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clahchischiligi.bsky.social
Sunnie R. Clahchischiligi
@clahchischiligi.bsky.social
520 followers 170 following 29 posts
Diné. Indigenous Affairs Editor at High Country News. Board president at Indigenous Journalists Association. Rhetorician at Arizona State University.
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clahchischiligi.bsky.social
Sunnie R. Clahchischiligi @clahchischiligi.bsky.social · 6d
I sat down with @willvh.bsky.social and @theopennotebook.bsky.social to discuss points for reporters to keep in mind when covering communities that are not their own, specifically Indigenous communities.
Grateful to share the pages w/ @mariaparazorose.bsky.social who brings up some important points.
theopennotebook.bsky.social
The Open Notebook @theopennotebook.bsky.social · 13d
“We’re the ones seeking something from this community, so we should be able to compromise as much as we can,” says @clahchischiligi.bsky.social, in this story from @willvh.bsky.social, with @johnvaillant.bsky.social, @ohyeahitscouch.bsky.social and others.
🧪
Outside In: Covering Communities as an Outsider - The Open Notebook
Plenty of important science stories happen in communities where some people, for a variety of valid reasons, might be hesitant to talk to journalists coming from outside their borders or culture. That...
www.theopennotebook.com
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clahchischiligi.bsky.social
Sunnie R. Clahchischiligi @clahchischiligi.bsky.social · 15d
Tomorrow:
highcountrynews.org
High Country News @highcountrynews.org · 16d
🚨 Tomorrow! Indigenous photographers: join us at 11 a.m. MT for tips on freelancing + working with HCN. Free event w/ @tailyrirvine.bsky.social, Bear Guerra & @clahchischiligi.bsky.social

Register here ➡️ buff.ly/ftMGXen
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clahchischiligi.bsky.social
Sunnie R. Clahchischiligi @clahchischiligi.bsky.social · 18d
High Country News & the @indigenousja.bsky.social join forces next week to host a free webinar for Indigenous photojournalists interested in collaborating with HCN and to learn about freelancing in general.

Join us at 11 a.m. MT, Sept. 23.

Register here: indigenousjournalists.org/2025/09/call...
highcountrynews.org
High Country News @highcountrynews.org · 21d
Join freelance photographer, Tailyr Irvine, HCN Visuals Editor, Bear Guerra, and HCN’s Indigenous Affairs Editor, Sunnie Clahchischiligi on September 23, 2025 at 11a.m. MT for an informative conversation about freelancing and collaborating with HCN.
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Reposted by Sunnie R. Clahchischiligi
ktoopublicmedia.bsky.social
KTOO Public Media @ktoopublicmedia.bsky.social · Aug 7
Currently, 42 Western radio stations are considered vulnerable because over 30% of their annual funding is federal. Twenty of those stations serve Indigenous communities in the rural reaches of reservations and Alaska Native villages.

(From @highcountrynews.org)
Native languages need radio, which is at risk of being lost
As public media is threatened after cuts from Trump administration, Indigenous radio also face threats to how they preserve and grow language.
www.ktoo.org
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Reposted by Sunnie R. Clahchischiligi
highcountrynews.org
High Country News @highcountrynews.org · Aug 4
The growth of Indigenous language through radio is at risk, along with the rest of public media, but cultural reclamation at large will persevere.
Native languages need radio, which is at risk of being lost - High Country News
As public media is threatened after cuts from Trump administration, Indigenous radio also face threats to how they preserve and grow language.
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clahchischiligi.bsky.social
Sunnie R. Clahchischiligi @clahchischiligi.bsky.social · Aug 4
"Indigenous radio and media help Indigenous communities engage and grow in their understanding of their language and show them how they can better connect with their culture."

By @chadebradley.bsky.social, from HCN's Indigenous Affairs desk.
Native languages need radio, which is at risk of being lost - High Country News
As public media is threatened after cuts from Trump administration, Indigenous radio also face threats to how they preserve and grow language.
www.hcn.org
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clahchischiligi.bsky.social
Sunnie R. Clahchischiligi @clahchischiligi.bsky.social · Aug 1
"For Diné people, sheep are a blessing with responsibilities that link us to the Diyin Dine’é (Holy People). But to the U.S. government, they were an ecological proxy to 'The Navajo Problem.'"

By Christine Ami.
What the presence of sheep means to the Diné - High Country News
How to look at Milton Snow’s historical images of a livestock genocide on the Navajo Nation.
www.hcn.org
clahchischiligi.bsky.social
Sunnie R. Clahchischiligi @clahchischiligi.bsky.social · Jul 15
Wampanoag writer @josephvlee.bsky.social discusses his newly released book in a Q&A with @shaun505.bsky.social.

