Indigenous Peoples and Conservation with Tahlia Bear

Tahlia Bear is the Indigenous Peoples Engagement Manager at WRA. Her work focuses on building relationships with Tribes, identifying ways we can support one another and making sure that Indigenous voices are always heard.

In this episode, we discuss some of the challenges facing Tribes in the context of climate change and beyond. We chat about Tribal sovereignty, regional energy markets, Tribal utilities and more.

Tahlia is an enrolled member of the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation and she is also half Navajo. During our conversation, Tahlia speaks about her Navajo family living in Northern Arizona and how her aunt only recently got electricity in her home. Lack of water and electricity in rural Indian Country is still a major issue and one that is often overlooked in the conservation and environmental justice space.

Further Reading

• Check out the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority website to learn more about this Tribal utility
• Learn more about Tribes that are directly affected by climate change and rising sea levels
• Visit the Western Navajo Fair
• Take a look at the NPR coverage on Senegal and climate refugees
• Read more about Tribal Nations in the United States
• Bookmark Indian Country Today as your Indigenous Peoples news source
• Learn how the ghost town of Empire, NV was revitalized by a new mining operation in 2016
• Become a sponsor of 2 Degrees Out West
• Check out the full podcast blog page here

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2 Degrees Out West is a podcast from Western Resource Advocates, an environmental conservation organization that's focused on the Interior West. WRA works across seven states to protect our climate, land, air, and water. WRA protects and advocates for Arizona, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Nevada, Montana, and Wyoming.

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On 2 Degrees Out West we talk with climate experts and advocates to bring you stories, experiences, and insights from their work in the places we call home.

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Transcript

Introduction

When we're thinking about and working in Western lands, we always have to think about the indigenous people whose homeland this has been for many generations and thousands of years. These Tribes have been living in harmony with our Western landscape and their knowledge is crucial for our climate solutions and making sure that of the West is protected and respected. At WRA, Tahlia Bear is our Indigenous People's Engagement Manager. She connects with Tribes in the West, make sure that their voices are heard and offer support in any way that we can share our knowledge and be of assistance. Today on the podcast, we'll be talking with Tahlia about the Tribes of the West, what they face in terms of climate change and the ways in which they are growing and evolving and changing, and the ways that we still have a long way to go to do better, to recognize and include Tribes when we're talking about conservation in the West.

Tahlia Bear - Indigenous Peoples Engagement Manager

You know, Tribes are resilient. We've been here since time immemorial and we've withstood a lot over that time, and so I think that Tribes have a lot of the solutions.

Jessi Janusee - Multimedia Storyteller

I'm your host, Jessi Janusee, the Multimedia Storyteller here at Western Resource Advocates, and this is Two Degrees Out West, a podcast where we talk about the changing landscape of the West in the face of climate change and what we can all do to support the land, water, air, and people of the West to ensure a brighter and better future for all.

Now let's get talking to Tahlia.

So today on the podcast we have at Tahlia, who is our Indigenous People's Engagement Manager here at WRA. Welcome to the show.

Tahlia Bear - Indigenous Peoples Engagement Manager

Thanks so much, Jessi. Glad to be here.

Jessi Janusee - Multimedia Storyteller

I'm really excited. I think it's so cool that you're here, that you do this work at WRA, that WRA has this job in place. I just, I think that's rad, and I'm really excited to talk to you all about what being the Indigenous People's Engagement Manager means and the work that you're doing.

So, I kind of wanted to start there and let you tell us a little bit about what you're doing.

Tahlia Bear - Indigenous Peoples Engagement Manager

Yeah, absolutely. So, I'm fairly new in this position. I started at WRA about a year and a half ago as the Indigenous People's Engagement Manager. And what my job entails really is starting the relationship building process with Tribal leaders and Tribal NGOs across WRA'S seven state region.

And the goal is really to get to a point where we have a trusting partnership with Tribes so that we can work together on climate and conservation policy in the future.

Jessi Janusee - Multimedia Storyteller

Love that. Yeah. What are you working on right now?

Tahlia Bear - Indigenous Peoples Engagement Manager

So right now, is the relationship building process, and I do have some work that focuses very specifically within WRA’s key priority areas and programs.

But I also know that in the back of my mind, that we're just starting out in this process, and I understand that it's going to take, you know, a while to build relationships with Tribes and meaningful relationships. And so, I have smaller projects I'm working on to kind of build up the trust.

