native firm, the OSIYO Group, to perform this critical work over the coming two years. The full announcement is attached.

For this project, the OSIYO Group assembled a team of highly qualified, multidisciplinary professionals that includes Nesta Anderson, Ph.D., Marie Archambeault, M.A., Sammye Meadows, and Roni Briggs, OSIYO Group principal. Drawing from their previous collaborations on Tribal consultation projects, Traditional Cultural Properties Surveys, Historic Contexts, NRHP nominations, and working with descendant communities, the OSIYO Group team will be actively seeking valued input from Native nations and Indigenous individuals with direct connections to Indian Boarding Schools across the country as we progress through the project.

If you or a loved one have been impacted by Indian boarding schools, we hope that you will be willing to share your stories with us. We understand the sensitive nature of this information and will work with participants to maintain confidentiality as requested. We will be conducting outreach and engagement throughout the project, and we also encourage you to reach out to us at any time using the project email address NHLBoardingSchool@NATHPO.org. We appreciate your consideration and participation. Wado.

In July 2024, NATHPO and the National Park Service engaged a team of academic researchers to conduct a two-year special history study on Native American experiences during the Reconstruction Era. NPS Region 2 (Southeast) and NATHPO developed this program following feedback from THPOs that NPS needs to do a better job talking about the U.S. removal of Native Americans from their homelands, establishment of boarding schools, and allotment of land occupied by Native American people. Much of that history occurred during what is known as the Reconstruction Era, but scholarship and educational materials on the period are focused largely, if not exclusively, on formerly enslaved persons, white southerners, and the rise of white supremacists. The full description is attached.

This project seeks to help tell the story of the Reconstruction Era from an Indigenous perspective, and does so by listening to Native American scholars, cultural experts, and Elders. To that end, NPS and NATHPO are partnering with the Center for Native American and Indigenous Studies at Emory University to complete this work. The project team includes: Malinda Maynor Lowery, Ph.D. and Beth Michel of Emory University; and Brooke Bauer, Ph.D., of University of Tennessee-Knoxville.

Please be on the lookout for formal invitations from the project team to join the advisory board and other opportunities to participate in this exciting project.

Stay current on important happenings using our new Calendar of Events, and post your own to share! And let us know if you have a job posting you would like to share and we'll post it on our Community Job Board. AND don't forget to browse our listing of relevant Grant Opportunities.

The 24th Annual NATHPO Conference & Sacred Places Summit will take place August 12-16, 2024, at the Ho-Chunk Gaming Resort in the Wisconsin Dells. If you're unable to attend the conference in person, you can register to attend virtually HERE.

If you would like to become one of our conference sponsors, please contact please contact Melissa Madrigal at melissa@nathpo.org. Information about sponsorship rates is available HERE.