Joaqlin Estus

Joaqlin Estus

Articles From This Author

The work camp and runway for the Donlin Gold mine are seen from the air in 2014. (Photo courtesy of Donlin Gold)
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Tribal lawsuit puts Donlin Gold project in question

Subsistence - Cutting Fish on the YukonThe fish wheel in the river turns on the Yukon's current. Fish are caught in the basket nets and dropped into a holding pen. This couple is getting 100 fish a day from the wheel. They will need all of it for themselves and their sled dogs this winter. (Courtesy of Creative Commons) Photo by Joseph
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Fishing rights untouched in Alaska takeover of navigable waters

Rosa Soto Alvarez, of Tucson,, holds a flag of the Pascua Yaqui Tribe as she and other Native Americans stand outside the federal appeals court in New Orleans, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2020. Parts of a federal law giving Native American families preference in the adoption of Native American children were effectively struck down Tuesday, April 6, 2021 by a sharply divided federal appeals court, a defeat for tribal leaders who said the 1978 law was important to protecting their families and culture. (AP Photo/Kevin McGill)
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Court strikes key provision of Indian child welfare law

"Ahéhee' (thank you) for getting the COVID vaccine" sign at a COVID-19 vaccine community event on March 17, 2021 at Shiprock High School in Shiprock, New Mexico, on the Navajo Nation. (Photo by Jourdan Bennett-Begaye, Indian Country Today)
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UK variant of COVID detected on Navajo Nation

Legislation making its way through Congress aims to reaffirm that tribal epidemiology centers should have access to state and federal health data. Tribal leaders have had trouble accessing information to help fight COVID-19 and other diseases in places like the Navajo Nation, where this sign stands. (Photo by Daja E. Henry/Cronkite News)
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How tribes spent COVID relief funds

U.S. Public Health Service Lt. Cmdr. Erica Harker, IHS Navajo Area pharmacy consultant and a member of the Zuni Tribe, and Gallup Indian Medical Center Chief of Pharmacy Vicky Chavez prepare COVID-19 vaccines to be redistributed from GIMC to other health care facilities on the Navajo Nation, December 14, 2020. (Photo courtesy of the Indian Health Service)
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Tribes are racing ahead of vaccination curve

Panel by Nathan P. Jackson, Tlingit. An upright, three panel sculpture with iridescent side panels and the middle panel carved into an angular turquoise face with big blue eyes, thick black brows, and a burgundy beak. Orange feathers with black tips stand along the top. Raven & Dog Salmon, 2019. Western red cedar, exterior latex house paint, dimensions 11 × 7 feet. Photo by Shar Fox.
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Six Indigenous artists: 'bold artistic vision'

A nurse administers the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at Guy's Hospital in London, Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2020. U.K. health authorities rolled out the first doses of a widely tested and independently reviewed COVID-19 vaccine Tuesday, starting a global immunization program that is expected to gain momentum as more serums win approval. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein, Pool)
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Criticism of Alaska article stirs broader discussion

Birdie Lyons received the COVID-19 vaccine on Monday, at the Cass Lake Hospital on the Leech Lake Indian Reservation in northern Minnesota. (Photo courtesy of Vince Rock)
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Study: 75 percent of Natives would get vaccinated

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Navajo woman chosen to head US Indian Energy

Flying into Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. (Photo by Danielle Brigida, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)
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Joe Biden halts drilling in Arctic refuge

In this Sept. 24, 2020 file photo, Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., speaks during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington. Udall is retiring from the Senate, but has emerged as a leading contender to be Interior secretary under President-elect Joe Biden. If chosen, the Democrat would follow in the footsteps of his father, Stewart Udall, a former congressman who led Interior under two Democratic presidents in the 1960s. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, Pool)
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Law extends tribes’ COVID relief deadline, adds funds

Vice presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden, and Cindy McCain visit at Heard Museum in Phoenix, Thursday, Oct. 8, 2020. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
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New administration seeks diversity in filling jobs

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Arctic oil, gas lease sales get cool reception

Sergeant Sharyl Chief of the Tuba City Department of Corrections unloading a truck load of canned water donated by Jason Mamoa’s water company, Mananal, to the Navajo & Hopi elders. (Photo by Deidra Peaches, Founder of Paper Rocket Productions)
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A hat tip to the 2020 heroes

