Missouri River Tribes meet in Nebraska

OMAHA, NE - The Missouri River Recovery Implementation Committee (MRRIC) met in Omaha, Nebraska, August 25–27. Missouri Basin Tribes participating in MRRIC communicated their desire to ensure that cultural resources were considered during the development of the Missouri River Management Plan and EIS and that the National Historic Preservation Act was not impacted by any decisions made moving forward. Tribal representatives emphasized that the committee should work together on the basis of mutual respect to resolve any issues that may impact tribal lands or their cultural resources. MRRIC members welcomed new representatives from the Crow Nation and the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska. Additionally, the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe, Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska, Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, Oglala Sioux Tribe, and the Fort Peck Tribes participated in the meeting.

Regarding the importance of cultural resources to the Missouri Basin Tribes, Emerson Bullchief, Crow Tribal Historic Preservation Officer, explained to the committee, “Cultural resources tell the story of our people; it is vital to preserve those resources for generations to come. We expect any decisions made by the lead agencies to protect and preserve the cultural resources of the Missouri Basin Tribes.”

MRRIC is a 70-member committee that comprises stakeholders and representatives of Tribal, state and federal governments throughout the Missouri River Basin. This committee provides recommendations to federal agencies on the current and future activities of the Missouri River Recover Program. The committee makes its substantive recommendations by consensus. 

The committee meets quarterly at different locations throughout the Missouri River Basin. The next MRRIC meeting will be November 17–19, 2015. For more information on MRRIC, please contact Dr. Michael Mac, Committee Chair, at info@mrric.org. Additional links related to the Missouri River recovery efforts are www.mrric.org and www.moriverrecovery.org.