Some of the work that I'm doing currently really fits into WRA’s strategic priorities, and then I also have some smaller projects that I'm working on to really build that trust with some of the Tribes in helping provide resources and connections in specific areas. So some of the strategic work within the organization is WRA is working with our Tribal NGO partners in the four corners area of the West is to secure coal community transition funds.

These are funds for the Navajo and Hopi communities who have been impacted by the closure of coal plants. And I'll actually be traveling next week to the Four Corners to plan strategically with several of these NGOs [00:04:00] in the region. I'm also working with WRA's Regional Energy Markets team to take a deep dive into, you know, the changing energy landscape in the West.

You know, this transition to a regional energy market. And so with WRA'S team, we're really trying to learn from Tribal utilities and Tribes about their energy needs and priorities because we want to make sure that Tribes who want to be engaged in the regional energy market space are engaged. And then,

you know, a piece is through our Healthy Rivers program and in the water space. And so, we are doing outreach with Tribes mostly in Arizona to really learn about the Tribal water challenges and priorities, and we are really looking forward to helping communities with water management or stream health projects in the future.

Jessi Janusee - Multimedia Storyteller

That's a lot of work and I, I'm sure there's so much other stuff too that you could be engaged with and helping with, but I guess that's with all of our work, right? There's just like so many things we could be doing. Yeah. For the coal piece that you were talking about in the Four Corners, so that's Tribes who had jobs and had industry there, and now with the plants being shut down there's less opportunity and just less resources, I guess. So our work out there is to try to figure out ways to revitalize those, those communities?

Tahlia Bear - Indigenous Peoples Engagement Manager

Yes, that's exactly right. So the Navajo generating station was located on the Navajo reservation in Northern Arizona, and that was a coal plant that I believe shut down in 2019, and it employed hundreds of Navajo and Hopi individuals.

And as a result of that closure, which happened pretty quickly and didn't really allow for a chance for those workers to find other jobs, and again, this is in a really rural part of Arizona, so there isn't a lot of job opportunities when that closed, you know, people were left without jobs. And as a result of that, you know, individuals have to move off the reservation like to Phoenix or other cities in order to find employment.

And so securing community transition funds would allow for an investment into those communities for job retraining or any sort of like small business startups like economic development type opportunities.

Jessi Janusee - Multimedia Storyteller

In Nevada, there was a town called Empire. And it was a mining town, a rural mining town. And when the mine shut down, that entire town just basically had nothing, you know, and everyone had to go looking for jobs and yeah, so I've seen that kind of happen firsthand and how difficult that is in the West.

I feel like we're so interconnected to mining and then what happens when that just goes away, when your main employer disappears and there's nothing else there. Plus, the job training aspect too, right? Like this is the work so many people have done for so long, and then to just pivot to something else is really hard too.

So I love that we're helping with that work.

Tahlia Bear - Indigenous Peoples Engagement Manager

And I really see this as an environmental justice thing because you know, if you ever go to this part of Arizona, there are many families who live in that area who don't have electricity themselves. And so this Navajo Generating Station was, you know, generating energy for Phoenix, right, for a large metropolitan city when people who lived around in the area didn't even have access to electricity themselves.

Jessi Janusee - Multimedia Storyteller

That's insane.

Tahlia Bear - Indigenous Peoples Engagement Manager

Yeah. My family is actually… I'm a member of the Fort McDowell Yavapai. I'm enrolled with Fort McDowell Yavapai Tribe, which is located just outside of the Phoenix Metro area, but I'm also half Navajo, and so my Navajo side of the family lives in Northern Arizona, and I do have family that lives in that area around the Navajo Generating Station and my aunt just got electricity last spring, still no running water, but they do have electricity and they do have quite a strong internet as well.

Jessi Janusee - Multimedia Storyteller

Wow. How has that changed her life? I'm sure pretty drastically in all ways.

Tahlia Bear - Indigenous Peoples Engagement Manager

I mean, well, so it's funny cause the last time, when was I, I was there in October and it was the first time I had been at her house and it was kind of, it was a really stormy October day and you know when the dark clouds come over and everything kind of gets dark, and I remember they turned on the light. There was one light in the house and they turned it on and it was just like, wow. Like I've never been in the house with a light bulb, you know, with a light on.

So it's pretty profound.

Jessi Janusee - Multimedia Storyteller

Yeah. That's, well, I'm so happy she has electricity. But also, man, I wish it wasn't like that. Yeah, and the fact that it's like named the Navajo Generating Station, but the people don't have light like that is so terrible. Is that going to be part of the work that we're doing too? Is helping folks over there get electricity? Maybe, not yet.

