Election Day is almost here, and one organization wants to ensure indigenous folks in Montana know how they can cast their ballots.

Ta'jin Perez, deputy executive director of Western Native Voice, said people can register to vote on Election Day, this Tuesday. In urban areas, the process will be a bit easier because people likely can register at their voting precinct. In rural areas with smaller precincts, he said, they won't be equipped to also register people to vote.

"Individuals do have to go to the main county office, especially in rural areas like reservation areas, to register to vote and vote during the same trip, on Election Day," he said.

There was some confusion regarding same-day voter registration in the lead-up to this election. In September, the Montana Supreme Court blocked a state law that would have repealed Election Day registration. People also can sign up to vote as part of late voter registration through Monday at noon. Polls will be open until 8 p.m., and anyone in line at that time will be able to cast a ballot.

While midterms often don't draw the same amount of engagement as presidential elections, Perez said this election is important. He noted, for instance, that Montanans will be voting on two U.S. congressional seats.

"It's important, for Indian Country especially, because there is a direct connection between federal policy and tribes," he said. "There is that direct relationship there."

Perez said there's also been confusion about this election because in 2020, people received their ballots in the mail, due to the pandemic. But this time around, ballots aren't showing up in mailboxes unless a person has registered for absentee ballots. He said if people were expecting to get a ballot in the mail but haven't by Monday, they should make plans to vote in person.

"Encouraging people to check their voter registration status with the Secretary of State's website," he said, "and to contact us if they need any assistance, whatever it may be."

The Center for Rural Affairs is launching collaborative work spaces on Nebraska Indian Community College campuses in Macy and Santee for making, learning, exploring and sharing.

The "Makerspaces" will include traditional, low-tech tools, and also significant investments in cutting-edge technologies.

Kristine Flyinghawk, native communities manager at the Center for Rural Affairs, said among other tools available to students and tribal members, the program is especially excited to install a Glowforge.

"It can engrave and cut anything from wood to leather to glass," Flyinghawk pointed out. "Then we have the new Cricut 3 Maker, which can make up to a 12-foot vinyl sign. We will have a sublimation printer."

Flyinghawk explained a sublimation printer can print images on just about anything, from cups to coozies to keychains. The Center will also install a T-shirt press, a sticker and button maker, a sewing machine, an embroidering machine and a quilting machine. Workshops will help people get hands-on experience with each new tool.

The Makerspace also aims to facilitate experimentation, where people can test out new ideas for a side hustle or a full-on business.

Angelina Magerl, community foods associate at the Center for Rural Affairs, said financial support and expert guidance for creating a business plan will also be available to help people realize their goals.

"It gives you that step-by-step process in seeing what realistically -- like time-wise, money-wise -- what you can do," Magerl emphasized. "With a business plan, it kind of lays it all out for you, what needs to be done, and what the outcome is of having accomplished that in your plan."

Flyinghawk noted in addition to workshops the Makerspace will also offer open hours, where people can spend time with people from all ages and walks of life, to share skills, and learn traditions which have been passed down.

"They can still come and bring their beadwork, or whatever kind of project that they are working on, if they want to work in a shared space with others and have that fellowship and community," Flyinghawk added.

Native American women in Arizona are getting a chance to launch their own businesses, with expert advice.

Project DreamCatcher is a unique, free initiative for Native American women entrepreneurs. In the intensive, one-week program, they're exposed to MBA-level business classes at Arizona State University's Thunderbird School of Global Management.

Last month, 21 women graduated from the program. The current cohort began Sunday, November 13.

Cherolyn Vanwinkle, graduate of Project DreamCatcher and co-owner of AZ Native Mobile Diesel Truck and Trailer Repair, said the program has been instrumental for her, in a predominantly male-run field.

"I feel like this program just really helped me push my fears aside," Vanwinkle explained. "I wasn't fearful before, but it was just more I was sitting back and letting the world take me over. But now, I feel like I'm finally in control."

Participants have access to graduate-level courses, coaching and advising sessions with business professionals, and networking activities designed to foster confidence in starting or growing a business. According to project leaders, the last cohort graduated 67 women, who have started 30 businesses in Arizona.

Vanwinkle previously worked in the medical field and said she didn't know much about what it took to run a mechanic business. But she has taken her skills and experience and used them in new ways in her new company. She acknowledged one of the most overwhelming parts of the journey was knowing where to begin, but DreamCatcher helps participants devise a plan.

"They had a professor come in and talk to us about how to understand revenues, expenses, gross profits, salary sheets, cash flow and owner's equity," Vanwinkle outlined. "Those are large words for some of us that didn't go to business school."

Vanwinkle added having a support system as a new a business is fundamental. She encouraged the next women who enroll in Project DreamCatcher to be open-minded, ask questions and use the resources available to them.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, American Indian and Alaska Native-owned businesses contributed more than $39 billion to the economy last year, but make up only 1% of all firms.

Some 50 million bison roaming across the Great Plains once served as the backbone for thriving western economies, before European settlers slaughtered herds to the brink of extinction.

Jason Baldes, executive director of the Wind River Tribal Buffalo Initiative and an Eastern Shoshone tribal member, is working to bring buffalo back onto tribal lands to roam freely, starting with a small herd on the Wind River Indian Reservation in central Wyoming.

He said restoring a wildlife economy will require a shift in vision for land management away from the status quo driven exclusively by dollars.

"But for native people, a healthy environment is much more valuable," Baldes explained. "As we restore bison to the landscape for their keystone role as an ecosystem engineer, then we're restoring the land, and we're thinking more about biodiversity and the interconnectedness of all these beings that are here."

Unlike grazing cattle, which decrease plant and animal biodiversity critical for ecosystems, Baldes noted bison increase biodiversity by creating food and habitat for hundreds of species. Their dust bathing creates micro depressions important for seed dispersal and water accumulation. Their hooves naturally aerate the soil. Every winter they put on a new coat, which becomes available for many species of birds when they shed in the spring.

For thousands of years, before America's first residents were stripped of their lands and food supplies, the health and wealth of native communities in the region was directly connected to bison. Baldes pointed out despite being separated for 130 years, the animal is still very present in cultural belief systems including their annual sun dance.

"It's in our sweat-lodge ceremonies, it's in our house ceremonies," Baldes outlined. "We still have songs about the buffalo. That animal historically was our life's commissary, it was our store. It was where our foods, our medicines, our tools, our material came from."

The Eastern Band of Shoshone were also widely renowned as "buffalo eaters," and Baldes stressed bringing herds back to western lands managed as wild animals will also help tribes heal.

"We have the highest rates of diabetes and heart disease and other health-related issues because of the removal of buffalo from our diet," Baldes emphasized. "Incorporating that back into our diet again is very important. It's the highest in protein, minerals and vitamins, and the lowest in fat and cholesterol than any other meat."