North Dakota’s 5 Native American tribes add their voices to calls for keeping wild horses in an historic park. The chairman of United Tribes of North Dakota wrote to the superintendent of Theodore Roosevelt National Park to urge the “continued preservation” of the park’s wild horses and longhorn cattle. North Dakota’s five Native American tribes have joined the growing list of those calling upon Theodore Roosevelt National Park to maintain its herds of wild horses and longhorn cattle. Jamie Azure, the chairman of United Tribes of North Dakota, has written to the superintendent of the park, who announced the park’s proposal to remove the herds, to express the tribes’ “general support for the continued preservation of wild horses and longhorns.” In the letter to park superintendent Angie Richman dated Friday, Feb. 3, United Tribes endorsed the offer by Gov. Doug Burgum to collaborate with the park to keep the horses, a major draw at the state’s top tourist destination.
With only five Native American members in the 118th Congress, the congressional committee assignments they attain are important to Indian Country. Seniority is another important factor. Republican Rep. Tom Cole a Chickasaw is the longest serving Native American serving in Congress. With almost 20 years of experience on Capitol Hill, Cole, who is serving in his tenth term in the House of Representatives, was named on January 10th the chair of the powerful House Rules Committee by Speaker Kevin McCarthy. Cole is the first Native American to ever head the committee. He served as Vice Chairman of the committee beginning in 2017 and as Ranking Member of the committee during the past two congresses.
Those are your headlines at this hour. I’m Colette Keith in the KIPI News center.