Tahlia Bear - Indigenous Peoples Engagement Manager

Well, so the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority, NTUA, is working to get electricity to a lot of the homes out there.

Jessi Janusee - Multimedia Storyteller

Things are looking good in that area as far as the job retraining and electricity. It seems like a lot of good stuff is happening. I feel like we got to put some context into regional energy markets, because even for me, I don't know too much about it.

But the deal is that there's going to be a sharing of energy across states, which is going to make it more affordable for everybody?

Tahlia Bear - Indigenous Peoples Engagement Manager

Yeah. So if you look at a map of the United States, there are regions within the country that have kind of these energy markets where they buy and sell energy across state lines.

And so the Southeast has one, the Northeast has one. Texas is its own thing by itself, which is the reason why there were a lot of those power outages back, I think in 2001. And so what WRA is looking at is, you know, being informed and involved in the process of shaping a Western energy market. So this would allow for more renewables to go into the system, and with the onset of additional renewable energy into the system, it actually brings down the price of energy, because it costs less to operate a solar farm than it does a coal plant, right?

You need less workers, less maintenance, and so it would essentially bring down the cost of energy, but also allow for energy to be sold and bought across state lines. So, if one state needs energy at one time because of a heat wave, you know, but there's not a heat wave in another part of the country, they would be able to have access to that energy.

Jessi Janusee - Multimedia Storyteller

Cool. And this actually I feel like fits in really well to my next question, which is how Tribes are sovereign nations. So, I wonder how that sovereignty plays into a regional network.

Tahlia Bear - Indigenous Peoples Engagement Manager

Yeah, and I think that's a really important piece that we really want to learn more about. Because, you know, kind of to back up a little bit, there are 574 federally recognized Tribes within the US.

And there are 81 federally recognized Tribes within WRA's seven state region. And so Daryl Vigil who is from Jicarilla Apache, he always says, if you know one tribe, you know one tribe, which basically means they're all different in in various ways and you know, that's a part of the work that we want to do is to be able to learn from the Tribes in our region, how engaged they are or whether they want to be engaged, or whether they even have the capacity or desire to be engaged in sort of understanding this energy transition to a regional market.

There are several Tribes in Arizona that own their own Tribal utilities. You know I mentioned the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority. That's a very large one, but there are also smaller Tribal utilities, which are considered Tribal enterprises within their communities.

Jessi Janusee - Multimedia Storyteller

Cool. Can we talk a little bit more about what it means to be a sovereign nation?

I think a lot of people don't realize that Tribes are sovereign nations within the US and how that works with government stuff and how that works with utility stuff and how that all works together. I don't even really know very much about it.

Tahlia Bear - Indigenous Peoples Engagement Manager

Yeah, so Tribes have an interesting relationship with the federal government.

So Tribes before colonization have always operated as sovereign nations. Right before European colonization, they had a sovereign status where they, you know, were able to control their own governments and their own communities. And so sovereignty is not something that's given to us. It's something that we inherently already have, and it has been recognized by the federal government through laws, through Supreme Court decisions, it's an inherent right. And so what sovereignty means is that we have the ability to govern ourselves. Tribes create their own guidelines for citizenship, right? And they also create their own forms of government and assert control over all of their affairs. What you'll find is Tribal governments can be like a microcosm of a state government.

They have their health clinic, they have their education department, their social services department, they have Tribal courts, they have their own police force, fire departments. So, they're really establishing their own laws and Tribal codes to govern themselves. And so what that means, as you know, in relation to the federal government, is that Tribes interact on a government to government basis, much like the way the federal government interacts with state governments.

Jessi Janusee - Multimedia Storyteller

That makes a lot of sense to me. Thanks for explaining it that way.

Tahlia Bear - Indigenous Peoples Engagement Manager

And I think what's important to remember here is Tribal sovereignty has always been challenged by the federal government, and so it's something that has not come easily. It's something that has been fought over and continues to be fought over, and Tribal Nations are extremely sensitive to any sort of policies or activities that might threaten their Tribal sovereignty or their self-determination.

Jessi Janusee - Multimedia Storyteller

Yeah, I mean that checks out, especially since it's just been a lot of promises and lies and things that were not true. You know? Of course. Also question about, so when, (his is getting into the minutia of like how the federal government works), but so when there's funding and it comes down, like the funding is going from the federal level to the state level, does that funding then go to Tribal Nations, kind of the same way that it would go to each state, and then also if there's state funding, is there certain portion of it that goes to Tribal Nations?

I was just wondering how that all breaks down.

