Indigenous youths have been enlisted in the Southwest, including New Mexico, to help conserve natural and cultural resources on tribal lands as part of the Indian Youth Service Corps.

Authorized in 2019, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland launched the program over the summer with a goal of offering employment and training opportunities to Native American and Alaska Native youths.

According to Will Shafroth, president and CEO of the National Park Foundation, it's designed for young people seeking a path to good-paying jobs while working in a program that also tackles the climate crisis.

"To do projects in and around national parks that mostly have relevancy around the experience of tribes," said Shafroth. "And so it could be stewardship of the land by the tribes in the area that could specially connect tribal youths to their homelands in a lot of ways."

The Youth Corps' projects last from four to 12 weeks, and complement work of the nonprofit Ancestral Lands Conservation Corps in New Mexico and Arizona - which has included seed saving and trail maintenance, as well as contact tracing on reservations during the pandemic.

Eligible participants can be ages 16 to 30, and the majority of any corps must be Native American.

In New Mexico, youths have been recruited to work at White Sands National Park to assist with deferred trail, fence and landscape maintenance. They're also documenting archeological sites, and assisting with removal of invasive trees along the trails and public roads.

Shafroth said participants receive a mix of work experience, basic and life skills, education, training and mentoring.

"Some of this work is about teaching these young people skills - to operate a chainsaw, restore historic buildings, to do restoration work on sensitive habitat, things like that," said Shafroth. "But it's also about building leadership skills."

To establish the corps, the National Park Foundation has invested $1 million in the program - while the Interior Department has allocated nearly $3 million to the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the National Park Service and the Bureau of Reclamation.

Tribal leaders from the eight federally recognized tribes in Utah gathered at a news conference at the state Capitol this week and called on state lawmakers to pass House Bill 40, Utah's version of the Indian Child Welfare Act.

Advocates say the bill would implement provisions to protect Native American children from unnecessary removal from their families and tribes.

Eugenia Charles-Newton, a delegate of the Navajo Nation Council, said recent research has shown that systematic bias within the child-welfare system means Native families are four times more likely to have their children removed and placed into foster care compared with their counterparts. She said she hopes state lawmakers value family unity when looking at the bill.

"Although progress has been made as a result of ICWA," she said, "out-of-home placement still occurs more frequent for Native American children than it does for the general population."

Despite advancements, Charles-Newton said, protections are still needed. Supporters of the bill have said its protections are warranted as the federally recognized Indian Child Welfare Act faces a Supreme Court challenge. Opponents of the law say it is wrongly based on race and prevents the state from considering a child's best interest.

HB 40 is sponsored by state Rep. Christine Watkins, R-Price, and state Sen. Dave Hinkins, R-Ferron, who are seeking to codify ICWA provisions into state law, meaning Utah could join a list of states passing protections for Native children.

Manuel Hart, chairman of the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, said that ss the oldest living residents of the state of Utah, HB 40 reaffirms inherent rights for tribal nations and ensures culture and traditions are passed on to younger generations.

"Lets us give them their right to exercise their inherent right to learn their language, their culture and their traditions," he said. "Let us protect them through ICWA-House Bill 40."

Watkins said the bill is making its way through the state House and added that they've run into a bit of a "hiccup" but are trying to educate committee members to garner more support for the bill so it can make its way to the state Senate.

Conditions may have improved, but Native American tribes in South Dakota say they're still reeling from the recent blizzard that left many stranded without vital resources. That's prompted renewed calls for improved aid to make it through future weather events.

The storm cut off roads to areas such as the Pine Ridge reservation, forcing some residents to burn clothing and furniture to stay warm. State Sen. Troy Heinert, D-Mission, a member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, said the conditions there were extremely dangerous, too. He said tribes already have limited resources and can only do so much to prepare.

"Considerable investments in roads and bridges and equipment," he said, "manpower is going to be needed if we're going to continue to have storms like this."

He called on local, state and federal leaders to ensure infrastructure needs and emergency planning for tribal areas receive priority. In response to the current storm, Gov. Kristi Noem ordered expanded National Guard missions to help affected tribes, including hauling firewood from the Black Hills.

Heinert said that assistance was a huge help, but noted that residents are still having trouble getting to their livestock. Tribal governments have their own emergency preparedness plans, but often lack enough snow-removal equipment to prevent snowdrifts from swallowing up fields, as well as surrounding roads.

"What we found down here in Rosebud is we had no place to put the snow," he said. "There was so much and it was so deep, and it was so heavy."

Because first responders had trouble reaching homes, Heinert and other local leaders said, a 12-year-old boy died after suffering a medical emergency. Because of term limits, Heinert won't be back in office in the new legislative session, but he said he will continue to serve as a voice for remote tribal areas in need of additional support.

Arizona tribal communities face inequalities every day, but a recent Arizona State University graduate said she wants to shape public policy to help change it.

Ty'Lesha Yellowhair argued changing public policy which guides social services would not only ensure tribal members receive the care they need, but also help to change the public perception of Native communities, which hold lots of strength and resiliency, despite challenges.

Yellowhair is from the Navajo Nation, originally from Kayenta, Arizona, and currently works in the Office of Health Programs for the Phoenix Area Indian Health Services as a social service assistant. She explained she wants her story to serve as an inspiration to others.

"I hope that my story being shared can change the image of what people have of Native communities, like, we too, can become professionals. We, too, can deal with policy. We, too, have the power to change what's happening around us," Yellowhair outlined.

Yellowhair comes from a family of teachers, and is her family's first social worker and public administrator. She emphasized her mother, a teacher of more than 50 years, was fundamental in helping her understand people have different lived experiences.

Yellowhair added her childhood influenced the work she does today. She acknowledged she grew up in a home with two educated working parents, and knows it was not the case for everyone. Her graduate work led her to study violence in Indigenous communities, specifically against Native women and children.

Yellowhair stressed she has not met a single Native woman who was not impacted by some sort of violence in her life, and she is convinced there must be a greater focus on the issue.

"To me, that speaks volumes," Yellowhair remarked. "That is what continues to drive me, as a person who strives to be an advocate for my community."

Yellowhair believes she has the tools to fight for justice and reparations, and hopes to give back to her community and others by advocating through policy and fighting for systemic change.