{"id":10043,"date":"2016-01-22T14:42:48","date_gmt":"2016-01-22T21:42:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lastbestnews.com\/site\/?p=10043"},"modified":"2016-01-22T14:42:48","modified_gmt":"2016-01-22T21:42:48","slug":"totem-pole-symbol-of-coal-fight-finds-temporary-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/2016\/01\/totem-pole-symbol-of-coal-fight-finds-temporary-home\/","title":{"rendered":"Totem pole, symbol of coal fight, finds temporary home"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t\t\t<div id=\"slides-10043\" class=\"navis-slideshow\">\n\t\t\t<p class=\"slide-nav\">\n\n\t\t\t<a href=\"#\" class=\"prev\"><\/a>\n\t\t\t<a href=\"#\" class=\"next\"><\/a>\n\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\n\t\t\t<div class=\"slides_container\"><div id=\"10043-slide1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Lummi-totem-2-1-of-1.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Lummi-totem-2-1-of-1-771x556.jpg\" \/><\/a><h6>Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News <a href=\"#\" class=\"slide-permalink\">permalink<\/a><\/h6><p>Among those attending a dedication of a totem pole at the Northern Plains Resource Council's Home on the Range Friday\u2014and possibly its most enthusiastic admirer\u2014was this young girl. Click on the arrow at top right to see more photos.<\/p><\/div><div id=\"10043-slide2\"><a href=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Lummi-totem-4-1-of-1.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Lummi-totem-4-1-of-1-771x514.jpg\" \/><\/a><h6>Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News <a href=\"#\" class=\"slide-permalink\">permalink<\/a><\/h6><p>Between 75 and 100 people turned out for the dedication ceremony Friday.<\/p><\/div><div id=\"10043-slide3\"><a href=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Lummi-totem-5-1-of-1.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Lummi-totem-5-1-of-1-771x514.jpg\" \/><\/a><h6>Otto Braided Hair, Northern Cheyenne steward of the totem pole, <a href=\"#\" class=\"slide-permalink\">permalink<\/a><\/h6><p>Otto Braided Hair, Northern Cheyenne steward of the totem pole, spoke at the dedication.<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><script>jQuery( document ).ready( function() { loadSlideshow( 10043, 'https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/2016\/01\/totem-pole-symbol-of-coal-fight-finds-temporary-home\/', 3 ) } );<\/script>\n<p>A totem pole that is a symbol of two Indian tribes\u2019 opposition to increased coal mining and exportation has a temporary home in Billings.<\/p>\n<p>The 22-foot-tall western red cedar totem pole, created by the Lummi Nation\u00a0as a gift to the Northern Cheyenne, was dedicated Friday outside Home on the Range, which houses the Northern Plains Resource Council and the Western Organization of Resource Councils of which it is part.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>The work of art, adorned with Cheyenne symbols, <a href=\"http:\/\/lastbestnews.com\/site\/2015\/09\/totem-pole-unites-tribes-in-opposition-to-coal-projects\/\">was delivered to the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation in late August<\/a> and will return there after a permanent home is found for it. In the meantime it towers over Home on the Range, 220 S. 27th St.<\/p>\n<p>It is meant to symbolize the solidarity of the Cheyenne, many of whom oppose coal projects like the proposed Tongue River Railroad, and the Lummi, who are fighting plans to build a coal-export terminal near their home in northwest Washington.<\/p>\n<p>Jeanie Alderson, a rancher near Birney and a second-generation member of the NPRC, predicted that opponents of coal expansion will eventually prevail, noting that four years ago six Northwest coal terminals were on the drawing board, and now there are only two.<\/p>\n<p><div class=\"well\"><div class=\"dfad dfad_pos_1 dfad_first\" id=\"_ad_652\"><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/goo.gl\/mjhWkW\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/lastbestnews.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/201703_capeair_variable.jpg\" alt=\"CapreAir_Variable\" width=\"510\" height=\"180\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-18069\" \/><\/a><\/div><\/div>She said the Northern Cheyenne and the NPRC are natural allies of the Lummi.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey have a big fight and we are with them,\u201d she said. \u201cOur fights are now linked.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Otto Braided Hair, Northern Cheyenne steward of the totem pole, and Alaina Buffalo Spirit, a Northern Cheyenne artist, heralded the partnership between the tribes and the NPRC, and thanked the Billings-based organization for temporarily taking the totem pole into its care.<\/p>\n<p>Buffalo Spirit also read a statement from the Lummi, explaining the creation of the totem pole and the meaning of its many symbols, including a medicine wheel, an eagle holding a rabbit, sacred drummers, a bison, badgers, lizards and a turtle.<\/p>\n<p>Marci McLean, a Blackfeet Indian and director of Western Native Voice, said the badger is of great importance to the Blackfeet, particularly now, given the tribe\u2019s opposition to plans to drill for oil in the Badger-Two Medicine region just outside the Blackfeet Indian Reservation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat can we do beyond protecting the land, the water and the air?\u201d McLean asked.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A totem pole that is a symbol of two Indian tribes\u2019 opposition to increased coal mining and exportation has a temporary home in Billings. The 22-foot-tall western red cedar totem pole, created by the Lummi Nation\u00a0as a gift to the Northern Cheyenne, was dedicated Friday outside Home on the Range, which houses the Northern Plains [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10044,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[3677,3679,3676,3678,2971,692,3020,3025],"class_list":["post-10043","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-alaina-buffalo-spirit","tag-jeanie-alderson","tag-lummi-tribe","tag-marci-mclean","tag-northern-cheyenne-tribe","tag-northern-plains-resource-council","tag-otto-braided-hair","tag-tongue-river-railroad","prominence-category-featured"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10043","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10043"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10043\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10044"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}