Tahlia Bear - Indigenous Peoples Engagement Manager

Yeah, it can. It can be both. Okay. And this is kind of one of the challenges in terms of, for instance, a lot of this federal funding that you're seeing through the bipartisan infrastructure law and the inflation Reduction Act is there's a lot of funding out there and there are a lot of calls for information from the federal government on how to develop these programs and the best way to divvy out all of this money. And there are sometimes questions about how to do that best with Tribes, it can be really tricky because what I had said before, there are 574 Tribes and they're all very unique and they have their own form of government, and some of them can be really, really large.

Like the Navajo Nation who have, I think over 300,000 Tribal members to very, very small like I think I've seen some Tribes in Utah that have an enrollment of 129. So, you know, there's just so much variability. But I think to answer your question, a lot of times the funding can be directly for states and Tribes or some of the funding, especially within the infrastructure law some of it will go to states and then states develop those programs and Tribes can apply to them. And in those cases, that's where it's really important to be an advocate and to make sure that states are, you know, including Tribes as some of the entities that can apply for those funds. Yeah. And making sure that they have an application process that is equitable.

Jessi Janusee - Multimedia Storyteller

Yeah. Yeah. To me, I would think that the Tribes should just be treated more like states and they just automatically get a portion of the funding. But you know, I'm not the government.

Tahlia Bear - Indigenous Peoples Engagement Manager

There are some formula funds like that within the infrastructure law.

Jessi Janusee - Multimedia Storyteller

Cool. Yeah, and just, I like the way that you were saying that the Tribal Nations are similar to states and that helps me think about how so many states are all really different and we all have different needs and different people and everything.

And then l think about how there's 81 Tribes just within our region and how all of those Tribes have different needs and live in different environments. And that's a lot. And then for you as the Indigenous Peoples Engagement Manager, trying to speak with all of those different people and represent them and help them is, yeah, I'm impressed, It's a lot of work.

Tahlia Bear - Indigenous Peoples Engagement Manager

We have a lot of learning to do. We could say that.

Jessi Janusee - Multimedia Storyteller

Yeah. So I wanted to also go back into your personal story of how you ended up in this role in WRA, and also just what your heritage and history brings to this position.

Tahlia Bear - Indigenous Peoples Engagement Manager

Yeah, so let's see. I don't even know where to begin with this question.

Jessi Janusee - Multimedia Storyteller

It's a lot.

Tahlia Bear - Indigenous Peoples Engagement Manager

My career path has been interesting in that I actually started out in conservation. I worked with the National Wildlife Federation for their Tribal partnerships program, actually in environmental education. And so I did that for a while and then my career took a bit of a turn and was supporting more of the scientific fields before I decided I really wanted to be in a position that was really going to focus my work in Tribal communities.

It just so happened that I. you know, came across well, I knew of Western Resources Advocates when I worked for the National Wildlife Federation because they shared a building and workspace. So I was familiar with the organization and when this job popped up, it seemed like a great opportunity for a really reputable, good organization.

You know, back when I worked with the National Wildlife Federation, they were one of the first conservation organizations that actually had a Tribal program and really recognized the need to do outreach with Tribal Nations. And what you know has transpired since then, since that was like the early 2000s, is that a lot of conservation organizations are now beginning to see the need for reaching out to Tribes, you know, who have been neglected I think, in the conservation space over the years.

And so there's been this paradigm shift, right? Where conservation organizations are hiring Tribal liaison type positions across the country. In fact, there are so many being hired right now that I started a coalition, you know, outside of my work with WRA to support these indigenous people who are working for conservation organizations.

Jessi Janusee - Multimedia Storyteller

What's the name of the coalition?

Tahlia Bear - Indigenous Peoples Engagement Manager

We need a better name. We actually just applied for a grant to come together and meet in person to strategically plan, but it's called Indigenous Leaders in Conservation.

Jessi Janusee - Multimedia Storyteller

I think that's great.

Tahlia Bear - Indigenous Peoples Engagement Manager

It says what we are.

Jessi Janusee - Multimedia Storyteller 

You know, sometimes it doesn't have to be all fancy and I think that's really the heart of it.

That's really cool. How many people are in that coalition?

Tahlia Bear - Indigenous Peoples Engagement Manager

You know, it's very informal at this point. Our goal is to have 25 to 30 solid individuals. We have probably anywhere between like 10 and 15 who show up on our calls.

Jessi Janusee - Multimedia Storyteller 

Are they from all over the U.S.?

Tahlia Bear - Indigenous Peoples Engagement Manager

Yeah. What's really interesting is that a lot of the individuals in this group work across the country, right?