Tree featured in 2014 film, The Meaning of Wild. Kootznoowoo Wilderness, Admiralty Island, Tongass National Forest, Alaska. Forest Service photo by Don MacDougall.
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Coalition sues to block logging in Alaska rainforest

Kelsi Ivanoff and daughter Harlow Ralphie, Inupiaq, with Dolly Varden trout, whitefish and grayling caught ice fishing in the Unalakleete River a few miles upriver from Unalakleet, Alaska. (Photo courtesy of Steve Ivanoff)
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Alaska Natives: Crucial traditions at risk

Rep. Deb Haaland, D-N.M., questions Acting U.S. Park Police Chief Gregory T. Monahan, during a House Natural Resources Committee hearing on actions taken on June 1, 2020 at Lafayette Square, Tuesday, July 28, 2020 on Capitol Hill in Washington. (Bill Clark/Pool via AP)
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Deb Haaland faces momentous questions at Interior

Mike Dunleavy
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Alaska governor aims to punish financiers opposed to Arctic drilling

A pedestrian walk past Pfizer world headquarters, Monday Nov. 9, 2020, in New York. Pfizer says an early peek at its vaccine data suggests the shots may be 90% effective at preventing COVID-19, but it doesn't mean a vaccine is imminent. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)
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Vaccine is on its way

Arctic military - BARROW, Alaska- The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Healy, a 420 ft. icebreaker home-ported in Seattle, Wash., breaks ice in support of scientific research in the Arctic Ocean. The Healy was mid-way through a four month deployment. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer Prentice Danner.
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Nation’s sole ice-breaker heads to Arctic

In this photo taken Nov. 4, 2016, Democratic U.S. House candidate and Montana Superintendent of Public Instruction Denise Juneau attends a Democratic election rally in Billings, Mont. Juneau is seeking to unseat first-term Republican Ryan Zinke. (AP Photo/Matthew Brown)
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Denise Juneau’s ‘challenging decision’ to resign

Crawford Ahkivgak Patkotak, Inupiaq, board chair and vice president for shareholder engagement, Arctic Slope Regional Corp. (Photo courtesy of Arctic Slope Regional Corp website)
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Inupiaq leader appointed to US Arctic Research Commission

This photo provided by the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities shows damage from heavy rains and a mudslide 600 feet wide in Haines, Alaska, on Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2020. Authorities say six people are unaccounted for, and four homes were destroyed in the slide, with the search resuming Thursday morning for survivors. (Matt Boron/Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities via AP)
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Record rainfall has Southeast Alaska grappling with damage, destruction

Moose at Denali National Park and Preserve, Alaska (Photo by Barbara Miers, courtesy of Creative Commons)
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Emergency hunts in Alaska can continue

Workers with the Pebble Mine project test drill in the Bristol Bay region of Alaska near the village of Iliamna, Alaska, in 2007. The battle over a copper and gold mine near one of the world's premiere salmon fisheries is headed to the ballot in a vote next week that has turned a normally sleepy local election into a national environmental debate. (AP Photo/Al Grillo, File)
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Trump administration denies Pebble mine permits

"COVID-19 testing site" sign at the Alaska Native Medical Center in Anchorage, Alaska (Photo by Joaqlin Estus)
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Alaska tribal health groups brace for COVID surge

Cherokee Nation Vice President of Government Relations and Congressional Delegate Nominee Kim Teehee (Photo courtesy of the Cherokee Nation)
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First tribal nation congressional delegate outlines goals

This design by Fox Spears, Karuk, is based on a "people sitting around a fire" 1937 basket design by Dora Davis of California. It is one of five works picked for a Wells Fargo credit card design. (Photo courtesy of Wells Fargo)
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Wells Fargo offers Native American designs on credit cards

Free COVID-19 mobile testing sites have been available in Choctaw, Miss. One in 10 members of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians has tested positive for COVID-19. (Photo courtesy of Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians)
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Traditions carry Natives through COVID — and create risks

Tlingit elder David Katzeek tells a story to Baby Raven (early literacy program) families at the Walter Soboleff Building in Juneau, Alaska in September 2016. (Photo by Nobu Koch, courtesy of Sealaska Heritage Foundation).
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David Katzeek leaves legacy of revitalized language, culture

Holly Cook Macarro, Red Lake Nation, a partner in the lobbying firm Rock Spirit Consulting says Native Americans are changing their role in politics. (Photo courtesy of Holly Cook Macarro)
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Natives carve out new role in politics

