Shoshone-Bannock Tribes

In the 1940s, phosphate was discovered in areas surrounding the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes’ reservation and traditional lands. With the promises of royalties and reclamation to repair Tribal land that was mined, past Tribal leaders agreed to the extractive development. Today, the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes are struggling to repair and contain the contamination from past mining activities and now with two very large industrial plants — one being the largest phosphorous plant in the United States at one point. The video and audio profiles document the advocacy and protective measures taken by Tribal leaders and staff to tackle horrendous air emissions, increasing groundwater contamination, and advocating for accountability of the extractive economic corporations and the federal government for reclamation, containment, and repair.

Upper Columbia River Tribes

For more than a hundred years, the Tribal communities of the Upper Columbia river have had to live with the abuse and negligence of the smelting industry. Who, at one point, dumped millions of tons of toxic waste into their most vital resource. Now, after a century of inaction by their trustees in the local and federal government, the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, Upper Columbia United Tribes, and allies fight for the healing of the river and the return of the wild salmon to a healthy, functioning ecosystem.