So they might do work in the Pacific Northwest with Tribes up there, or like in the Dakotas. and we have some new members who've joined us who bring a completely different perspective from the islands of Hawaii. So that's super cool.

Jessi Janusee - Multimedia Storyteller 

Whoa, I love that. Gosh, it would be so cool to even expand beyond and bring in some folks from Canada.

Yeah. It would be so cool to like get even bigger. Do a share. I like that idea, I'm really into working in community and collaboratively and I feel like the more you share resources and support one another and broaden your perspective, just the better everything gets. So, in my mind I'm like everybody, you know, share your thoughts and experiences and stories.

Tahlia Bear - Indigenous Peoples Engagement Manager

Absolutely. I mean, inclusivity is real, right? Because you learn so much more.

Jessi Janusee - Multimedia Storyteller 

Yeah, absolutely. I also wanted to get into climate change and how climate change is impacting all of the Tribes, just like it's impacting everybody and just how those problems are manifesting with Tribes and the solutions that need to happen.

Tahlia Bear - Indigenous Peoples Engagement Manager

Mm-hmm. Yeah. I mean, climate change is a real challenge, right? Globally for everyone and plants and animals and, you know, Tribes and other indigenous people across the world, you know, they're on the front lines of climate change. Thinking specifically about WRA's region, I think drought is one of the really big impacts, right?

I mean, we can talk about climate change's, impact on the water levels, you know, at Lake Powell and Lake Mead for instance. And what that's going to do to the generation of hydropower what that is going to do to agriculture. And Tribes are very concerned about the water issues in the West. It is an issue that I think has a lot of inequities built into it, and it will affect Tribes, in, you know, gathering of native species of plants, medicine, it can affect you know, traditional food gathering. Hunting Tribes also are very business minded as well because they have to fund their own government. And so, you know, there are Tribal enterprises that are invested in agriculture and climate change will affect the water availability to grow a lot of the alfalfa and other vegetables and other things that they grow in their farms. There is likely also effects on tourism.

Right. And you know, there are Tribes that have Tribal parks who have a lot of tourists. You know, you can think about Monument Valley in the Four Corners, you know, is iconic of the West. Right? And what type of effects there might be on tourism.

Jessi Janusee - Multimedia Storyteller 

Yeah, my favorite lake to go to is on the Paiute Reservation here, and there's a fee for daily use that we pay the Tribes here, and it's like a huge fishing spot.

It's like one of the best fishing spots in the West, and everyone goes there and definitely with wildfires for sure, the tourism just drops so dramatically. You know, when it's so smoky and nobody wants to go outside and the air quality is just so terrible. So I'm sure that's playing a major factor for them.

Tahlia Bear - Indigenous Peoples Engagement Manager

Even looking outside of WRA's region, there's federal funding to move entire villages in Alaska and in the Pacific Northwest because of the rising and sea levels, you know, where you have to move your entire community to somewhere else. Well, so I mean, the impacts of climate change are, are real for Tribal communities.

Jessi Janusee - Multimedia Storyteller 

Yeah. Yeah. I was just, I just keep going on side tangents, but I just was listening to a program about people in Africa that are losing their entire towns that they've lived in for generations because of rising sea levels. Could you imagine just leaving your homeland because it's just water now? Yeah. It's crazy to think about.

Tahlia Bear - Indigenous Peoples Engagement Manager

And I'm sure there's probably a loss of, you know, artifacts and sort of history in those spaces as well that will be underwater.

Jessi Janusee - Multimedia Storyteller 

Yeah. Yeah. It was pretty heartbreaking because the government there moved those people more inland, so now they're not by the water anymore at all.

And they're fishing people like, first of all, they don't even have their economy anymore. But then second of all, just things like just living next to the smell of the ocean and living next to the breeze of the ocean and all of that, and listening to them talk about now just being in this oppressive, more inland heat and yeah, it was, it was really interesting and sad.

Tahlia Bear - Indigenous Peoples Engagement Manager

Yeah.

Jessi Janusee - Multimedia Storyteller

Okay. Some climate challenges for sure. How can WRA support when it comes to drought and water rights and all of that?

Tahlia Bear - Indigenous Peoples Engagement Manager

How WRA is working to help Tribes and climate change. I mean, I think being an ally is really important. I think learning about where the best place to engage is with Tribes and whether they even want our help, to be honest with you, you know, Tribes are resilient. We've been here since time immemorial and we've withstood a lot over that time, and so I think that Tribes have a lot of the solutions. And I think, you know, WRA needs to support where they're going with it to be, quite honest, rather than yeah…

Jessi Janusee - Multimedia Storyteller

Yeah, yeah. Not in a savior way, just in a supportive partner way.