Lee's book, Nothing More of This Land: Community, Power, and the Search for Indigenous Identity, is out today.
Finding your ancestors in the archives - High Country News
Author Joseph Lee explores Wampanoag family history in a new book of memoir and reportage.
www.hcn.org
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clahchischiligi.bsky.social
Sunnie R. Clahchischiligi @clahchischiligi.bsky.social · Jul 7
Łingít, Haida and Híɫzaqv people have gathered haaw da.aa and kelp to share, trade and gift. Now, grey whales have joined the harvest. Their presence brings a new pressure — one that both humans/non-humans are learning to navigate.

Writes @amyromer.bsky.social, in collab w/ @indiginews.bsky.social
In Sitka, Łingít fishers share herring harvests with a surprise influx of grey whales - High Country News
An unprecedented whale surge in Alaska waters has changed how humans interact with a vital yaaw fishery.
www.hcn.org
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Reposted by Sunnie R. Clahchischiligi
highcountrynews.org
High Country News @highcountrynews.org · Jul 3
No matter the distance, helping one’s Indigenous community during a disaster is possible.

buff.ly/AqLVoHO
When wildfire hits your doorstep - High Country News
A Diné writer confronts how to offer a hand from far away as tragedy strikes on the Navajo Nation.
www.hcn.org
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clahchischiligi.bsky.social
Sunnie R. Clahchischiligi @clahchischiligi.bsky.social · Jul 3
As the Oak Ridge Fire on the Navajo Nation continues, those who live away from the reservation might feel a sense of urgency to help.

Here is a little something for those who live away from home and are feeling a sense of guilt or helplessness.

You are not alone.
When wildfire hits your doorstep - High Country News
A Diné writer confronts how to offer a hand from far away as tragedy strikes on the Navajo Nation.
www.hcn.org
Reposted by Sunnie R. Clahchischiligi
highcountrynews.org
High Country News @highcountrynews.org · Jul 1
As of July 1, the Oak Ridge Fire on the Navajo Nation in Arizona burns nearly 10,000 acres as hundreds are forced to evacuate. Earlier this year, we wrote about how tribal wildfire programs in the West are underfunded and overburdened.

www.hcn.org/issues/57-5/...
How the feds abandoned reservations to burn  - High Country News
Tribal wildfire programs are underfunded and overburdened.
www.hcn.org
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Reposted by Sunnie R. Clahchischiligi
highcountrynews.org
High Country News @highcountrynews.org · Jun 25
Protests over the sell off of public lands were hard loud and bipartisan at a gathering of the Western Governors’ Association
Protests greet Western governors in Santa Fe - High Country News
After a bipartisan outcry, Senate proposal to sell public lands is blocked for now.
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clahchischiligi.bsky.social
Sunnie R. Clahchischiligi @clahchischiligi.bsky.social · Jun 25
The tribe’s mobile clinic serves its members and drives to the Lovelock Paiute and Yomba Shoshone reservations, covering a territory of about 200 miles. It can treat any member of a tribe in Nevada. They serve about 2,000 patients, averaging about 20 patients each month.

Shared by KUNR Public Radio
The Fallon Paiute-Shoshone Tribe is bridging Nevada’s healthcare gap - High Country News
A new mobile clinic serves 2,000 Indigenous patients.
www.hcn.org
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clahchischiligi.bsky.social
Sunnie R. Clahchischiligi @clahchischiligi.bsky.social · Jun 23
"Hopi have our own word for wolves, Kwewu. Much like wolves, we have now been confined to a remnant of our original lands, fenced in with arbitrary lines that do not represent our deep history, knowledge and kinship to the land."

By Clark Tenakhongva

www.hcn.org/articles/whe...
When we harm wolves, we harm ourselves - High Country News
Anger over these wild creatures shows a lack of perspective.
www.hcn.org
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clahchischiligi.bsky.social
Sunnie R. Clahchischiligi @clahchischiligi.bsky.social · Jun 9
Defunding public media would hurt stations across the U.S.

The data show that stations serving rural and Indigenous audiences in the West would be the hardest hit.

Here’s why, by the numbers.

By @annierosenthal.bsky.social & @chadebradley.bsky.social
What defunding public media would mean for the West - High Country News
Data show that rural, tribal and Western stations would be the most impacted by Trump’s attempt to cut CPB funding.
www.hcn.org
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clahchischiligi.bsky.social
Sunnie R. Clahchischiligi @clahchischiligi.bsky.social · May 27
“To be able to wear our regalia, especially during graduation ceremony, which is so many years of hard work being put into a single five-second walk across the stage — it’s so important."

