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Blackanthem Military News
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Last Updated:
May 22, 2012 - 5:37:21 PM |
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Blackanthem Military News
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| U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Tribal Liaison Joel Ames is recognized for his Flood Fight work by leadership members of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. |
The Oglala, Crow Creek, Yankton, Flandreau Santee, Cheyenne River, Sisseton Wahpeton and the Standing Rock Sioux. The Ponca, Omaha, Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho. The Chippewa Cree and the Winnebago. The Blackfeet Nation.
These tribal names conjure images of people of the land who roamed, hunted and fished the rivers, prairies and forests in a more primal, and perhaps less complicated, time. These are those who constitute the lineage of Native Americans pressed onto reservations by earlier generations of, primarily, European immigrants. Today part of that which comprises their present tribal lands is served by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
"I consider it an honor to work with and be of service to the kin of the original inhabitants of this continent," says Joel Ames, retired Navy Chief and, himself, an Osage descendent. Now he serves as Tribal Liaison from the Corps' Omaha District. And work he does, with no little travel, as the total land mass of Indian reservations in his area of responsibility comprise nearly the size of the entirety of the states of New Jersey, Connecticut and Delaware, combined.
Within a matter of hours, his span of work may range from responding to tribal needs during times of natural disaster, to bombing range cleanup issues, shoreline erosion protection or seeking solutions to drought problems. But his chores don't stop there. Regularly, he is called to prepare Congressional testimonies, deal with Water and Treaty Rights and address Presidential Permit Applications related to the keystone XL pipeline and its potential impact on the tribes.
Recently, however, he's been more than busy with the unprecedented flooding of the Missouri River as well as Mississippi flooding issues. With a chuckle, he smiles and says, "I can tell you one thing. My days are never boring!"
But even before this recent natural disaster, water inundation has been his driving concern. For example, the second week of February he found himself in South Dakota addressing flood impacts with the Oglala Sioux Tribe of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Then in the latter part of May he responded to a flood request from the Crow Nation. Next, he went to North Dakota to help in flood fighting at the Standing Rock Sioux Tribes Reservation.
More recently he has been in Montana with the Chippewa Cree on the Rocky Boys Reservation helping address flash flood concerns there. This was followed by a fast trip regarding problems at Fort Peck Montana on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation with the Assiniboine and Sioux. Then back he went to North Dakota to work on a levee issue that had developed on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation.
As if not busy enough, he's had numerous Congressional and Presidential queries, been the guest on numerous radio talk shows and met with many of the media to answer their questions. In a significant understatement, he laughs noting, "Well, with 53 separate tribes within my area of responsibility, I guess one could expect a few issues every now and then!"
Such individuals, as Ames, represent the dedicated make-up of the professionals who are the Omaha District of the U.S. Corps of Engineers team.
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