Tahlia Bear - Indigenous Peoples Engagement Manager

Exactly.

Jessi Janusee - Multimedia Storyteller 

So when you were talking about the water work that you're doing in Arizona, can we talk a little bit more about that? You just mentioned it briefly when we first started and I didn't dive back more into it.

Tahlia Bear - Indigenous Peoples Engagement Manager

Yeah. Well, I mean, I think what we're doing is really trying to explore and support water management projects or stream health projects.

And so where might we be able to connect a particular community to resources or information about how to do that? Yeah, so it's not really a specific project, but more of like a goal that we have.

Jessi Janusee - Multimedia Storyteller 

Cool. Do you have any stories that you can share about a powerful or exciting moment you've had while working with WRA?

Tahlia Bear - Indigenous Peoples Engagement Manager

That's a good question. I mean, it was a very profound moment for me, I guess, which is last October I went with my family to the Navajo Western Fair, which is sort of, it's in Tuba City, Arizona. It's sort of like a county fair except it's a Tribal fair. So there's like parades and dancing and concerts and all sorts of things to do, and I was driving back from that event and I got to drive through the Four Corners area and I was driving actually to Durango for a WRA event. And I did my stop at Monument Valley and, you know, I stopped at the Four Corners Monument and I did a stop in a little hike in Mesa Verde. You know, and this is over the course of two days, but I had a profound love for the West and how rural and how vast it is and how beautiful. And I don't know, I just, I had not driven in that area in a very long time, and it was just so beautiful and just made me think about, you know, why we do this work.

Jessi Janusee - Multimedia Storyteller 

Yeah, I love that. Yep. It's great out here.

Tahlia Bear - Indigenous Peoples Engagement Manager

It is. And I live in a vastly different place in Colorado now, you know, very mountainous, high altitude.

And I, and I love this too, but it's always nice to, to just remember the diversity of landscapes in the West, to be reminded of it.

Jessi Janusee - Multimedia Storyteller 

Yeah.

You were born and raised in Arizona and then moved to Colorado?

Tahlia Bear - Indigenous Peoples Engagement Manager

Yeah, I was born in Arizona and I moved to Boulder, Colorado to go to the University of Colorado as an undergrad.

Jessi Janusee - Multimedia Storyteller

Oh, cool.

Tahlia Bear - Indigenous Peoples Engagement Manager

And I fell in love with the mountains back then. Yeah. And still now, I still, I love the mountains. I love being here. It's a beautiful place to live.

Jessi Janusee - Multimedia Storyteller 

All of the west. It's all great.

Tahlia Bear - Indigenous Peoples Engagement Manager

It is all great.

Jessi Janusee - Multimedia Storyteller 

Yeah, like I, we talked about before, my dad lives in Mesa, near the Superstition Mountains, and that's its own beautiful area. And then I've been up to Flagstaff. That's so cool. Every one of our states has these really varied environments, and they're all uniquely beautiful and magic. So it's so good.

Tahlia Bear - Indigenous Peoples Engagement Manager

Absolutely. Arizona seems to have it all in many ways, you know, and just completely, yeah, a variety of different, of different landscapes there. I do. I appreciated that a lot more once I left Arizona.

Jessi Janusee - Multimedia Storyteller 

Yeah, as someone from the East Coast coming West for me, kind of like you were saying, just the space. Just the fact that there's so much room here where there isn't a million people in cars and business is, it's never not going to be novel and incredible to me. And when I go back home to New Jersey to visit my family, I can only be there for like two weeks before I start to lose my mind. Get me outta here.

Tahlia Bear - Indigenous Peoples Engagement Manager

I lived in Washington, DC for two years and I couldn't get over how many people there were everywhere which is why I couldn't have stayed there for very long.

Jessi Janusee - Multimedia Storyteller 

Yeah. Population density, it's too much.

Tahlia Bear - Indigenous Peoples Engagement Manager

But what's so crazy about going East from someone from the West is the amount of water! I couldn't get over how much water is there and how many trees. And it's funny because it's, it's very hard to know like where you are when there's so much water around. Because I don't know enough about the rivers to be able to orient myself. And so I got very confused and then the trees, there were so many big trees and you can't see the horizon. Which I didn't realize was something that I needed to be able to see where the sun was going and the direction and where, you know, it ended. It’s a whole different experience out East.

