Wabanaki

How humans have changed the environment is one focus of the CODE RED exhibit. The other is on Indigenous wisdom. Indigenous people make up 4% of the world's population and steward 80%tof the biodiversity on just 20% of the land base. That's why the UN secretary general says they "hold many of the solutions to the climate crisis.

Federal officials from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management were in Bangor this week to gather feedback from state officials, fishermen and tribal members about potential offshore wind development projects that may be sited in the Gulf of Maine.

A spokesperson for Mills said the governor had been invited but cannot attend because of a scheduling conflict. Instead, she's invited the tribal chiefs to meet her afterwards.

State lawmakers heard testimony Tuesday about a proposed constitutional amendment that aims to reverse a nearly 150-year-old decision to stop printing a portion of Maine's Constitution related to the Wabanaki nations.

Maine tribal members couldn't vote when the Baxter State Park Authority was created in 1931. Now lawmakers are considering whether a tribal member should have a say in how the park is run.

There were a few hot topics that the governor did not mention despite her potentially pivotal role in the policy outcomes.

Maine lawmakers have pushed for four decades to remove offensive place names. But many of them still exist. A new "place justice" initiative will attempt to help Maine communities reckon with those terms and inspire change.

The bill, which faces additional votes in the House and Senate, would simply allow members of federally-recognized tribes to visit and camp at Maine state parks for free.

The proposal would allow members of federally-recognized tribes to visit Maine state parks for free.

The Wabanaki tribes have been largely excluded from more than 150 federal laws because of the 1980 Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act, creating what tribal leaders say are longstanding disparities.