By @shaun505.bsky.social & Bella Davis, in partnership w/ @nmindepth.bsky.social
Class of 2025 leads the way for Indigenous graduation regalia - High Country News
High school graduates are the first to walk with the protected right to wear cultural attire after the state of New Mexico passed legislation this spring.
www.hcn.org
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clahchischiligi.bsky.social
Sunnie R. Clahchischiligi @clahchischiligi.bsky.social · May 6
"Heartney’s pro-Trump statement felt abrupt and out of place to attendees. It echoed messaging from right-wing think tanks, which use economic development, job creation and even so-called protection as Trojan horses for resource extraction."

By @btoastie.bsky.social
Trump admin speaker at UNPFII met with silence - High Country News
During a discussion on the rights of Indigenous women at the United Nations Monday, a U.S. representative made a statement so strange you could hear a pin drop afterward.
www.hcn.org
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clahchischiligi.bsky.social
Sunnie R. Clahchischiligi @clahchischiligi.bsky.social · May 5
"Tribal wildfire fighters are stretched to their limits... Long-term federal land mismanagement and climate change have caused the number and intensity of reservation fires to soar. About 7% of the 4 million acres of tribal lands in the country burned between 2010 and 2020."

By Lachlan Hyatt
How the feds abandoned reservations to burn  - High Country News
Tribal wildfire programs are underfunded and overburdened.
www.hcn.org
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Reposted by Sunnie R. Clahchischiligi
highcountrynews.org
High Country News @highcountrynews.org · Apr 9
Big news! For the fourth year in a row, High Country News is teaming up with Indigenous-led and allied newsrooms to cover the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) — the largest global gathering of Indigenous leaders and advocates.

buff.ly/Rb7xMEd
Grist organizes international pooled coverage of the 2025 UNPFII
High Country News, Mongabay, ICT, APTN, Whakaata Māori, IndigiNews, Osage News, the Associated Press, and Grist will report together and share their journalism among newsrooms.
buff.ly
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Reposted by Sunnie R. Clahchischiligi
highcountrynews.org
High Country News @highcountrynews.org · Mar 13
📣 Starting now, @HighCountryNews will provide free digital access to all of our reporting to any federal employee, including those who have recently lost jobs due to government layoffs. 📣
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clahchischiligi.bsky.social
Sunnie R. Clahchischiligi @clahchischiligi.bsky.social · Apr 1
The U.S. Forest Service announced Monday that it will temporarily prohibit commercial picking of huckleberries this summer in Gifford Pinchot National Forest in southwestern Washington.

✏️ @jwoolington.bsky.social
Forest Service pauses commercial huckleberry picking in Gifford Pinchot National Forest - High Country News
The berries are a critical resource for the Ḱamíłpa Band of the Yakama Nation and have become a big market of the Pacific Northwest food industry.
www.hcn.org
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clahchischiligi.bsky.social
Sunnie R. Clahchischiligi @clahchischiligi.bsky.social · Apr 1
Alaska Native youth are living through a pivotal time, bearing witness to the dramatic impacts of climate change that have occurred during their lifetimes: rapidly melting permafrost, warming oceans and declining salmon runs.

Meet four of them below.

By Lyndsey Brollini & Meghan Sullivan
How Alaska Native youth are protecting the land for their future ancestors - High Country News
With climate change threatening Indigenous lifeways in Alaska, these four young women are devoting their careers to their preservation.
www.hcn.org
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Reposted by Sunnie R. Clahchischiligi
grist.org
Grist @grist.org · Mar 31
How Trump’s funding freeze for Indigenous food programs may violate treaty law.

According to Indigenous legal experts, the freeze erodes the little trust Indian country has in the federal government.

grist.org/indigenous/h...

#Food #Indigenous #Trump #DOGE #Tribes
How Trump's funding freeze for Indigenous food programs may violate treaty law
According to Indigenous legal experts, the freeze erodes the little trust Indian country has in the federal government.
grist.org
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clahchischiligi.bsky.social
Sunnie R. Clahchischiligi @clahchischiligi.bsky.social · Mar 25
"One of the things that’s really shocked me is how often our government institutions ignore the law when it comes to tribes and how hard tribes have to fight for just the law to be followed. Those weaknesses in our democracy have been there for a long time."

By IA Associate Editor Anna V. Smith
Rebecca Nagle considers Supreme Court wins and what’s at stake for tribes under Trump - High Country News
The author of ’By the Fire We Carry’ notes the nation’s power of empire while looking to history to frame our present.
www.hcn.org
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