Jessi Janusee - Multimedia Storyteller 

Yeah. Yeah. Do you want to talk a little bit, I think it's really cool, the Tribal days that happen at the legislative session, and I thought it could be cool to talk about that really briefly and how you were able to attend a couple of them.

Tahlia Bear - Indigenous Peoples Engagement Manager

Yeah, so in my outreach, I have made the state Indian Affairs Agencies or Departments a priority in building relationships and so in most of WRA's states, there is like an Office of Indian Affairs or department, or maybe it's under the governor's office, it takes all sorts of forms.

There's usually staff there, they sort of manage a variety of events throughout the year for Tribal leaders, but also Tribal communities, and so many of them have or coordinate Tribes Legislative Days, which have been really interesting to attend. I attended the one at the Capitol in Phoenix and the one at the Capitol in Santa Fe, and it can be a really good place to hear from Tribal leaders themselves about what state policy in particular that they're interested in seeing legislators pass.

So they've been really great events and they're completely open to the public so anyone can go and hear from Tribal leaders. And as with a lot of Tribal events, there's always music and it's a great way to connect with Tribal leaders, administrators, and the public as well.

Jessi Janusee - Multimedia Storyteller 

Nice. Yeah. Before working here I didn't know that was a thing. I mean, I didn't know a lot of things, but it was really cool when you sent some photos of when you attended the one, I think it was the first one, the one in Arizona, right? And then more recently was the New Mexico one. Yeah. I was like, oh, I'm glad that exists. That seems really awesome and fun.

Tahlia Bear - Indigenous Peoples Engagement Manager

Yeah, certainly. There's one in Nevada too. I'm not sure if that one's open to the public though, but there is a Tribes Legislative Day.

Jessi Janusee - Multimedia Storyteller

Sweet. Are you going to come out?

Tahlia Bear - Indigenous Peoples Engagement Manager

It passed, I think it was February 13th or 14th, and  I didn't get to go. I was busy doing other stuff.

Jessi Janusee - Multimedia Storyteller

That's fair. It's a lot for you to fly around to all these different states

Tahlia Bear - Indigenous Peoples Engagement Manager

But next year we'll go, Jessi.

Jessi Janusee - Multimedia Storyteller 

Okay. I would love to. That'd be so cool, you were here in Nevada for a different Tribal meeting, what was it? I forget what it was that we first started talking.

Tahlia Bear - Indigenous Peoples Engagement Manager

Yeah, so I attended the InterTribal Council of Nevada's Annual Convention that was in Reno in December. And so the InterTribal Council of Nevada, ITCN, is a nonprofit organization that supports a lot of services for Tribes in the states.

And they had a conference that covered so many different topics, including a lot of environmental natural resources and environmental justice topics. I was very surprised at how many sessions they had on environmental topics

Jessi Janusee - Multimedia Storyteller 

That's awesome. Is there anything else. You would like to add or anything? I feel like we should just do like a yearly check-in episode because you're going to just continue to grow and do cool things, and there's always going to be something to talk about. No pressure, but I feel like we should.

Tahlia Bear - Indigenous Peoples Engagement Manager

Yeah, absolutely. That would be amazing. And you know, there's going to be lots of stuff, you know, that will be learned between now and then, and so I would love to share that.

Jessi Janusee - Multimedia Storyteller 

Thanks so much, Tahlia, for spending time with us and sharing your knowledge and experiences. I'm really looking forward to seeing how that relationship building with Tribes goes. And just watching the Tribal Nations grow and use their abilities to combat climate change and also to see what WRA is able to learn from Tribes and use to help with our climate solution.

Also, I wanted to say earlier when I was talking about the African people who were losing their land because of rising oceans, so I found that information. It is in Senegal and NPR did a really beautiful photo essay about it and a podcast, and I'm going to put it in the show notes if you want to learn more about that, because it's super interesting. That's definitely something we should be thinking about is these global implications of climate change and how it's displacing people. So look for that in the show notes. So instead of doing what I like about the West, which is usually how we end our podcast, I wanted to add a little clip. So back in February, I got to go to the Nevada Clean Energy and Transportation Conference. And a few of my amazing coworkers were there speaking at the conference, and I got to talk to Seve DeSoto, who is really incredible, and he did a talk about the tax rebates for electric vehicles. So, I interviewed him a quick little interview and I wanted to share that with all of you right now.

Jessi Janusee - Multimedia Storyteller

All right, we're on site at the Nevada Clean Energy and Transportation Conference here in Reno at the Peppermill, and I have Seve DeSoto who just did a really cool panel talk. Can you tell us a little bit about your panel that you just did?

