Raise the Hammer

Oh, as for the Band Council and certain well-known business interests on the reserve, I fully agree, these people shouldn't get a penny. The Confederacy Council (and I've met 'em) represents a side of Six that I'd trust much farther with money. In either case, it would need to be as a part of a new governing entity, rather than any existing group. Poverty requires capital, not just spending money.

And as for hunting and gathering - yes, both can be very harmful to the environment. But hunter-gatherer societies are a different story. Ones which are well-rooted in an area tend to be the most sustainable societies we've found. It has to do with more than just hunting, there's a very detailed knowledge of ecology which is required to hunt and gather anywhere for a long time. Such societies almost always have populations well below the theoretical carrying capacity for the area, because having less kids (through a variety of means) is better than watching them starve. They use almost entirely local materials, virtually all technologies are widely understood and there's almost always a religious basis for strong environmental protection. Most importantly, if the environment is damaged, they suffer immediately. And though many foraging societies (and others) are nomadic, it almost always takes place through very well defined territories, right down to the family. And there are certainly examples of North American societies which caused destruction - usually either upon discover of a new and unfamilliar territory or adopting new technologies. And while they did farm (Six Nations, among other Iroquoian groups, helped revolutionize European agriculture). I whole heartedly endorse getting some of their seeds - there are some truly beautiful corn varieties.

This doesn't mean that natives are somehow genetically "more environmental". They've found almost perfectly preserved examples of ancient Northern European hunters and they're almost indistinguishable, right down to the buckskins and bow-types. Different types of societies rely on different types of production, and some are much more damaging than others.

It isn't 1498 anymore. Natives aren't going to go back to that way of life any sooner than we go back to old Europan Feudalism. That doesn't mean there isn't still a native culture in 2010, or that they don't still hunt. And both foraging and hunting are incredibly valuable food sources, especially when woodlands are managed for certain plants and animals (William Cronon has done some interesting research into how this was done). And while vast hunting grounds are available to many other reserves, all it takes is one pulp mill or tar sands project to make hundreds or thousands of square kilometres of nature potentially toxic. Bison is extremely nutritious, but has less saturated fat than chicken (domestication isn't exactly good for nutritional content of foods) and tons of polyunsaturated fats. I don't eat meat, but if I did, it'd be hunted. And as for wild plant foods, learn a few - they're growing out of almost every sidewalk crack in the city, and lambsquarter is better for you than spinach. Clearly there's some local food potential there.