The Coast Guard Cutter Polar Star breaks ice in McMurdo Sound near Antarctica on Saturday, Jan. 13, 2018. The crew of the Seattle-based Polar Star is on deployment to Antarctica in support of Operation Deep Freeze 2018, the U.S. military’s contribution to the National Science Foundation-managed U.S. Antarctic Program. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Chief Petty Officer Nick Ameen.
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Climate change stokes military challenges in Alaska

Raft of logs being towed by a barge. (Photo by Ted McGrath, courtesy of Creative Commons)
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5 Alaska tribes protest groundwork for Tongass logging

Part of the Alpine Oil Field, North Slope of Alaska (Photo by Paxson Woelber, Expedition Arguk, courtesy of Creative Commons)
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Alaska Natives divided on Arctic refuge drilling

Julie Kitka, Chugach Eskimo, is president and CEO of the statewide Alaska Federation of Natives. (File: photo by Joaqlin Estus, Indian Country Today)
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Alaska virtual awards recognize excellence, courage and leadership

The theme of the 2020 Alaska Federation of Natives convention is "Good Government: Alaskans Decide." (Screenshot of AFN website graphic)
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2020 Alaska Federation of Natives convention takes care of business

The main character of the short film "Ada Blackjack Rising" is played by Adelaine Aklaasiaq Ahmasuk, Inupiaq. (Photo by Michael Conti, courtesy of 3 Peaks).
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True story of survival in the Arctic

People march to call for justice for missing and murdered indigenous women Friday, June 14, 2019, at the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma in Concho, Okla. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
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New missing, murdered laws hailed as ‘huge victory’

At the Alaska Native Heritage Center in Anchorage, Dustin Newman (Unangax/Deg Hit’an) builds an Aleutian style kayak known as igyax. (Photo Credit: Mike Conti, courtesy of Alaska Native Heritage Center)
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Native groups honored as ‘American Cultural Treasures’

My Public Lands Roadtrip: Dalton Highway in Alaska The Dalton Highway starts north of Fairbanks, Alaska, and extends more than 400 miles north to the Prudhoe Bay. The highway is very much a working road, although tourist visits are still very high. The highway crosses through incredible scenery, including Mount Sukakpak, located 30 miles north of Coldfoot Camp. BLMer Bob Wick says of the Mount Sukakpak, “It is an iconic peak along the corridor and one of the most spectacular mountains I have ever photographed.” The BLM manages much of the Dalton Highway corridor and has a number of popular wayside exhibits, an interagency visitor center and campgrounds. Photo by Bob Wick, BLM. July 4, 2014.
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Athabascan, Iñupiat tribes sue to halt Arctic road project

Playwright Larissa FastHorse (Photo courtesy of the John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation)
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Sicangu Lakota playwright wins MacArthur genius award

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Alaska Native corporations dominate list of state’s top businesses

Tongass National Forest (Mark C. Brennan, Courtesy of Creative Commons)
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Trump administration sets logging plans for Alaska forest

Shoshone-Bannock elder Maxine Edmo passed away Sept. 17, 2020 at the age of 91 (Photo by Lori Ann Edmo)
Obituaries

Maxine Edmo leaves legacy of education, language, culture

(Screenshot from Environmental Investigation Agency video)
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Pebble Mine CEO resigns after recorded comments released

Prairie Island Indian Community President Shelley Buck, Mdewakanton Dakota, speaking on a panel on COVID-19 relief funding. (Screenshot Sept. 2020)
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Coronavirus aid: Too many strings, not enough relief for tribes

Pictured here: Roald Helgeson, Haida, on March 5, 2020. He resigned from his position as administrator for the Alaska Native Medical Center on August 7, 2020 to work as Chief Operating Officer for the Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska. (Photo by Joaqlin Estus)
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New opportunity for Alaska tribal health leader

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‘We have to be ever more vigilant’ about the rights of Indigenous peoples

Jody Potts, and her daughter Quannah, look for caribou on American Summit, outside Eagle, Alaska, on Sept. 2, 2018. Potts grew up trapping and hunting on this land and harvested her first caribou around the age of 14. A single mother, she always takes her three kids caribou hunting by foot, something they have done since a very young age. For the Gwich’in, land is sacred and essential to their way of life, providing subsistence and healing. Potts says nothing is better for her heart, soul, and mind than being on the land. (Photo by Keri Oberly)
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Alaska Native woman speaks out about lieutenant governor’s advances