Severiano DeSoto - Western Lands Energy Siting Analyst

Yeah, so we just did a panel on the new federal tax EV credits and charging credits and just the other federal opportunities to support transportation electrification.

Jessi Janusee - Multimedia Storyteller

That's awesome. So talking about how to get a tax cut if you want to get a new EV.

Severiano DeSoto - Western Lands Energy Siting Analyst Yeah, just different incentives that exist to promote electrification in the transportation sector. So EV tax credits are a huge part of that, but also, you know, there's other funding too, other incentives or rebates for both light duty and medium and heavy duty vehicles.

And then there's a bunch of charging infrastructure money that exists from both the federal bills that were passed last year. So money to support EV chargers in communities and on highways and just other ways to promote further adoption.

Jessi Janusee - Multimedia Storyteller

Cool. So businesses and different communities get that funding through the government for EV stations?

Severiano DeSoto - Western Lands Energy Siting Analyst 

Yeah, there's a bunch of different ways that the funding's going to flow through. Some of it's going to flow through directly to state. Some will be competitive, some will be in the form tax credits. So it is really all across the board. Some of it is going to be available through the Federal Aid Highway programs. So it’s just a really good opportunity to integrate EV charging into all things related to transportation.

Jessi Janusee - Multimedia Storyteller

When are those funda going to be available?

Severiano DeSoto - Western Lands Energy Siting Analyst 

Some of them are available now. Some of them are through funds in the States. For instance, you know, the Nevada NEVI plan was approved last year, so the state is working on implementing that, and that's for chargers along highways. Some of the other funds will be coming online this year, and then some of the tax credits are now available now that it's 2023.

Jessi Janusee - Multimedia Storyteller 

Hooray. How's the conference been so far?

Severiano DeSoto - Western Lands Energy Siting Analyst

The conference has been really, really good. It’s a great opportunity to get back to meeting face to face with people and getting an opportunity to promote some of our ideas and really connect state and local goals around clean transportation with a lot of the funding that's available on the federal level.

Jessi Janusee - Multimedia Storyteller 

It's been cool to see all the different types of folks that are here from organizations and state legislators and city folk, all of them out here supporting clean energy. So that's really rad and I should have you on the podcast soon to have a longer interview about it.

Severiano DeSoto - Western Lands Energy Siting Analyst

I would love that. Sounds great.

Jessi Janusee - Multimedia Storyteller

Sweet. Thanks for the little check-in about the conference.

Severiano DeSoto - Western Lands Energy Siting Analyst

Thank you.

Jessi Janusee - Multimedia Storyteller

Shout out to Sevi for doing that recording in a very loud casino ballroom space. But it was really fun and it was super nice to get some face time with my coworker. So that's always great, and I definitely want to have him on the podcast soon.

All right, I'm going to wrap it up with a thank you to our sponsors.

This episode is brought to you in part by our generous sponsors. We'd like to take a second to give an extra special thank you to our premier sponsor, Vision Ridge Partners, as well as our signature sponsors, VOS Developments, Denver Water, First Bank, and Scarpa. WRA would also like to recognize our supporting sponsors BSW Wealth Partners. Great Outdoors Colorado, Meridian Public Affairs and Policy AZ. Thank you so much sponsors for supporting our podcast and all of the work that we do at WRA. We really couldn't do it without you. Also, now is the time of year where we open up our sponsorship program and accept new sponsors. So if your organization or business is interested, we would love to have your support so that we can do more of this work. And to learn more, you can go to our website, Corporate Giving & Sponsors - Western Resource Advocates, and I'll put that link in the show notes so you can click right on it and come on over and help us out.

We really appreciate it. This has been Two Degrees Out West, a production from Western Resource Advocates. To learn more about Western Resource Advocates and all of the work that we do to spearhead climate solutions in the West, check out our website, www.westernresourceadvocates.org. I'm your host, Jessi Janusee. Thank you for being here, and I'm excited for next episode where we're going to talk to Deb from WRA, who does Public Utility Commission work. Which is kind of a wild thing that I don't even know very much about. But as always, we're going to learn together guys. And then after that episode, if you want to hear more about indigenous water rights and Tribal Nations and more about, you know, how all of that works, we're going to have a hydrologist from the Navajo Nation come on.

And I'm super excited about that. Definitely tune in for that. That'll be in two episodes from now. Thanks so much for being here, everybody. I appreciate you and I hope you all have a beautiful early spring. Let's make sure to keep this West wild, free and beautiful. See ya later y'all.